Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights

[roverjohn]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

Well, I tried one of them in my favorite Dorcy 2xD host with fresh alkalines. Really nice output probably on par with the Dorcy 30 lumen replacement bulb. With 2 new D's it doesn't bother my radio at all for some reason and the output is much whiter than what you get at 1.5V. However, the bulb base does get warm after 5 minutes or so. My host has no heatsinking whatsoever so I would think it should have stabilized after 5 minutes but it might pay to at least look at that. The Dorcy bulb appears to have the exact same shell as this bulb but with a more robust led so maybe they are produced in the same place. Definately going to get more as I have a 2xAA host somewhere that I really want to try with two NiMH. Perhaps with the lower voltage the hot base will be less of an issue and you should still get good runtimes. A 2xAA runtime monster with about 20-25 lumens would be a very usefull light for me.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

One thing I just realized is these tail stand very well making them for a long running area light in stock configuration. Don't expect anything impressive but you could easily set one up in a bathroom or hallway or small room in an outage pointing at a white ceiling.

 

[flatline]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

Clearly, the hope is that these bulbs can safely handle being used with two 1.5v nominal cells.

It sounds like several of us are experimenting with them, so the longer we go without a reported failure, the better.

--flatline

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

Clearly, the hope is that these bulbs can safely handle being used with two 1.5v nominal cells.

It sounds like several of us are experimenting with them, so the longer we go without a reported failure, the better.

--flatline

I definitely wouldn't recommend using 2 lithiums with these bulbs, I think the drive level off 2AA alkalines is probably pushing them at (or past) their limits I sort of expect them to fail in but a 100 hours or so off 2 batteries but am hoping they are sturdy enough to take the abuse. If they only last 100 hours they are still good for utility lights that don't get a lot of hours put on them in a month.

 

[flatline]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

Out of curiosity, does someone maintain a list of PR LED bulbs?

--flatline

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

Out of curiosity, does someone maintain a list of PR LED bulbs?

--flatline

yes there is a thread that lists most of them in them. For the most part once you get past the dorcy cheapies the cost/performance ratio is not a good investment.

 

[flatline]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

yes there is a thread that lists most of them in them. For the most part once you get past the dorcy cheapies the cost/performance ratio is not a good investment.

That makes sense. Anything in the PR format will have exactly squat for heat sinking, so there's no way you can put a PR LED bulb in an old flashlight and expect it to be competitive with any modern LED light.

However, 20 or 30 lumens is plenty bright for most purposes, so a $5 investment in an LED bulb for a flashlight you already own isn't necessarily a bad idea. I'm still hoping that with these new eveready bulbs, the required investment is now down to about $2.

Time will tell.

--flatline

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

That makes sense. Anything in the PR format will have exactly squat for heat sinking, so there's no way you can put a PR LED bulb in an old flashlight and expect it to be competitive with any modern LED light.

However, 20 or 30 lumens is plenty bright for most purposes, so a $5 investment in an LED bulb for a flashlight you already own isn't necessarily a bad idea. I'm still hoping that with these new eveready bulbs, the required investment is now down to about $2.

Time will tell.

--flatline

This would be a good project for JohnR66... to test one of these dropins as he has tested dozens of 5mm LEDs.

 

[elseis66]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

Mine just died, I tried it in an older Rayovac 3 D cell light and it did not turn on at all so I figured it was not making contact. When I switched back over to a 2 D light it was working fine and then went very dim. I am going to buy a few more tonight and continue to test try them. I am going to sacrifice another on a 3 cell maglite that I know it will have good contact in.

 

[flatline]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

Okay, so these can't take 4.5v. I don't think that's surprising, but definitely good to have verified.

--flatline

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

Mine just died, I tried it in an older Rayovac 3 D cell light and it did not turn on at all so I figured it was not making contact. When I switched back over to a 2 D light it was working fine and then went very dim. I am going to buy a few more tonight and continue to test try them. I am going to sacrifice another on a 3 cell maglite that I know it will have good contact in.

You are nuts to use a 1D boost LED bulb in a 3 cell light.... a 2 cell light is pushing it rather hard as it is. Unless the module has a dropping resistor in it or a buck circuit you will fry it rather quickly off 4.5v input.

 

[flatline]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

Well, I turned my 2AA on and threw it in the trunk this evening. after band practice I pulled it out. No change in brightness after 4+ hours of running in the trunk and when I opened it up, it was definitely warm inside, but not hot to the touch. Of course, that's when I realized that this particular light, a duracell voyager, actually has a surprising amount of metal mass around the bulb that acts as a heat sink. I should have done this test with my old yellow duracell industrial 2D which has no possible heat sinking (just a plastic clip), so it turns out this test was less brutal than I had intended (why would an incandescent light design provide heat sinking for the bulb?).

Oh well.

This particular bulb ran 2 AA cells dry over the course of the week and there's been no noticeable dimming (judged by ceiling bounce). It's almost certain that running these bulbs on 2 cells reduces their life, but since there was no POOF after 10+ hours of runtime, I'm assuming the damage will result in a gradual dimming until the LED just fizzles out.

I think I'll add a couple of the Dorcy 3v LED bulbs to my next Amazon purchase just to compare against. Did I read somewhere that the Dorcy dropins are available from Sears?

--flatline

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

The dorcy drop ins are cheaper at frys, at sears they are close to $7 each I think.

 

[flatline]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

The dorcy drop ins are cheaper at frys, at sears they are close to $7 each I think.

Sadly, there is no Frys in the Memphis area, but Amazon has them for $5.66. I'll add one to the cart the next time we order diaper liners (we use cloth diapers at home).

--flatline

 

[DaveG]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

Sadly, there is no Frys in the Memphis area, but Amazon has them for $5.66. I'll add one to the cart the next time we order diaper liners (we use cloth diapers at home).
Just picked up a Dorcy 6-volt drop in at Sears hardware for about $7. I spotted the 2-cell led bulb also,same price.
--flatline

 

[roverjohn]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

If Amazon has the Dorcy bulb for $5.66 you might as well skip the Eveready bulbs. By the time you put gas in your car to go get the Eveready lights they would cost more that the Dorcy buls assuming you could get free freight from Amazon.

 

[flatline]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

If Amazon has the Dorcy bulb for $5.66 you might as well skip the Eveready bulbs. By the time you put gas in your car to go get the Eveready lights they would cost more that the Dorcy buls assuming you could get free freight from Amazon.

If it was just a matter of money, the Eveready bulb wins because you get 2 Eveready bulbs for the same price as a single Dorcy bulb. But a price difference of $2.50 per bulb isn't the issue.

Here's what really matters to me: the Eveready bulb makes a really nice beam in every light I've tried it. The only other PR bulb I've got is the NiteIze 1/2 watt bulb and it works fine in Maglites, but is absolutely atrocious in every other host I've tried it in. If the Dorcy makes a nice beam, then I'll use it instead of the Eveready so that I don't have to worry about the bulb burning out. However, if the Dorcy is like the NiteIze, then it's totally worth using the Eveready to get the nicer beam, even if I eventually burn out the bulb. Alternatively, I could give up some output and run the Eveready off of one cell even in my 2-cell lights.

--flatline

 

[roverjohn]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

The Dorcy and the Eveready bulbs look very similar with the Dorcy bulb looking as though it has a beefier emitter with larger leads. I have both and can report that they produce similar beams.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

The Dorcy and the Eveready bulbs look very similar with the Dorcy bulb looking as though it has a beefier emitter with larger leads. I have both and can report that they produce similar beams.

does the dorcy 2 cell one put out about the same on one cell as the eveready?

 

[ZMZ67]

Re: Cheap eveready 1D? LED lights at Home Depot

does the dorcy 2 cell one put out about the same on one cell as the eveready?

No the Eveready is brighter than the Dorcy when both are powered by a single cell.When powered by two cells the Dorcy is brighter than the Eveready on a single cell.The Dorcy is using a 10MM LED instead of a 5MM and seems to have a larger hotspot in the same reflector.So far the Dorcy has good beam quality in the lights I have tried it in,the old LUX I based Dorcy would have a donut hole in the beam when used in some of the same lights.I like the Dorcy in a 2-cell light and feel more comfortable driving it with lithiums than I would the Eveready.The Eveready dop-ins are a steal at $5 for two,complete with lights,I will have to pick up a few more! Anybody know of a good single AA light that uses standard PR base bulbs?