The big LIGHTS thread 2011-2014

diy

Does that mean you can screw the tail switch on a 502b directly in to the head removing the cell tube?

allthegearnoidea

In short, No, the thread is Too far into the head for the tail cap to reach, (sat here with torch in pieces on my lap! :-D )

andyrr

JK stockist of the newer U2 light : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ULTRAFIRE-C8- ... 337f41106a

Sheppy

Ok, now I know it won't be the best quality, and the battery pack although 6 cell will probably be naff, but I am tempted, especially as I still need a new battery pack, why not buy a complete light...
http://www.lightmalls.com/5t6-bike-ligh ... nd-charger

Surely someone on here must have tried one? Please tell me not to buy it... Must... not... order...

Neal_

Sheppy wrote:

Ok, now I know it won't be the best quality, and the battery pack although 6 cell will probably be naff, but I am tempted, especially as I still need a new battery pack, why not buy a complete light...
http://www.lightmalls.com/5t6-bike-ligh ... nd-charger

Surely someone on here must have tried one? Please tell me not to buy it... Must... not... order...

Both battery packs I've had from Lightmalls are properly rubbish so the run time for that should be taken with a huge pinch of salt. Genuine Magicshine packs seem to be worth getting so you should probably add the cost of one of these to the light (e.g. MJ-6010 or MJ6036 with an adapter cable). Also the light you have linked only has high-mid-strobe modes so no low mode. The one below may be better as it has high-mid-low and as a nice bonus doesn't have a strobe mode

http://www.lightmalls.com/sky-ray-4t6-b ... -light-set

Ouija

Sheppy wrote:

Ok, now I know it won't be the best quality, and the battery pack although 6 cell will probably be naff, but I am tempted, especially as I still need a new battery pack, why not buy a complete light...
http://www.lightmalls.com/5t6-bike-ligh ... nd-charger

Surely someone on here must have tried one? Please tell me not to buy it... Must... not... order...

Utter rubbish, especially for off road. 3.5 hours on high? Only if they've severely limited the amp draw of each XM-L so that they run very dimly (you'd be lucky to get an hour if they haven't) which sort of defeats the purpose of having that many XM-L's. Two 6 cell packs strapped together might get you over two/three hours on full if the XM-L's really are running around the 3 amp mark. I run my two XM-L's off either a 12 or 16 cell pack with each light drawing over 3 amps and i'd be lucky to get more than 4 hours on the 12 cell pack.

On top of that, how are you going to control the output and beam pattern of a light like that? On road, even on it's dim setting, it'll blind everybody in front of you since you can't control the brightness of the individual LED's, which in themselves are pushed up right against the front of the glass and therefore visible from a much wider angle. Off road you've got essentially one giant spot light that only points directly in front of you and doesn't flood the whole forest/trail (which you can do with separate heads by angling them in different directions).

Oh! And then there's the fact you've got five XM-L's but not five times the surface area to keep them cool (these 2/3/4/5 LED's in one head can run very, very hot).

Sheppy

Yes, very true, I was looking at the spec, it consumes 45W (allegedly) and battery is 6600maH (again allegedly) according to my maths that makes just over an hour.

I could buy it and tinker, but I know as you say it's complete garbage... Unless a representative from Lightmalls reads this and wants to send me one for free to assess

If it does do 45W it might be useful to put it in my shoes/gloves occssionally to warm me up (see other thread moaning about cold feet!)

A little off topic I know but have you seen this:
http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S020991
:shock:

Just connect up a generator and a cooling mechanism and away you go

diy

Interesting apart from "Circuitry: Digital Regulated 3000mA Current Output"

but with a 3 cell option, you could connect it to a standard 90wh long life laptop cell unmodified - giving you a respectable 9 cells.

but I have seen 5 and 7 LED versions which would be more useful:
http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S020256
http://www.lightmalls.com/ultrafire-xm- ... 50-3-18650
http://www.lightmalls.com/oem-ultrafire ... ht-3-26650

Ouija

Personally. If i was going to go with four XM-L;s on my handlebars i think i would rather have two of these strapped to either side of my stem so that the inner most touch in the middle.





With each head hooked up to a six cell pack, minimum. Slap some orange peel reflectors on the central two and heavy diffusing lenses on the outer most. Wouldn't have to worry about cooling and would have complete control of all the XML's independently (3 brightness modes), allowing for various beam patterns and combinations for off road and on road. Better cooling too, but would probably be overkill and a bit heavy for a road bike.

But then again, i'd argue that you don't really need more than two XML's on your handlebars to start off with (either on road or off).

Sheppy

i'd argue that you don't really need more than two XML's on your handlebars to start off with (either on road or off).

I'd agree really. I have the triple one I bought from lightmalls months ago and a year old single XML, I use the single XML on Low on roads then switch on the triple when off road which gives me more than enough light.

Having said all that, I was out on my other bike the other night with just my (the) original Magicshine P7 and I thought it was pretty poor output, I remember being blown away by it a few years ago!

diy

That depends who you ride with, how much light they have and how close to daylight you want to get. I personally like 3 on the bars and one on the lid. For road 2 on low / medium is plenty.

TarkMalbot

My zoom able lights arrived and I charged the batteries up to have a play. Zooming in is a waste of time as you just get a small square with the imprint of the LED circuitry. So I left them fully zoomed out and fitted two to my bars and one on my helmet.

On the bars:


In reality I have set one higher than the other to spread the intensity a little.

Here they are on the bike lighting up my rear garden. The fence is 25 meters away and this is taken with all three lights including one on my helmet:


I will compare one against one when the 502b comes.

diy

if you can get them another 1 or 2 cm apart you will notice a substantial improvement in their ability to reduce shadowing off road. This can make a big difference in your perception of the trail.

Danny87

I have 2 of these cree xml t6 zoomable torches ^ I'm using them for road riding. So the reflectors/lens are not interchangeable? Or is there a orange peel reflector or a better lens anyone would suggest for this purpose? Or have I bought the wrong torches & should of bought the 501 or 502?

I mainly need them for training rides out on dark unlit country roads, and the zoomable ones I have are good but don't seem to project too far down the road..

TarkMalbot

Well in the name or research I bought a Ultrafire 502B to test against the Zoomable non branded version. Here are some photos of the two:







First thing I noticed about the beam is how narrow the beam is on the 502B compared to the Zoomed out beam of the other.

502 Fixed beam:



Zoomed out unbranded:



Zoomed in unbranded:



You get the idea but I shall try again in the dark in the garden.

Ouija

Op reflectors are easy to find for the 502 (got two on the four i own). The below pic shows the difference between a 502 with smooth (top) and 502 with OP (bottom)

diy

I'd like to know the current draw of those zoomies as they look crap.

Generally the OP reflector is best on 501/502, smooth reflectors are OK on multi core LEDs like MCE or P7, but there is no reason to buy these LEDs any more.

allthegearnoidea

Have you guys a Link to the OP reflectors for the 502b??

TarkMalbot

To be honest the spread of light when zoomed out is pretty good. The 502 seems to be a very narrow beam with the standard reflector.

I did a test to see how long the battery lasts outside in the cold. After 45 mins I brought them in and took the following photos and video. The reason for the video is that the zoom light started to flicker. I swapped the batteries between the two and it was still only the zoom light that flickered.





It flickers more than the video shows. I guess that is something to do with the frames per second of the video.

Also noticed an issues with the 502. The threaded holes for the screws that hold the clip on are drilled all the way through. You can't put the screws all the way back in after removing the clip as it will screw into the end cap threads. If you leave the screws out then there goes any water resistance:

TarkMalbot

allthegearnoidea wrote:

Have you guys a Link to the OP reflectors for the 502b??

I think this is what they mean:

http://www.lightmalls.com/26-5mm-op-cre ... -and-so-on

TarkMalbot

How long do I charge the batteries for? Does this LED change to green when they are done or should I use a timer?

allthegearnoidea

Thanks for the link,

My charger goes green when done, (same as yours) check its in the adaptor properly as mines a Loose fit!!

Danny87

Erm the 'zoomy' I have is one of these:
http://www.candb-seen.co.uk/flashlights ... -l-t6.html
appollogies I don't know how to upload photos on here from iPad..

I got 2 chargers from same website and again charger goes green when done.

diy

- ultrafire cells are usually recycled cells with new top caps and shrink wrap. They are normally among the poorest quality. They are functional though and a good price.

- dollop of silicon seal will fix those holes or a bit of tape

- you need to know the voltage and current draw to know how well your cells and charger are performing.

flickering maybe due to a dodgy connection somewhere.

I wouldn't bother buying OP lenses as an after thought - maybe just buy a couple of OP 501s

TarkMalbot

It only flickers when the battery is going flat?
My charger eventually went green but took about 8 hours or so! Much longer than I was expecting.
I could test the current and voltage of the charger but not going to do anything about it anyway so will just keep using the batteries and re-charging them for now.

rob13

Danny87 wrote:

I have 2 of these cree xml t6 zoomable torches ^ I'm using them for road riding. So the reflectors/lens are not interchangeable? Or is there a orange peel reflector or a better lens anyone would suggest for this purpose? Or have I bought the wrong torches & should have bought the 501 or 502?

I mainly need them for training rides out on dark unlit country roads, and the zoomable ones I have are good but don't seem to project too far down the road..

I'm looking for something for unlit roads too, but dont want a separate battery pack so ideally a flashlight design would suit better. I'll keep an eye on this thread for a good option..

diy

I use two 501bs on low mostly - sometimes on medium for the road bike, works fine and will run 10 hours no problem. I currently have a pair mounted to my clip-ons with an old innertube.

The XM-L t6 in a standard OP 501 or 502 gives a nice spot with a decent flood for road riding. I use two simply to increase my visibility and run times.

rob13

diy wrote:

I use two 501bs on low mostly - sometimes on medium for the road bike, works fine and will run 10 hours no problem. I currently have a pair mounted to my clip-ons with an old innertube.

The XM-L t6 in a standard OP 501 or 502 gives a nice spot with a decent flood for road riding. I use two simply to increase my visibility and run times.

Thanks for that. I'm tempted by one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Torchy-BK10-7 ... 1c2fa1ce0d

They look pretty decent, with a good spread for the road. I'm only really after using one, as I wont be out too long on a night run, but coupled with a flashing light they would allow me to see and be seen.

cooldad

TarkMalbot wrote:

How long do I charge the batteries for? Does this LED change to green when they are done or should I use a timer?

I would invest in a decent charger, with a seperate LED for each cell. I think those are single circuit so will continue to charge until the both cells are charged instead of turning one off when it's done.
OK for properly protected batteries, but some are seriously dodgy and you could overcharge and I believe your house could blow up. Or something.
I have one like that as a back up, but I only charge one at a time, and never leave it unattended.

diy

@rob13, you are paying quite a premium for that light + its got a smooth reflector, so wont be as nice as the orange peel one. Also a 2Ah bat is pretty much poo. If you are prepared to wait 2 weeks, you could get:

http://www.lightmalls.com/ultrafire-501 ... ht-1-18650
£6.99.

plenty of options for cells and chargers. There are also some good portable power packs which can double as chargers.

4 cells
http://www.suntekstore.co.uk/product-14 ... 0_box.html
2 cell with useful lead
http://www.suntekstore.co.uk/product-14 ... rger_.html