****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
They arrived fast and surprisingly each one is packed in its own pretty box, so if you wanted you could wrap up each one and give them as a gift. I ordered these specifically because they only use 2 AAA batteries. After a week of use I can confirm that they will retain essentially the same brightness level in the remote controlled flickering candle mode burning 24/7 for right at 4 days before they start to dim a bit. This is while using rechargeable double AAA's that have been in general daily use about a year in other LED candles. Initially, I was a bit disappointed with the brightness level of these candles, but I noticed that the end of the "burnt wick" that you can see inside the base of the candle is an LED bulb that is wrapped in black shrink wrap except for the bulb tip which burns very bright. I decided to see if they would burn brighter if the shrink wrap was removed from the "wick" bulb. Voila!! A huge difference in brightness and a VERY EASY FIX that only takes a pair of nail scissors and about a minute and half! To do this, remove the flat battery housing cover, remove the batteries, and then pinching the plastic "partition" that separates the batteries unscrew the entire unit - i.e. the battery and bulb case housing, by unscrewing it like a jar lid and pull the entire housing out. It will come out very easily. You will see that the unit actually has two LED bulbs. The one that protrudes into the "inside" of the candle as the visible "wick" will be sticking straight up from the plastic casing. Just below this LED "wick" there is small notched cap with a hole in it that the wick protrudes through. Stick the point of a pair of nail scissors in the notch on this cap and pry up gently and this cap will pull off. It may pull the wick bulb out with it, but this is not a problem as your next step is to pull this bulb out anyway. Notice when you pull the bulb out that it has 2 stiff protruding wires - the longer one is the positive wire. Now start from the end with the protruding wires and gently use the nail scissors to snip a small straight slit in the black shrink wrap cover about 3/8ths inches long. Next grip the slit end of the shrink wrap with your finger tips and pull straight up to the bulb end and this will peel the shrink wrap off of the bulb - leaving you with a clear LED bulb with two stiff wires sticking out at the opposite end - one long and one short. Look closely at the end of the main housing that you just pulled the LED bulb out of. You will see that it is marked with the positive and negative polarity signs and that each sign has a small hole next to it. Re-insert the longer bulb wire into the positive pole and the shorter wire into the negative one. Then push straight down and the bulb will go in about 3/8th inch and reseat itself. Re-insert the protruding bulb back through the hole in the notched cap and then re-set the cap in its notch. Gently re-screw the whole battery/bulb pack back into the candle base - just like screwing a jar lid back on. Snug will be fine, don't over tighten. Once the unit is screwed snugged in place, put the batteries back in, replace the battery cover, turn the candle on to your desired setting, and you're all done. Now, when you turn on the candle it will look much brighter.
