[ale] way OT amazing new LED flashlight technology

Tue Sep 18 16:55:34 EDT 2012

I've had one of the 200lumen surefire LED lights (L2 lumamax) for 6 years.
The dual-output is 200/15lumen, so the approx 2h runtime is at full power.
They use CR123 batteries for high output, and power-shelflife so you don't
need fresh batteries just because its been in the car a few months. After
using a surefire, I don't think I would ever buy another type of flashlight.

http://www.surefire.com/illumination/flashlights.html?feature_filterset=MTg%3D
 On Sep 18, 2012 3:55 PM, "Jim Kinney" <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:

> That is properly called "the geek belt of power" and it suitably stocked
> with smart phone, flashlight, über-knife/multi-tool, emergency first aid
> kit and bits of wire and/or paracord for quick repairs or escapes. A
> retractable usb cable to tether phone to laptop is extra.
> I have the newer led dual AA maglight with bright, dim, strobe and SOS.
> The focus is pretty good and battery life is great!  It's a tad longer that
> the incandescent model. I previously did the upgrade kit on the older one.
> Big gripe: the led would briefly flash about every minute when off. It was
> not enough to be visible in a lighted room but at night my belt hanging on
> the bed would blink and annoy the SWMBO.
> On Sep 18, 2012 11:04 AM, "Ron Frazier (ALE)" <
> atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Guys,
>>
>> I spent much of today updating my flashlight collection, to be ready for
>> storms and such. I found some amazing new technology, which I wanted to
>> share with you. The main problem is that I had a couple of old 6V big bulky
>> lantern flashlights, the kind with the big reflector and a krypton
>> incandescent bulb. I'm not talking about omnidirectional camp lanterns, but
>> the flashlights which throw a tight beam. They work well, but the big
>> square 6V batteries are about $ 10 each. So, rather than buying new
>> batteries, I decided to look into LED technology. For the first time ever,
>> I've found LED flashlights that I feel comfortable replacing my lanterns
>> with. I've bought flashlights at both the mid / top and bottom of the scale
>> today. I'll share the pros and cons of each.
>>
>> The mid / top of the scale is represented by lights with a single large
>> powerful LED emitter and generally a focusing lens, which may be variable.
>> This is the best option to replace something like a lantern flashlight. I
>> bought the Nebo 5610 220 Lumen Redline Tactical at Batteries Plus. This
>> unit costs about $30. They warrant the unit for life. It has a very bright
>> LED emitter called a Cree. I haven't done research into the merits of this,
>> but it IS very bright. This is the first one I've seen to exceed the
>> brightness of a focused krypton bulb. Don't even think of looking into the
>> beam. It has 4X variable focus so you can go wide or narrow. As the name
>> suggests, it puts out 220 lumens. This seems to be about the level where it
>> competes with krypton bulbs. This particular model has 5 modes of light -
>> high, medium, and low (which saves batteries), strobe SOS in Morse code,
>> and strobe. It runs on 3 AAA batteries and lasts 4, 8, 15 hours
>> respectively in lighting modes or 72 hours in strobe modes. This unit also
>> has a magnetic base so you can stick it to a metal object or refrigerator,
>> but don't get it near your credit cards. You can, of course, spend more
>> than $ 30 on an LED flashlight depending on your needs. If you don't need
>> the lifetime warranty, the exotic modes, the magnet, and local returns, you
>> can get most of this functionality online for $ 10 or less. I've decided
>> that this is now my go to flashlight. When my 6V big square lantern
>> batteries expire, I'm retiring those flashlights.
>>
>> Now, let's consider low end flashlights, which can also be quite useful
>> for finding your way in a dark room. A typical and, I think fairly
>> impressive, example of this may be found at Autozone. They have a 3 pack of
>> LED flashlights for $ 5, Duramax FT-AZ001. For that price, it's amazing
>> that they can be marketed at all and that they work at all. Actually, they
>> work pretty well, but who knows how long they will work. At under $ 2 each,
>> I figure that if I get 6 months use from them, that's pretty good. More is
>> even better. They even come with 9 AAA heavy duty batteries. I never use
>> those. I've had many stories in the past of heavy duty (carbon zinc)
>> batteries leaking in my equipment and corroding it. I toss those and use
>> alkaline batteries instead. If the flashlight fails, be sure to save your
>> batteries.
>>
>> These type of flashlights usually have multiple individual LED bulbs and
>> no focusing lens. The more bulbs, the more light, and the quicker your
>> batteries drain. These don't cast a beam at all, but a diffuse floodlight
>> style illumination in the general direction you're pointing. At the end of
>> a dark hallway, the light is much dimmer than a good krypton bulb /
>> reflector or than the high end LED flashlight with focusing lens. What
>> these flashlights can do is serve as a handy light to keep in a pocket,
>> toolbox, or on a desk, and to illuminate a room enough to walk through in
>> the dark or look into dark corners. They are actually quite useful for
>> things like when you drop something by your chair into the shadows and want
>> to find it, etc.
>>
>> The particular flashlights from Autozone have (according to the package)
>> 9 LED bulbs, 24 lumens output, 50' beam distance (it would be quite dim at
>> that point), and 12 hour battery life. They also have a rubberized plastic
>> shell and feel decent in your hand. The switch seems solid, although, as I
>> said, no guarantees on how long something like this will last. At this
>> price, I bought a few of these to serve as an inexpensive but functional
>> addition to birthday gifts for my family. NOTE, I wouldn't recommend any of
>> these, and especially the high power ones, for really young kids. These
>> flashlights are way to bright to be shined into people's eyes, which would
>> invariably happen.
>>
>> In this case, you screw off the non light bulb end to insert batteries.
>> In this case, there are no directional markings. So, you put the flat end
>> of the AAA batteries against the springs in the modular battery case and
>> you put the knobby protruding end of the battery case toward the LED bulbs
>> and the recessed end of the battery case toward the switch.
>>
>> Finally, you can buy LED bulbs to replace the krypton bulbs in your
>> existing flashlights. Many flashlights have PR style bulbs with a smooth
>> body and flange mount. You can get bulbs such as Nite Ize LRB-07-PR1W (1
>> watt) and Terralux TLE-1F Ministar 1 to put in standard flashlights. You
>> can also get bulbs specifically to replace Maglight bulbs, which have a
>> different shape. The catch with these bulbs is that they usually cost in
>> the $ 10 or more range. So, it might just be more practical to replace an
>> existing flashlight with a new LED one than to buy the bulb. The other
>> catch is that flashlight bodies with focusing systems don't always work the
>> same as if there was a filament.
>>
>> Here are some numbers for comparing power levels, but I don't have data
>> on the corresponding lumen levels.
>>
>> PR style bulb, 6V lantern, 4.8 V, .75 A, 3.6 W, center pin negative
>> PR style bulb (different from above), 6V (4 AA) small handheld lantern,
>> 4.6 V, .35 A, 1.61 W, center pin positive
>>
>> In both cases, a replacement 1W LED bulb should (probably) provide
>> greater brightness an will definitely provide battery savings.
>>
>> Note that, for many LED's without compensating circuits, polarity
>> matters. Some won't work in flashlights with the old big square batteries
>> which have a negative center pin. In some cases, you can reverse the
>> direction of the batteries in a flashlight to get it to work, if the
>> contacts still work, although that won't work with big square 6V lantern
>> batteries. Not matter which way you turn them, the polarity is the same
>> because of the contact design.
>>
>> LED bulbs may not work as well in omnidirectional applications, since
>> they may not output much light to the side. Compare to, for example, a
>> handheld lantern with the bulb facing downward but the filament of a
>> krypton bulb is visible from all directions.
>>
>> I also have some old fluorescent omnidirectional lanterns and some small
>> omnidirectional hand lanterns that I'm considering replacing. At this
>> point, I don't know if I'll just relamp them or replace them.
>>
>> I hope you've found this information interesting and illuminating, pun
>> intended. If you've had experience with type of equipment, please share.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Ron
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9
>> Mail.
>> Please excuse my potential brevity.
>>
>> (To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former
>> messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
>> address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)
>>
>> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
>> call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
>> mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very
>> quickly.)
>>
>> Ron Frazier
>> 770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
>> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9
>> Mail.
>> Please excuse my potential brevity.
>>
>> (To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former
>> messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
>> address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)
>>
>> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
>> call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
>> mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very
>> quickly.)
>>
>> Ron Frazier
>> 770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
>> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ale mailing list
>> Ale at ale.org
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.ale.org/pipermail/ale/attachments/20120918/613ae1d0/attachment.html 