There are a lot of USB powered lights that can be driven by a medium to high power wall wart USB power supply or by a USB battery pack as used to provide remote recharging for cell phones, tablet computers and other USB recharged devices. Lights vary from single and multiple LED desk lights to so called book reading lights and small light heads. In the light heads, which when plugged into a power bank turn it into a flashlight, the best seems to me to be the XTAR UL1. It is a six mode light with a maximum output of 180 Lumens and a low of 3 Lumens. No memory and hidden SOS and “Signal” modes. Claims USB 2.0 and 3.0 compatibility so should not draw more than .5 Amps. Available from Amazon sellers and some XTAR dealers. I have it and with the included gooseneck cable extender it is a versatile little light. Watch the prices on Amazon as I have seen a low of $12.50 including shipping and highs in the $30+ range.
Check Amazon or any of the Chinese sellers and the number of USB powered lights is amazing.
The highest power light in this category I have found is a bicycle headlight listed by a Chinese seller on Amazon which CLAIMS 1200 Lumens and a maximum current draw of 2 amps. 120 Lumens/watt is not impossible IIRC. It looks interesting enough so I will probably order one. Output probably badly exaggerated but it should be brighter than the XTAR.
A lot of the power banks have built-in minimalist lights but one relatively small and inexpensive power bank I ran across has a relatively decent light integral with it. The KMAX-812 4400mAh power bank. Per tests excellent for it’s size. The light claims to be 200 Lumens maximum.
Lets hear of more USB powered lights. To me they are a new category which is worth more discussion as with a power bank attached all of them are flashlight variations, some decidedly odd.
Thanks for posting about these USB charger/lights. I really like this second one you linked us to. I’m very tempted to purchase it to open it up and see if the Li-ion cells is user replaceable. It’s one of the nicest looking of its type I’ve seen so far.
EDIT: Decided to place my order for one using my Amazon Prime account.
At the low end, I just got some bare PCB lights designed to be stuck directly into a USB port. There were about $2 $1 each. The 6 LED versions with the touch based switch/dimmer pull just about 1W at full brightness. The 3led versions with an adjustable light-sensor switch draw, not surprisingly, half that.
Most AWESOME on that little bike light, guarantee it doesn’t do that many lumens though(XM-L at 2A is maybe 400-500 LM)…very cool…headlight/bikelight and be able to run on a portable power bank you can put in your pocket or whatever
Hey Warhawk they are Chilumens which normally means you divide by a factor of between 2 and 6 to get true OTF lumens. :bigsmile: Actually I am not sure if they should be referred to as Chilumens or Lielumens. Either one seems appropriate.
BTW something that adds a lot of versatility to these lights:
I have the first one pictured as from DX in “the other MINI” link from Warhawk but in black anodized finish. Bought from an Amazon seller. 2 levels plus strobe. I also have two of the XTAR UL1 lights which seem to have a much better thermal path and a total of 6 outputs, four levels plus SOS and “Signal” modes. The signal mode is a low frequency blinking, too low a frequency to be considered a strobe output IMO.
Also have two of the all plastic housing ones with a switch shown next down from Pandawill. Junk but the price seemed good in the under $3 range IIRC from an Amazon seller.
Neither the black anodized unit nor the plastic ones have any real heat path. The LED is on a small round PCB which is basically floating in the housing and on the plastic housing ones the plastic is more insulation than heat conductor. The output on those is in the 10 to 20 Lumens range any way. The black anodized aluminum one is a lot brighter and should IMO have some heat path provided. The XTAR has a good heat path based on hoe warm the aluminum front part gets even running at the 60 Lumens output level.
It’s quite bright! The light is a touch on the blue side; but it’s much better than the single 5mm built into a lot of battery backups, that are usually pretty dim.
Just received a couple of these Kmashi USB charger flashlights. I was surprised the High and Low setting for the flashlight was as bright as it actually is. Best of all, it had no problem recognizing and started charging our Ipad 1st gen, Iphone 4S, and Iphone 5s.
The first quick press of the power switch shows the current charge status via 4 blue LED’s on the front of the reflector. Holding down the button for a second switches “On” the flashlight to High, pressing for another second to Low, and then to off.
Not the greatest UI, but I’m still impressed that it recognized what I may use it to charge when on the go, and all metal construction seems to make this a great deal for about $14.00. It does come with a Micro USB cable to charge it through your computer Testing it on my Apple products, I simply used the USB cords that originally came with them. The fairly tight light beam has a yellowish color similar to the NW tint of the MT-G2 LED.
I thought it was pretty nice for the price and the Amazon electronics guru, Mr. Lee, gives it high marks in his customer review. Looks to me like glued together though so not sure how easily it will open up for battery determination and replacement. For the price though you get a nice combination of a power bank and emergency light.
Actually, when I was ordering the light, my wife walked in and saw the photos of it. She loved the look of it so much, she asked me to order two of them. She really seems to like gold colored flashlights. It’s why my wonderful first generation Skyray King sits on her side of the bed…LOL. While out last night, she pulled out the USB charger light from her purse to recharge her iPhone 5s. Worked great and she’s very happy with it.
I have both of the lights listed first in the above linked to thread and the first version I have appears identical to the silver color light except that it is black anodized rather than silver colored. Both it and the plastic housed version below it were bought from Amazon sellers. Both open up by having the front section unscrew from the back part. Looking inside NEITHER has any heat sinking for the LED. The LED mounts on a PCB which appears to pretty thoroughly isolate it from the light body and there is basically no sign of the housing getting warm. As the plastic one claims only about 20 Lumens probably not a problem but the black aluminum body unit puts out light at a level similar to the XTAR UL1 in medium to high mode and the Xtar housing does get warm to hot at even it’s 60 Lumens rated low output level much less at the two highest levels. I judge the black anodized one’s genuine output to be in the 90 to 100 Lumens level.
My brightest USB powered light is the one at the above Amazon link. Bright but not 1200 Lumens. Using a USB voltage and current monitor at maximum it is drawing about 1.14 Amps at 5.15 volts but I have no idea of the accuracy of the meter. I have a second meter from another maker on the way so I will shortly be able to compare readings. Certainly the claimed output is impossible for a power draw of just under 6 Watts. It includes a headband for use as a headlamp and a primary mount designed to mount to bicycle handlebars. Quite nice for the price.
I just got a batch of 10 of the continuously variable touch adjustable 6 LED versions and they are neat. The ebay seller I used charged $1.88 each including shipping which I consider to be dirt cheap. With no lens or reflector they are totally flood output. At max output they do get warm but not too hot to touch. Very fast delivery as I ordered on the 11th and they arrived on the 17th, today.
If you put one on a charger doctor, you will notice that if you just barely dim the output from max (just barely dimmed down perceptible to human vision) the current draw of those little boards is cut considerably…check it out…those things would make EXCELLENT emergency “candles” with rechargeable mobile power banks
I purchased about 8 of those, 4 CW and 4 NW. Also picked up the goose neck extensions for them too. They are great in the car at night plugged into a cigarette lighter adapter to power it. By dimming it, the NW version is perfect if you need to look in the center console for something.
My 10 are 5 CW and 5 NW. The 40 cm goose neck extensions are on the way but have not yet arrived though I do have the one 37cm version that comes with the XTAR UL1 and three 20 cm ones from an Amazon seller.
I’d like to see these done with red and amber emitters for low light/dark night use.
Something tells me the young people making these don’t understand dark from personal experience, although they may have heard stories from grandparents …
“the urban night-skies … are on average ~100 times brighter than at the darkest rural sites …. the worst … can be over 500 times brighter than the darkest sites in Hong Kong.” http://nightsky.physics.hku.hk/
