The big LIGHTS thread 2011-2014

apreading

If you want better cells and higher capacity, I quite fancy the samsung 4 cell packs: http://www.bikelightsuk.com/batteries/m ... _P592.html

They arent cheap though and not sure that they are worth the expense - you could buy several packs of cheapo ones for that price.

Sheppy

apreading wrote:

samsung 4 cell packs: http://www.bikelightsuk.com/batteries/m ... _P592.html

Yes, I saw those, but the 6 pack although presumably lower capacity individual cells has more capacity overall. And for less money Think I might go for the 6 pack and see how that goes.

Neal_

Sheppy wrote:

One of my battery packs has failed Looking for a long endurance pack, came across 4*26550 pack at lightmalls:
http://www.lightmalls.com/8-4v-10000mah ... bike-light
Wondered if anyone has experience of this? I'm guessing it's not the best quality cells and probably not 10000mah, but it's going to be better than the 4 packs (presumably).

Or perhaps I'm better off with 6*18650:
http://www.bikelightsuk.com/batteries/m ... _P575.html
Which would presumably be much better quality cells. Of course I'm basing this on no evidence, just my gut feeling either way. Wonder if anyone has any experience of either to help me decide :?

I bought a 4*18650 pack from lightmalls and it is completely ****, do bother with any others from them IMO.

Get a Magicshine pack, the one you've linked uses BAK cells which are good but you'll probably need an adapter cable as the plug is a different shape to most lights.

diy

still find it strange that nobody is selling magic shine replacement packs with removable cells and perhaps a 4S, 2S2P, 4P switch/jumper to give you 16.8v, 8.4v or 4.2v options. There used to be something called turbo ferret, strange that nobody has filled the hole in the market.

bigdrew1

My light wont turn on any more. The button lights up a dim green but doesn't do anything. Battery pack is fine. Anyone know what might be up with it?

RandG

bigdrew1 wrote:

Anyone know what might be up with it?

It's fecked.

That was a public service announcement, you have not been charged for this information 8)

Ouija

bigdrew1 wrote:

My light wont turn on any more. The button lights up a dim green but doesn't do anything. Battery pack is fine. Anyone know what might be up with it?

Probably just the circuit board thats fecked. Can always bypass it and wire straight up to the emitter (assuming it's still ok). Done that on one of mine. Does limit you to just on and off (no modes) and isn't too hard to place a remote switch in the loop so that you don't even have to take your hand off the bar to switch it on and off.

bigdrew1

Cheers, Ill take it apart and have a play then!

Ouija

Yeah. Just screw off the glass front and pull out the reflector, being careful not to lose that small transparent circular piece of plastic that stops the reflector from shorting out the emitter (a lot of people do that and wonder why the light doesn't work when they put it back together). Then, if you can, simply touch the + and - terminals either side of the LED with the + and - contacts from the battery (might need to jury rig something up). If the light comes on you can do a more permanent job of wiring it up by yanking the circuit board off the back of the light and take the two power wires that went to the circuit board and solder them to the two wires on the front of the circuit board that went to the emiter.

I actually cut a handlebar switch off one of these to use as a remote switch (also use them on my Ultrafire 501 torches as they can be used to switch modes and are more convenient than having to take your hand off the bar every time you want to switch the light on and off or change modes)..

bigdrew1

Did the above, the LED flashed VERY bright no shows no sign of life. The resistance has also changed from 0.something Ohms to 4.something. I'm assuming it is now ballsed up?

Ouija

bigdrew1 wrote:

Did the above, the LED flashed VERY bright no shows no sign of life. The resistance has also changed from 0.something Ohms to 4.something. I'm assuming it is now ballsed up?

I'm assuming you used the right voltage, which will be either 4.2 or 8.4v depending on model and battery pack? Made the mistake of feeding a 8.4v current to a 4.2v Ultrafire 502 torch a couple of weeks ago and it flashed and went dead until i fed it the right voltage. The driver circuit obviously cut the power to the LED to protect it. Since your bypassing the circuit board, however, that could of blown the LED.

diy

Yes but wouldn't your advice have bypassed the driver completely? My guess is that the LED took about 5-7A (which is what a directly mounted 18650 can push) and melted.

bigdrew did it go bluish when on very bright? if so its probably fecked now. have very close look, when its under power, you might see a tiny spec of light (the size of a pin prick). If so thats a fecked led.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... h-an-18650

bigdrew1

I'll plug it back it later and see if there is any light, yeah I'd say it went blueish. It was directly wired to the battery pack so I reckon it is shot. As I said before, the resistance of the LED is considerably higher now than it was before hand.

Ouija

diy wrote:

Yes but wouldn't your advice have bypassed the driver completely? My guess is that the LED took about 5-7A (which is what a directly mounted 18650 can push) and melted.

bigdrew did it go bluish when on very bright? if so its probably fecked now. have very close look, when its under power, you might see a tiny spec of light (the size of a pin prick). If so thats a fecked led.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... h-an-18650

Lol. Probably shouldn't be running my direct connected 4.2v XML off that eleven parallel connected 18650 cell pack then.

diy

All depends on the quality of the cells and the voltage. A quality laptop cell can do 9A no problems, some of the cheap trustfires can barely push 2A. Directly wired to a 2S2P pack probably meant the LED took about 15-20A

I did something similar with a 1A driven MC-E. It sucked about 4.5A and that was through the driver. Lasted quite a while.

TarkMalbot

I am new to this lighting technology but am very interested so have just bought myself the following kit:

3 x Cree XML T6 zoom lens torches
2 x handle bar brackets
1 x helmet bracket
3 x 18650 batteries
1 x twin charger
1 x single charger
1 x 5 led rear light
1 x red rear silicone light
1 x black front silicone light
2 x plug adaptors

Bargain price of £49.98

I am obviously planning to have two on the bars and one on the helmet and will try different zooms and alignment o give a good spread. I will take some photos and let you know how I get on.

Ouija

diy wrote:

All depends on the quality of the cells and the voltage. A quality laptop cell can do 9A no problems, some of the cheap trustfires can barely push 2A. Directly wired to a 2S2P pack probably meant the LED took about 15-20A

I did something similar with a 1A driven MC-E. It sucked about 4.5A and that was through the driver. Lasted quite a while.

Well, to be fair, i have been running it for over a year. It does run brighter than with the two cell pack that came with it. The board was buggered anyway so i was on the verge of throwing it in the bin and figured if directly wiring it didn't work it would be no major loss as i have a lot of brighter XML's. In the end, with the remote switch, it's worked out quite well (remote switches should be standard with these types of light but almost nobody thinks of incorporating them).

Ouija

TarkMalbot wrote:

I am new to this lighting technology but am very interested so have just bought myself the following kit:

3 x Cree XML T6 zoom lens torches
2 x handle bar brackets
1 x helmet bracket
3 x 18650 batteries
1 x twin charger
1 x single charger
1 x 5 led rear light
1 x red rear silicone light
1 x black front silicone light
2 x plug adaptors

Bargain price of £49.98

I am obviously planning to have two on the bars and one on the helmet and will try different zooms and alignment o give a good spread. I will take some photos and let you know how I get on.

Only thing i'd say against that is that zoomable lenses don't appear to work that well compared to the fixed lens variants (which also appear brighter too due to a better reflector design). And why the two extra front and back silicone lights?

TarkMalbot

Ok thanks. I will see how they are when I get them. Is there any chance you can buy just the fixed lens heads or is each manufacturer different?

Oh and the Silicone lights were just because they were free.

Ouija

TarkMalbot wrote:

Ok thanks. I will see how they are when I get them. Is there any chance you can buy just the fixed lens heads or is each manufacturer different?

Probably not as the way they fix to the main body is different.

TarkMalbot wrote:

Oh and the Silicone lights were just because they were free.

Nuff said.

And it's not that the zoomables are bad. If you've been used to Halogen lights or any of the stuff you get from your local bike shop or Halfords then switching to any Chinese XML light will be a revelation by comparison. But once you get past the initial "holy cr*p these are bright" infatuation with them you start to get niggled by small things about their design, one of which is poor beam patterns (triangular dotty squares with poor coronas or floody lights that have either have no definable spot or a poorly defined one). You can become something of a light snob in some regards.

TarkMalbot

Just ordered a Ultrafire 502B too so I can compare. It was only £6.50 and I am assuming I can use the battery from the others.

As long as I can see things whilst out cycling on the trails so I dont crash I will be happy for now.

diy

where from?

allthegearnoidea

guessing from here
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290720103211? ... 1436.l2649

almost picked up a second from them,
unbranded version from uk suppli for just ovr £8
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390522299784? ... 1436.l2649

TarkMalbot

Good old eBay indeed.

cooldad

allthegearnoidea wrote:

guessing from here
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290720103211? ... 1436.l2649

almost picked up a second from them,
unbranded version from uk suppli for just ovr £8
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390522299784? ... 1436.l2649

States a couple of weeks for delivery though and "We ship all items via our shipping agency in UK, items are firstly imported by our agency in UK and then posted via Royal Mail."
Sounds like a dropshipper.
"If any item is defective upon receipt, please contact us for the return address," which I bet is in China.

Seems like a sneaky way to be a UK seller.

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old SOB, but whilst I buy loads of stuff online, I decided a long time ago to only buy from proper UK sellers who abide by the DSR. Costs a few £'s more but IMO worth it.

Plus I hate waiting ages for my stuff.

allthegearnoidea

Iid not read the full details of the location, but had noticed a few shops Springing up on there in the uk but Run on HK time! Makes a bit more sense now!
I always looK for the best place closest to buy from but sometimes the fortnight wait is worth it if the price is That much better!!

Ouija

TarkMalbot wrote:

Just ordered a Ultrafire 502B too so I can compare. It was only £6.50 and I am assuming I can use the battery from the others.

As long as I can see things whilst out cycling on the trails so I dont crash I will be happy for now.

The 502's are good torches. Very common and, therefore, very configurable. You can get new emitters for them as better leds are created, different reflectors (such as orange peel ones for a softer flood affect) and remote switches which are always fun. Remote switches for the 501 are easy to find just about anywhere, but the rarer ones for the 502 can be found here

One of the fun mods i do with them is to take a pressure switch and cut off the pressure switch.

:?

Why? Because they are no use to bikers. Even if you tape one to your grips you can't squeeze them hard enough to keep the light on, being primarily designed to be stuck to the stock of a rifle (the 501/502 are tactical torches, for military use, hence the 'strike' bezel for punching people in the face with and the insane flash designed to disorientate whoever you point it at).

However. The pressure switch does allow you to easily tap into the torches circuit by simply sticking a DC power plug on the end of it to make a pigtail.....



You can then attach a conventional latching switch to turn the torch on and off. Since these torches use momentary losses in power to instruct the emitter to change modes too you can do this also by simply pressing the button on and off in under a second. I like to use the old remote switches that came with Electron EHP Halogen light set as i had some spare but there's a guy on ebay who sells complete head units in sets of four for a few quid



They have the advantage of working just like the original tail cap on the 502 in that pressing them firmly until you feel them click turns the light on or off. Lightly tapping the button so that it doesn't click causes a momentary drop in power that triggers a mode change instead. Also means you can lightly rest your thumb on it to cause the light to go off to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic and then simply lift your thumb off and it'll come back on in the same mode (only breaks in power of less than a second trigger a mode change). Certainly beats having to manically switch back through all five modes if your the conscientious type who wants to dip your lights for oncoming traffic.



Of course, you can also use our 'pigtailled' torch to power it externally, if you want. To do that you need to take the battery out and make a dummy battery by simply going to B&Q and getting a short length of 18mm wide dowling rod and cut it to 65mm long (the battery name "18650" is a description of it's width and length 18*65.0mm). Cut a groove down the side and run a length of wire along it and pin the ends down with brass thumb tacks..... (i solder the ends of the wire to the thumb tacks for a better connection).




With the dummy battery in the torch you can power it off a 4.2v external battery pack......



However. This method does make turning it on and off more difficult as you no longer have a button to do so (changing modes would require you to yank the power socket out and stick it back in again in under a second, which isn't particularly easy to do). If your not afraid of a a soldering iron you can easily wire up a three way plug to allow you to divert the '+' (red wire) of the battery through our remote switch before continuing into the back of the our pigtail on the back of the torch. (ignore the spare power jack in the picture below, i just couldn't be bothered to untape the two battery packs before taking the picture).





Essentially the red wire from the battery plug goes to the red wire of the switches plug and the black wire from the switch goes to the red (central) pin of the jack that goes into torch. Just make sure to wrap a bit of red electrical tape around the initial power jack plug as plugging the power socket and switch into the wrong connectors would cause the current to flow in the wrong direction (reverse polarity).

And if your wondering why i simply tape my 501's directly to a Electron bike mount when there are loads of 'proper' mounts available out there (most of which i own, by the way), it's simply because it's leaves the torches un-bulky and streamlined so you can have fun doing stuff like this...

(Saddle bags..... or a phaser)

diy

Ideally you wanted Orange peal reflector on any 50x light. While they have the benefit of a small head and therefore actually reflect some of the light, the XM-L is too raw IMO to be a good LED with a smooth reflector. The orange peel lights soften the spot slightly and increase the flood a bit.

501/502 components are near identical - i'm pretty sure the tail caps are interchangeable. Its cosmetic only as far as I am aware.

I'm currently running a pair of 501bs on my tri-bars held on with some inner tube rings.

I have also found that if you use a usb mobile power pack you can up the light output by 20% as it inputs 5v instead of 4.2v. Though technically you are double driving the LED, so you could probably get away with raw leds. Good for running stubbies.

-Archie-

Ouija wrote:

The 502's are good torches.

Quite questionnable statement. Cheap & widespread - yes, definitely... 8)

Ouija

diy wrote:

501/502 components are near identical - i'm pretty sure the tail caps are interchangeable. Its cosmetic only as far as I am aware.
.

The tail caps on the 502B's have the thread on the inside of the battery tube, the 501's on the outside. Hence the reason the remote switches for the 501's don't work with the 502's. The circuit board is also larger, so isn't so easy to transplant into a 502 cap.

502B


501