Osram Sylvania Products Inc 72261 Led Light Flute – Silver
The case of the light is made of anodized aluminum which is light and strong. It feels very sturdy and the end-cap unscrews to reveal the 3-AAA batteries that power 4-white LED lights. The innovative mounting base allows for several different mounting options… magnetic, adhesive and screw mounting.
The slender light is 8.5″ long and about the diameter of your little finger. It can be mounted just about anywhere and is great for mounting under your desk when trying to re-route cables. It could also be used as emergency lighting, as an under-counter light, closet lighting… the list could go on and on.
The Light Flutes were sold as packs of 2 for about $17 at BJ’s and are also available from Amazon.com.
I haven’t had them long enough to comment on how long the batteries will last, but LED lights are generally pretty efficient so I would expect a minimum of 10-12 hours of continuous light and perhaps much more. I’ll update this post once I have a better idea of battery life.
Hi – I bought this light and agree with your review that it is an enjoyable design and very useful. However I need help – I can’t get the end cap off to replace the batteries! Any suggestions how you did this? In the video it looks so easy but mine will not come off. I am hesitating to mount this unless/until I can figure out this obstacle, otherwise it is a big waste in my mind.
It actually sort of stumped me for a few minutes too so don’t fret too much. It’s pretty easy. So one end is the button to turn it on and off and the other end is the “cap”. You’ll notice that the cap has two flat spots. First thing I’d try is this; With your left hand, place your thumb and first finger firmly on the flat spots but try not to grip the cylinder with those same fingers…try just to keep your fingers tight on the flat spots. With your right hand, quickly try to spin the cylinder towards you. You want this to sort of be a snap motion. If that doesn’t do it, then you’ll have to use a adjustable wrench on the cap end to hold it tight while you spin the cylinder. Just be careful you don’t squeeze the cap too hard or you might crack it. Once you get it loose, just gently snug it back closed, you don’t need to over-tighten it. Hope this helps.
Thanks a lot for the suggestions – I think I was trying to open at the wrong end. All is good now.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for taking the time to make this video and answer questions about this light. I also found this at BJ’s and thought it would a very useful light. Looking at the instructions for it, I found they didn’t tell you how the heck to take it apart to replace the batteries.
Thank you for explaining how to take it apart so you can replace the batteries. I actually had to use the adjustable wrench on the end of it, to take it apart. They screwed the end on so tight you would of thought they super glued it together.
The instructions that come with it don’t tell you which end to try and take apart, and whether it pops off or screws off. The instructions leave a lot to be desired.
You helped save my lights from being damaged.
Thanks again,
Chris
Chris, I’m happy to hear that my info helped you out. I may make another video just to explain how to take the cap off. Amazing how even a simple thing can be confusing you know?
I’ve not seen the light anywhere else… yet. I wonder if BJ’s is the only place that carries them at the present time?
I bought mine @ home depo..it was 9.00..I love it n which end comes of? Guess its not the end that turns of ?
Yes, it’s the end opposite the button switch. This should help…
The Flute is one of the very few products of real no-nonsense design and I loved it at first sight.
Good quality stuff (for the money), despite the fact that it was made in China.
I measured the current taken by the LEDs with new batteries and it is 150mA, so the maximum LED power would be roughly 0.5W (the rest is loss through the limiting resistor (no electronic driver at this price point), so almost 1/5 of the useful energy is lost.
Nevertheless, I’d like to commend BJs for bringing this product to its stores and I wish we’ll see more products of similar look and quality.
Too bad that the battery changing proceduer isn’t intuitive enough and not clearly explained in the instructions. Just unscrew the cap opposite the switch and push it in towards the switch, The inner part of the lamp will slide out and expose the batteries for changing. The construction is very clean and solide.
That’s some great information about the current draw of the LED’s. Thanks for posting that.
I totally agree that this light is very sexy in its sleek and minimalistic design. It is an extremely versatile light.
Actually, measuring the voltage across the 5.6 ohm ballast resistor, I got 0.2A, which means that, at my previous measurement, my instrument introduced a small resistance which lowered the measured current. Now, the total wattage of the LEDs is 0.6W.
I intend to connect two lights to a 5V power supply (a mini-USB type one, from an old cell phone or blackberry) for permanent installation. In this case, I have to change the SMD resistor with a value as close to 9.5 ohm as possible, to maintain the same current through the LEDs. (One must not try this without some skill in handling flexible PCBs and a really fine tip soldering iron).
The flute led is such a wonderful little thing, I really like playing with it while all the light in my house is off, Very easy to open the battery case too. the answer been rendered actually help a lot.
I must have been short changed. My package offers no means of attachment. What came in your package?
Joe, the image accompanying my review shows what it came with. Really nothing more than a round disc shaped holder that has a slot in it to accommodate the light. A small magnet is inside the disc and the package also came with a 2-sided adhesive disc for mounting. My video shows it as well.
Thank you for the instructive video. I bought mine from Lowes here in Seattle.
I still have not seen the light in other stores other than BJ’s. Glad to hear it’s getting some better distribution since it’s such a versatile light. I took mine on a canoe trip over summer and used it for reading in my tent at night. It was perfect. I had it hanging from the ceiling of the tent.
Thanks for solving the battery changing mystery for me also! Great little light. Did you know that it can go into the white mounting base vertically also? Works great for me backstage standing vertically as a desklamp.
Billy, I did know that it worked vertically but thanks for mentioning it. I use this light for camping and it’s perfect for reading in the tent at night as well as being a great portable light source.
Does anybody know how many continuous hours of use one gets from the three triple a batteries?
Thanks.
The rule of thumb is to divide the capacity) of the battery in Ah to the current drawn by the lamp (0.2A).
Try to find the capacity of the battery you are using on the Web.
http://www.techlib.com/reference/batteries.html
Just a heads-up to anyone looking for the video about the Light Flute that I had posted. YouTube has falsely accused me of violation of Community Guidelines and has terminated my YouTube account. That’s right. Outright termination with no opportunity given to me to rectify whatever they claim was my violation. Since they have never specifically said what it was that I’ve done in violation of their Community Guidelines, I guess it’s up to me to figure it out by myself. Since I did nothing that I could possibly think of that would be in violation, I consider this an insult and a blemish to my online reputation which is totally undeserved. I’m a Top 25 reviewer on Amazon and I didn’t get there by producing videos that are offensive in any way.
I’ve written a blog post about that on my site, just go to the home page. If you can provide any suggestions as to what can be done about this, please let me know. Feel free to retweet my plight as well. I’m not too happy about it as I had over 150 tutorials, product reviews and other assorted videos on my YouTube channel, cnymike.