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Amazing LED Flashlight — Parallax Forums

Amazing LED Flashlight

ercoerco Posts: 20,256
edited 2014-02-03 14:21 in General Discussion
My latest·nifty China Ebay purchase: a one-AA battery BRIGHT LED flashlight. I have ordered a few different ones and these are the brightest by a significant margin.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390195736117··· $1 plus 55 cents shipping. WOW.

363960725_tp.jpg

The description says 3W, but the nice all-aluminum body has 1W clearly stamped into it. It draws ~700 mA from the 1.5V cell, and that's darn close to 1W power input. It looks like a Luxeon star LED, VERY PAINFULLY bright to look at, even·briefly. The polished reflector throws a bright, focused spot.

White LEDs need more than 1.5V to fire up, so there is surely a driver circuit inside to step up the voltage. Can't see it readily inside this one, but a·different unit has·a small round PC board plainly visible inside up by the battery + terminal.

I've got to order a dozen·more. I need·to make a lighting array for a robot video camera. And they are beautiful; aluminum, small, nice positive snappy·pushbutton feeling. Everybody who sees it wants one. Good little gifts for everyone; nice·stocking stuffers.


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·"If you build it, they will come."

Post Edited (erco) : 6/15/2010 9:20:21 PM GMT
«1

Comments

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2010-06-15 21:15
    Updated link:
    http://cgi.ebay.com/3W-LED-Light-Lamp-Flashlight-Torch-B-/390206275104?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_Flashlights&hash=item5ada1b3e20

    Hurry, shipping just went up a nickel to 60 cents!

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    ·"If you build it, they will come."
  • Roy ElthamRoy Eltham Posts: 3,000
    edited 2010-06-16 05:42
    Thanks again for these tips, I just orders a few of these! [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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  • UnknownUnknown
    edited 2010-06-16 12:09
    Erco,

    I have an LED flashlight and they are amazing. I suspect something that small uses triple A batteries which I don't buy a lot of. The only problem I found with LED flashlights is that they blind you if you look into them.

    It is a good price and a good deal.

    Chuck
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2010-06-16 13:04
    Is it one of those cree led torches? they do a six light one too!
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2010-06-16 13:24
    This one is VERY different. One LED, one AA battery, all aluminum. Puts those plastic 9-LED 3-AAA flashlights to shame!

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    ·"If you build it, they will come."
  • Chris_DChris_D Posts: 305
    edited 2010-06-16 13:26
    Erco,

    You are a good salesman ;-) I just ordered 3 this morning.· Thanks much for posting about all these interesting finds - several times now you have posted about a neat gadget and I bought them!


    Chris
  • BeanBean Posts: 8,129
    edited 2010-06-16 13:49
    Wow, 700mA from a AA cell.
    That can't last very long ?
    What about 2 hours ?

    Bean

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  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2010-06-16 14:06
    About right. Of course, AA's cost about the same as AAA's and have a lot more capacity...

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    ·"If you build it, they will come."
  • schillschill Posts: 741
    edited 2010-06-16 14:32
    If you get bitten by the flashlight bug, start hanging out at www.candlepowerforums.com . Lots of flashlight stuff there (and lots of "encouragement" to spend money).
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2010-06-16 14:52
    erco said...
    This one is VERY different. One LED, one AA battery, all aluminum. Puts those plastic 9-LED 3-AAA flashlights to shame!
    I meant they do a 6 cree led torch which is supposed to output 1600 lux!
    The cree leds are by far more powerful than the luxeons of old and if you look at the led whilst off you can see the chip unlike with ordinary leds

    led_close280.jpg
  • K2K2 Posts: 693
    edited 2010-06-25 23:50
    Our flashlights arrived just today. Very impressive what a buck hath wrought! We're heading to the mountains this weekend. (Of course we already live in the mountains...I guess we're just going to higher mountains and less comfortable beds.) Perhaps a few $1 flashlights will save us from falling off a cliff and dashing ourselves on the rocks below. If so, we have erco to thank!

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  • Shawn LoweShawn Lowe Posts: 635
    edited 2010-06-26 04:41
    Got 5 of these today. Wow, they are bright! At $1 how can you lose??!!

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    Shawn Lowe


    When all else fails.....procrastinate!
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2010-06-26 05:21
    XLNT. I just gotta figure out a way to get a 5% commission on all my China Ebay recommendations... [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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    ·"If you build it, they will come."
  • Martin HodgeMartin Hodge Posts: 1,246
    edited 2010-06-26 14:54
    Just bought 5 myself.
  • HollyMinkowskiHollyMinkowski Posts: 1,398
    edited 2010-06-26 15:43
    I wonder if the circuit inside that raises the 1.5v
    to a level that will drive the single white LED brightly
    would be able to power a prop from a single AA cell??

    Or perhaps even better from a single D cell.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2010-06-27 16:50
    @Holly: Oh, yes, there is def a voltage booster circuit inside, but it's probably putting out well under 2V for that LED, which is probably consuming 400-500 mA since the battery is outputting 700 mA. Depending on the circuit's voltage regulation, the no-load/low-load output voltage could be higher.

    @Bill: please share your hacking results! Holly's after 3.3 V...

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    ·"If you build it, they will come."
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2010-06-28 01:11
    My wife bought me a set of 3 LED flashlights for Christmas and I LOVE them. They all have 6 LED's and are VERY bright and useful. One of them has a red laser in it and another one has a bendable magnet thay pulls out from the center of the light and extens about 12 to 16 inches.· Way cool for retrieving lost metal pieces.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2010-06-28 02:06
    Adding a laser (or butter, cinnamon·or chocolate) makes EVERYTHING better!

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    ·"If you build it, they will come."
  • Brian CarpenterBrian Carpenter Posts: 728
    edited 2010-06-30 06:02
    Erco,
    Did you ask about why they advertise a 3W but only ship a 1W?

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  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2010-06-30 15:36
    I didn't, but their new listing does say 1 watt: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390210806150

    Of course a 3W (input) light would have to draw around 2100 mA and make short work of the AA battery. People would be calling the SPCB.

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    ·"If you build it, they will come."
  • JasonDorieJasonDorie Posts: 1,930
    edited 2010-06-30 22:09
    I've seen these on another site, and apparently "3W" is the "model name" of that flashlight. The site in question lists it as "3W" 1 watt LED flashlight, and explains the discrepancy. I'm guessing it's an attempt by the maker to sell more of them.

    J
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2012-07-02 08:50
    So very true. I seldom use my propane-powered flashlight anymore.
  • PliersPliers Posts: 280
    edited 2012-07-02 11:02
    Is Justartifacts a robot?
    Why would someone comment on a two year old thread about a flash light?
    I got nothing against robots.
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2012-07-02 11:19
    actually I have found my old propane flashlight produces far superior light output than those flashlights especially when i use it around flammable liquids.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2012-07-02 11:24
    IIRC, you UK'ers have always called flashlights "torches" anyway. Makes perfect sense now to keep a torch in my automobile's boot! :)
  • PliersPliers Posts: 280
    edited 2012-07-02 11:24
    My son likes his carbide lantern.
    Carbide_lamp.jpg
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  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-07-02 11:30
    Erco,
    that would be "...in your cars boot".
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2012-07-02 11:43
    "You say tomato" :smile:
  • Mark_TMark_T Posts: 1,981
    edited 2012-07-02 16:17
    Well I am sure the single cell will struggle to last very long - I have the same issue with the 4 C-cells powering my homemade 12W LED torch. 5Ah NiMH cells struggle a bit at 3.5A!

    BTW if high power LEDs and torches are your thing you will enjoy Deal Extreme ( dx.com ) if not encountered already (the largest LED they sell is 100W)
  • JLockeJLocke Posts: 354
    edited 2012-07-02 17:44
    Pliers wrote: »
    Is Justartifacts a robot?
    Why would someone comment on a two year old thread about a flash light?
    I got nothing against robots.

    I was wondering that as well, once I noticed how old the thread was. My first reaction was to wonder why I didn't see this earlier, and was a little disappointed to find that the link to eBay was no longer valid (sold out, darn it!). It wasn't until I returned to the forum that I noticed the thread was a year old. Most of the flashlights I saw on eBay are now advertised as '7W'.
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