To Regulate or Not Regulate (Poll)

So, just for the sake of discussion, all things being equal, do you prefer your LED flashlights to be regulated, semi-regulated, or non-regulated? Why?


Me?....all things being equal, I'd prefer full regulation. To me, maintaing max output for as long as possible is the idea scenario. A 25 lumen flashlight that immediately dims is less useful than a 20 lumen flashlight that maintains peak brightness for as long as possible. Peak brightness is misleading for flashlights that are non-regulated, since they will only maintain peak brightness for a short time. How do you all feel. Please discuss.

Doesn't it make a difference what the intended purpose of the light is? I like regulated lights when I'm dealing with a work light, but I understand that regulated lights are not as efficient overall, therefore, do not provide nearly as long of usable light in emergency situations? As an example, my unregulated SL 4AA unregulated 7 LED light will produce usable emergency light a lot longer than my regulated UK 4AA eLed. Yes, the UK produces more steady light for the first 10 hours but no contest with the SL twenty hours down the road.

I prefer regulated for work lights such as EDC lights. I want the light to be the same color and intensity as it was the last few times it was used. It's disapointing to pull out a light that IS moderately powerful to look under the hood of a car only to realize it's nearing the 50% brightness point and is no longer up to the task. It's also embarassing to lend your father your hot new light only to find the half dead batteries left a bad impression.

An unregulated light MAY produce light longer, or it might not, depending on how well the LED was matched to the power source in both cases. A direct drive LuxV at 9 volts will still only run an hour or so.

The UK eLED vs the SL 4aa is a good comparison. If I need to look under the house for something every 10 minutes for a few days, I will not want to use the SL 4AA because after a few hours of use it will be signifivcantly dimmer. On the other hand, If I only needed minimal lighting for an extended emergency just about any low drain led will be welcome, regulated or not.

Many of the new lights ar being produced with multiple output levels. The VIP, for instance, is regulated but can be set to produce only a few lumens and it does it efficiently.

Daniel

re Votes accepted from (03/29/04 04:58 AM) to (07/02/04 04:00 AM):

What time zone is this???

Please define your definition of semi-regulated. I may fit into regulated or semi-regulated.

Chris

i think what he means by regulated is full regulation. So the light will about constant for the whole battery life. The semi-regulation might be for example ARC AAA or arc LS, in which the light provide moon mode when the batt is too weak.

Regulated, since I like constant, high output and I make full use of my batteries.

Its pretty hard to tell whether a regulated or not regulated LED flashlight fits me. My EDC is a nicely regulated L5 when I'm out, but I keep the SL4AA LED with me at home, which is not regulated. Most people here in Hongkong lives in little flats less than 400 square feet (uaually around 300). Althought the LEDs get dimmer as time pass, they still light up the little room for many hours.

For my L5, I like the regulator because it runs very good with the Pila 168S.

If the light runs on alkalines, then I like some form of regulation. Gotta agree about hating how lights dim over time. However, if it uses lithiums then they are usually self regulated so there's not usually a need.

I prefer regulation, since I mostly use aa batteries.

Raven

Full regulation is rare, but it's king. Anything else is a step down.

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Phaserburn said:
Full regulation rare, but it's king. Anything else is a step down.

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Right on!

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rex said:
re Votes accepted from (03/29/04 04:58 AM) to (07/02/04 04:00 AM):

What time zone is this???

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Oops, I didn't notice those settings. I would have preferred the poll to open immediately, not a day after posting.

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shiftd said:
i think what he means by regulated is full regulation. So the light will about constant for the whole battery life. The semi-regulation might be for example ARC AAA or arc LS, in which the light provide moon mode when the batt is too weak.

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Exactly. The Elektrolumens Hyper Blaster being another example of partial (semi) regulation.

ronm: if i'm not mistaken lithium batteries have a nicer discharge curve than alkalines, but the output curve is nowhere near that of a fully or even partially regulated light /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Go for full,, flat line regulation. Runtime is a design feature set by the maker of the light or, in the case of the new multiple output level lights, selected by the user.

For me, it depends on the situation. For EDC, I like partial regulation, like the ARC AAA. It stays as bright as it can till the batteries are all but used up, then gives a moon mode to warn you, and give you time for a fresh battery. If the light is to be used for long term emergencies when I don't know if I'll have access to fresh batteries for a while, the I prefer direct drive. Sure, the output dims constantly, but it will produce light much longer than a regulated or semi-regulated light. That being said, I use regulated/semi-regulated more.
It's just nice to have a light that's always as bright as new when you go to use it. I hate it when a light is only half as bright as it is with fresh batteries, kind of like when you have a bigger light that after a while is not much brighter than a much smaller one. It makes me want to change batteries too often, wasting them.
In the end, overall, I guess I prefer semi-regulated.

A keychain light make for great direct drive because I'm not usually all that concerned about intensity since I'm only lighting up close objects.

For other, larger lights... unless I'm in a situation where the brightness of a light is no issue (hey, isn't that what a keychain light is for?), I'd prefer full regulation because I'm likely to swap out the batteries as soon as the light dims too much. Throw and overall brightness are critical for larger lights.

As far as a small EDC light goes... I use that to supplement a keychain light most of the time, so it balances between close-up work and distance work. Semi-regulation (read: some flavor of boost converter) seems to work best for those since they tend to run off single cells.

Maximum runtime is preferrable on EDC/keychain lights due to their frequent use. Larger lights that aren't used as often aren't as touchy on run-time because their use is more likely to be planned, or I'm going to have spare batteries onhand.

For me, I find that I always want to reach for a regulated light. It's a conscious decision for me to use something unregulated.

The poll function appears to be working now FWIW.....