[ale] way OT amazing new LED flashlight technology

Tue Sep 18 15:53:56 EDT 2012

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
>
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