I got my Maglite Fusionlite 4536 dropin (Fusion 36) and it sucks. Anybody else have it and tested?

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Ok, for the sake of testing, I bought 3 maglite dropins, and among them was the Fusion 36.

This dropin was quite popular around 2010~2012, but I never wanted to pay $25 for a dropin when I could get a brand new (and more powerful) flashlight for around that price.

Right now I'm into reviewing flashlights, and thought: for the heck of it, I will buy that thing and see if it can produce the 1300 lumens it is currently advertised at.

Keep in mind, back in the day it was advertised as 400 lumens.

After about 2 weeks waiting it arrived from thefusionlite.com

Instead of using D cell batteries, I used 3AA Eneloops with adapters in a 3D maglite. And tested the LiteXpress LXB525, LiteXpress LXB530 and this Fusion 4636.

The Fusion 4636 I received got the following results:

@ start: 372 lumens

@ 30 sec: 324 lumens

Draws: 1.6A

Ok, I can understand that 3 batteries could lack the required Voltage. So I took a 2D maglite and placed 2 18650's in it, and tested it again. (they were about 8.3V together)

This time I got the following results:

@start: 445 lumens

@30 sec: 419 lumens

so basically, after 10 years of 'innovation' they still sell the same dropins.... or they sold me an Eco dropin, that is currently not available at their site anymore...

I reached out to Fusionlite and they said it must be broken and I should return it to Hong Kong.
I'm not going to pay $15-20 for sending, for something that is broken to get my $24 back.

Who else has this dropin, and can test it for lumens?

BTW. in case you wondered, both LiteXpress dropins had a higher output for the first 15 minutes or so, with 3 cells and it also pulled less with only 1.06 Amps.

Yes, the LiteXpress dropins turn on and off when the batteries are empty.. quite funny to be honest :)

Graph is with 3AA batteries, not D cells!!!!!

2

Am I missing something? Why use a drop-in today? They are not cheap a and they are a huge compromise.

3

That's not really the question here. So I don't understand why you are missing something! I'm sharing my observations and would like to know if they are scamming with their advertised output claims or not. Or if I indeed received a dud.

For emergencies these type of flashlights/dropins can still be very useful to answer your question :D

4

wonder how they do using the D cells ?

5

Do you mean in terms of runtime? Or in output?

6

Output at the least that would be simple, runtime only if you care. If the output doesn’t go up to match the advertised spec, then there is no question.

7

I already tested that with the 2*18650 = roughly 8.3V = 5-6 D cells.

The numbers are in the OP.

So I'd like to know if anybody else has it, and able to check its output. I just want to confirm that this is normal or not. That's what I would like to know.

If more people have this at around 400 lumens, this can be a good indicator that they aren't able to produce 1300 lumens after all.

8

How are you measuring the lumens?

The product description is confusing and poorly written:

9

What did you expect this thing to actually do?? :laughing:

10

In an home-made integrating sphere with a Maukka light as my calibration point.

11

Fair question ;)

Back in the day I wanted to have one... but yes.. it looks ugly lol.

Honestly, I really thought it was able to produce something better than 400 lumens

12

I wonder if RNGWNs hi cri 5mm will fit in there. That’ll fix it :wink: :smiley:

13

I don’t see any specs on that thing on the website? What LEDs is it using? It looks to have enough heatsinking for 1200 lumens, but only 1.6A? If it’s using 5mm LEDs that’s the other issue. Max drive current for 1 of those is like 25-30mA? You might get 7 lumens tops out of that one led, so you’d need about 150 to get 1200 lumens.

Maybe if they used those 1 watt leds it would work, or maybe like some xte leds?