"RGB" LED torch from Lidl - teardown & disabling SOS

Testing, opening and improving a Crivit LED flashlight from Lidl supermarket. This one runs on two AA batteries and comes with a red, green and blue filter. It says the power is 5W, but actually about half of it. It has 3 modes - high, low and SOS. I modified it by adding a resistor parallel to its capacitor, so it always goes into the high mode when turned on, yet you can still access the other modes by turning it briefly off.
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[@RobotN001]

Disabling SOS is very required technology !!! Many thanks !

[@DrZipZwan]

I hate it, who gona use it!!

[@arthurmead5341]

@@DrZipZwan titanic survivors!

[@novdec1531]

@@DrZipZwan people in need of help ? One day you’ll appreciate it lol

[@DrZipZwan]

@@novdec1531 You right. lol

[@johnwelbourn3811]

Excellent video, I'm sure Lidl would ship more flashlights if they all had your modification

[@jurivlk5433]

Your modification is quite useful. Pressing over 1 second goes to the last mode used and pressing fast going to next mode! I hate the system when you have to go through all modes when you just want to use it the way you used it the last time!

[@johncoops6897]

This chip always starts on high, it doesn't remember the mode. The modification makes it reset quicker, however in normal use you just switch it off. After some time, it starts at High again, and you must cycle to get to Low or SOS. The difference is that this uses a "Click ON, Click OFF" toggle switch, whilst the annoying ones use a momentary switch so you MUST toggle through all modes to get to "off"... those ones are awful.

[@vgofron]

You can also remove the mode memory by making a mark with a pencil on surface of the capacitor. The carbon layer basically creates a paralel resistance and discharges the capacitor.

[@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse]

That "Max 200 lumens" label is deceptive. This legally allows them to create a black hole, effectively having less than 0 lumens. Still within rating!

[@chocolate_squiggle]

The entire industry is built on outright lies. The official ANSI rating for duration (how long a light should run for with correctly rated batteries) allows companies to specify a run-time down to just 10% of its original brightness value. That's criminal when some people are relying on their headlamps to get them safely through the bush overnight.

[@MintyLoveDMT]

Thankyou! I bought this exact torch about 6 months ago and had given up on it, having found the state memory so annoying. Thanks to your video there is now a 56k resistor soldered across the cap and I now have another useful torch. Happy days.

[@hid3nax]

I actually bought a small Czech-made LED torch at DEPO recently this year (16 EUR). It uses one AA battery and doesn't have that annoying flashing mode. Very happy about it.

[@SportStream2015]

I have these and 100 lm smaller model.Smaller will have 2 work with one aaa batery .One will buy have error to always start in high mode.

[@hid3nax]

@@SportStream2015 That 100 lm should be fancy device too. For anyone who might be interested, mine is EMOS ULTRABRIGHT 60 MODEL, 170 lm, 100 m, one AA battery and 3 years warranty :)

[@hernancoronel]

Thank you Diode! Love this kind of videos!

[@williama29]

at 2:21 the cat is nice and cute and calm and just looking around the cat is the assistant that speaks with a thought bubble 🙂

[@johncoops6897]

You don't need the mode switch to be too-quick. In normal usage you switch it quickly to select the mode, and then use that mode to illuminate. After use you switch off and do not have to go through "SOS" to get to "Off". After a little while (

[@_BangDroid_]

Cheers from Aus! I will try this on my torch, it's guts look basically identical

[@brandsthatcreatelitter1648]

Absolutely the best torch I’ve ever owned, better than ever Maglight I’ve had. Amazing brightness, toughness and longevity. £5 from Lidl, wish soooo much I’d bought 4 more.😛💪😆♥️

[@tamahagane1700]

I have one of those (now properly lubricated and stupid blue HA removed from the bezel), gave 2 away as presents. I get totally sick when I see poor heatsinking and it's common even in some top brand flashlights (won't name them). Thanks for the review and keep up the good work.

[@techtinkerin]

Your way of having full as standard makes much more sense, bet the manufacturers will start doing this after your video 🤣❤️

[@johncoops6897]

That's the way it is supplied as standard (non-modified). It always starts on High. All this mod does is decreases the time that it takes to reset after you switch it off. Without mod, it might take one minute to reset, which is normally OK because people normally don't switch flashlights on and off and on and off and on and off repeatedly.

[@tobitechboy1461]

I need to check this one out in our Lidl store!

[@BobT36]

Top-notch editing again m8.

[@user-qf6yt3id3w]

As I understand it someone showed Klaus Schwab a video of child having an epileptic fit and he found it hilarious and told all countries to mandate SOS mode in torches. Actually he wanted them to flash all torches at 13 Hz but they claimed it was impossible for technical reasons and SOS mode was eventually agreed on. Schwab was very grumpy about it until they got him a bottle of wine to have with his lunch and claimed it cost them ten million dollars even though it was actually well under a million.

[@Mark1024MAK]

Thanks Diode, another good video 😀👏

[@lauraiss1027]

Whatever the quality, I'm happy that we do not have to use those USSR flashlights with tiny incandescent light bulbs that was never bright enough to see anything. Especially when used as bicycle headlight.

[@G1ZQCArtwork]

Excellent modification. I have a similar torch that always remembers the last modes, High Med and low then SOS. Really annoying.

[@maliyoutuber2450]

You are best youtuber about electronics

[@RicoElectrico]

Interesting observation about washed out color filters. There *are* cheap plastics that have saturated colors. Like blue Tic-Tac boxes. Not sure if they're still around. But the Chinese probably just don't care. 🙃

[@amkp40technology]

Great improvement 🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️👍🏻👍🏻

[@TrystansWorkbench]

Wow, what an amazing interesting accent you have. Wonderful.

[@tvelektron]

Nice "Hack" with the extra resistor - thank´s a lot...

[@vaclavtrpisovsky]

It would be nice if you used the slow rolling mode of your AVR-based memory scope to show the capacitor discharging waveform, and found the cutoff voltage. I put a 100kΩ SMD resistor in parallel to the capacitor in my 18650 flashlight and the RC time is about 5 seconds, but up to twice as much when cold. Unfortunately, this also means extra cca 30 μA flowing from the battery whenever the switch is closed, even if the chip and LED draw no current below 2.7 V. You can therefore make the battery overdischarge by leaving it accidentally switched on for weeks.

[@bgyuri1985]

that cat is reading my mind, i think the same always!

[@joejane9977]

@diodegonewild what if you took the output pin for flashing to the mosfet controlling the output in SOS mode and cut trace and added a diode then cap and or inductor so your sos mode would not go full off anymore and pulse from bright to a little less bright. the diode might not be needed was thinking so you dont get backfeed

[@BalintNandori]

I just bought this flashlight as well, and i use it with rechargeable ni-mh batteries

[@Miata822]

I wondered how to defeat that irritating flashing. Now I have an idea what to try. Thanks!

[@johncoops6897]

With this torch, like most modern ones, it always starts at HIGH. So if you switch on it is high, and after you illuminate something you switch off it is OFF - you never see SOS mode in normal usage. Next time you use the torch, it resets and starts again at HIGH.... however you must leave it off for some reasonable period, maybe 15 seconds or a minute.

[@Pirelli.]

Let us reduce the restistance to 0,001 Ohm and we have a 1000W Light torch 😂 Thank you Dany and have a nice weekend 😊🍺

[@electronic7979]

Nice video 👏

[@tscherenkov9461]

The max power for the Cree led is 5W. @ 200lm the flashlight will probably only use 1,5 W from the battery

[@tonywalton1464]

Love the "RGB" facility. It reminds me of those magic sheets of plastic that would "turn your black and white TV into a colour TV". Anybody remember them?

[@jurivlk5433]

Lidl has very cheap and not bad flashlights! And luckily it has only RGB and not LGBT features!

[@chattonlad9382]

🤣

[@arthurmead5341]

The EU will mandate LGBT soon

[@jurivlk5433]

@@arthurmead5341 Yes, and one will be allowed to marry one's flashlight!

[@lanrejohnson7100]

real sensible and teachy

[@David-cy5zu]

Once my flashlight with those annoying modes got broken after using for a few hours. Only the steongest mode remained, and it was even brighter than before! Unfortunately I lost it.

[@two_number_nines]

Finally a led torch with switching regulator. Would it run good on a lithium cell? I have a bunch of vapes to source flashlight cells from

[@meszarosp]

Hi Danyk, where did you get those testing cables with alligator clips? I have older version of your multi-meter, the MY64 and can't seem to find anything out there. Or perhaps would you recommend a slide-on clips to be used with the multi-meter's standard test leads? Seems more practical then to swap out cables and possibly wear out the connectors on the multi-meter. Thanks for any hints.

[@DiodeGoneWild]

I just put the aligator clips on the cables :). The original probes started falling apart anyway.

[@savneetsinghrairai6823]

I really enjoy your discription just feel like my russian friend talking to me about eletronics 😆😆

[@kolinevans9127]

Great thanks for sharing

[@catpersimmon7011]

How about putting a small potentiometer in series with that 0.13 ohm resistor. Assuming you could find one with a low enough value you could use it to select the brightness of the LED...

[@johncoops6897]

There is heaps of current through that resistor. Plus you cannot get small potentiometers with such low values. It's easier to adjust the PWM frequency, which is why there is a control chip in there.

[@Bianchi77]

Nice video, keep it up , thank you :)

[@RicoElectrico]

Regarding light output and range It's according to ANSI standard, as indicated later in the description.

[@chocolate_squiggle]

And that ANSI standard itself is extremely misleading.

[@rothens]

I've bought a same looking flashlight from our Lidl (in Hungary), it was in a paper box, not in a plastic one, and the filters aren't so washed out. Other than that it's the same :)

[@SportStream2015]

In serbia has been same for 200lm and 100lm model cardboard.I have one 100 lm with bug.Always start in high mode.

[@LadyBovine]

Yeah I just bought this today in Lidl. Paper box. It's fabulous for the price imo :D

[@darekmario446]

I love destroying dumb marketing claims without even opening the package :D

[@eddybash1342]

Hi ! 13:35 I do luvvvv your oscilloscope made in CCCP !

[@owcame200]

What is cccp?

[@martinda7446]

@@owcame200 Cyrillic for USSR

[@martinda7446]

@@owcame200 Anticipating next question, Cyrillic is Russian alphabet.

[@martinda7446]

@@owcame200 Anticip..etc...Union of Socialist Soviet Republics.

[@owcame200]

Oh Manufacture of vintage items

[@JamesLewis]

This flashlight appears to be a lot better than MANY cheap flashlights... at least it has a boost converter, and appeared to have somewhat decent metal construction, very strange about the slope under the LED, quite bad for cooling. those 3 battery lamps with just a resistor (sometimes no resistor) are just horrible!

[@LadyBovine]

Yeah this light is surprisingly nice from a user standpoint too. Nice not overly light feel, smooth threads, good output, smooth but firm zoom, tint not too blue. For the price its great value. (Don't know how well it would handle heat dissipation if used for a long time in hot weather, but that's not really a probable use case for a lot of people.)

[@georgepapa2950]

If you did a benchmark of the thermal temperature before the modification and after to see the thermal difference of the paste!!

[@matiasfabricioparra6209]

Do u have a video about ur weather station?

Now you really expect to see calibrated narrow band optical filters at Lidl?

[@gabest4]

Isn't the LED loose to leave space for thermal expansion? Probably not :)

[@Stelios.Posantzis]

2:59 The eyelet that holds the strap is so thinly made that simply pulling on the strap is enough to shear it off. This is a major design flaw and is guaranteed to result in you losing grasp of your torchlight at the worst possible moment and it hitting the ground/floor/whatever. 10:59 The flashing maybe something that cyclists are after? Or for use in case of a car accident to alert vehicles approaching?

[@LarryKapp1]

The bicycle lights I have used flash a lot faster and no SOS sequence.

[@johncoops6897]

@@LarryKapp1 - Yep, and flashing bicycle lights are EVEN MORE annoying than SOS. That's because they glare is everyone else's eyes, rather than the cyclist's. Cyclists don't care, but WE hate them.... For that reason, I always flash my car high beam into the oncoming cyclist's eyes to blind them, like they try to do to everyone else.

[@Stelios.Posantzis]

@@LarryKapp1 I didn't realize it's an SOS sequence. Let me check - yes it is! Ha ha what a silly feature. I don't know if anyone would even recognize this as a distress signal over here: there's hardly any boy scouts and most grown ups I doubt would pay attention. Dimming the light 1-2 scales would be much more useful.

[@LarryKapp1]

@@Stelios.Posantzis ha ha - yeah maybe only old sailors and ham radio operators would save you when you shined your flashlight in SOS mode.

[@Stelios.Posantzis]

@@LarryKapp1 lol I can't imagine a situation where I'd be that desperate and my only hope would be resting on a Lidl torchlight - with working batteries no less.

[@dflyfpv8765]

So the button is just a momentary switch? Great video!

[@DiodeGoneWild]

No, it's not memantary. It's an ON OFF switch. But by pressing it half way while in ON position, you can briefly break the contact to switch the modes.

[@wallkiller8080]

Please buy some convoy s2+ or c8 to give comparison of the market :)

[@atdzsny]

3:10 there is never enough of warnings on them

[@MiamiMillionaire]

👍

[@RobotN001]

15:20 slope is for wires

[@celsoneves2368]

Top cool!.

[@silvatraoz2615]

noice!!!

[@LousyPainter]

How does it give 1.2 seconds of memory? I'm missing something.

[@DiodeGoneWild]

It doesn't "give" it a memory, it actually shortens its memory to 1.2s :)

[@kemi242]

You could make a crappy color photo with a b&w camera with those RGB filters.

[@tkordus]

0.9 Ohm should be better 😎 You could test minimal working voltage 😀 greetings

[@inseries5494]

the battery holder is just a pipe! ARE YOU KIDDING ME GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Lachlant1984]

That red colour filter looks orange to me.

[@tyramisiu]

7235Q1 = PADAUK PMC150/PMS150 ????

[@Purple431]

I would like to remove the annoying flashing but you also loose the low brightness setting :(

[@johncoops6897]

You don't need to lose the flashing. Just switch on once for HIGH, or twice for LOW... then use the flashlight... then switch it off. You never see SOS mode. Providing you leave the torch "off" like a normal person, the next time you use it it will start at HIGH again, SOS is ONLY selected if you switch it on and off THREE times before you use it.

[@vanguard1427]

olight sent me a birthday day present a freyr RBG and white light it totally rocks

[@davorinrusevljan6440]

one reason for blinking would be for some people that put torch on bicycle to be seen (not to see), it then largely extends run time of battery. not my cup of tea anyways.

[@JoseSilveira-newhandleforYT]

Good mod to disable the annoying flashing.

[@cienfgs]

Ha! I came up with the same solution to disable the blinking mode on a similar flashlight. But was lazier, so just implemented the "resistor" by drawing with a pencil across capacitor leads. Suuuper dodgy!

[@pchaayeshanaik1922]

"super good" video

[@tobitechboy1461]

Is the blue one uv?

[@DiodeGoneWild]

no, it's just blue. You can't get UV by putting any filter over an LED that doesn't produce any UV.

[@tobitechboy1461]

@@DiodeGoneWild okay, got it

[@tobitechboy1461]

The cat is right Again…

[@klysm86]

Even one of my UV flashlights has the sos mode... so stupid.

[@Gameplayer55055]

Chinese rainbow consists of just three colours

[@thisfeatureisbad]

Úprimne som čakal nejakú trojfarebnú SMD LEDku, ale to by nebol Lidl.

[@johndahl6651]

Yes now lamp is much better ....

[@JohnGotts]

Always have a fire extinguisher ready when lighting a torch indoors. I'd also recommend a carbon monoxide detector. Outdoor, angry mob use only.

[@NSoupFog]

After 2500 battery's, in economy mode it`s done.... :)

[@ledhunters]

It will shine better if you use one 14500 battery :D

[@DiodeGoneWild]

Li-ion? it would probably destroy it. It can't regulate the current when the input voltage is higher than the voltage drop of the LED plus the diode.

[@ledhunters]

@@DiodeGoneWild It was a joke :D This types of lights are in general of very bad quality and not worth even if they were free. LED looks like cree XPG3 but probably a copy. You could get 2-3 pcs of 7135 current regulators and use li-ion with it but thermal conduction will still be bad as it was and major obstacle to get better performances. People often ask me if I could make this type of light better/stronger, increase lumens output but when you think about it, it's cheaper to get a proper light like Convoy S2+ right from the start than to get this one from Lidl (or ebay) and then invest $$ to fix all that is bad with it in stock form.

[@azharuddin2023]

Doddddgggyyyy

[@martinbobak3009]

Do you hate horses?

[@tiborbogi7457]

No I don't hate horses, but my flat is on the 4. floor and horses don't like to climb there. Anyway my flat is only 27 m2, max 3 horses fit there.

[@1pcfred]

@@tiborbogi7457 being herd animals horses like being close to one and another. So I'm sure we could fit more happily in your flat. Well, they'd be happy at least.

[@brandsthatcreatelitter1648]

weirdest, craziest accent and speech meter, i have ever heard in my life. It took almost till the end of the video, to realise he was speaking English. Impressive, sounded like little Britain, in Welsh.

[@notmasterdelectronics]

"says not to stare into it" Proceeds to stare into it

[@fabiomuzzi7047]

Flashing mode is a Chinese mania. More (useless) features is always better for Chinese manufacturers.

[@bonci888]

What

[@allcrafter3747]

It's not Lidl it's liiiiiiiiiiiidll

[@-Crash-Nebula--]

Non è un rgb ma un R /G/B

[@spykillergames8402]

the SOS mode..is not a law thing....its because all the chips they used are derived from those of a cycle light...and they all kept the SOS mode function

[@johncoops6897]

Cycle lights don't use SOS.... think about it.

[@Roflcopter100]

LIDL TORCH LULE

[@jakubrichnavsky]

Great video but honestly that is worst czech accent in English I ever heard I cannot even finish waching it, I haven't laughed so much long ago

[@AmigaWolf]

Are you from Swedish, there they use Krona? I thought you were from Czech Republic?

[@DiodeGoneWild]

Yes, I'm from the Czech Republic, we use Koruna.

[@AmigaWolf]

@@DiodeGoneWild Ok, thanks for answering, ok so they sound only the same. I hope everything is ok there, because here in The Netherlands we get again a lockdown, that the stores must be closed by 17:00, because Grovid (Gr=C) is a very smart virus.