Copper threads

[The Whispering Gallery]

Hi all, just got my first Cu light - Astrolux A01 BLF edition. Very pretty metal and am looking forward to the formation of patinas. However, the threads require more force than I'm used to, compared to Al twisties like Olight i3s EOS. It's a little difficult to operate the light one-handed, but far from impossible.

Is it normal for Cu threads to feel like this?

Is there anything I can or should do to take care of the threads and prevent galling/seizing (different lubricant, anti-seize, etc)?

Pic of threads. They have some pitting - not sure if this is typical of Cu when machined.

Unfortunately I'm more underwhelmed by the dirt on the LED dome. Maybe it has little effect on the brightness or beam pattern.

 

[jon_slider]

Is it normal for Cu threads to feel like this?

Great Photo!
My Copper Maratacs start out very difficult to use one handed. It turns out the reason is the O ring is tight at first. Here is what I do.

1. Remove O ring
2. clean threads and O ring with a paper towel wetted with alcohol. (not kleenex, they shed a lot of lint)
3. apply just a little bit of lubricant of your choice, half way down on the body threads. You want to avoid getting excess oil on the pill. (I am a fan of Nano Oil, NOT dielectric grease because it tends to be sticky)
4. put head on body without O ring at first. Work the threads back and forth a few times (no battery installed)

at this point you should be convinced the threads are smooth, creamy and delicious

5. install battery (still with no O ring). Work threads back and forth a few times to convince yourself that the grit you feel is the battery dragging on the pill, not the threads. (Do not oil the battery nor pill)

you can use the light without O ring if you keep the light out of the bath… once you are clear that it operates easily one handed, you can reinstall the O ring. Lubricate the O ring. Wipe any excess lube off the end of the battery tube, you do not want oil on the pill. I usually also wipe out the threads on the head and pill, leaving oil only on the body threads and O ring.

Reassemble the light, and let us know if all that made a difference. :-)
The O ring will loosen up over time.

Congrats on your Copper Light! Note the A01 has a reputation for skipping modes, I think making sure there is no excess lubricant on the end of the battery tube and on the pill, may help. imo mode skipping is caused by head wobble, it is the job of the O ring to prevent that.

IF the head is too wobbly even with the O ring installed, some people report success with a bit of Teflon tape on the threads. I have not tried it. I do not own an A01 myself.

Enjoy!

 

[The Whispering Gallery]

Thanks for the detailed reply! I'll definitely be trying that :).

 

[staticx57]

I have super lube on my copper A01 and it turns extremely smoothly. Also, this light has a protective coating on it and it won't patina unless you remove it.

 

[jon_slider]

this light has a protective coating on it

thanks for that info, I had not seen that mentioned before. I always enjoy your posts.

I almost bought a CU A01, but held off due to all the reports of mode skipping, plus the first 2 modes being lower than I like.

fwiw there is a discount code at the beginning of this thread that brings it down to $20.. I cant think of any other Copper AAA at that price.

fwiw, this pic is a click link to a review of the A01. Imo it has a fantastic LED!

 

[TheShadowGuy]

The only other copper AAA at $20 is the copper Olight i3e, but that's comparing a small single mode CW light to a warm Nichia multimode one. :p
I'm waiting on a replacement copper A01, which I will get very soon.
Jon's thread cleaning and Teflon tape recommendations are spot on, by the way. Many users on BLF recommended those fixes as well.

 

[staticx57]

thanks for that info, I had not seen that mentioned before. I always enjoy your posts.

Thanks :)

BTW: your encyclopedic knowledge of everything nichia is impressive as anything. Always enjoy a fellow nichia enthusiast.

 

[The Whispering Gallery]

Also, this light has a protective coating on it and it won't patina unless you remove it.

Good to know. Did you remove it by polishing or with a solvent?

I used jon slider's technique and it's much easier to turn the head now.

I also learned that the pill is easily removable, so it was very simple to clean the particles off the LED dome with a little isopropanol underneath a microscope. The soldering was very sloppy, with blobs all around the LED. I also found some hard particles in the pill threads that were easily cleaned off. Maybe I got a sub-par example, but everything seems fine now.

I'm very enamored by the copper material, and the light from the LED is pleasing, though significantly cooler than my other two Nichia 219s (Eagletac D25A and D25A2).

Thanks all for the helpful and informative replies.

 

[The Whispering Gallery]

Here's a beamshot of the Nichias.

D25a left, A01 center, D25a2 right. Of course the difference isn't quite this dramatic in real life.

 

[campingnut]

I use plumbers grease on all of my lights. I figure it is meant for a similar environment...water, moving parts, okay on o-rings, and its cheap!

 

[jon_slider]

it's much easier to turn the head now.

Yay! thanks for following up with your success

There are reports of some people stretching the spring in their A01 to reduce a tendency to flicker. And also reports that turning the pill out slightly can cure any flicker. These suggest the spring pressure might be low. Springs vary in length and stiffness, sometimes it works to have 2 springs nested together

different springs:

about stripping any sealer on the copper…
I would try acetone (nail polish remover) Disclaimer, I have not tried and dont know if it also etches the copper.. be careful. If youre brave, share your discoveries.

sidenote how to strip patina OFF copper, vinegar works (also ketchup). Disclaimer, it produces a less glossy finish, that can be repolished with a jewelers cloth (I bought Sunshine Cloth online, it works great)

Miracle Grow also works awesome. Just wet it and put it on.

I used miracle grow to create this green patina

the light from the LED is pleasing, though significantly cooler than my other two Nichia 219s (Eagletac D25A and D25A2).
...
D25a left, A01 center, D25a2 right. Of course the difference isn't quite this dramatic in real life.

excellent visual aide, really appreciate a post with pics
I would like to learn more about these lights as that is completely not expected

can we figure out what LEDs are in the eagletac and A01 lights by comparing photos of the LEDs? eg:

above right is N219A

eagletac has used both 219A and N219B
the two LEDs look different:
left is 219A and right is 219B

 

[The Whispering Gallery]

Here are some photos:

D25a, which according to Eagtac's website is Nichia 219 D220, and looks like the 219B in the previous post. Both my Eagtac's LEDs appear identical in markings, and tint at about 4000k to my eyes.

A01 BLF edition, which states 219B in the product description, and "NICHIA 90 CRI NVSW219C-R9050-SW40 LED" in the product features. I would say the tint looks to be 5000k, and I believe that it is 90CRI.

It's odd that all other reviews I've seen report 4000k from the A01.

 

[Thetasigma]

Here are some photos:

D25a, which according to Eagtac's website is Nichia 219 D220, and looks like the 219B in the previous post. Both my Eagtac's LEDs appear identical in markings, and tint at about 4000k to my eyes.

A01 BLF edition, which states 219B in the product description, and "NICHIA 90 CRI NVSW219C-R9050-SW40 LED" in the product features. I would say the tint looks to be 5000k, and I believe that it is 90CRI.

It's odd that all other reviews I've seen report 4000k from the A01.

Interesting, an sw40 219B would indeed be 4000k, wonder if you have one that was binned wrong?

 

[jon_slider]

not sure, but at first blush the above photo looks a bit like the XP-G2 pictured in the middle below

from your beamshot above, I agree your A01 looks a lot cooler than 4000k. The XP-G2 in my Maratac and Olight i3s measured to be about 5800k

if you post a photo of an eagletac nichia LED and A01 side by side, the color reflected in the reflector could add to that info. If you have an XP-G2 to include in the LED photo, or in a side by side beamshot, we may learn more.

I definitely do not think you have an SW40 Nichia

here are some of my lights
Olight i3s w XP-G2, Thrunite TiXmas w XPL, Maratac w XP-G2, Prometheus Beta w N219A

and their beams

you can see why I think your A01 might have an XP-G2, based on beam color

 

[The Whispering Gallery]

not sure, but at first blush the above photo looks a bit like the XP-G2 pictured in the middle below

from your beamshot above, I agree your A01 looks a lot cooler than 4000k. The XP-G2 in my Maratac and Olight i3s measured to be about 5800k

if you post a photo of an eagletac nichia LED and A01 side by side, the color reflected in the reflector could add to that info. If you have an XP-G2 to include in the LED photo, or in a side by side beamshot, we may learn more.

I definitely do not think you have an SW40 Nichia

I also have an Olight i3s EOS. Hard to tell in the picture below, but in person the color in the A01 reflector is identical to the D25a, both of which are different from the i3s.

Beamshot of the three: D25 219B left, A01 center, Olight i3s XP-G2 right.

Interesting, an sw40 219B would indeed be 4000k, wonder if you have one that was binned wrong?

That might be the most likely explanation. But I did think it was weird that, when I was cleaning the particles of the dome, the LED board was not adhered to the pill. I wasn't worried about heat sinking because it gets pushed down when installed, but I can't help but wonder if this light was modified with a different bin Nichia 219B, and then returned. I took it apart again to get a photo.

 

[jon_slider]

Beamshot of the three: D25 219B left, A01 center, Olight i3s XP-G2 right.

thanks for your excellent photos and comments

Your A01 beam in the photo looks excellent! I think it has much nicer "neutral white" tint and color, than either the "yellowish" Eagletac or the "blueish" Olight. Having the Olight in the picture really helps put the eagletac in perspective, thanks.

Maybe the Eagletacs are a poor comparison reference for the A01, because the ET's are from a very yellow tint bin, above the BBL in the following chart:

Maybe the Eagletac is a 5S bin? (pure speculation on my part, I have no facts on Eagletac LED specs)

If it was me, I would want to figure out if the A01 has good CRI, somehow. Ive seen some people post pictures of color charts, I have not tried that myself.

the only CRI reference Ive developed is to take a photo of the palm of my hand: (you can see one shows the reds and one does not, below)
photos use iPhone 5, it uses auto white balance and I took the photos at night, so the phone is whitebalancing only to the light of the flashlight. imo they show high and low Red Rendering (CRI) very well. (without showing Color Temperature). If you try this with an auto white balance camera, it is important to do it in the dark, so the camera does not whitebalance to some other ambient light color than just the LED itself.

the spec for this LED is 90CRI: Look at the amount of red that shows

the spec for this LED is 70CRI, look how little red shows:

 

[staticx57]

jon, the tint chart you posted is what cree calls their tints, not a universal way to name tints. Here is an overly of nichia tints over Cree tints

(found here http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?365572-SC52W-quot-Green-tint-quot-poll/page2)

Anyways, from the picture he definitely has a 219B you can tell the difference between that and the XPG2 with the triangle in the nichia and the square in the XPG2 if nothing else. A good way to test color temperature is to take a camera with raw and manual white balance capabilities and see what the camera spits out for a color temp when it auto white balances on the beam ideally against a white wall.

 

[jon_slider]

from the picture he definitely has a 219B

I agree, I think the A01 looks very nice. The ET tint is very yellow by comparison.
A hand photo could be useful in confirming the A01 is High CRI and able to show skin tones better than the Low CRI Olight.

and thanks for the post you linked:

Nichia 219

XP-G2:

 

[The Whispering Gallery]

Your A01 beam in the photo looks excellent!

It is nice. I do have a preference to the warmer tint of my D25a.

the only CRI reference Ive developed is to take a photo of the palm of my hand

I attempted some CRI photos below using my wife's laundry drying rack. I'm not sure if there is enough red to really show the difference in CRI, so I may try this again. My subjective impression is that the D25a 219B is significantly better than the A01 219B, and the A01 is significantly better than the i3s.

i3s:

A01:

D25a:

A good way to test color temperature is to take a camera with raw and manual white balance capabilities and see what the camera spits out for a color temp when it auto white balances on the beam ideally against a white wall.

I took beamshots of all of my flashlights against a white wall. Going to have my wife help me find the color temp since she is the photographer.

 

[jon_slider]

your wife wears nice colors,
and I respect your real world preference for the D25

looking at the bottom red cloth, differences in beam placement favors the middle one imo
but im undecided and invite more photos :-)

olight, A01, D25