Streamlight Excaliber (or Excalibur?)I was looking for something on eBay, namely the Clipmate. I had one but it broke during my summer vacation last July. A small piece of metal (contact point) broke off. I wanted to repair or replace it if I could find cheap parts or the Clipmate itself.
During my search, I found several old Streamlight flashlights and one or two of them got my interest.
This black anodized flashlight did not have any model name. I wanted to know about it.
It turned out that it could be the Streamlight Excaliber. It is an evolution (cost-saving) continuation of Kel-Lite industries/Streamlight inc. (in 1983 Kel-Lite was purchased by Streamlight)
(This image is taken from the site above-mentioned)
First I have to quote some paragraphs from this excellent site.
From (http://otherflashlights.blogspot.com/2017/06/3rd-generation-kel-lites-and.html)
"The changeover to Excalibur was likely around KD"
"The C cells didn't carry a letter prefix. The D cells carried a KA, KB, KC, KD, KE (possibly) or KF. I have a bunch of these lights, only one C cell though, they are pretty rare. The D cells started at KA000001 and when they hit KA999999 they rolled over to KB000001 and so on and so forth. Unlike the Maglites they didn't give any designation to cell size in the serial. When they made a batch of 4 cells they picked up where last batch of 3 or 2 cells left off. When they changed to the Excalibur with the one piece head the numbering scheme continued because the barrels were identical. The latest one I have is KF318849.
I think, but am not sure, that Streamlight switched over to Excalibur in 1986 or 87 when they gave the Kel-Lite name to Nordic. Nordic was a company Don Keller was a part of to produce small, AA and AAA professional lights. The Excalibur continued until 1990 or so. So all in all at least 6,000,000 lights were made from 1983 until about 1990 (F is the 6th letter in the alphabet and 318,849 is the latest serial I have). I've never seen a KE serial though and I'm thinking they may have skipped E so it could be 5,000,000. Interestingly enough this is on par with the Maglite D cell sales. "
The Excaliber came into production around 1986/1987 and according to the line above ("The changeover ...") they had KD serial numbers.
This black supposedly Excalibur has serial number "SG361026" on it (at least it so seems to me). I thought (and I think in hindsight mis-thought) that the Excalibur had serial numbers like SA (S = Streamlight?), SB, SC, SD, ... SG000000 and so on.
I now think that after a couple of years after switching from Kel-Lite/Streamlight Series II (= 3rd generation) to Excaliber, they might have changed the serial number style, too.
I think that after KF, SG came in. Am I right or wrong?
The other one that got my eyes was this camo Kel-Lite/Streamlight Series II. It comes with the original box. It is not too expensive considering the conditions but I am not buying it.
This image is from supposedly 2nd generation Kel-Lite flashlight on eBay. I took this image and put here because I don't know how the bulbs inside the 3rd generation Kel-Lite or Excalibur are fixed. I guess that similar mechanism is used.
(This image and others are taken from eBay)
Streamlight JR™ (Incandescent)Images will be added soon.
It took a long time, not too long but, for this tiny flashlight to come all the way from Texas, USA to me, Luxembourg. It took around 3 weeks but in the end, it was OK. I did not too much for the shipping.
Possibly this is the first generation product. I am almost sure of it (the fact that it is so). I have looked for the information on this product line and got some but the information (mostly from the pictures of the products) was not so conclusive.
All I can say is that there are at least three versions or generations.
1. Mine (incandescent): conical reflector shape (like that o Mini Maglite): (image a)
2. Incandescent: (image b)
3. LED: (image c)
Anyway, it does not matter. Here is what it looks like. Did it work? The following are the actual photo of my own flashlight.
Verdict: Alas! It did not turn on. How was it?
(images 01: The bulb size of a rice grain was broken)
(images 02: The bulb holder? A copper cap was OK)
(images 03: The positive terminal was OK)
(images 04: The tail cap/switch seemed to be OK)
(images 05: The bulb/terminal/holder assembled)
Overall condition of the item was OK. The coating (black anodizing finish) still holds. There are only very minor scratches.
It had "STREAMLIGHT JR™ Norristown Pa" on the body.
Simply as I had hoped and expected, it was complete (all the parts were there). Thank God for it.
Only the bulb was broken. The glass dome was shuttered and obviously the filament was destroyed. Other than the damage that this tiny bulb suffered, everyting seemed OK.
I later found that there could be a tiny thin, very think crack on the reflector. I am not sure but it looks like there is one.
I suspect that a new bulb would simply solve the problem if I could get one. Yes, I can get one (a bulb) from some sellers from the United States of America on eBay but they (the package holds two bulbs) cost me. The price of the product itself and equally the shipping charges. Should I get one?
Addendum:
1. The inner side of the barrel (body) seems equally well coated but it is tight, very tight. I first tried to fit two AA rechargeable cells but they did not go in.
I knew most rechargeable cells are a bit thicker than normal cells. I then tried another one whose wrapping film had been peeled off. They could fit in.
2. The reflector does not come off. It turns just like the reflectors on flashlights like Maglites, Stingers and others. It stops and won't come off. I don't know if this is intended or made so. I have seen not seen the reflector detached so I guess this is normal.
In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ
[Streamlight Excalibur (or Excaliber)?]の続きを読む
テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:趣味・実用
- 2024/10/13(日) 20:30:07|
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