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This 28 LED 3 AAA torch is available from Advancedmart.com.
It does not have a name brand or manufacturer, but it
is a pretty wild light. Inside the head of the torch
are 28 - count them - 28 bright white LEDs. A long time
ago I said that the only way that 5mm LED lights would
be able to compete with incandescent lights is if someone
stuck a whole bunch of them into the head of a light.
Well, someone finally did!
The body of the light is anodized aluminum with raised
rectangular sections along the battery tube for grip.
The tailcap unscrews to reveal a 3 AAA battery carrier.
The tailcap itself has notches for grip and an O-ring
seal. The body is rather thick and it seems fairly durable.
The normal beating I give test lights had no effect
on its operation.
Inside the bezel of this torch is a module that contains
twenty-eight 5mm LEDs. They all sit in a silvered reflector
area behind a polycarbonate lens. It's really quite
pretty to look at when viewed at an angle to the lens
- the LED capsules make it look kind of like a jeweled
broach.
 
Output is in the form of a wide smooth spot of light.
Fantastic for evenly illuminating a fairly large area
in front of the operator. Since it has 28 separate point
light sources, it cannot concentrate all of its light
into a tight beam. It's not designed for distance spotting,
but boy can it light up a room! The color of the beam
is VERY good for 5mm LEDs. Not bluish at all. It looks
like the 28 LEDs are being underdriven a bit which helps
prevent that bright blue tint which is common among
overdriven white LEDs.
With 28 of these little 5mm powerhouses, this light
initially puts out as much light as some 3 Watt Luxeon
flashlights! After 1 hour it is still putting out about
as much light as many 1 Watt Luxeon flashlights available
on the market today.
Beam at one meter at target center
The runtime graph shows that this light dims to 50%
in 1 hour and after 4 hours it is usable only at very
close range. It will continue to produce a feeble glow
after 4 hours of operation. If you give the batteries
time to rest, it will give you a burst of bright light
for a short period of time before it rapidly dims again.
The way that the output line drops off at 4 hours almost
makes me think that they are using a voltage regulator
of some sort in the light, but I can't be sure. They
may just be direct driven and either use a resistor
or depend on the internal resistance of the cells to
prevent the LEDs from drawing too much current.
Runtime
completed with Duracell batteries. More information
on runtime plots is available HERE.
Upon special request, I was asked to set
up a runtime test using the new lithium Energizer L92
AAA cells. Bad news for me, good news for you, because
my expenditure is about so save you the money you would
spend by trying it out yourself. For me, it was a waste
of the $10.00 for the 4 cells. The light takes 3 cells,
so you pay $7.50 to power the light for 30 more minutes
before 50% but less time overall. Both alkalines and
lithiums have almost same overall starting ouptut (4300
for alkalines, 4100 for lithiums). Note that both graphs
use the same time scale.
Runtime
completed with Energizer L92 Lithium AAA batteries.
More information on runtime plots is available HERE.
By special request, someone asked to see the same light
with NiMH AAA cells. I ran the graph and the data was
so strange that I figured some of my 4 year old AAA
NiMH cells were bad. So I went out and bought new ones
and tried again. Here's the result:
Pretty bad, eh? The lesson: Don't bother
with rechargables in this light unless you like runitimes
of 10 minutes or so. Alkalines are very inexpensive
and perform about the best in this light.
The switch is a simple rubber covered click switch
in a slight dimple. Click on, click off. That's it.
The switch actually turns the light on during the upstroke,
so the light can be used for momentary signaling only
after it is clicked on.
This torch should be considered "water resistant"
and can handle a splashing without too much trouble.
O-ring seals protect the lens, bezel, head and tailcap
connection points. Submersion is not recommended. If
it gets wet inside, disassemble as far as you can without
tools and let it dry out before using again.
Ergonomics: This light is just the right size for my
hand. Comfortable and easy to hold and the switch is
easy to operate.
Size compared to a common 2AA aluminum light
Use 3 AAA cell alkaline batteries for powering this
light. They need to be inserted into the special carrier
inside the body tube. Simply remove the tailcap, drop
out the carrier, put in 3 AAA cells with the negative
(flat) side against the springs (2 point up, one points
down) and drop the whole carrier in spring first. Reattach
the tailcap and you're ready to go.
What I Liked: Water resistant,
Tough/impact resistant, Bright, Easy battery change,
Stands up, Great beam
What I Didn't Like: Fairly short
battery life, Uses a battery carrier - one more part
to break or get lost.
Other Things I Noticed:
Conclusions: Fantastic little beater
light. Use it around the house, basement, or anywhere
that a wide even spot of light would be to your advantage.
It's quite lightweight, very bright (initially) and
seems to work well outdoors for lighting the trail in
front of you with a smooth even light. I think this
is a really neat little torch, and you'll probably never
find this many LEDs in a light for only 20 bucks anywhere
else!
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