# Rare Arc LED Light 1 of 50 (prototype)



## nerdtoy (May 30, 2006)

I listed pictures of my lights under that thread finally, turns Peter from ARC Flashlight tells me mine is a prototype of the first ever made, its one of 50 made. I found this to be extremely interesting. Its pictured next to the JIL and Strion. Cool huh 


Hello Kevin.



That redish-orange Arc-LS model is pretty rare. If I recall less than 50 were made.


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## mrichelo (May 30, 2006)

I wanna see that pic, maybe it's cause CPF was just down... but I cant see it, can you post a link?

thanks.

Mark


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## mrichelo (May 31, 2006)

Oh LOL

i thought the ano was red orange, I was looking to see a red-orange Arc, youre talking about the LED.

thanks fro posting the pic. Arcs were just a bit before my time. I only admitted my flashaholism and found help in the last few years.

Thanks,
Mark


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## nerdtoy (May 31, 2006)

Yes the LED itself, way cool item to have. I like having prototypes and first runs. My buddy bought a long while back two guns, the serials were 0000100 and 0000101, they recently banned ownership of these specific guns unless you get a stamp but very cool serials. Shotgun too 


I got the ARC from a friend years back, he would always send me tritium tubes, I have tritium tubes coming out my ears


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## Frenchyled (May 31, 2006)

HEy...it's not an Arc LS.. it's only an ARC AAA ...


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## nerdtoy (May 31, 2006)

Yes I know. I sent a picture of it to the company and its a red/orange LED, very rare as they said they only made 50 of those. Its not orange and its not red, its redish/orange. The picture does the color no justice. And yes its a AAA not LS. Its old, I have had it for years and before that my friend up north was the original owner.


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## powernoodle (May 31, 2006)

nerdtoy said:


> Yes I know.



You described it in the first post as an LS. Thus Frenchy's response.

cheers!


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## greenLED (May 31, 2006)

Hey, I have one of those! It being a prototype would explain a thing or two about it's condition (not fully crimped head, shaved (but otherwise intact) pill, neg batt contact too high (and looks round), etc. I was going to "fix" all these little things, but now I think I'll just leave it as is.

Or maybe I got a "second"? I say that because the body has a single "ARC" inscription around the top of the batt tube.  Ideas, anybody?


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## powernoodle (May 31, 2006)

I've got a LNIB red one that looks like that, but thats probably not what you folks are talking about.

cheers


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## nerdtoy (May 31, 2006)

Hold onto that bad boy. I would email arcflashlight first and them send him a picture of it. Most likely Peter will email you back.


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## FlashlightPhreak (May 31, 2006)

I also have an unused "red/orange" & a red, and have an Infrared ARC which only a very few were made. Goes great with night vision indoors in dark places.

Also, still have a few turquoise and blue aaa's in the drawer...


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## Stillphoto (Jun 1, 2006)

Man, I remember it was, wow it cant be, I guess maybe two Christmas' ago that ebay was full of all different sorts of AAA's...I

remember bidding on a uv, an rgb, and I believe a premium all at the same time...lost all of them and ended up with a standard HaIII light that was from a reputable cpf member who stated it was brighter than any of his premiums...just wasnt marked with a p...man I wish i had gone for more of the exotic colors back then...people were picking them up for under $50 easily..ah the golden age of the AAA..


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## Sigman (Jun 1, 2006)

Hmmmm, I had one of those as well, "as new" and didn't like the color/pattern - so I sold it for normal pricing at the time ($20/$25 or so).

Oh well...


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## Frenchyled (Jun 1, 2006)

powernoodle said:


> You described it in the first post as an LS. Thus Frenchy's response.
> 
> cheers!



YEah.. you've got it Powernoodle.. thank you for this explanation 
I have a great default...I always read details...and saw that in the first post the reply from Gransee spoke about an Arc-LS.. but maybe it's a typo


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## nerdtoy (Jun 1, 2006)

Pasted partial, not the whole email, sorry. And yes, the lead poisoning does strange thing, I have been behind a kayboard since I wa around 12 or 13 or so, now my fingers don't hit the keys they should. Something going on in the brain I guess or it could be nerves getting messed up.


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## greenLED (Jun 22, 2006)

I finally got around to taking some pictures of my orange ArcAAA and e-mailing them to Peter. He responded very quickly with some details about my light, which I'd like to share. Here's the full story of this light:

I bought it on BST a while back (I forget who sold it to me). When I received the light, it flickered. I thought about cleaning the contacts, but upon closer inspection I realized the pill seemed to be uncrimped. I removed the foam and, indeed the pill was uncrimped. While I was at it, I pushed the pill out and realized it had been "tinkered" with. The pics don't show it really clearly, but the sides of the pill were "shaved" and the top of the potting epoxy pill was missing (where the o-ring goes, if you've ever taken an ArcAAA apart). Also, the LED had been sanded (which the seller did mention before the deal was completed).

Something else I noticed is that the battery tube does not screw on completely to cover the o-ring. I thought this was because of the uncrimped head, but it turns out it's because of the rivet on the bottom of the battery tube is too high. 

As far as I can tell, the actual circuit hasn't been tinkered with; only the LED has been sanded down to smooth the beam. This is the first amber/orange LED I handle and I also noticed it's much longer than a white 5mm LED. If I crimped the head, the LED's acrylic dome would protrude further than the end of the light.

Anyway, that's my story. I'm interesting in hearing from other owners of orange ArcAAA's. Do your lights look anything like this?

Here's what Peter said in his e-mail (I'm quoting with his permission, of course):


> The battery pack is the new design, with the rivet. Made in the past year. The last time we made an orange Arc-AAA was back in 2001 if I recall. So the head, if authentic, it much older than the battery pack. The head looks like ours as far as I can tell. It has definitely been tinkered with. The epoxy does not come loose without some help. Maybe liquid nitrogen was used. Does it still light up? The oranges were not that bright and we only made about 50.



That solves part of the mystery (the battery tube part), but doesn't explain the condition of the pill (aside from the sanded LED), and it still doesn't explain how it got a new version tube!  If you have any info about this particular light, please let me know. At this point I'm debating whether I should "restore" the light to as close to pristine condition as possible. I can easily and securely re-crimp the light (learned from Merri herself... ), and I'm thinking of resizing and polishing the LED's dome. I could also find an older style battery tube and/or have somebody reduce the height of the rivet so the battery tubes covers the o-ring properly. Any ideas or comments on all these (story and my plans)?

Here are the pics showing (left to right) the uncrimped head and new version battery tube, uncrimped head, shaved pill (front), shaved pill (back), bottom of battery tube, showing round rivet:


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## markdi (Jun 22, 2006)

I have a arc ls3 

arc ls3's are very rare

less than 28 or 35 were made/sold - or something like that.

2.5 watt lux 5 powered by 2 cr123

mine is perfect - and very white

quite a few of them were greenies

I wonder what my ls3 is worth ?

I should put it on ebay and find out


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## greenLED (Jun 22, 2006)

Dude, I think you've been "selling" that thing for a year and a half now. Put it on BST or eBay and get it over with.


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## Jumpmaster (Jun 22, 2006)

Indeed. Put it on ebay already.

JM-99


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## markdi (Jun 22, 2006)

wow - I did not know I was bothering any one

I feel I should say I am sorry or tell the both of you to screw off.

It was lost in my mom's house for quite a wile

well I am not going to say I am sorry - I choose the second option.


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## greenLED (Jun 22, 2006)

:laughing: You're not bothering anyone, markdi, and nobody is asking you to apologize. It's just that every time the LS3 comes up I see you mentioning your wish to sale (and I noticed 'cuz I've been reading up on the LS3). It was just a friendly  I'm sure you could get at least $300 for yours, if that's what you really want to do.

But, this thread is about ArcAAA's so... /highjack


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## Sigman (Jun 22, 2006)

The one that I had (indeed was orange/red) had a "waffle like pattern" to the beam. I've got one more but the beam seems to have a "star like pattern" to it.

Hmmmmm...:thinking: :shrug: I think I'll just throw it away!


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## greenLED (Jun 22, 2006)

I forget what the pattern on mine is. Not smooth, that's for sure! :green:

If you throw it away, make sure to aim southbound from your location.


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## cy (Jun 22, 2006)

greenie, I've got an original ARC AAA body somewhere... they were type II color anodized. early ARC AAA heads had a flat rubber washer instead of an oring. 

correct me if I'm wrong, but proto ARC AAA had oring, then changed to flat washer, then changed back to orings again. 

I've got one of the first proto ARC AAA proto lights ever made. head design is slightly different from later production models. posted pictures in threads long forgotten.....

hard to tell, pic below has almost every ARC AAA series ever made!


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## bippidie (Jun 23, 2006)

cy, 
you ought to include your most recent addition- the Blue body Arc-LS! congrats on the snag, and the quick repair
bippidie


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## ouchmyfinger (Jun 23, 2006)

cy, very nice collection!


:bow:


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## FlashlightPhreak (Jun 23, 2006)

Cy, 

Do you have the very rare "ARC infrared AAA" in your collection?


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## cy (Jun 23, 2006)

didn't even know ARC made any IR AAA's... ?


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## Carpe Diem (Jun 23, 2006)

cy said:


> didn't even know ARC made any IR AAA's... ?


 
Indeed Peter did!


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## fluorescent (Jun 23, 2006)

I have the IR in AAA and AA


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## FlashlightPhreak (Jun 23, 2006)

The AAA IR comes in handy with night vision when indoors and there is very little ambient light for the night vision to amplify....


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## markdi (Jun 23, 2006)

I was not trying to hijack anything

when I saw this thread

Rare Arc LED Light 1 of 50 (prototype) 

I thought I could post about my ls3

I have never sold any thing online

it was lost for quite a while

I only remember that I own a ls3 when i see a thread like this


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