Nitefighter L1A angle head light for $12.79

Ordered 2 about 5 days ago and got an email 2 days ago saying they were out of stock and didn’t know when they would be back in stock.

Seems to be almost identical to GSX 85 Lumen Angle-Head Tactical LED Headlamp reviewed at CPF.

And this one Cree Flexi CREE LED Right Angle Flashlight on Amazon, please see reviews there.

What is parasitic drain ?

The GSX is said in the review to have a terrible pwm on low, while I can not detect any in this one.

The parasitic drain I just measured at 60 micro-ampere

How about overheating mentioned on amazon ? (link to review)

BTW. Is there a formula to translate CPF rating to BLF one ? :slight_smile:

I do not see how a light can overheat on a single alkaline/NiMh battery: the driver struggles to boost the voltage and the output will not easy get over 100 lumen. The light will not be hotter than luke-warm and to kill the led it must have no heatsinking at all.

I really tried to get the reflector/ledboard out now and did not succeed. Either it requires so much brute force and heating up that destroying the light is likely, or I missed something on how the light is constructed. Is someone else more skilled/lucky?

I measured tail current on a mostly full Duracel (actually the one that came with the light): 1.35A, after boosting I guess there is not more than 300mA leftover for the led. The output on high is about 80 lumen, on low 13 lumen. On an Eneloop the tail current is 1.4A on high, 180mA on low, output is 90 lumen on high, 12.5 on low. (It suggests pwm after all, the efficiency on low is not much better than on high, but this statement is not backed up by any decent calculation).

I doubt that amazon guy made up that story, he stated that it worked again after it cooled down, so it sounds to be about the heat, maybe just cold solder joint… (no word there about killing the LED).

Regarding LED current, I have seen 350mA mentioned somewhere, but I do not remember where…

Perhaps something was wrong with his copy. I just ran the light for half an hour on an Eneloop XXXX, the flashlight hardly warmed up, after that the output had gone down from 90 to 76 lumen. I let it cool down for 8 minutes, then switched it on and got 79 lumen. Nothing drastic going on with temperature in my copy.

Thanks Djozz for all the pics and info...

Pity, as I hoped it to be a bit easier to replace the Led..

How is headband clip?

(link)

Well, it did not break yet...

But it sure looks like it could break at some point, it is plastic and it is used to clamp something, not the most robust solution I can think of. But then, it could just work fine for years..

Will that one do? FT: Headlight Mounting Strap for 18650 Flashlight

That one will probably be too wide, I think a simple one like this will work fine for this small light:

Thanks djozz.
So — easy to get the driver and switch out (and so to mod them and get them back in?)

Waiting and hoping on the LED result; as the reflector is deep — WOW, from your picture, the reflector goes all the way to the back side of the head with the LED at the back wall?!

Could all that space be used for a slug of copper, to raise and heatsink a better, floody emitter?
Heck, I’d be happy without a reflector, full flood — tho’ I wonder if a little aspheric could be found and positioned in place of the lens, or a Carclo-type optic. Are there threads at the reflector socket or just press fit?

Very tempting already. One ordered.

(I’ve got a couple of Z1s, a Z2, and a Moon M6 — none reasonably moddable, plus the one I destroyed trying and passed on)

Mine showed up and it also has a glued in reflector, also a big halo around the hot spot, this needs some kind of a diffuser or something to blend the lights together, has a pretty cheezy headband holder and a narrow headband,but for the price it’ll make a ok light for working on the car, oh yah one more thing, the battery tube is really thin

Just got mine as well. The driver works like this:
High-Low-SOS-Strobe-Off (SOS and Strobe may be switched, I didn’t pay attention)
If it is left on a mode for 3 seconds, then the next click will be off, so it is possible to skip all the blinking modes. I also did not notice any PWM (I consider myself sensitive to it and always check).
I like the finish on the light, matte and feels good, not sure how it will wear but I didn’t see any blemishes or scuffs.
The spot is small with a ring around it, it would be better suited with a bigger die, a (more) OP reflector, or diffuse lens.
I consider it a great buy for $12, gave mine to the wife since she didn’t have a right angle or headlight so I might get another one.

I ordered one of these today. I can’t wait.

I finally took the plunge too. The last budget angle light I bought has some issues, I’m hoping this one’s better.

There are definite rings in the beam, but the output is good for my purposes. While walking, the light holder will pivot, so the light starts to point more down than wished. I turned the band over, and rotated the light to counter that. For the money, I like it.

First thing it needs is a diffuser; very ringy as noted.
Feels like solid hardware though, fairly thick wall, smooth threads feel ok.

Glad Djozz already pulled his apart so I don’t have to do that just out of curiosity.
I’ll wait on someone else to mod it; typical blue-white emitter is the next thing that needs replacing.

And of course it’s hi/low/strobe/sos.
No-mode-memory — it reverts to high each time it’s left shut off, that’s tolerable.

Of course I wish for moon/l/m/h; that’ll be a mod later, I hope.