Spec me an LED Torch

Aod · 17 Nov 2012 at 18:57

amigafan2003 said:
Nope - two cr123a's will put 6v into the driver rather than the 3.7v the single cell lion will do. More volts = more lumens with most drivers.

They have roughly the same amount of w/hrs avail (9w/hrs for 2xCR123a's vs 9.36w/hrs for a 2600mah 18650) but you're right, a high discharge will drop the cr123a's quicker.

That depends entirely on the driver though, a lot of the drivers on the market are straight linear-regulators that put out the same amount of current regardless of the Voltage input, but I suppose that there are a fair few drivers on the market that will overdrive the LED with a higher voltage input.

reygjabla · 17 Nov 2012 at 20:46

Aod said:
this might help out: http://lygte-info.dk/info/HobbyChargers UK.html

Hobby chargers are more for people who enjoy soldering up their own charging leads

WOW! First, I just wanted a better torch than what I had,

then, I got suckered into thinking that maybe some of my rechargeables maybe in dangerous state, :rolleyes:

and now these? :eek:

By the way, thanks man. I think I'm beginning to be happy with my fast charger and the Nitecore I4.

Aod · 18 Nov 2012 at 01:28

reygjabla said:
WOW! First, I just wanted a better torch than what I had, then, I got suckered into thinking that maybe some of my rechargeables maybe in dangerous state, and now these?

By the way, thanks man. I think I'm beginning to be happy with my fast charger and the Nitecore I4.

Ahaha, you're very welcome! When I mentioned my charger, it was more as an example of the ultimate in Li-Ion charging rather than the optimal solution for most people! For one thing, I actually had to manually solder together a charging cradle to allow me to charge more than one cell at a time

Musty Pie · 18 Nov 2012 at 10:26

Aod said:
SNIP

Thanks for all of that mate!

I am thinking I will just get the charger you suggested now with some protected cells (probably eagletac ones x2)

This (with my Shadow VG10) Should be all I need for my bike will let you all know what I think when it all arrives!

Cheers

reygjabla · 18 Nov 2012 at 10:58

Deluxe1 said:
You will need to charge it first they don't come fully charged.

mrk said:
My Eagletac 3400s came with about 90% charge! They were from Flashaholics though.

That Spark looks sublime, any shots with it?

Just finished charging my first 18650's, 4 Eagletac 3400 on a nitecore I4 V2 and it took almost 14 hours. Is that the norms?

Deluxe1 · 18 Nov 2012 at 11:01

It is if you are charging 4 at a time.

reygjabla · 18 Nov 2012 at 13:29

Is the Nitecore I4 V2 really that slow? or the batteries doesn't have any charge at all?
Just got it from Flashaholic and I thought they were supposed to have at least 90% charge. :rolleyes:

Buddah · 18 Nov 2012 at 14:00

Would something like This really produce 6000 lumens? If so why would it be a lot cheaper than the expensive models you guys have?

Deluxe1 · 18 Nov 2012 at 14:11

No it wouldn't produce 6000 lumens most prob 2500 - 3000.

It's all do with the quality of the product.

If you want a budget light that does indeed give out a lot of lumens then go for a sky ray king.

http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1708

Buddah · 18 Nov 2012 at 14:21

Thanks,I'll have a look.

Lee Wilson · 18 Nov 2012 at 18:53

"This message has been deleted by Jokester. Reason: No selling outside MM please."

Whoops ! Sorry, I wasn't selling anything myself, I was replying to a post made a couple of weeks back where Deluxe1 was offering his old TM11 for sale . . . .

Anyhow . . . what is MM ?

And is it ok if I contact Deluxe1 directly ?

If not, anyone know a good place (cheap!) to grab the TM11, I'm in London/UK if that's relevant.

Cheers for any input, great thread by the way, lots of great information !!

Aod · 18 Nov 2012 at 19:10

Lee Wilson said:
"This message has been deleted by Jokester. Reason: No selling outside MM please."

Whoops ! Sorry, I wasn't selling anything myself, I was replying to a post made a couple of weeks back where Deluxe1 was offering his old TM11 for sale . . . .

Anyhow . . . what is MM ?

And is it ok if I contact Deluxe1 directly ?

If not, anyone know a good place (cheap!) to grab the TM11, I'm in London/UK if that's relevant.

Cheers for any input, great thread by the way, lots of great information !!

Hi there Matey,
You can email members by clicking on the "trust" button at the bottom right of that members posts, there are no Private-Messages on this forum

Mark A · 18 Nov 2012 at 19:32

BTW did we hear anything back about being able to sell torches in the MM yet?

Lee Wilson · 18 Nov 2012 at 19:42

Aod said:
Hi there Matey,
You can email members by clicking on the "trust" button at the bottom right of that members posts, there are no Private-Messages on this forum

Cheers Aod, I've done that, clicked a couple of buttons and filled out a form - and am now fully trustworthy

If he (Deluxe1) does't get back to me or doesn't want to sell - where is a good place to buy a TM11 or TN30 if you are in the UK . . . ?

Cheers for your help.

Lee

ThriceNightly · 18 Nov 2012 at 19:51

Mark A said:
BTW did we hear anything back about being able to sell torches in the MM yet?

Deluxe1 · 18 Nov 2012 at 20:19

Yeah we are not allowed to sell them, no reason given.

silversurfer · 18 Nov 2012 at 20:23

Nobody cares to illuminate why

I have a LED torch bought from OCUK, HIS

Actually quite nifty, also has a spirit level because this is useful when building a PC

The cree LED looks a heck of a lot like a little CPU to me, Im certain they would sell quite a few if they stocked some. Seems relevant to me, they sell all the other case lights

lloydsj · 19 Nov 2012 at 16:08

Aod said:
very few torches are focusable, let alone twist-focus, the reason is that LED lights are most efficient (light emitted out the torch as a percentage of total light emitted by the LED) at one exact point, and moving the reflector has a drastic effect on light-output, unlike a filament lamp.

you could try something like this;
http://www.flashaholics.co.uk/nitecore/nitecore-mt2a.html

47's lights are very good quality;
http://www.flashaholics.co.uk/4sevens/foursevens-mini-m2a.html

Bike mounts and holsters are usually universal to a form-factor, most 2x AA lights will fit the same mounts/holsters

Thanks for the advice here. Since my original post, I've done some more reading and looked at your suggestions. I think I've got a clearer idea about what i want now, and at the moment I'm looking at a Quark X AA2 Tactical with a single AA body tube.

http://budgetlightforum.com/node/6308 (presume it's ok to link to this?)

What I like about this setup, is it gives me the option of using a 14500 battery to get the extra lumens... but if the battery runs out, I can just use a normal AA from anywhere. It seems to give me the best of both worlds, by giving the performance of the higher power torches that run on rechargeable/specialist batteries, whilst still able to take normal AA's if required. AND its small for a EDC (as I'd prefer single AA size, rather than 2AA).

So my requirements now are...
* £50'ish
* Small as for EDC (probably 1xAA *with* 1x14500 capability, or similar).
* weatherproof
* hopefully > 200 lumens (when running on 14500 or similar, so the LED will need to be able to take 3V i think?).
* moonlight setting would be good (so i can use it when camping and not wake everyone up in the night

)

Anyone got any suggestions of other torches to meet that criteria?
Anyone got any opinions on the Quark X AA that I'm looking at already?

Cheers.

Aod · 19 Nov 2012 at 16:14

That sounds like a good one really, I can't think of any better recommendations

lloydsj · 19 Nov 2012 at 17:18

Aod said:
That sounds like a good one really, I can't think of any better recommendations

Ok great, thanks. I've PM'd you to your trust email.

Anyone else got any alternatives/suggestions/opinions on the Quark X AA Tactical?

Cheers.