Odd how the mention of multiple AA flashlights resurrects old posts about them .
I think it's because we all have come from a multiple big battery era .
Most modern flashlights seemed eccessively small I first was introduced to them and some type of odd cigar holding finger flicking style of changing modes Just seemed weird and unnatural .Maybe if we are honest it still does . 3 or 4 AA lights are uncommon enough to keep us all thinking out of the box .Full of hope and possibilities ..i like the idea of common battery merged with newest emitter .Built right to me it's a very interesting idea .
This seems like a very interesting flashlight to me for modding. It would make a nice light for 3xAA NiMH or a 32600. The bad is the plastic lens and reflector. Can anyone who owns this light to tell me what size is the reflector both in diameter and deepness? I might find something to replace that plastic reflector and the plastic lens. Or maybe there's the option to modify some reflector to fit this flashlight......
Thanks for the info. We have one here about 2 miles away. I was just going to go there this past weekend to look around for "goodies" but I never made it. I just ordered mine from DX on monday too, go figure. I will have to check ours for these and pick a couple for future mods.
I just checked Tractor Supply today and didn't see this light. Saw something similar, but it was a "1 Watt" LED in center surrounded by 12 (I think) 5mm LED's with 2 modes (the 1 watt or the 12) and rated only 55 lumens max. This was Ampro brand and felt like junk! They had other "cheap" LED lights, but no other Ampro's. Oh well.
Just saw the Richuang 3xAA light on Dinodirect for $20. Looks identical to the Saik SA-305 which I've been thinking about getting for a while. It's pricier than the Saik at DX ($14.99), but I've got gift cards to use, so I might pick it up. I've seen some mod it with an XML. It would be nice alternative to lithium batteries.
I picked one up to mod but haven't got around to it. There are very few threads on the tailcap which seem to be quite brittle. I also lost the lens (it just fell out while I was testing it out and I couldn't find it again), but it needed a glass lens anyway. Overall I like the light and like the size, but I wouldn't pay more than $15 out of pocket for it (I bought from DX). You did see JohnnyMac's mod page on this, right? I plan on doing what he did for the pill/heatsink.
Thanks Gary. Yes I did see his post I believe. And he is also selling an Ultrafire MCU-C88 which is a 3XAA light, but better quality than the Saik. I've always wanted one of those too.
Edit: It was ChicagoX selling it, and of course, it's already sold!
Dang! Good find! Wish I would have known about this! Hate when I order stuff from China and it's sitting right here in the US at a reasonable cost! I just wonder which they ship you, the toilet or the flashlight?!!!
I've just ordered one myself since the C88 isn't available any longer. My plan is to install a XPG-R5 using the P60-dropin mod. I'll have to make do with the plastic lens though...
I can't speak for that Ampro (or that other non-SAIK above), but the SAIK does have the tripod hole. The hole is 1/4" x 20 and yes, is a standard camera tripod mount. I found these at my local hardware store to plug the hole with:
As far as bike mounting, I used conduit clamps to mount a camera and two flashlights on my bike for a summer trip:
(Note that I added a wing nut upside down to screw up against the bottom of the camera to hold the camera tightly in position.)
Did a little searching around and found the Ampro version here in the U.S. for $11.49, but they have a $30 minimum and I'm not sure of the shipping charge. Amazon (meeting $25 minimum for Free Super Saver shipping) is probably still the best bet. Seems if you search hard enough you can find that Ampro version in a lot of places.
BTW if someone searches spare carriers..... those should fit, but they are not suited for high current application. You can use them as a housing for heavy copper wiring. Don't forget to fill the hole in the pill with some copper coins/discs and pot it afterwards with Fujik or something similar, if you intend to make it a hard driven XM-L light.
I have 6 of those carriers, converted to parallel and w/ copper braid/solder slobbed all over the top and bottom. I can get more than enough current for an xml w/ 3p3s 1.6ah each Nimh AAs in them :)
the plastic is pretty low temp stuff though so you have to go slow when soldering them
They sell around $0.50 to $1.25 US each here depending on size.
Those lights? Ummm . . . well they are from my beginning stages of flashaholism. A People's Cree from DX, and a 3 AAA Rayovac Sportsman's Extreme from Amazon. I actually still like both lights. The Rayovac one is a very well built light and not like the cheap Chinese lights. Lo & High, 30 lumens low for 22 hours, and 80 lumens high for 6 hours.
