TrueBlue
Flashlight Enthusiast
<font color="red"> 9/21/04: 4sevens has sold all the light. When you all get them tell the other cpf people how nice the lights are and what they missed out on. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif</font>
<font color="green">9/10/04 Edit.
Dumb me. I should have thought of all variations in a light before I made an assumption that any light has a brighter spot then another.
Because of a fellow cpfer disbelief that this ALX-mod is a capable light I did more testing. I bought a new 2D Gaglite and hacked the shiny reflector apart to fit it in the ProMagnum. Then I took foot-candle readings of both the ALX and the ProMagnum. ProMagnum with a sputtered reflector and 2D 9000 NiMh gave a lux meter read 8930 foot-candles. With the shiny reflector the PROMAGNUM has a reading of 11,320 foot-candles.
The little ALX-M on low reads 4,110 foot-candles and 11,300 foot-candles on high.
So the PROMAGNUM spot beam could be a hair brighter than the ALX-M but plus or minus five percent error such as beam angle or battery state of charge would make the light beams equal.
It does prove that you can get more light out of the PROMAGNUM with a shiny stock reflector. With the proper modification the ProMagnum will match the spot beam of the ALX-M light.
So I'll change the title of this thread to indicate the ALX Equals the ProMagnum.
Please don't think I do not like Lambda's products. A matter of fact is that I'm quite a fan of his work. I own his Min*mag SMD module, the ProMagnum and am #4 on his list of 25 for his newest Min*mag HD Pill. I have the utmost respect for his pioneering ideas and precision craftsmanship on the LED lights he makes.
On the other hand I want people to enjoy and sample a gifted and creative individual, 4sevens, for his ALX mod so I mad this thread for anyone to enjoy his well-crafted work.
So it is off to change the title of the thread to: FS, 4sevens, ALX mod that equals ProMagnum.</font>
4sevens is nice enough to sell this super bright mod. Check with him...you won't be sorry.
Here is a great mod by a creative cpfer that goes by the name "4sevens". The light is a creative joy that I seriously think other cpf members would enjoy. The serious mod is, of course, the little silver light versus another serious light.
If you don't like direct drive lights and think a direct driven light is too simple then don't read anymore. If you insist on an optic to throw a beam of light then stop reading. BUT IF you want a light with superior brightness, 100% efficiency, a long and bright run-time, a dimming feature and a light that will out spot 98% of other LED lights in a small package then read on.
The Nuwai ALX-1113A is sold by www.goldengadgets.com through Ebay. I never saw anyone using this light at CPF, the price was right at $19.99 for a nice looking 1-watt regulated Luxeon LED light and it used 3xAAA batteries in a carriage. I have a soft spot in my brain for lights that use easy to get batteries. A mouse click and a single bid bought the light for $19.99. So I thought I would experiment and see what the light was all about. Was the light well built; did it look as good in person as it did in the pictures; was it worth the price?
On the package the light claims:
10 Times Brighter Than Standard LEDs (25 ~ 30 Lumens)
Extensive Lifetime of LED (100,000 hrs)
Conserves Battery Power
Carrying Strap Nylon Pouch with Velcro Strap and Belt Loop
1 Watt LED "Luxeon Star"
3 x 1.5V "AAA" Size Alkaline Batteries
3 x Duracell Alkaline Batteries Included
Burn Time: 4 hours
Product size: dia. 41mm x 132 mm (1.6" diameter x 5.20")
Product weight: 160g (with Batteries) / 0.35 lbs. /5.64 oz
Output Power Comparison: Single 5mm LED output 1.8 lumen per emitter vs. 1-Watt LED Luxeon
Star outputs 30 Lumens per emitter
Brand: Nitestar
All the claims about the light were true. It looks good, is built well and has an excellently built battery carriage. But what they didn't tell me was how badly the beam color looked. I assumed the color of the beam of the emitter would be white but I don't see anywhere on the package about the color of the emitter. I understand the emitter in the stock ALX is a low grade PW01 and I could tell that by simply turning on the light. Pee-U green shining in full glory on my white wall! My wife laughed at the light beam and that was insulting. She told me, "You know the inexpensive Chinese lights you have a better light then that Luxeon." Ow, the comment hurt! I couldn't even ratchet off the emitter hold-down to change the emitter. I was stuck with a light that had a great build but turned on a sickly green/white beam.
The light has potential. The light is very well crafted and is very sturdy. I'm impressed with how the nicely designed and built battery carriage was made and the first-class quality of the reflector. The balance of the light is good. It is the right size and it looks nice. It has a contemporary design with aggressive looking scallops on the head of the light.
The Nuwai ALX has potential with the very deep-dish reflector. The emitters beam would be spread in a narrow fashion to make a good spotlight but still have a great spill light. I'm glad to see I was right. But the beam was wimpy powered puke green and I couldn't get out the emitter because the reverse shaped ratchet hold down screw holding the emitter in place.
It is smart looking and has a very deep-dished reflector for a fantastic beam throw…if you don't mind the sick looking green beam.
I did a quick test of the stock light. 135 foot-candles on a lux meter-not good. Run-time to half brightness read a high of 6.85 lumens and a low of 3.43 lumens running for 85 minutes-OK, I can live with that. None of the test results were inspiring so…into the drawer it went to be forgotten for many weeks…until I read a thread 4sevens started commenting on the quality of the build of the Nuwai light. I think I was the only response to that thread. We got to PM each other and to make a long story short I emailed the light to him to mod the light into something I could use. He had already modded two other ALX lights so he was far more familiar with them then I was. As we PMed each other we figured out what the light needed. 4sevens did most of the figuring. What I got back was beyond what I could have expected.
In the mod the light was:
Converted from an ugly, dim, beam 1-watt PW01 to a very nice white, powerful, 3-watt TV1K Luxeon. It has a nice, white and powerful beam now.
The 2-stage switch that is in the light was activated with the use of a resistor. Yes, the light now has two levels of light. I didn't even know there was a hidden two-stage switch in the light. The light now has a high/low beam. Yes, screaming bright light and a second beam mode for the midnight toilet trot. The new ALX is a triple purpose light-spotlight; walking light and, with dimming, it is a ready for close-up a close up beam.
The modded ALX now uses the head to focus the reflector. An optic wasn't used or needed so there are no light distortion from an optic-just 100% reflected light. The reflector is very nicely manufactured and it would be a shame to lose the use of the fine reflector with an optic.
We decided to pull out the power limiting electronics and go with direct drive. It runs at 800 mA and you'll see from the beam shots it works very well.
I couldn't have asked for a more professional mod then what was done to this light. This mod couldn't have been more professionally put together.
My wife's reaction to the light? I left the light on the kitchen table so she could find it. She turned it on and told me that it looks a little different (a little grin from me). I told her to click the light again and when she did it went from dim mode to bright mode. She was shocked at the brightness and had fun waving the light beam around the kitchen (big grin from me).
Huh? Pictures? Specs? Run-times? Beamshots? Is anyone still reading?
The lux test I used to determine which light had the most concentrated beam is not the end-all to light testing but would tell me which light had the brightest center (throw).
I whittled down the light brightness competition one by one using a lux meter measuring at one foot. Here are the numbers from the Lux meter:
1. Stock Nuwai ALX-1113, 1-watt- 135 foot-candles
2. Streamlight Jr. Luxeon, 1 watt- 380 foot-candles
3. Nuwai ALX-1113A, 3 watt (modified, low beam)- 470 foot-candles
4. Min*mag (stock)- 511 foot-candles
5. Madmax Lite, 3 watt- 521 foot-candles
6. Gerber LX 3.0, 3 watt- 746 foot-candles
7. Badboy 650 3 watt- 762 foot-candles
8. Badboy 400, 3 watt- 769 foot-candles
9. ProMagnum, 3 watt- 1,188 foot-candles
10. Nuwai ALX-1113A, 3 watt (modified, high beam)- 1,291 foot-candles
The winners were the modded Nuwai ALX and the sputter reflector ProMagnum. Not that any of the other lights are bad but they have a different beam pattern that makes them act more like a floodlight rather than a spotlight.
So the little 3AAA ALX and the big 6AA modified 2D Gaglite ProMagnum were the finalists. It was a battle of David versus Goliath. The little guy and the bigger competition. Tom and Jerry. Chevrolet versus Kia. Coke versus, uhh, Snapple?
In the beam toss category little Nuwai won. It easily out spotted the ProMagnum because of the very deep-dish reflector concentrating the light accurately. The Nuwai really does put in a first-class reflector in the little light. I think the Nuwai might even have a better throw with a Ultra Clear Lens (UCL) that the ProMag already had.
In the beam spill category ProMag won. Again the difference in the reflector is the reason. ProMagnum has a shallower reflector and the beam angle coming out of a shallow reflector is wider. ProMag generates more light and has a more effective side-spill light.
Runtime? ProMag would lunch the Nuwai easily. The ProMag with 6AA NiMH (2300mA x 6AA=13,800 mA) batteries has a run-time of 178 minutes to half power and the Nuwai run-time with only 3AAA NiMH (750mA x 3AAA=2,250 mA) batteries is only 89 minutes.
The two lights are evenly matched in light throwing capacity with the ALX throwing a bit more concentrated light. ProMagnum puts out more light but uses more light for a side spill light. ALX has more of a spotlight with less side spill because of the very deep-dish reflector.
And the ALX is a lot smaller with 3AAA batteries then a 2D Gaglite is.
So for a little work you can have a light that will out throw a ProMagnum and Tri-Star Phaser and have a dimming function too. Compared to the stock ALX, the modded ALX is over 9.5 times brighter, 1.08 longer in run-time and puts out a serious amount of light of over 1,300 foot-candles with fresh NiMH batteries. On low beam at 470 candlepower it is good for close up work and should last approximately 6 hours and 40 minutes (estimated). Going to high mode it puts out a 1300 foot-candle beam that must to be seen to be believed for at least 92 minutes, just a little more time than the stock lights run-time of 85 minutes. ALX mod is a serious spotlight with spill light and a toilet trotter beam too.
Oh, the light still has a little green in the beam as just a reminder of how the beam looked before the mod. There is green glow powder around the emitter that finishes the ALX nicely.
Here is something I just noticed. In the run-time charts of the stock ALX and the modded ALX the graphs look the same-they have the same power curve except the stock ALX puts out a lot less power and brightness. So I could say the stock regulated ALX runs like the modded direct drive ALX. Why did Nuwai even bother to put regulation in the light? What a waste of effort.
Remember: 4SEVENS makes the mod and not humble little me.
<font color="green">9/10/04 Edit.
Dumb me. I should have thought of all variations in a light before I made an assumption that any light has a brighter spot then another.
Because of a fellow cpfer disbelief that this ALX-mod is a capable light I did more testing. I bought a new 2D Gaglite and hacked the shiny reflector apart to fit it in the ProMagnum. Then I took foot-candle readings of both the ALX and the ProMagnum. ProMagnum with a sputtered reflector and 2D 9000 NiMh gave a lux meter read 8930 foot-candles. With the shiny reflector the PROMAGNUM has a reading of 11,320 foot-candles.
The little ALX-M on low reads 4,110 foot-candles and 11,300 foot-candles on high.
So the PROMAGNUM spot beam could be a hair brighter than the ALX-M but plus or minus five percent error such as beam angle or battery state of charge would make the light beams equal.
It does prove that you can get more light out of the PROMAGNUM with a shiny stock reflector. With the proper modification the ProMagnum will match the spot beam of the ALX-M light.
So I'll change the title of this thread to indicate the ALX Equals the ProMagnum.
Please don't think I do not like Lambda's products. A matter of fact is that I'm quite a fan of his work. I own his Min*mag SMD module, the ProMagnum and am #4 on his list of 25 for his newest Min*mag HD Pill. I have the utmost respect for his pioneering ideas and precision craftsmanship on the LED lights he makes.
On the other hand I want people to enjoy and sample a gifted and creative individual, 4sevens, for his ALX mod so I mad this thread for anyone to enjoy his well-crafted work.
So it is off to change the title of the thread to: FS, 4sevens, ALX mod that equals ProMagnum.</font>
4sevens is nice enough to sell this super bright mod. Check with him...you won't be sorry.
Here is a great mod by a creative cpfer that goes by the name "4sevens". The light is a creative joy that I seriously think other cpf members would enjoy. The serious mod is, of course, the little silver light versus another serious light.
If you don't like direct drive lights and think a direct driven light is too simple then don't read anymore. If you insist on an optic to throw a beam of light then stop reading. BUT IF you want a light with superior brightness, 100% efficiency, a long and bright run-time, a dimming feature and a light that will out spot 98% of other LED lights in a small package then read on.
The Nuwai ALX-1113A is sold by www.goldengadgets.com through Ebay. I never saw anyone using this light at CPF, the price was right at $19.99 for a nice looking 1-watt regulated Luxeon LED light and it used 3xAAA batteries in a carriage. I have a soft spot in my brain for lights that use easy to get batteries. A mouse click and a single bid bought the light for $19.99. So I thought I would experiment and see what the light was all about. Was the light well built; did it look as good in person as it did in the pictures; was it worth the price?
On the package the light claims:
10 Times Brighter Than Standard LEDs (25 ~ 30 Lumens)
Extensive Lifetime of LED (100,000 hrs)
Conserves Battery Power
Carrying Strap Nylon Pouch with Velcro Strap and Belt Loop
1 Watt LED "Luxeon Star"
3 x 1.5V "AAA" Size Alkaline Batteries
3 x Duracell Alkaline Batteries Included
Burn Time: 4 hours
Product size: dia. 41mm x 132 mm (1.6" diameter x 5.20")
Product weight: 160g (with Batteries) / 0.35 lbs. /5.64 oz
Output Power Comparison: Single 5mm LED output 1.8 lumen per emitter vs. 1-Watt LED Luxeon
Star outputs 30 Lumens per emitter
Brand: Nitestar
All the claims about the light were true. It looks good, is built well and has an excellently built battery carriage. But what they didn't tell me was how badly the beam color looked. I assumed the color of the beam of the emitter would be white but I don't see anywhere on the package about the color of the emitter. I understand the emitter in the stock ALX is a low grade PW01 and I could tell that by simply turning on the light. Pee-U green shining in full glory on my white wall! My wife laughed at the light beam and that was insulting. She told me, "You know the inexpensive Chinese lights you have a better light then that Luxeon." Ow, the comment hurt! I couldn't even ratchet off the emitter hold-down to change the emitter. I was stuck with a light that had a great build but turned on a sickly green/white beam.
The light has potential. The light is very well crafted and is very sturdy. I'm impressed with how the nicely designed and built battery carriage was made and the first-class quality of the reflector. The balance of the light is good. It is the right size and it looks nice. It has a contemporary design with aggressive looking scallops on the head of the light.
The Nuwai ALX has potential with the very deep-dish reflector. The emitters beam would be spread in a narrow fashion to make a good spotlight but still have a great spill light. I'm glad to see I was right. But the beam was wimpy powered puke green and I couldn't get out the emitter because the reverse shaped ratchet hold down screw holding the emitter in place.
It is smart looking and has a very deep-dished reflector for a fantastic beam throw…if you don't mind the sick looking green beam.
I did a quick test of the stock light. 135 foot-candles on a lux meter-not good. Run-time to half brightness read a high of 6.85 lumens and a low of 3.43 lumens running for 85 minutes-OK, I can live with that. None of the test results were inspiring so…into the drawer it went to be forgotten for many weeks…until I read a thread 4sevens started commenting on the quality of the build of the Nuwai light. I think I was the only response to that thread. We got to PM each other and to make a long story short I emailed the light to him to mod the light into something I could use. He had already modded two other ALX lights so he was far more familiar with them then I was. As we PMed each other we figured out what the light needed. 4sevens did most of the figuring. What I got back was beyond what I could have expected.
In the mod the light was:
Converted from an ugly, dim, beam 1-watt PW01 to a very nice white, powerful, 3-watt TV1K Luxeon. It has a nice, white and powerful beam now.
The 2-stage switch that is in the light was activated with the use of a resistor. Yes, the light now has two levels of light. I didn't even know there was a hidden two-stage switch in the light. The light now has a high/low beam. Yes, screaming bright light and a second beam mode for the midnight toilet trot. The new ALX is a triple purpose light-spotlight; walking light and, with dimming, it is a ready for close-up a close up beam.
The modded ALX now uses the head to focus the reflector. An optic wasn't used or needed so there are no light distortion from an optic-just 100% reflected light. The reflector is very nicely manufactured and it would be a shame to lose the use of the fine reflector with an optic.
We decided to pull out the power limiting electronics and go with direct drive. It runs at 800 mA and you'll see from the beam shots it works very well.
I couldn't have asked for a more professional mod then what was done to this light. This mod couldn't have been more professionally put together.
My wife's reaction to the light? I left the light on the kitchen table so she could find it. She turned it on and told me that it looks a little different (a little grin from me). I told her to click the light again and when she did it went from dim mode to bright mode. She was shocked at the brightness and had fun waving the light beam around the kitchen (big grin from me).
Huh? Pictures? Specs? Run-times? Beamshots? Is anyone still reading?
The lux test I used to determine which light had the most concentrated beam is not the end-all to light testing but would tell me which light had the brightest center (throw).
I whittled down the light brightness competition one by one using a lux meter measuring at one foot. Here are the numbers from the Lux meter:
1. Stock Nuwai ALX-1113, 1-watt- 135 foot-candles
2. Streamlight Jr. Luxeon, 1 watt- 380 foot-candles
3. Nuwai ALX-1113A, 3 watt (modified, low beam)- 470 foot-candles
4. Min*mag (stock)- 511 foot-candles
5. Madmax Lite, 3 watt- 521 foot-candles
6. Gerber LX 3.0, 3 watt- 746 foot-candles
7. Badboy 650 3 watt- 762 foot-candles
8. Badboy 400, 3 watt- 769 foot-candles
9. ProMagnum, 3 watt- 1,188 foot-candles
10. Nuwai ALX-1113A, 3 watt (modified, high beam)- 1,291 foot-candles
The winners were the modded Nuwai ALX and the sputter reflector ProMagnum. Not that any of the other lights are bad but they have a different beam pattern that makes them act more like a floodlight rather than a spotlight.
So the little 3AAA ALX and the big 6AA modified 2D Gaglite ProMagnum were the finalists. It was a battle of David versus Goliath. The little guy and the bigger competition. Tom and Jerry. Chevrolet versus Kia. Coke versus, uhh, Snapple?
In the beam toss category little Nuwai won. It easily out spotted the ProMagnum because of the very deep-dish reflector concentrating the light accurately. The Nuwai really does put in a first-class reflector in the little light. I think the Nuwai might even have a better throw with a Ultra Clear Lens (UCL) that the ProMag already had.
In the beam spill category ProMag won. Again the difference in the reflector is the reason. ProMagnum has a shallower reflector and the beam angle coming out of a shallow reflector is wider. ProMag generates more light and has a more effective side-spill light.
Runtime? ProMag would lunch the Nuwai easily. The ProMag with 6AA NiMH (2300mA x 6AA=13,800 mA) batteries has a run-time of 178 minutes to half power and the Nuwai run-time with only 3AAA NiMH (750mA x 3AAA=2,250 mA) batteries is only 89 minutes.
The two lights are evenly matched in light throwing capacity with the ALX throwing a bit more concentrated light. ProMagnum puts out more light but uses more light for a side spill light. ALX has more of a spotlight with less side spill because of the very deep-dish reflector.
And the ALX is a lot smaller with 3AAA batteries then a 2D Gaglite is.
So for a little work you can have a light that will out throw a ProMagnum and Tri-Star Phaser and have a dimming function too. Compared to the stock ALX, the modded ALX is over 9.5 times brighter, 1.08 longer in run-time and puts out a serious amount of light of over 1,300 foot-candles with fresh NiMH batteries. On low beam at 470 candlepower it is good for close up work and should last approximately 6 hours and 40 minutes (estimated). Going to high mode it puts out a 1300 foot-candle beam that must to be seen to be believed for at least 92 minutes, just a little more time than the stock lights run-time of 85 minutes. ALX mod is a serious spotlight with spill light and a toilet trotter beam too.
Oh, the light still has a little green in the beam as just a reminder of how the beam looked before the mod. There is green glow powder around the emitter that finishes the ALX nicely.
Here is something I just noticed. In the run-time charts of the stock ALX and the modded ALX the graphs look the same-they have the same power curve except the stock ALX puts out a lot less power and brightness. So I could say the stock regulated ALX runs like the modded direct drive ALX. Why did Nuwai even bother to put regulation in the light? What a waste of effort.
Remember: 4SEVENS makes the mod and not humble little me.
