picked up two of these lights thinking I'd throw them in a drawer in case I ever wanted to rob the side clicky.
it is actually not bad for $2.50 - very cool white but not much purple, a bit dimmer than a C3 on cheap alkaline (looks brighter in beamshot because C3's battery is weak).
this thing is metal but very light, the pill is just a hollow plastic sleeve with board/emitter on one side and battery contact board on the other (edit - it is actually a driver of some kind, see pics in post after post with pic of one in a sink)
probably not worth modding, but if you happened to have the right size rod for a heat sink it would be pretty easy to do - .700", a dime fits super snug in the space for the pill (push it in and you might never get it out).
i'll probably keep them as is, they're decent enough to lend to fellow campers when they ask to borrow a good light (w/o seeming like a total jerk)
C3 on Left, Autozone on Right - this is a VERY short distance, like 18" from wall, but the autozone light throws (just) enough to see that it is hitting trees 20 yards away w/ some urban ambient light.
add a clip and it would work nicely on the brim of a hat, especially since it is so much lighter than your avg AA light (C3, xeno, etc.). I'm a big fan of side click but it doesn't seem like much of a benefit in a tiny light -- until you clip it to your hat...
glad I didn't try a 14500. I did try engergizer and utilitech though and got slightly more lux (15%?) on my android phone meter.
I experimented w/ the reflector on different emitters and you'd probably have to chop the little cone off the back of the reflector if it just has a normal dome. that would make even more room for a custom pill though.
3/4" aluminum rod would make a good pill w/ a little sanding to remove the raised edges in the neck of the light and on the rod itself it would slide right in.
really, i think it is good enough as is, at that price anyway, although I might put a UV 5mm in one of them for charging glow fishing lures.
Thanks for the heads up, picked up a couple today. Perfect little light for coat pocket/glove compartment or for searching around for a plug under the desk at the office and you can't beat the price!
you know, the way the head tightens, it might be easy to use QTC instead of a driver at all, and it probably won't get twisted up
can't say really, as I don't have any yet :(
edit: picked up 4 more. tried 2xAA (jumper from rear of battery to tail threads) and the light gets much brighter. it was hard to hold in place (only have a paper clip...in a hotel) so I only ran it for 45 seconds or so but it didn't dim or otherwise show damage. the body did start to get warm though, and since their is 0 heat sinking it would might toast itself w/ long term use.
dthrckt or anybody who has these. Is there a seal that goes between the lens and the bezel for waterproofing? Looking at your pic above shows what appears to be a white seal I believe. My two samples don't have that seal between lens and bezel. Guess there goes the waterproofing ... :(
all 6 of mine have just the lens and reflector inside the head.
I think what you're looking at in my photo is the washer that sits between the bottom of the 'pill' and the body. Looks like it is supposed to be a conductor between body and pill, but I tried two lights w/o it and they work fine.
there's an o-ring behind tail threads and another behind head threads, I suppose you could add one between lens and bezel - lens is 20mm OD
I got a few of these too. Mine are pretty purple but they are pretty decent for what they are.
They use a simple boost circuit. You can't use the resistor method of current limiting on a torch that uses a power source less than the emitter vF.
use the saran wrap so that many years from now, after the emitter's normal life span of thousands of hours has finally expired, you can reuse the driver in a different heatsink ;)
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glad to hear some others have gotten this deal, makes it worth taking the time to post pictures
I went out and got a pair based on this thread and this light is not for me. It works and its bright inside my truck but even eight feet away it doesn't light up enough of anything for me to see! I've been useing these eyes for 64 years and they need a few extra lumens to work well now.
