Yes sure I enjoy the Worm, its a Nichia 
Hello
HAPPY NEW YEAR
I have found one
Bought it from Ebay here in Germany for 35ā¬ (around 37 US-Dollar) will arrive here on Wednesday or Thursday!
Here are the pics from the auction, can anybody tell me wich Rev. it is? The seller doesn`t know anything about itā¦ā¦
Looks like the one I got in October of 2015, called Rev 3. It was the first batch with NoPWM, identifyable by the ring around the LED like yours has. My April 2015 Rev3 had PWM, no ring around the LED, and the knurling was different than yours
here you can see the difference in knurling, on the left is my April 2015 version, note the holes in the diamonds. This is the version w PWM, and no ring around the LED. The middle pic is like yours, NoPWM, yes ring around the LED, no holes in the diamonds. imho, you got my favorite versionā¦
Congrats on finding one, the price was very fair also.
here are the PWM and NoPWM led pics, note the lack of ring on the PWM model (Tool and Maratac are both Lumintop)
here is the photo that taught me about PWM Maratacs, and made me really happy when I discovered that the one with the ring around the LED was NoPWM
You will be able to lego a Tool or Worm head on the Maratac body, if you want to carry a copper twisty w Nichiaā¦
here is my April Rev3 body, with a Tool w Nichia headā¦
you can see I shortened the pocket clip so it will tailstand (and the clip is reversed to be able to clip to my hat for handsfree use)
fwiw, the lego with a Tool and Maratac, both lights work, but the Lego w a Worm, only the worm head works (shorter threads on the worm body)ā¦ you can see the headgap with the worm head on maratac body has a larger gap
Thanks for the detailed informations! The Maratac will be delivered tomorrowā¦ā¦pics!
The stupid is that Iāve lost my Copper worm yesterday at work, maybe itās been stolenā¦ā¦I don`t know :cry:
Now I need a new copper wormā¦ā¦.
So, the Maratac arrived today and I love this little Light
Lego perfect with my other Lumintop Tool lights and I really like the look of those AAA copper lights!
Perfect kombination, Maratac body and Lumintop Tool head with Nichia :heart_eyes:
This little gimmick is really great, works perfect with the all my Lumintop Tools.
great photos, so glad you are enjoying the Lego options and the Maratac body style
fwiw, your driver photo has an unusually large button. My Worm has that, and it has an unusually efficient and regulated circuit, particularly on High.
you may want to do a runtime test of your Maratac. With an Eneloop, if it is not dim or dead by 40 minutes, you may have gotten lucky with the driver. The Cu Worm is neither dim nor dead at 40 minutes, it will still be in regulation at constant brightness at that time, and will be dim or dead after 60 minutes.
I suspect the Maratac, if its like mine, will not run regulated on High, the brightness is constantly dropping. I have a large thread about the subject of efficient and regulated drivers in the Lumintop Tool, Worm, and Maratac, here. quite complex, not sure if its subject matter interests you
Congrats on your CuMaratacā¦ its my favorite AAA host
Hi again
I think I get lucky with the Maratac driver, I gave it a try with a full loaded Eneloop and the Maratac runs for 42 min. with constant brightness. After this its getting darker and runs till 55 min.
Now I want to know more about my other Lumintop Tools (2x copper and 2x Ti), later I do the same test with all 4ā¦ā¦just have to wait till the Eneloops are fuly charged :+1:
Teststart:
after 30 min.
after 42 min.
after 50 min.
Btw. what are the difference between all the Maratac AAA Rev. 1 to 4, can somebody answer that?
Wow! Iām jealous of your Maratac driver. Congrats!
Earlier model of Rev3 had PWM. Yours is also rev3, I call it rec 3.5, unofficially
Iām waiting to hear if rev 4 Aaa has PWM. Rev 4 AA does have PWM.
Rev 2 iirc was a 2 mode with PWM
Claimed brightness has gone up with each revision
Added your driver pic to this thread that discusses drivers (hope that is OK, or let me know)
suggestion regarding runtime tests with no light meter
use your Maratac (or one of your tools if testing lights with Nichia) as a control, do not run it down, just turn the control light off between photos. Just use the control light as a refence for comparison when you photograph beamshots of the runtime of the other light(s). that way you can tell when the test light is less bright than the control (better than single beam photos)
Thank you, so I think I have a good Maratac Rev. 3.5
And I did a quick test with my 4 Lumintop Tools, the result:
- Ti with Nichia constant brightness: 40 min. and then getting darker, shut down after 50 min.
- Ti with Cree constant brightness: 40 min. and then getting darker, shut down after 54 min.
- Cu with Cree constant brightness: 35 min. and then getting darker, shut down after 48 min.
- Cu with Nichia constant brightness: 30 min. and then getting darker, starts flashing always faster (!) after 35 min.
Surprising results for me!
Great idea, I will do a test like this at the weekend!!
good info!
suprised the Ti w Nichia outperforms the Cu w Nichia
curious if all batteries are eneloop (not some eneloop pro in the mix and some not Pro version)
I will also be curious to see the driver pictures
so far nobody has reported a TiTool with an efficient driver, and the driver pics do not always show a difference. Your Maratac with the large button is definitely the exceptionā¦
what I want to know next is whether your lights are running regulated, that is, at 30 minutes is the brightness the same as when the test started (within 5 lumens). The unregulated driver will have dropped more than 40 lumens in 30 minutes, and the unregulated driver on a light meter, shows the brightness is constantly declining, from the beginning to the end, with No Regulation
by Regulation I mean a flat discharge curveā¦
for example here is my Regulated Worm and my UN regulated CuTool (vertical scale is lumens, horizontal scale is minutes)
my worm driver (on right) has the large button, like your Maratac
driver with small button, on left is unregulated, I have it in a Maratac and a CuTool
however, I also have a small button driver that IS regulated
button summary, all large buttons tested are regulated. All Cu worms are regulated, worms come with large buttons and with small buttons, there is one report of a regulated Maratac w large button and one report of a Regulated CuTool, with the large button.
some small buttons are regulated, but most small buttons are not regulated
TiTool has small button driver, as do CuTool, Brass Tool.
difference between the drivers is both longer runtime and flat regulation, vs shorter runtime and no regulation
the button itself is not the controlling variable, there was a change in the inductor, that is not visible without disassembly. The old spec was 60 minutes on high (of which about 40 min was regulated), the new spec is 30 minutes on high (and it does not have regulated output on high).
I don`t own any Pro Eneloops, all my Eneloops are the white ones. Butā¦.my Eneloops are old and so I was out this morning and bought me a set of 4 new white Eneloops, maybe some of the old ones have a lower capacity. I charge them and do a new test at the weekend as you described it.
And I have read your threads about the efficiency and was surprised too about the fact that there was no Ti Tool with an efficient driver.
Maratac AAA 3.5
Lumintop Tool Cu with Cree
Lumintop Tool Cu with Nichia
Lumintop Tool Ti with Nichia
Lumintop Tool Ti with Cree
thanks for all the driver pics, you did a great job getting them in focus
the TiTool w Nichia has that little rectangle around the 10 oclock position. CRX suggested it was part of a feedback circuit for the electronic switchā¦ Im not sure if that right, but, you can see the same spot on some of your other drivers, for example your CuTool w Nichia, but it is sealed off (as the driver is being used with a non electronic switch).
my conjecture is, the TiTool came with a new driver, and the same driver was used with the subsequent CuTools. I suspect All of those are inefficient, but, anything is possible, since what really changed was an inductor on the back of the board, and I have no hint as to when that actually happened.
It also appears that in some cases, the driver for the worm, went into other lights, your Maratac being a prime example. And so far, All worms got the efficient inductorā¦
time wise, the Worm came before the TiTool, that is to say, imo the inductor change coincided approximately with the release of the TiTool.
I also have 2 ReyLight Cu Tools, they came out just before the TiTool, but again after the Worm. One of the ReyLights has the efficient inductor, even though it does not have the large button of my worm and your maratacā¦
I look forward to your runtime tests, and am glad you are adding a control light so you can get a better idea when lumens drop by 50% or moreā¦
enjoy your lights, and your weekend!
thanks for all those data points
I would like to go into more detail on how you measured āconstant brightnessā, by eye, or with a light meter?
I would like to be certain of the information on the two Ti Tools. Either you got lucky and are the first person with an Electronic Switch Tool to get the efficient driver, or your test procedure lacks a light meter so you cannot tell the TiTools are running dimmer over time, not flat regulated constant brightnessā¦
So my request is that you retest them, using a light meter, to confirm if they are running in flat regulation (constant brightness), on high, for at least the first 30 minutes. Lacking a light meter, we are reduced to what you see, and our eyes do not notice a 10 or 20 lumen change. I think we notice change of 50 lumens or more. (all my numbers require verification)
food for thought on the human eye ability to detect lumen changes:
ā How your eyes work
A good place to start is how your eyes respond to light. Your eyes have a non-linear (logarithmic) response to light, much like a camera. In order to notice a significant increase in brightness, you must double the amount of light. In photography, this doubling is referred to as an f-stop. For our purposes, the f-stop is a convenient unit of measure and we will use it when referencing relative brightness. To put this in perspective, if you suddenly change the brightness by 20%, you will notice just a slight change in brightness. In fact, if the change takes place over a couple of seconds, you may not even notice. ā
notice above, that a camera will also not be able to detect a 10-20 lumen change in brightness. iow, photos of your beam, do not have the accuracy required to report loss of brightness. Particularly when shooting a single beam, with an auto white balance camera, such as on a phone. We need the ability to detect change of 5 lumens or lessā¦
Im very grateful for all your info, it is some of the most complete, detailed, and well documented with photos, of any of the data Ive looked atā¦ Probably about 20 lights totalā¦ Your contribution is very significant (to me :-))
thank you!
Hi again!
I did a little test today with both Ti Tools and my Maratac as a control light.
All 3 Lights has new and charged Eneloops, no pros.
On the left is the Tool Ti with Nichia, on the right is the Tool Ti with Cree and above is the Maratac Cu.
First Pic at the start:
With control light:
After 15 min.
After 30 min.
After 40 min.
After 60 min. The Cree shut down and the Nichia is flashing.
And here the next test with Cu Tool Nichia on the left and the Cu Tool Cree on the right. Control light is my Maratac again and all Eneloops are new and charged, no pros.
First pic at the start:
With control light:
After 15 min.
After 30 min.
After 40 min.
After 45 min. The Cree shut down and the Nichia is shut down after 48 min.
No problem! I had fun with the testing and I have become a big fan of Lumintop/Maratac AAA lights And I think I need to buy me a lightmeter :+1:
Very nice tests :-), but not sure what they meanā¦
Yes, a light meter, even borrowing one for 10 minutes, will immediately reveal if the lighs are running flat regulation. The unregulated driver drops continuously from the start, has no steady brightness at any time. Some people have found light meter apps for their phoneā¦
I remain extremely curious what is really going on with your TiTools in particularā¦
enjoy your day!
Hi. Itās already in stocks. got 2 pcs and waiting to arrive me.
thanks!
Copper AAA Nichia 219 Flashlight by Maratac ā¢ REV 4
After thousands of Requests itās new user interface is: āLow / Medium / Highā.
$34.95
that is an amazing price, mode sequence, and LED
now I need someone to report if it has PWM
Thank you!!