New Utilitech 4xAAA Light at Lowe's USA, Go get one.

[Old-Lumens]

I decided to stop by Lowe's, since Home Depot had their stuff out. I found a lot of things.

One of them was this 4xAAA light with a clip.

Part# 0494831 Price was $9.95

Anodized Aluminum and a belt clip.

The lens and reflector are Plastic. The diameter of the lens and reflector is 35mm.

It will tail stand.

Aluminum pill is hollow, but it's very large and filling the pill would easily mean an XM-L would work fine at 3 amps or so.

Driver looks more like a contact plate. No modes, just on/off.

The reflector is stippled in the bottom third and smooth above.

The 4xAAA holder is just another cheapie with lots of resistance.

Nice Spot! I think it will throw well for what it is. Looks like an XP-E2 (It's an XP-G2) led. I have some and they look the same.

It draws 1.25 amps when turned on and it's stable there.

It will not take a 26650 or 18650. The ID of the tube is way too small for a 26650 and the OAL inside will not allow for either.

I believe it might just do 300 lumens or close to it, so the specs look good on this one.

EDIT: Lux at 1 meter is 11,200

Just an FYI. I think these will go very fast at Lowes.

[Hikelite]

Looks like and XP-G2, can post a frontal shot of the LED?

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

Is the holder 4s or 2s2p? And how much resistance does the holder have? Will the plastic survive soldering some copper braid into it?

[Old-Lumens]

@TheGloriousTachikoma

Is the holder 4s or 2s2p? And how much resistance does the holder have? Will the plastic survive soldering some copper braid into it?

Holder is 4S and no, it won’t survive soldering. You would need to remove the contacts, then solder the springs, but a lot of the resistance is the plated tin itself. I haven’t measured this one, but it’s like all the rest I have and any resistance when dealing with batteries as small as AAA needs to be minimized.

[Old-Lumens]

@Hikelite

Looks like and XP-G2, can post a frontal shot of the LED?

The led in the light has the tiny black dot in one corner of the substrate and all my XP-E2s have that too, but none of my XP-G2s have that black dot. It could possibly be something other than XP-E2. If I have time, I will take a photo.

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

@Old-Lumens

@TheGloriousTachikoma

Is the holder 4s or 2s2p? And how much resistance does the holder have? Will the plastic survive soldering some copper braid into it?

Holder is 4S and no, it won’t survive soldering. You would need to remove the contacts, then solder the springs, but a lot of the resistance is the plated tin itself. I haven’t measured this one, but it’s like all the rest I have and any resistance when dealing with batteries as small as AAA needs to be minimized.

So insofar as hosts for a driver swap go…spend $10 elsewhere?

[Old-Lumens]

@TheGloriousTachikoma

@Old-Lumens

@TheGloriousTachikoma

Is the holder 4s or 2s2p? And how much resistance does the holder have? Will the plastic survive soldering some copper braid into it?

Holder is 4S and no, it won’t survive soldering. You would need to remove the contacts, then solder the springs, but a lot of the resistance is the plated tin itself. I haven’t measured this one, but it’s like all the rest I have and any resistance when dealing with batteries as small as AAA needs to be minimized.

So insofar as hosts for a driver swap go…spend $10 elsewhere?

That’s up to the individual. I can change the contacts out with copper ones and gold plated springs in an hour or so, but others might not want to mess with it. Some will feel the holders are fine as is. It’s a matter of who wants what, but there’s not much out there in stores in the USA, for 4xAAA lights and I’m tired of waiting for months for lights from China. I just feel it’s a viable option for cheap.

[Old-Lumens]

@Hikelite

Looks like and XP-G2, can post a frontal shot of the LED?

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

Well, I have ideas about the holder but the pill is the big bugaboo, I don’t have access to a lathe or a press so the absence of a solid pill will make it difficult for me to mod. Unless [throws an erect index finger into the air] a copper star would be able to put heat into the edges of the pill sufficient to run a moderately-driven XP-G2?

[Old-Lumens]

@TheGloriousTachikoma

Well, I have ideas about the holder but the pill is the big bugaboo, I don’t have access to a lathe or a press so the absence of a solid pill will make it difficult for me to mod. Unless [throws an erect index finger into the air] a copper star would be able to put heat into the edges of the pill sufficient to run a moderately-driven XP-G2?

A piece of copper pipe inside the pill with a couple of copper discs cut for the diameter inside, over top of the pipe. Solder it together and it’s plenty of shelf to sit a copper star on. Look at some of mods here in the forums, there’s a lot of inventive stuff to fill a pill with copper pipe and solder. Tell you what, I will do mine and show the photos of the work and you can get an idea.

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

@Old-Lumens

@TheGloriousTachikoma

Well, I have ideas about the holder but the pill is the big bugaboo, I don’t have access to a lathe or a press so the absence of a solid pill will make it difficult for me to mod. Unless [throws an erect index finger into the air] a copper star would be able to put heat into the edges of the pill sufficient to run a moderately-driven XP-G2?

A piece of copper pipe inside the pill with a couple of copper discs cut for the diameter inside, over top of the pipe. Solder it together and it’s plenty of shelf to sit a copper star on. Look at some of mods here in the forums, there’s a lot of inventive stuff to fill a pill with copper pipe and solder. Tell you what, I will do mine and show the photos of the work and you can get an idea.

I will follow with interest. Also, when you do start diving in, would you mind measuring the driver diameter?

[unknown00101]

@TheGloriousTachikoma

@Old-Lumens

@TheGloriousTachikoma

Well, I have ideas about the holder but the pill is the big bugaboo, I don’t have access to a lathe or a press so the absence of a solid pill will make it difficult for me to mod. Unless [throws an erect index finger into the air] a copper star would be able to put heat into the edges of the pill sufficient to run a moderately-driven XP-G2?

A piece of copper pipe inside the pill with a couple of copper discs cut for the diameter inside, over top of the pipe. Solder it together and it’s plenty of shelf to sit a copper star on. Look at some of mods here in the forums, there’s a lot of inventive stuff to fill a pill with copper pipe and solder. Tell you what, I will do mine and show the photos of the work and you can get an idea.

I will follow with interest.

Ditto. Planning on doing a mini mag mod once I get some other mods finished up… If the gods of the mail system decide to ever give me my flipping shipments.

Maybe one of these 4xAAA lights if they ever stock them here.

[Old-Lumens]

@TheGloriousTachikoma

@Old-Lumens

@TheGloriousTachikoma

Well, I have ideas about the holder but the pill is the big bugaboo, I don’t have access to a lathe or a press so the absence of a solid pill will make it difficult for me to mod. Unless [throws an erect index finger into the air] a copper star would be able to put heat into the edges of the pill sufficient to run a moderately-driven XP-G2?

A piece of copper pipe inside the pill with a couple of copper discs cut for the diameter inside, over top of the pipe. Solder it together and it’s plenty of shelf to sit a copper star on. Look at some of mods here in the forums, there’s a lot of inventive stuff to fill a pill with copper pipe and solder. Tell you what, I will do mine and show the photos of the work and you can get an idea.

I will follow with interest. Also, when you do start diving in, would you mind measuring the driver diameter?

20mm

[StorminMatt]

This light looked interesting to me. So I bought one today at Lowes to use as a glovebox light in my car. Here are my thoughts on it:

Pros:

1. At a little less than $10, the price is right
2. Uses a modern emitter (some here say XP-E2, but comparing to other lights, looks like an XP-G2).
3. At 300 lumens, it’s pretty bright for the price. Compared to other lights, the 300 lumen rating seems pretty accurate.
4. Build quality of the body is fairly solid
5. Beam quality is pretty good, especially for the price point
6. 4xAAA rather than 3xAAA. This increases power AND means you don’t have that one, odd battery in a four pack. It also means you don’t have to mix rechargeables from different packs.

Cons:

1. Short battery life (what do you expect from 4xAAA?)
2. No modes, which means there is no way to extend battery life
3. Plastic lens and reflector. My lens was scratched out of the package
4. Battery holder of questionable quality
5. Looks to be no real driver - no regulation. Use NiMH for relatively constant brightness

[garrybunk]

Good find! Nice price too!

-Garry

[Hikelite]

Awesome shot. I got a couple XP-G2 in my hand and they also have the square dot in the top left corner, and that dot right where the dome starts rising up in the right side of the LED. I still suspect it's an XP-G2.

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

Thanks for the driver measurement, OL. Now to find a 20mm, 4-6v boost driver that puts out ~1000mA…

[garrybunk]

Why a boost driver? You don't really need a boost (or a buck) driver. My SkyEye F13 happily runs on an 18650, 26650, 3AAA's, or 4AAA's. 3AAA NiMh's put out 1.10A (though looking back at that review I never tail cap current on 4AAA's, but I did record a ceiling bounce measurement showing it was much brighter than on 3AAA's).

-Garry

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

@garrybunk

Why a boost driver? You don’t really need a boost (or a buck) driver. My SkyEye F13 happily runs on an 18650, 26650, 3AAA’s, or 4AAA’s. 3AAA NiMh’s put out 1.10A (though looking back at that review I never tail cap current on 4AAA’s, but I did record a ceiling bounce measurement showing it was much brighter than on 3AAA’s).

-Garry

I like the idea of lights that maintain constant brightness until the batteries go poof. Plus it’s just more interesting than direct drive.

[Old-Lumens]

See my YouTube channel... in my Sig, for a couple different methods

Now it has an XP-E2 (new one), led on a 20mm sinkpad, on a copper disc, on top of copper pipe fittings.

The copper disc is about 30mm in diameter. I laid it down on my soldering stone and put together a piece of 1/2" copper coupling and a piece of 1/2" copper pipe. Then I centered the pipe on the disc and soldered it all together. I turned it beck upright and I tinned the sinkpad and set the sinkpad and led on top. I reheated the assembly till the led flowed onto the pad and used my finger to press on the dome, to squeeze out and excess solder between the led & pad and between the star and disc.

That stack up is taller than the stock one, so I filed some off the top of the aluminum pill, so it would maintain the same OAL when I put the copper insert in.

It's not a press fit, so I will use a film of AA all over the mating surfaces to help fill in any air gap.

I will be using a NANJG driver in the other end and a 20mm contact plate over the top of the driver.

I took all the contacts off the battery holder. I decided to go mod it into a 4xParallel holder and use 4x10440 IMR batteries in it.

The clicky assembly was press fit into the tail cap, so I pushed it out and I will do the copper braid mod to the spring, to help with resistance and with the heat the spring will see from 3 amps. The switch might not make it, but I have found that usually they will take 3 amps with the braid mod done to the spring.

The pill is done.

Battery holder now takes 4x10440. I made it for Efest IMR. I think only those or AW should be used, due to the amps.

Ther amp draw now with the 10440s in parallel was 2.8A on high.

The lux went from 11200 with the stock light,

to 22900 with the XP-E2 and the new driver+10440s.

Copper braid mod in the driver spring and the tail cap spring. The battery springs were so small I couldn't do that in them.

Not too shabby for an inexpensive light. It has a tighter spot now too.