I finally got around to working on this toad. It had not one, not two, but three… yes, count’em three problems that kept it from working.
First one of the emitter wires was not properly soldered to the star. Blob of solder, but no continuity to the star. I originally tested the head by clipping a battery directly to the head and got no light so I assumed the driver was DOA.
Second the spring in the base was not making contact to the tube. No amount of futzing could get it to make contact. The dreaded WOAF (wad of aluminum foil) hack got that kludged around… crammed a big wad of foil under the spring.
Third was the driver was sitting slightly below the edge of the pill. It would not make contact to the tube when the head was screwed in. I ran a bead of solder around the outer driver ring to get it working.
Tossed it into the Sphere ’o Many Mysteries:
Moon: 0.15 lumens
Low: 12.8 lumens
High: 115 lumens (what a T10 should be. Saber should be 169 lumens)
CCT: 6400K
despite all of the ‘issues’ with TN and the BLF 1A, I have to say that my copy (from fleabay, $25 bo) has been great! On 14500 it is a great little light… keeps moonlight mode as well…
Hope those who are having issues get the details sorted…
I tried a couple of NiMH cells. They would not fit in the tube. Tube is 14.3mm ID. NoMem 2500 mAh cell is 14.3 mm, goes in half way. Imedion 2200 mAh is 14.28 mm, goes in about 3/4 way and then seems like air pressure is keeping it from going in the rest of the way. I’m not going to force the issue…
It should, it is identical to the Thrunite (down to tooling marks on the LED centering ring). Nowhere does either say that it supports lithium rechargeables, but people say they do.
Hi,
I just bought Saber 1A, but frankly I’m not impressed with the performance.
I find 169 lumens on High is hardly believable because it looks so much dimmer compared to my old mini torch, Ultrafire single mode at 200 lumens (factory claim). It uses XPG Q5 & CR123A. I bought it for $9 on sale.
It’s exactly like here: http://dx.com/p/ultrafire-w610-cree-xp-g-q5-200lm-white-flashlight-black-1-x-16430-186192
Sure at 200 lm, the Ultrafire is supposed to be brighter, but the brightness difference between the 2 flashlight is too massive for 31 lm difference. The Ultrafire looks like almost twice brighter (at 200 lm) vs Saber 1A (169 lm).
When doing wall test from 9 meters away, the Ultrafire is still showing a bright hotspot with spill. The Saber fail to show any hotspot at this distance. It’s just a reasonably bright spill.
Is Saber 1A lumens inflated too much ?
I know some people use 14500 in this torch. Does the drive actually support 14500 ? Will it blow the led or something ?
Comparing a 3 volt light to a 1.2-1.5 volt light, I wouldn’t be surprised if the 3 volt light is brighter because it should be.
The Saber 1A is also a floody light so it doesn’t have a tight hotspot, that may be one reason why your “200 lumen” light appears a lot brighter.
I have no way to measure the actual lumens but it is rated at 169 ANSI lumens which means it really should be 169 lumens, where the UltraFire don’t use ANSI lumens so its anyones guess how many lumens its putting out. Not often but sometimes they put out more than factory lumen specs but usually they over rate it.
The voltages and a reflector that looks huge on the UltraFire pretty much make them uncomparable. It seems to me like flood vs throw and twice the voltage so its not surprising that the UltraFire is appears a lot brighter and has a brighter hotspot.
