Toasting a KL4 - Really!

Al_Havemann

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Sep 11, 2002
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An interesting story here, and I don't recommend that you try this - not at all but I thought you might be interested.

I have a habit of emptying my pockets when I get home and piling everything on top of the microwave in the kitchen. It sits in a corner of the counter with several other kitchen appliances.

My EDC is a KL4 head on an E1 tube (TW4). About three months ago, it went missing in action. I thought I had lost it for good, although I couldn't think where or how since I was sure it had been piled on the microwave the night before it disappeared, as usual.

About two-three weeks later I got home and there it was, sitting right on top of the microwave oven. Tickled, knowing it had to be my wife who found it, I asked where.

Well, if you remember I said that the microwave sits in a corner with several other appliances?, yes? well, one of them is a toaster. A big toaster. With a bagel slot

And I have a cat who wanders wherever he wants.

My wife was trying to toast a bagel and having trouble, it wouldn't go down all the way. She managed to get it toasted anyway and later, after it cooled, turned it upside down to empty the crumbs or whatever was stuck in it, out came my KL4/E1 from the bagel slot. My wife didn't try it but just put it back on the microwave (she has this thing about my flashlights).

It seemed the KL4 was unharmed by the "toasting", cosmetic or otherwise. In fact, it seems to have done it some good. Now don't ask me why, but it now runs a lot longer on a cell than before. I happened to notice this last week when I laid it down, lit, behind a PC I was working on and I forgot about it for almost an hour until I happened to need it again. When it wasn't in my pocket as usual, I tracked it down behind the machine by the glow and found it was still going strong.

In the past that KL4 would get around 35-40 minutes running fairly bright on a single 123 then drop off sharply over the next few minutes with little or nothing left by 60 minutes.

I really surprised because that battery had been in the light for a couple of weeks and already had quite a lot of time on it. I was carrying a spare because my experience with the KL4 on a single 123 told me that I'd need it very soon. I got through the day and the rest of the week before it dropped off, and got another surprise.

Before, brightness would hold pretty steady, dimming some until battery voltage dropped off to around 2.6 volts, then it would dim sharply over the next few minutes. This was the battery stepping off the ledge and it was probably never in regulation. This time the KL4 stayed bright right up to the end when it dropped instantly (blink). It ran dim for another 15 minutes, then went out (blink).

I pulled the battery and the voltage was at 2.11 volts. I stuck it back in a little later and it came back on at full power for another 4 minutes and dimmed again for another 8 minutes. This time the battery was at 1.99 volts. I'd never seen one that low before.

It also seems brighter, I had always judged it to be maybe twice as bright as my LS, now it seems closer to three times. Now I haven't done any run time tests but, off the top of my head, I'd estimate that I'm getting very close to 90 (or more) minutes on a single battery, at full brightness when used intermittently. So where'd this come from?.

This light was a very good compact light before, now it's a great one. I don't have a clue how cooking the head for about (I tested how long it took to toast a bagel) 5 minutes at maybe 500+ degrees a toaster can generate would cause it to become more efficient. After all, extreme heat is the mortal enemy of electronics, but it seems to have had exactly the opposite effect, perhaps it was because the heat was applied with the light off - who knows...

I'd thought I was getting more time out of it before this happened, and brighter too but I really didn't pay much attention until this happened. Clearly, it's a whole different light, way more efficient.

Anyone ever heard of something like this before?.

Al
 

stockae92

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Mar 8, 2004
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SoCal
lol

people are gonna try to put their L4/KL4 in their toasters now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

bryguy42

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Dec 13, 2003
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baltimore
I'm wondering if a convection oven would be better, since the heat would be more even??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

IsaacHayes

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Jan 30, 2003
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Missouri
Very interesting story! When you said toaster and cat, I was like "Oh no!". As far as it working better, that is a mystery to me. Perhaps submit the story to SF. I don't think they'd post your part about it being improved to their site though. I don't think they want people inteinally cooking their flashlights...
 

avusblue

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Nov 26, 2002
Messages
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Location
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Very interesting! Do you think it went thru many heat cycles, if the toaster got regular usage during the 2 to 3 weeks while the light was lost?

Also, its amazing the rubber and plastic parts weren't damaged or melted!!

Cheers,

Dave
 

ET

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Joined
Oct 2, 2000
Messages
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Location
Toronto
I drop my KL4 from 2 feet and it breaks. Al toasts his for breakfast and it turns into a super-KL4! There's just no justice out there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

tvodrd

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Hawthorne, NV
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif The stuff of urban legends. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Larry
 

CM

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Mesa, AZ
Wonder if using a slow cooker would yield better results. Or how about hickory-smoked KL4 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

brightnorm

Flashaholic
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Oct 13, 2001
Messages
7,160
Maybe just a fluke or maybe Al stumbled upon something important. Al, I hope you make this known to SF and to those equipped to properly evaluate it.

Brightnorm
 

gadget_lover

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Oct 7, 2003
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Near Silicon Valley (too near)
Assuming that this is all true (and I do believe him) the possibilities are interesting.

The change was not to the phosphor, as that would effect brightness but not run time.

The change could have been to the LED itself, as a more efficient semi-conductor junction might create more light with less power.

It might have made some parts in the converter more efficient, as in making coils tighter or the resistance lower....

Hmmmmm, This one should be sent in for analysis. Please?

Daniel
 

pjandyho

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Check if your toaster is still on warranty and get it serviced. For goodness sake your toaster is a fluke! Just kidding /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif Well, you are lucky the 123 batt in there did not explode or your wife would be eating toast peppered with HA crumps. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

Andy Ho
 

Al_Havemann

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Sep 11, 2002
Messages
302
Location
New York City
I'd guess that the back of the light (twisty end) wasn't exposed to nearly as much heat as the head because the rubber on the switch wasn't damaged at all. When I tried forcing a bagel into the slot with the light down there I could only do it if the light was all the way at one end of the slot. This put the tail outside the coil heater area but leaves the head dead on to the coils. And, now that someone mentioned it, I checked the o-ring and it's shot, dry and cracked. I replaced it with one from an air conditioner o-ring kit ( fit's perfect).

With the bagel in the slot, it was jammed against the KL4 head, and I know my wife used a frozen bagel - quite a heat sink!. It's just one of those weird thing that happen from time to time that's hard to document or replicate, just a freak.

I also tried it last night with the L4 barrel and frankly, I couldn't see any difference in brightness, it seems the same as it was before on 2x123s, and the head heated up about as much as I remember. I almost never use the L4 tube so this is very subjective.

I do use a Vital Gear 2AA tube and I can tell you that there is no noticeable difference between the brightness using 2xAAs than with 2x123s. I can tell you that 2xAAs (lithium) will run well over 3 hours at without dimming and without the head getting hot at all, just faintly warm, and again, I can't see any difference in brightness compared to 2x123s either, except the 2xAAs last longer.

I got the Vital Gear tubes (1x123 & 2x123) after this happened so can't tell you how it would have performed before on 2xAAs, good combo though when I need more light, a bit longer than an L4 setup. I really like the Vital Gear tubes, especially the 2xAA since I already had a e1 barrel and Z57.

It all seems to relate to efficiency. The KL4 always gained a lot of efficiency when under driven, it just got better.

I've had other things like that happen occasionally. Several years ago I was overhauling an engine and through haste, augmented by many interruptions, I failed to install a keeper on one of the wrist pins. Now as any mechanic will tell you, parts are gonna fly when that wrist pin slides out and hits the cylinder wall. Not this time, last year I pulled down the engine after 140k miles to go over it again, when I pulled the piston (the one with the wrist pin missing a keeper), the wrist pin slid out and dropped into my hand, plunk. I looked at the sleeve and not a scratch on the wall, not a mark. I can only shake my head, that engine should have launched into orbit, especially the way I drive. Murphy must have been on vacation that day.

Al
 
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