Australians all let us recharge

Introduce Yourself
1

Hi all,

Total noob here. I fell into this by accident.

I work in a hospital and usually get to bed around 2-3am. I sneak into our bedroom with a crappy torch half covered by my fingers to prevent light waking my wife. It’s a dinky Arlec 9-LED fed by 3xAAAs. Arlec claims it’s 25 lumens. That’s fine downstairs after I turn all lights off but is way too bright when I enter the bedroom. Then I cover it mostly but I can’t put it down and do what I need to. Then when the batteries are 50% or less it takes multiple clicks to turn it on and often turns itself off randomly.

So then I tried my cellphone flashlight. Way too bright. Even just using the screen on lowest is too bright. Aagh!!! So I start looking around. Ordered a cheap Shustar on Ali which was meant to have a low mode. But they sent something even worse than what I ordered. By now it was time to google. Surely someone makes a low lumens, multiple mode torch that is usb rechargeable. Nope. Nada. Couldn’t find it. I did, however, find this topic which lead me to this forum…

BLF thread

Holy Mother of Zeus, I’m not the only one! There are some of us out there who aren’t interested in brightness. I want long battery use time with multiple low modes - no bright modes at all - in a quality construction. And I’m happy to pay for it. Torch makers - take note!

Now I start researching. I shortlist some options on Ali and research them further. I read reviews here, Candlepowerforum, some other blogs, etc.

In the end I decided on a Convoy S2, LH351D (iirc) at 4k and 4 modes. Still concerned it will be too bright, I ask Convoy if they can do a custom setup. Nope, sorry, no dice. So then I ordered a second S2 with SST40, 5k and 12 groups so I can zero in on the lowest settings. (I’ll keep the first one as a general use torch). They haven’t arrived but I know I won’t be happy. Now then… I start looking at the possibility of customising or custom building something from scratch that does exactly what I want. Initially, I intended to buy an Ekoras, disassemble it, learn about the circuit and then swap in some chosen parts. But for only a few bucks more, I bought another S2+ with exactly the same plan in mind. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

But I also quite like the technicals on the Nitecore Tini 2 and the Jetbeam Jet II MK. Batteries and chargers - whole other topics that consume as many hours of googling and musing. Hmm… I see where this is heading.

Now it looks like I’m going to see how deep the rabbit hole goes………………!!!

Update - I have 5 torches on the way but the last 2 will be delayed because of Chinese NY.

Convoy:
S2+ - LH351D, 4000k, 4 modes
S2+ - SST40, 5000k, 12 groups
S2+ - XPL Hi, 3000k 7135*3, 12 groups (with additional matching 18350 tube)

(Terribly high chance I’ll buy a lot more S2s because I want one in each colour. :smiley: )

Nitecore Tini2

Jetbeam Jet-II MK

=

Future interest list:

(…which I’ll add to as I get time. These links are just starting points, not necessarily the vendor/price I’d go for.)

Zebralight SC32
Sofirn SC31 Pro Anduril
Lumintop Tool AAA
Sofirn C01R Deep Red
Manker E02 II

2

Please enjoy your time here, Aussiemandias!

3

The Jet-II is reeeeally nice. Twisty, always starts on firefly, great ano, compact, but no charging.

The SC31pro has charging, can be used with a shorty tube, and press’n’hold from off can go right to its lowest setting. But the UI is a minefield for newbs, so be careful, or at least learn how to factory-reset.

The MH20 is pricier, but has a great and simple UI and is also chargeable. Can’t go wrong with one.

4

Welcome to the forum. I wonder if the Sofirn C01 series would offer low enough lumens. Torches with red emitters could be another way to go. A “”Fauxton”:https://jrm.phys.ksu.edu/Vince/Resource/LEDPics/Fauxton-Beauty-1024x768.jpg” with a red LED powered by a CR2032 battery could work.

If bling is what you want then by all means an Anduril light from Emisar or Fireflies could fit the bill.

5

Thanks for the welcomes and the suggestions. I’ll look into each of these. Cheers! :+1:

6

The Jet-II MK is not bad, but it needs service and practise. The lube get more viscous over the time and needs to be cleaned and replaced. And since there’s no switch but just a thread with vertical tolerance (and no debouncing measures in the firmware), you need to get used to tighten the head with some force directed towards the front, or else the light will jump over one or even two modes. Not good if you need the firefly mode. Same with Sofirns C01S/C01R. Moon mode on non-debounced twisties are generally nonsense.

For you, the Nitecore seems to be the far better choice.

7

Lumintop tool AAA with Nichia 219 is a great light. Considering your profession you may want the copper version.

I saw you want USB rechargeable but a) it usually means either big light or built-in battery that will eventually render your light obsolete; b) on low brightness even AAA battery will last 30+ hours.

If you want to buy local, I purchased from these guys couple of times and really loved the service: https://www.liteshop.com.au/content/lumintop-tool-aaa-copper-keychain-torch/

For batteries, eneloops or ikealoops are the way to go if you go with AAA flashlight. Just don’t buy Ikea charger - it’s a dumb one and will not do your batteries good. If you want to read more about eneloops - eneloop101.com (quite addictive).
Again, for chargers I’d go with something more generic, e.g. Nitecore UMS2 (not UM2 - note the “S”) - it’s quite compact and works from any USB wart which makes it very portable, including in-car applications; and even if you seriously get into this addictive hobby later on and buy something bigger, you can still use it now and then when on the go (speaking from experience).

Regarding red light, I’d check with your missus 1st - mine freaks out from my Sofirn C01S Deep Red torch light.

If Lumintop Tool AAA “low” mode is too bright, from my personal experience Zeberalight lights can go really really low - e.g. less than 0.1 lumen. My SC700D on it’s 0.04 lumen mode is barely visible at night - a true moon (or rather young crescent) light. Again no USB charging, but top-notch quality, super light-weight and have AA models.
NOTE: At least as of Oct 2020 zebralight stopped shipping to AU due to packages taking too long. If a checkout fails for you, drop the a line asking if that restriction still applies - may be they’ll reconsider (they didn’t for me and I had do to forward through the US :frowning: - still love the lights).

8

Welcome to BLF Aussiemandias :sunglasses:

9

At night before bed you want something warm. Sst20 2700k or Lh351d 2700k. I don’t know if anyone puts those in a headlight with low options around one, two or five lumens. The Wurkkos FC11 2700k flashlight does go down to around two lumens. The Armytek Wizard C2 PRO WARM has 3 Firefly modes down around 0.2 and 1.2 and 6 lumens. Those three settings will let you do what you want. The smaller Armytek Tiara C1 Pro warm has very similar Firefly modes. And with both of those armyteks you can scroll through those three low modes easily without getting out of the Firefly modes/section. That is extremely useful. They are not down in the 2700k range though. Armytec calls the low modes Firefly where most refer to it as moonlight. The armytek headlights throw the light out in a VERY wide smooth pattern with no hotspot. For indoor use moving around doing things or outside this is very useful.

10

Trust me run while you still can.

11

And what about all those lights he need to have? :expressionless: :smiley:

12

The moonlight mode on the BLF A6 can’t be beaten for its price, it doesn’t have usb charging though. You could just buy the driver and pop it in your S2+

13

Jetbeam RRT01 :wink:
Magnetic ring through which you can adjust from 0 lumens to 900, and it will eventually give you the lowest low modes :wink:

If you can find it in warm white LED colour it woud be your best option :wink:

14

Sounds like your wife is waking up from you moving around, not the cell phone flashlight

15

Shhhhh I have purchased new lights with a worst excuse.

16

Thanks again everyone. I need to update my intro. Started out wanting USB recharge but then decided I want more control so I’ve moved onto batteries and chargers.

For my customising idea, I will be def looking at switching out one of the S2s with an SST20 2700k. But first I’ll need to learn a bit more, whether it needs a different driver, etc. The BLF idea looks interesting too. Maybe I’ll just get all the drivers and LEDs and boards that fit and go from there… :innocent: It’s all for a good cause!!

My wife wakes from the light, she tells me that, movement doesn’t bother as she wears earplugs.

17

Apparently I need all of them. :smiley:

3x S2s on the way and my finger is already itching to press buy on the Jet and the Nitecore. :person_facepalming: :smiley:

18

It never ends. I have well over 200 and people are offering me good money for some but still I cannot get myself to sell any. The force is to strong.

:+1:

19

The exchange rate is quite good at the moment so cash in while you can. Chinese sellers are starting to raise their USD prices recently which would suggest the USD is not going as far as it used to.

20

gday mate