# Regulated Incandescent Renaissance!



## Chrontius (Apr 4, 2013)

So, while in Wal-Mart for air filters, I made a detour to the flashlight aisle. Hm. Incan version of the Black & Decker XML spotlight… hm.

Lithium technology. Kinda nice for an incan. 

Two brightness settings? I'm intrigued. Conveniently it turns on in low, too, so that'll stress the bulb less.

What's this? Maintains constant brightness over the battery's life? _Maintains constant brightness over the battery's life?

Holy smokes_, this sucker's _regulated.
_I may actually have to buy a Wal-Mart light. I'm sad to admit that it doesn't have a built-in 120v charger like its weighty lead-acid cousin, but it's light, it's bright, and on high, it's screaming white & bright. And I haven't gotten to the best part yet.

It's a *$30* regulated incan. :huh:


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## Imon (Apr 5, 2013)

Model name or number please! 

I looked through Wal-Mart's website and I don't think I found it.
If it is regulated it certainly will be interesting. Personally, I can't remember there being a regulated incan since the A2 and of course some stuff Fivemega made.

*Edit*
Nevermind, I wasn't looking hard enough. This must be it.


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## Justin Case (Apr 5, 2013)

Imon said:


> Model name or number please!
> 
> I looked through Wal-Mart's website and I don't think I found it.
> If it is regulated it certainly will be interesting. Personally, I can't remember there being a regulated incan since the A2 and of course some stuff Fivemega made.



JimmyM with his JM-PhD-D1 D Mag regulator and and JM-PhD-X1 lantern regulator, Will Quiles with his PhD-M6 SF M6 regulated pack, AlanB PhD-MD Programmable Hotwire Driver for the Maglite D, js SF M6-R, AW Mag D Incan Driver, AWR Hotdriver, winny PIR 1, Willy Hunt LVRs, and probably others.


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## SemiMan (Apr 5, 2013)

Seems there is a Camo version of it as well. Based on the runtime and output, I would say about a 16 watt hour battery pack. Perhaps 3 - 2200AH batteries? or maybe 4 lower capacity, higher current. Claimed 800 lumens so 35-50 watts depending on the bulb.

Semiman


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## LuxLuthor (Apr 5, 2013)

I bought (by mail) one just to take it apart and see whats in it. Stay tuned.


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## Greenbean (Apr 5, 2013)




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## mesa232323 (Apr 20, 2013)

LuxLuthor said:


> I bought (by mail) one just to take it apart and see whats in it. Stay tuned.




Ever receive the light?


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## LuxLuthor (Apr 20, 2013)

Yeah, took it apart, detailed photos, indeed regulated. Just have to get my lazy *** to download from my camera, crop, and upload to my bucket before I die.


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## ampdude (Apr 24, 2013)

Wow, somehow missed this thread. Gonna stop by Walmart to check this out. The camo one looks pretty cool. Appears to be in stock as well.


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## maxspeeds (Apr 25, 2013)

LuxLuthor said:


> Yeah, took it apart, detailed photos, indeed regulated. Just have to get my lazy *** to download from my camera, crop, and upload to my bucket before I die.



How do you like it, Lux? Any beamshots before it was taken apart?


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## mvyrmnd (Apr 25, 2013)

Is it worth ordering one from overseas?


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## Bullzeyebill (Apr 25, 2013)

Lux, does it look modable? Improve battery pack?

Bill


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## Imon (Apr 25, 2013)

I couldn't resist... I picked one up at my local Wal-Mart.

Lux, I hope you don't mind if I post pictures of the light. I know you have already obtained one and have taken a look inside. I respect your incan knowledge way more than mine and I hope I could do CPF a little service by showing some pics.

I'll take picture of it and upload it later...


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## mesa232323 (Apr 25, 2013)

Imon said:


> I couldn't resist... I picked one up at my local Wal-Mart.
> 
> Lux, I hope you don't mind if I post pictures of the light. I know you have already obtained one and have taken a look inside. I respect your incan knowledge way more than mine and I hope I could do CPF a little service by showing some pics.
> 
> I'll take picture of it and upload it later...



:thumbup:


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## Brigadier (Apr 25, 2013)

Terrible review on WalMart's website.



> Well I bought this spotlight because the packaging seemed to indicate just what I was needing. Removed the device from packaging, charged it and got a few hours of use but while using the light the red light comes on and automatically shuts the light off getting progressively worse as it is used. So after first use I brought the light inside to put it on charge with the standard home charger. The light seemed to be charging due to the indicator light but once removed only lasted for about a minute before going dead again. When I attempted to put the light back on the ac charger the light would not even charge and I suspect that the cheap charger had already malfunctioned at this point in time. I Then put the light on the DC charger overnight. The next day I removed from charger and the light was still completely dead. The black and decker customer support line is a bunch of run around and I cannot believe that this level of quality of product can even be sold in stores. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT BECAUSE IT IS COMPLETELY WORTHLESS!


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## n2stuff (Apr 25, 2013)

LuxLuthor said:


> Yeah, took it apart, detailed photos, indeed regulated. Just have to get my lazy *** to download from my camera, crop, and upload to my bucket before I die.





Imon said:


> I couldn't resist... I picked one up at my local Wal-Mart.
> 
> Lux, I hope you don't mind if I post pictures of the light. I know you have already obtained one and have taken a look inside. I respect your incan knowledge way more than mine and I hope I could do CPF a little service by showing some pics.
> 
> I'll take picture of it and upload it later...



:candle:
LOL


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## ampdude (Apr 25, 2013)

Yikes, well I guess he's never heard of returning it for a different one? Maybe just got a bad unit.

Maybe these lights have been around for a few years and we just never noticed them? Could mean some of the Li-ion batteries are nearing the end of their service lives.

Lux, is that an 18650 battery pack it uses? Might be fun to make an AW 18650 battery pack for this light.


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## Imon (Apr 25, 2013)

ampdude,

Mine has 3x18650 (I assume connected in series).
Manufacturer: Dongguan Kanyo Battery Technology Co.
1300 mAh


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## ampdude (Apr 25, 2013)

That's a pretty low capacity for 18650's, I wonder if they are some chemistry other than typical Li-ion.


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## n2stuff (Apr 25, 2013)

ampdude said:


> That's a pretty low capacity for 18650's, I wonder if they are some chemistry other than typical Li-ion.



Mmmm 1300 mah is very old technology or they under rate their 18650's. NOT


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## Imon (Apr 25, 2013)

Hello fellow incan lovers,

Sorry for getting to this post late - I had to upload and resize all the images so they were all under 800x800. Also I took a nap. :sleepy:
Again, LuxLuthor will probably have more insightful things than me to say but my curiosity overtook me and I had to take a look inside.
This turned out to be a interesting light after all. 

This is a picture heavy post ... sorry if some of the images are poor quality - I used my camera phone. :thumbsdow




This is the package as seen from the aisle in Wal-Mart. Employee there thought I was a weirdo.




This is the back of the package - in case you're curious.




Camo version... again if you're curious. I did not buy the camo version but I thought some of you guys would like to see it. Same size, same price.




The stuff that's included in the package: 120V charger, 12V charger, instruction manual, and registration card.




Right hand side.




Left hand side.




The back. The 12V and 120V chargers have different ports to plug into. The circular button on the bottom is the "dimmer" switch. It's actually a mode changing button. The light has two modes - High/Low. Push the button to switch between the two modes, sometimes it's slow to react to changing modes but you just give it a second or two. There is no mode memory - the light reverts back to high.
There is a indicator LED at the top too above the two charging ports. The light blinks red when you are charging it and glows a constant amber when charging is complete.




Down the reflector!




Reflector and bulb.




I was a bit surprised how lightweight it felt in my hand... so I'm going to waste some picture space measuring the weight. 
Just a little bit over 1 pound ... pretty good.




Rudimentary size comparison to a few lights I had hanging around. 
Fenix E21, MiniMag 2xAA incan, Surefire 6P, and HDS Clicky (Light off to the side is a 6D Mag - I was just humoring myself).




The bulb itself. It said on the base of the bulb: "H3-9V40W" Presumably a 9 volt, 40 watt bulb. 




Take out all the exposed screws then pry off the rubber bumper on the front to expose two more screws and two other screws holding a plastic piece in place that retains the lens.




Lens, reflector, rubber lens gasket, and the light. Yes, the lens is glass and it is approximately 3mm thick. Also the edges are fairly sharp. :thumbsdow




A look inside. The top black plastic piece is very hard to take off. They are connected to the body with two screws that are hidden under a black plastic plug.




A closer shot of the electronics. Sorry ... no insightful or witty commentary.




The battery pack. 3x18650. At first I thought these might have been LiFePO4 because of the low capacity but apparently not.
They are connected in series as you can see: 
11.1V = (3.7V * 3)
11.1V * 1300 mAh = 14.43 watt-hour.

That's all I have to say about the light. If you have any questions I'll try my best to answer it... Thanks for looking through my very long post. :thumbsup:


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## Greenbean (Apr 25, 2013)

*Thanks for the pics and info, I appreciate the time and effort, 

Dang, so a little ingenuity and some 3400 mAh cells and you have over double the run time right? :thinking:

*


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## n2stuff (Apr 25, 2013)

Thanks Imon for doing the write up and humor. It does look interesting for the money. Are you going to do any mods? Every since I was old enough to hold a screw driver I would love to take things apart and see what makes them it tick. I sure Lux will fill in the blanks.

Again thanks for your time.


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## mvyrmnd (Apr 25, 2013)

Hmm. Mod in some 3400mAh cells, and a more powerful H1 Bulb (if the regulation circuitry allows for it) and it could be a little monster


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## Imon (Apr 25, 2013)

mvyrmnd said:


> Hmm. Mod in some 3400mAh cells, and a more powerful H1 Bulb (if the regulation circuitry allows for it) and it could be a little monster



The output is actually quite impressive. I was playing around with it outside tonight (neighbors probably thinking "oh no, not with the flashlights again" ) and I was just reminded, thanks to the thin profile of the filament, how good incans are at throwing. Too bad the beam profile is hideously ugly - the hotspot is blob shaped and uneven in brightness, there are three large ring artifacts, and the light makes a distinctive buzzing noise on both modes.



n2stuff said:


> Thanks Imon for doing the write up and humor. It does look interesting for the money. Are you going to do any mods? Every since I was old enough to hold a screw driver I would love to take things apart and see what makes them it tick. I sure Lux will fill in the blanks.
> 
> Again thanks for your time.



I doubt I'll do any mods. I have some spare 18650s lying around but at $20 a pop it hardly seems worthwhile to do a $60 mod for this light. I do have some cheaper Trustfire 18650 cells too ... but I use those as the energy store for my solar/usb charging system.


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## ampdude (Apr 25, 2013)

I went to the local Walmart store just now where a camo was was said to be in stock, but it wasn't. There were two orange ones though, so I picked one up. If this one works out I might check other stores. It's currently on the charger with the flashing red light. There is a much larger version rated at 850 lumens that was in camo and orange that I almost picked up by mistake. This one is rated at 950 lumens and is about half the size and mass. The charger gives off a bit of a whine though as soon as I plugged it in before I even connected it to the light. Bad start IMO. We'll see how it goes.

Whining chargers are chargers that are about to fail or are already failing IME. They must have super cheap capacitors.


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## Imon (Apr 25, 2013)

ampdude said:


> ...
> Whining chargers are chargers that are about to fail or are already failing IME. They must have super cheap capacitors.




:laughing:

My AC adaptor has been whining all day.
We'll just have to wait and see if either of our chargers fail.

*Edit*
BTW: The tint shift (as expected) from high to low is pretty drastic. Obviously since the filament is hotter on high mode it's going to have a high color temp ... I would estimate 3700K while the low mode is 2700K.


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## ampdude (Apr 25, 2013)

Yea sometimes they still go a long time. My cell phone wall wart has had a much more minor whine (than this one) for about 8 months and it's still going.

I'm very interested to test it against my two M6's. I have a 1MCP spotlight from 2005 that looks like a joke next to an M6.


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## mesa232323 (Apr 25, 2013)

Great review. I need to take notes  How about you change it to LED and install an SLA battery  just kidding. Is this light regulated on full power?


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## ampdude (Apr 25, 2013)

It has a dimmer switch on the back of the light, so it technically is regulated in low mode also.

I have a dimmer switch for my kitchen as well, I slide it up and down and the lights get brighter and dimmer. Regulation..

The dimmer switch is just a button on this light though, so it appears to just have two modes. A slider switch would be epic, but no such luck.


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## LuxLuthor (Apr 26, 2013)

Imon, that was an excellent set of photos--every bit as detailed as mine were, and then some. One might ask why this light is so cheap, and then you should not be surprised to find it using 1300mAh Li-Ion cells. These are Lithium Cobalt, but the circuit board does have balance charge tap leads going to each cell which allows monitoring of each cell's performance. That was very reassuring for a 3s setup. Yeah I suspect the bulb is a generic 9V 40W, but it is a step up that it is an axial filament (vs. transverse) in terms of beam appearance. The reflector has a very nice coating, and the glass lens is essential. It may be an intended strategy to have a low mAh battery as a way to control heat. I didn't do a full run time. The bipin bulb is also inside of a holder which grounds one leg to the reflector bulb mount. The 12V charger only outputs 0.5A, so it's slow going. Mine didn't have the whine others spoke of.

I don't know if there is much more to say. I don't think it has the heat tolerance to do much of an upgrade, and the cells are not easy to get to. You would need a battery tab spot welder and include attaching balance taps.


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## StudFreeman (Apr 27, 2013)

I'd love a good incandescent flashlight, particularly if it's regulated. The quality of light that a well-driven filament produces is unsurpassed by any LED light I own (which includes several hi-CRI 219s). I've been looking to get an A2 to curb my appetite for a regulated incan but this thing looks great for the money.

Lux, there must be an easy way to upgrade without wattage issues. What size is the bulb? Does this thing perform a soft start? If so, one may be able to sneak a lower-voltage bulb in there without it going ...


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## mesa232323 (Apr 27, 2013)

Hi


StudFreeman said:


> I'd love a good incandescent flashlight, particularly if it's regulated. The quality of light that a well-driven filament produces is unsurpassed by any LED light I own (which includes several hi-CRI 219s). I've been looking to get an A2 to curb my appetite for a regulated incan but this thing looks great for the money.
> 
> Lux, there must be an easy way to upgrade without wattage issues. What size is the bulb? Does this thing perform a soft start? If so, one may be able to sneak a lower-voltage bulb in there without it going ...



If you are good with hand tools I suppose you could make a WA1185 work in the h3 base.


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## relentlessknives.com (Dec 3, 2013)

OK it is a good little light and I used mine for about 1 month. Then I dropped it while off.... less than 9 inches on to a plywood flat and the bulb
was damaged....filament broke....so now I need a new bulb.

It says h3-9v40w on the mounting plate.

I no longer have the manual and googled it....which led here.

Any ideas were I ca get a replacement bulb.....?


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## cland72 (Dec 3, 2013)

You should be able to use any H3 bulb sold at any retailer or auto parts store so long as it is rated for 9V and 40W.


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## EvilLithiumMan (Dec 3, 2013)

"This is the package as seen from the aisle in Wal-Mart. Employee there thought I was a weirdo."

There shouldn't be any doubt. We are weirdos.


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## Illum (Dec 3, 2013)

SemiMan said:


> Perhaps 3 - _2200AH_ batteries?



:lolsign:



Imon said:


> A look inside. The top black plastic piece is very hard to take off. They are connected to the body with two screws that are hidden under a black plastic plug.



I wonder.... 
How much is the light at the time of review, I'd like a light I can plug into the car and run it off in that manner. Regulated is a wonderful thing, easy on the lamp too


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