I ran across this on ebay from multiple sellers. Most are in China but one seller is in the USA. Price ranges from circa $2.80 to $7.00 including shipping. This looks like the most promising replacement for the Xtar UL1 USB powered light that I have seen. No lumens output claimed by any of the sellers I looked at, just the beam is supposed to reach 50 meters and it is a 3 mode light like the Ravpower USB light I have from 3+ years ago. Unfortunately the Ravpower and Xtar lights are long gone.
I have them coming both from one of the China sellers and the USA seller so hopefully I will have one soon and can give more info once it is on hand. Below is a link to one of the ebay sellers as I am not familiar with posting photos here.
As noted, hopefully a replacement for the Xtar UL1 which was reviewed at the below link several years ago. Apparently not popular enough to stick around but a great accessory for USB battery units.
machined Al housing, aspheric lens, white LED behind it.
The ones I got for reverse-lights are discontinued, but these look similar. Pry off the bayonet base, attach a USB connector.
Well, and tweak it to use 5V instead of 12V, of course.
And yeah, that’d be great for battery pax. I got a bunch of those Xaoimi bendy-ones (6-chip COB), and they work great as reasonable-brightness floodlights. These would just snap in, and you could “aim” it like a flashlight.
Doing too much searching on ebay I came up with another couple of USB light head items too. The first is 3 levels plus strobe USB light head. I have hopes for this one.
The second is a claimed zoom LED USB powered light head. USA seller but the specs are totally Chinese including claiming an output of 2000 Lumens. No visible switch or mention of modes on this one. Sounds like the heat would melt both the light head and the battery pack if a USB port could even put out the power needed for 2000 Lumens. Probably fry the fingers if you tried to zoom it once on for a while too. Claims to be rechargeable in the title but I do not see any room for a battery pack and further down it says USB powered.
BTW I just spotted some 18650 batteries on ebay claiming a capacity of 9800 mAh!!! If you are going to lie then lie BIG. Also recently saw some USB battery packs on ebay claiming a capacity of 300,000 mAh in cases sized for maybe 15,000 mAh absolute maximum.
Received the current all black plastic single mode USB light head with switch. Available from multiple ebay sellers. With a ebay cost of circa $1.50 including shipping it must be made for pennies. Output is circa 30 Lumens based on comparison with the Xtar UL1at the 30 lumens output level. Current draw is 140 milliamps so almost any USB power bank should run it for a long time. Works but presumably no heat sinking based on the all plastic body. Maybe why the output is only circa 30 Lumens. Still better than a lot of the old incandescent flashlights.
Ribbed uncolored anodized aluminum one arrived today. From Chinese sellers it typically sells for circa $1.50 or so with shipping. Minimalist light without a switch so illuminates as soon as placed in a powered USB port. Everyone claims 3 watts power draw for it but mine measures 0.25 amp current draw for a actual power input of 1.25 watts. Comparing with my Ravpower and Xtar UL1 light heads I judge that this is putting out circa 100 lumens as a ballpark figure. Brighter and apparently sturdier than the black plastic one but without the switch. Minimal heating up compared to the UL1 so I suspect that the thermal dissipation path from the LED is minimal to nonexistent. Very light with a weight on my digital kitchen scales of 0.55 ounce.
Sure the casing is real Al? The description for a similar light says “aluminum coated”(!!), so might just be metallised plastic or something.
Also seems to look like those “1W” bipin LEDs like you’d find in cheapie lights. That’d also seem to be right around 1W (slightly less) if “regulation” is a simple resistor from the USB’s 5V.
I can see the lathe turning marks on the surface with a 10x loupe and it has the thermal conductivity of aluminum. I also scratched the bottom surface and it is pretty definitely a aluminum housing. Until I have a no name Chinese made item in hand I believe little or none of their advertising claims. These particular USB lights seem to be offered by about a zillion Chinese vendors on ebay. Based on photos all seem to be identical. No manufacturer identification at all.
Looks like glued or pressed together. Once I have another (on the way from China) I will try a soak in acetone to see if glued with cyanoacrylic adhesive. The original UL1 was thoroughly glued together.
