Super-narrow beam LED head torch teardown.

[@jackking5567]

I can explain the beam shape Clive. The lamp LED and reflector is robbed from what was developed as a mine light. Miners wanted something which showed enough for what's close to you (to see where their feet were going etc) and the spot is designed to look along mines passages and also to see across chambers. This lamp seems a bit extreme but in mines their beam becomes usable as the users eyes adjust to low light. Even with modern specially made gear we ask for those parameters to be built in - I explore mines etc. The reflector and LED first appeared in what was called a 'Raptor Mine Light.' A google search will show a yellow unit with a small waist held battery pack. More modern Raptors (Raptor 2 and Raptor pro) were made with an enclosed battery like what you've shown. I hope that helps!

[@mikaelmleczko1984]

Clive, love your videos please say "Enhance" when you zoom, it will never get old.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Ooh, that's a good idea.

[@MikeAustin2012]

Here is a tip. If you sit any torch with a reflector (LED driven) on a table and look straight into the LED (NOT with the LED lit, in fact remove the battery) All flashlight/torches that us a white LED , the bulb has a yellow color.. Looking into the lens (reflector) , you should see the yellow coating. Most newer lights have well made reflectors that reflect all points of the bulb to all points of the mirror. From about 1 to 2 feet .you can move right to left or top to bottom and see where it drops off, telling you the beam spread of the reflector. I have only seen a few older torches that seem to be incandescent lamps converted to LED and have a very poor beam because the reflector was made to reflect the element that was generally 3/16 to 1/4" or 3 - 5 mm Ar some point this may be useful information. M Austin, Cincinnati, Ohio USA PS, I LOVE your channel!

[@MarkusMalecki]

Greetings from Thailand. Here we need this kind of light in our farms. You have to watch for snakes and burglars. This light goes far and is extremely useful here.

[@davidworsley7969]

It's much the same in Scotland.

[@ssmithstonetank1766]

The narrow, near collaminated beam sounds perfect for highlighting surface irregulaities, aimed to skim along a surface. I do a lot of sculptural stuff at work, I'll order one up.

[@DavidGloverAoki]

That's an excellent quality zoom on your camera there.

[@charlesdorval394]

Hi Clive, Thanks for taking your stuff apart so we don't have to :) I just wanted to mention, the 4.3v power supply might be for use with 3.8v cells instead of 3.7v cells.

[@T0NGPU]

The little rectangular shape on the 18650 is a battery management circuit. I have a similar cell in another device and checked it. It has a comparator chip and a mosfet package for protection.

[@VoeViking]

You are supposed to put it on your head go out to a hill near the ocean and rotate your head 360º until sun comes up, if weather is foggy you should shout as loud as possible.

[@robertleifeld225]

What would happen if you put a piece of lightly frosted plastic in front of the light to diffuse the light. Perhaps a donut shaped that would let most of the center beam of the light through but would spread the light around a bit. Could put it inside the light between the reflector and the glass. I am thinking of something like the mylar that we used to make our aircraft drawings on. Bob L

[@Anvilshock]

That zoom is amazing. Would you mind sharing your filming setup on your benchtop? Maybe with a picture? Thanks!

[@yogwhatup2000]

Two videos posted so closely together! Go you BigClive :)

[@grendelum]

Is the beam shaped at all by the oversized front lens or is that just a window to keep the LED sealed in? With such a focused beam maybe it could be converted into a miniature moving head lighting fixture... just a thought...

[@darrannewman7113]

Great review Clive, but... looking at the led does the reflective shroud actually do anything. I have several hand led torches that even though they have reflectors the main flood of light is from the led.

[@MazMaslin]

clive, have you converted an atx power supply to a bench top tester, or just a general power supply for various 12, 5 and 3v lines... I'm using one to power under cabinet kitchen leds, inside cupboards, and my small indoor workshop.. I have a two pin switch to power on between the 5v green and black, but how do I put a 3 pin led switch in ots place? the 5v green isn't enough to light the led, so do I put a 12v line to the led, and the 5v green to the accessory? its a pilot style toggle switch without the silly flip cover... cheers.

[@wojomojo]

Clive love your technical deconstruction; always educational. Would love to see the prices you paid for these gadgets, as it'll be interesting to see what the component cost is and how much economic requirement drove design decisions.

[@billporter6592]

I enjoy watching you're videos.

[@crimsonhalo13]

Also, the reflector looks like a shorter dished version of the type used in the Ultrafire C8, an oft-copied Chinese LED flashlight that's been on the market for years. These reflectors will be solid smooth-polished aluminum, and you can soften the beam with super fine steel wool or 1000 grit sandpaper. It's not as pretty as getting an off-the-shelf orange-peel style reflector, but in a pinch it can be made to work.

[@realflow100]

There might be protection circuit underneath the heatshrink tubing over the battery. It will be like a long thin rectangular thing underneath that you might be able to feel.

[@BlackWolf42-]

Would removing the dome off the top of the LED (cut it flat or grind it off) make the beam more dispersed?

[@robb.c.7407]

"I'm not sure what the intended purpose of this light is, but the beam is extremely narrow, to the point that it just highlights a dot in the distance. It's optically very impressive, but not suited for use as a working light or really even as a bicycle light as the packaging implies." Clive it's quite obviously designed for a Proctologist's, as the focused and narrow beam of light is exactly what You need to look into the hole that doesn't heal.

[@raymondj8768]

mr. clive what do you do with all the stuff you tear down for testing when your done just wondering thanks ??????

[@MrPensiveThinker]

I have one of these. even though the beam is narrow, it reaches very far. I always take with me camping. there are a lot of little animals and this is perfect for spotting them

[@jamesvandamme7786]

For all of your high power LED videos, I'd like to see temperature measurements of the LEDs. Get one of those cheap non-contacting thermal guns. But don't take it to bits.

[@techtastisch7569]

Would it help with the beam to use a bit of sandpaper to rough up the surface of the reflektor?

[@seoulpurpose]

The reflector gives us a brief reverse angle--a rare glimpse of the room lights above and room around The Workbench

[@AlexandrKovalenko]

This kind of head lights is very useful in tourism and mountaineering.

[@Dabbleatory]

Tourism to very ugly places, so you can only see a tiny bit of them at a time?

[@swanseamale47]

I'm guessing rupping the reflector with a bit of wire wool would soften and spread the light a bit better?

[@d0cjkl]

1:21 did Fanny Flambeaux make that shadow?

[@jurivlk5433]

I love the elephant foot sized british plugs. A tiny charger on a Godzilla plug is really strange when compared to the normal plugs.

[@paulgascoigne5343]

Juri Vlk what's normal to you is equally comical to us 😉 keep your titchy plugs, we have man hands in UK lol

[@jurivlk5433]

I was just teasing!😁

[@paulgascoigne5343]

Juri Vlk could you imagine Clive with them haha

[@userPrehistoricman]

I never felt safe when plugging things in when I went to Japan. Everything just sags out of the socket a bit. In the UK, you have to WANT to unplug something

[@jurivlk5433]

Prehistoricman I agree with you. The British plug is probably one of the safest, maybe together with the German one. Well, in Germany there is no fuse in the plug. But today with the tiny adapters, it really looks weird, a bit overprotecting the user. But feel assured, the British plug is very good.

[@Yrouel86]

It seems that such a narrow beam might be useful when doing precision work perhaps combined with magnifying glasses. Btw loved the closeups :D

[@AutomotivEivind]

I wonder what a frost gel foil would do to the beam pattern of this. I recently changed the halogen spotlights in the bathroom furniture for some LED spotlights. - At first they seemed a bit too bright actually, and I was thinking about installing a dimmer. Then I realized the light pattern was narrower, and that the overall lighting in the room could need an upping. I ended up getting a 1521lm 13.8W E27 bulb for the 60W rated ceiling fixture, and ordered a sheet of F2 Half Frost gel foil. The foil I cut out small circles off of, that perfectly fit in front of the lens on the spotlights. To me, the light looks very good now. Anyways, thanks for another good one!

[@chrisleech1565]

I would be tempted to move the LED to increase the beam width. One would have a hard time of it using this for exterior night work in general if moving around the job area fetching tools and such.

[@IronAngelForge]

Clive, I actually DO have a need for this exact item, but so far searching the sellers listings and ebay in general I haven't found this specific head torch - would it be possible for you to drop the listing you found in here?

[@bigclivedotcom]

www.ebay.com/itm/201756175322

[@IronAngelForge]

Thank you very much sir! I'm not sure why it wasn't showing up in their store and listings... possible PEBKAC error at my end I suppose. Edit - ah HA! I was searching ebay.uk.co ... it -was- a PEBKAC issue!

[@artemisrumbinger4012]

Hey Bigclive. Have you ever considered selling Bigclivedotcom spudgers? You should.

[@psneternityinanhour]

I live just up the road from a village called Clive. Always feels really wrong saying to someone "i'm just poping into Clive"

[@codhunter.6818]

I live near Beverley. I would love to pop into Beverley every day.

[@impmast3r]

What's that screwdriver set you use? It looks rather cool!

[@bigclivedotcom]

I usually use a small set from Poundland (UK shop) which is similar to many sold online called 8 in 1 or 9 in 1 sets.

[@mfbfreak]

Interesting light to make a light telegraph/telephone/transmitter with.

[@MrTurboturbine]

where can I get a reflector like that for a 100w led?

[@Roy_Tellason]

If you're not sure whether that battery has protection included in it or not, measure the overall length. Those that do have it are typically a couple of millimeters longer.

[@gavin9038]

Head lamps for caving have similar beams. Not sure I'd trust this one down a damp cave though.

[@luciusmaharal4065]

when will you do the next Q-A video ž

[@RentableSocks]

I've found this was the best budget headlamp I've ever found on Ebay: "Boruit LED Headlight 5000lm 3*AA XM-L T6 Headlamp Waterproof Head Torch Light" Very bright, and adjustable focus. Very good quality, too. You should check it out. not sure if you can get them in the UK though. Also, My example is a 2x 18650 powered headlamp, but I can't find any ebay items like that one at the moment :(

[@God-CDXX]

how many led items do you have ????

[@twocvbloke]

Maybe the tight beam is for when you need an emergency light source for a disco ball? :P

[@danoliver3946]

Is there an updated link for this please

[@kirkb4989]

The headlamp is considered a "thrower" with that tight beam. That is NOT to be confused with Clive himself is known as more of a "catcher" who is tight in a different way... :-D

[@MattTester]

I'd like to see what the 'Revolutionary Focus Technology' and 'Speed Focus' are as I can't see any kind of focus mechanism. A complete fabrication maybe? Great for small garden lighthouses.

[@johnbouttell5827]

A helpful investigative analysis

[@HaLo2FrEeEk]

My first thought was replace the clear lens with a frosted plastic lens. I pulled a large sheet of frosted plastic out of a broken TV that I took apart. I've used it for diffusing light to great effect. Another (more ghetto) approach would be to layer a few plastic grocery bags on the inside of the clear lens, that will diffuse the light too.

[@janhanchenmichelsen2627]

Could have some really nice small boat applications, like finding navigation marks, skerrys and buyos at night without too much spoiling of night vision because of light scattering all over the place. If the LED renders reddish colours OK is should be very good for "crab hunting". Maybe I buy one?

[@UNSCPILOT]

Maybe a quick moddification could turn it into a means of long range communication, either modulated by an audio signal and pointed at a small solar panel or used as a long range Li Fi, just to offer some ideas. *shrugs*

[@HughesEnterprises]

That is enormous for a headlamp

[@johnarmstrong3782]

Maybe the 18650 is one of the ones with a protection chip on top of it?

[@MalleusSemperVictor]

The size of your palm. It's really a half-foot across compared to Clive's hand.

[@BerndFelsche]

For crossbow hunting at night?

[@Brainstorm4300]

A. I've seen some energy saving cfl with twisted tubes ever so slightly *glow* even when the power is off. B. And I've seen some that *flash* for a very brief moment every now and then even when it has been switched off. Any obvious reasons for these two behaviours?

[@madinatore]

leaked voltage/current, induced current

[@Brainstorm4300]

madinatore a cfl lamp glowing or flashing from leakage? Boy o boy that'd have to be some leakage then!

[@superdau]

The phosphor in the lamps can glow from being hit by light from other lamps (if there is UV in it). It also can have quite some "afterglow" for some time after being switched off. As for the flashing (and maybe glowing) you need some really badly filtered devices somewhere else in the circuit that induce voltage spikes in the wires to the CFL *after* the switch. Could be the compressor motor of a fridge for example. They can "kick" quite alot when swiching off.

[@Brainstorm4300]

superdau there were no other light sources in the room and it was in the middle of the night. The room only had a ceiling fan and that light. No fridge or air con. Maybe there was something else in the circuit in some other room but the cfl in the next room never showed any "paranormal" activity. Overall this explanation isn't convincing to me.

[@superdau]

Ok, magic then. ;)

[@crimsonhalo13]

That beam is best suited for handsfree security work at night, where long throw is required (i.e. patrolling a forest line). Otherwise, for anything else, a headlight should have a reasonably wide angle flood beam. Can't see this one being comfortable for long periods of time though, especially given its size.

[@DataStorm1]

Think the reflective cone for the light is designed for a bulb instead of a LED, and that due to that, the light source is not in the correct position.

[@witeshade]

that makes sense. They could also maybe have put the wrong kind of LED in there and just went with it.

[@bishalthapashrestha3608]

The video is great but I’d recommend Clive to save up for a camera. The video isn’t bad at all by the way.

[@XeroVMK]

I have a review on a similar light on my channel. And I found out that they do have some sort of protection but buying batteries with internal protection is a good idea. and besides, the ultrafire or ultraflire knockoff are 900mah at best.

[@dragoscoco2173]

You could fix the perfect focusing of the light by adding a light diffusor (i.e. a white translucid plastic soda straw of about 15mm glued over the LED).

[@bobriemersma]

Tight focus. You could maybe take 4 of these and use the heads in pairs to make a full duplex photophone demo, with 2 spare LEDs and a couple of lithium cells to boot. Old hat, yes, but novel to kids these days used to everything being magic black boxes trapping mystical Asian smoke.

[@stridermt2k]

I can't think of any other application for such a tightly focused beam than... yeah, an inexpensive pin spot. Heck, while it's up there the max current on the LED is still below 500ma, so in theory a standard USB port should be able to power the head. An x-y axis thing to move it around would be neat, as an array of them moving together would be a neat effect.

[@JuanHerrero]

If it's three watt it should be 600 mA, but you are supposed to run those at a lower voltage. If I remember correctly 3.6 is the sweet spot, and they are rated at 3.99 maximum. The bond wires to the LED are the issue, IIRC. I know when I ran one at 5 volts and 500mA for a few seconds it started emitting bluish light and grew very hot. Afterwards I powered it at the right voltage and noticed the light output was diminished when compared to a fresh one. I suspect it also won't last as long if run to the maximum it is rated at now.

[@Kevinegan1]

That's why flashlights are not lasers. Lighting up a large area at a distance is the mark of a good flashlight. Variable adjustable width beams are even better. The next thing to look for is illumination time on single charge, followed by charging time, lifespan and finally extra goodies like flashing, Hi-Low beam, plug in wall charging, colored lenses, etc. Brighter, variable/adjustable, long burn time, short charging time, long service life and goodies = $$$$Ka-Ching$$$$.

[@phils4634]

Waiting for the second installment, where you use one of those LED in the ESD safe bag, "in a colour of your choice" :-)

[@wolfgangmcq]

I think that this might be the first Big Clive video ever to use proper camera zoom (as opposed to "Super Apple Zoom Vision™" cardboard box).

[@seanet1310]

how are you liking the miniclamp meter?

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's actually very useful. Mainly for the DC current function.

[@seanet1310]

bigclivedotcom thanks Clive. that is the sole reason I was looking at it. low !Evel DC current is not common in an affordable device. sounds like I need a new toy

[@brokeanglerinc2410]

hello my good sir may i know what kind of switch that is? 1st push, bright light 2nd push, dim light 3rd push, off kind of need a replacement for mine. thanks in adv.

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's an unusual switch I've only seen in lights. You might be able to find one if you search on eBay for clicky switch. But most are just on and off.

[@narayansingh9820]

It's very useful for former

[@PippetWhippet]

Good for amateur film makers - gives that "torches in a smoky room effect" with WAY less smoke, so you can get away with your budget smoke machine.

[@DeathCoreGuitar]

Maybe you can put white paper on glass and light will be smooth (with short distance)

[@mytube001]

That'd be a great lamp to have on a small boat, as a "search light" at night, to light up distant objects, particularly sea marks with reflective stripes on them. In those cases, you want as much light on as small an area as possible.

[@mpa9583]

mytube001 Oh and fishing! you know those Spears that you thrust to catch fish

[@bacphan7582]

get some zoom flashlight, or super thrower light ex:thrunite tn42

[@googleuser859]

you seem to be enjoying the zoom function Mr Clive. :-)

[@gregorythomas333]

...And @ 8:39 is Big Clive's reflection in the lamp!

[@daanwilmer]

At 8:07 it's clear those resistors are not in parallel, they're in reverse parallel!

[@MazeFrame]

Maybe you could stick a fresnel lense to the inside of the window to spread the beam.

[@mrsheesh3743]

Used to be in a search and rescue group, found that a head lamp had the problem where you called someone's name - so they look at you, you promptly lose your night vision. Usually ended up putting this sort of thing at chest height or so, so you could turn your head and look at people without blinding them; I don't know the proper use for this either unless you used it for lighting up that pesky raccoon that's bothering your cat or something, to drive it away?

[@cyberhornthedragon]

i recently got one with a focusable light the high low an flashing modes but i was stunned to a stop for a moment as it had both 18650 in paralel not series

[@JamesGMunn]

Back woods Dentist's head lamp?? Make it red and see how disturbing it is out in the dark!

[@simongooding6503]

this would be great for firefighting. broad beams reflect back off smoke, narrow beams punch through

[@nerys71]

how do i find this? for pizza delivery the tinier and brighter the spot the better. lets me light up house numbers without shining lights all over the inside of peoples homes. I found the seller 2012futurelove but that seller no longer has this light and I would like to get one.

[@bigclivedotcom]

www.ebay.com/itm/201756175322

[@nerys71]

bigclivedotcom thanks. going to try and print a regular flashlight torch body for it.

[@l3p3]

It would have been great if you found a way to get a better diverted light out of this thing in the video. But still a good video.

[@muh1h1]

spraypaint the mirror white, pretty sure that would do the trick :)

[@chrisdrew1768]

+muh1h1 or put a diffuse lense out front

[@Anvilshock]

mount the led on a spacer to change the focus.

[@izimsi]

Maybe it can be used in caves or mines?

[@bweduwabango2064]

I would make you famous to the hydroponic community if you tore down a Cheapy COB Grow light.

[@jmileshc]

Might be useful for lamping(Hunting at night), it is reminiscent of a Clulite's lamps a little bit.

[@brewski118sempire]

I could see it being used in places with highly reflective surfaces

[@kwakamonkey]

I use the hand held one they make for shooting. narrow spot beam again

[@yuriismywaifu203]

I lost it at the picture of it on outside! That was goddamn hilarious to me! That thing is almost completely useless.

[@Marineio]

The wall indoors... ooh err Matron. :P

[@sparkyprojects]

I usually get annoyed with torches, they have a good beam, but trying to focus on what you are doing is impossible, the middle of the beam is almost black with a halo around it. That headtorch would be no good for walking, but i think it would be great for making connections in a panel, though maybe a slightly wider beam would be good (2 hands wide)

[@dustinsmith8341]

This would be perfect for locating ground scores at music festivals.

[@JDfromWitness]

Would strike me that the beam dispersion problem could be fixed on the cheap by cutting a round dot from some foil tape and adhering it to the inside of the lens directly in front of the LED, thus reflecting the beam back toward the reflector. Might actually be a usable toy then.

[@stinkycheese804]

I could find a way to mount a 2nd (or several) LEDs to make a broader beam, but the overall size is ridiculous so if it were given to me for free, I'd just gut it for the parts and throw the body away. Even on a light with a head half that size, I prefer the battery pack in the back to reduce the bulk and balance the weight better.

[@RdVortex]

Guess they were going all in on that advertised 300m range and decided to ignore everything else.

[@Barrybados]

The led is a Q5 .

[@Midicow]

Pretty sure this sort of light is used for mining but i'm not sure what mining company would order these off brand cheepo headlights when they'd rather get one that's been designed and verified to survive collapses and explosions.

[@NeilVanceNeilVance]

It would be good mounted with a camcorder on high zoom.

[@MrGenie21]

In China is only 220V mains voltage. Central Europe has 230V and part of UK have 240V. Since the power supply is not better as it is it comes out giving too high voltage and will overcharge the battery and wreck it.

[@superdau]

No. This isn't a 50Hz transformer supply. This is a kind of switch mode power supply. They don't care about the input voltage that much (within reason).

[@kooky45]

HI Clive, you often look for charge protection circuits. Could you do a short video explaining what they are, how they work, various different types, and what happens if you don't have one please?

[@bigclivedotcom]

A standard charge protection circuit on a lithium cell has three functions. It will switch off incoming charging current if the voltage of the cell reaches 4.2V, it will turn off the discharging current if the voltage drops to around 2.5 to 3V and it will usually turn off the discharge current if it exceeds a safe level (short circuit). These circuits are usually based around a chip called a DW01.