Advice on Emergency LED flaslight please

[paulr]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

If you get a nightstar, remember not to stick it in the same pocket where your wallet is. You don't want its magnet erasing your credit cards.

The Nightstar IMO is a clever toy but not really a practical light. For the same size/weight/cost/brightness you can have a CMG Infinity and enough AA cells to run it nonstop for months. It's hard to imagine any emergency where you can get enough food to survive for that long, but you can't get more batteries.

 

[Quickbeam]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

Paulr - depends on the situation as to whether or not it's impractical. In pitch darkness the output from the Nightstar is very much usable for 20 minutes between recharges - based upon my own experience with the light.

Plus it fits all of the request criteria except floating, but it is watertight. Magnetism could be a problem, but all lights have pros and cons. Just one more option for Stay to consider.

 

[paulr]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

QB, I have no doubt that the Nightstar can be a useful light, especially if it's the only light you have. I'm just saying that if you're like most people, you can only buy a finite number of lights, and you have to prioritize and choose which ones you're going to buy. If you're buying as a flashlight hobbyist, the NS may be attractive because it's a fun and innovative light. I might buy one for that reason. If you're buying for emergency preparedness, IMO you're better off looking at the amount of cash and (possibly limited) gear space that the NS ties up, and seeing if there's better ways to allocate those resources.

 

[DougNel]

I'll second flashlightDR's suggestion of the Eternalight Elite X-Ray. As a variable output light you can choose between bright (it has an overdrive setting) or very long run time if you step it down. Using lithiums will allow you to set it aside and not worry about whether it is going to work when you need it. It has very durable construction and should take a lot of punishment. Has good water resistance will float with the lithiums.

If you want, you could add a solar charger for AA Nimh batteries to your kit and be able, in theory, to go years without access to new batteries. Because the Elite X-Ray is regulated it is well suited to using rechargables. The only downside I would see with this light is that it is not that quick/easy to change the batteries (requires removing and replacing 4 screws). You would also have to satisfied with the total light output of a 4 LED light (although this will be quite a bit brighter than some of the other lights mentioned).

Edit: I should note that my overdrive and regulated comments applied to the EliteMax instead of the EliteXray. Still recommended.

 

[flash....]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

gadget_lover said...

[ QUOTE ]

Of course, if there's an emergency at my house I have a mix of lights available... in every room.

[/ QUOTE ]

That cracked me up so bad and made me cough up my soda!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I totaly understand!!
I was thinking just the other day... I have so many lights "now" and stored Lithiums.... that if a real disaster ever hit, I would be covered for the next 4+ years bathed in plenty of battery operated light goodness. Plus I would have an additional 5+ years of frugal light.. (AA single LED types)
And I have enough rechargeables and surplus solar panels that I could keep myself in tons of light for many more years. (Gee, think CPF has anything to do with this madness? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin07.gif)

Overkill? .. of course!! What else am I here for? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I feel like the guy on that credit repair commercial who says: "How do I have all this? ... well, I'm in debt up to my eyeballs!!!" (not really, just buried in addiction for flashlights.) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif

 

[Aten_Imago]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

paulr RE "It's hard to imagine any emergency where you can get enough food to survive for that long, but you can't get more batteries." As I mentioned in my post- the survival requirement is different from the emergency one. I believe the way the question was originally worded, it suggested that 'total independence' was a basis for the product selection. Months in survival mode might require more access to and management of batteries than one would want to think about. In that case, batteries would be back-ups to cheaper source of energy. besides, who wants to see a load of wasted Surefire CR123's littering a nice pristine desert island? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

 

[gadget_lover]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

Paul said
[ QUOTE ]
"It's hard to imagine any emergency where you can get enough food to survive for that long, but you can't get more batteries."

[/ QUOTE ]

I think Paul meant long enough to use up all those batteries in a CMG. There are situations were food is available but batteries aren't. Floods, hurricanes and blizards to name a few. It seems the batteries sell out faster than the cannned beets.

Yuck.

Daniel

 

[Aten_Imago]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

Humn. I wonder if anyone will invent batteries that can be eaten after they've died out ? I've eaten some of those 'edible' packing peanuts- great idea even if they taste yucky! Now edible batteries would go over well with me- might even have an annual battery eating contest...it's late, I should hit the sack.

 

[paulr]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

Gadget lover, yeah, that's what I mean, if you have a CMG and one or two spare batteries, you should have enough light to outlast just about any "normal" disaster situation (hurricane etc). Sure, there will be a temporary battery shortage, but if months go by with no further batteries available, we're talking about a general collapse, and I think you'd then have bigger probems than lack of a working flashlight.

Your kit should also include a radio, and that also needs batteries. There are some hand cranked models but those have internal rechargeable batteries, which may not hold up as well through long periods of storage as lithiums.

 

[popsgee]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

That's right, Lithium will have a longer shelf life than a NiCAD.

 

[Aten_Imago]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

Now that I think about it, batteries or DC energy in general is very important in our modern society. I added up all the electronic gadgets I have around here and came up with a staggering 45 that run on a battery of some kind ! What ticks me off is that I also have around 15 chargers of different Voltage, amperage etc. Kinda crazy. Stock in a company that makes rechargeables might be a good investment /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Any recommendations?

 

[paulr]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

What those 45 gadgets tell you is that if you have a CMG Infinity or some comparable light, even if every possible source of new batteries dries up for it, you'll be able to keep scrounging old batteries for it out of other gadgets for a very long time.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

Stay, as you can see, there are a ton of suggestions. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

However, it might be easier for us, if you would tell us exactly the type of emergency kit you are talking about. There are different types of emergncy kits.

I have not seen a handcrank light that does not have batteries in it. The best ones used the Bayless Clockwork Generator, and the worst ones are those cheap ones that the bulb tends to blow fairly quickly in. Even the Bayless one has an incandescant bulb in it.

The Swisslight solar rechargable tells me that there is a battery involved.

Those shake lights have powerful magnets in them.

Lithium batteries have a 10 year shelf life and come in a variety of types from coin cells, to CR123A, 9 volt rectangular, AA, and for holiday season 2004 - AAA will hit the market (finally!).

In the power source requirements you mentioned, what pecking order is this light going to be in?? Primary, middle, or last resort??? Shake lights (forever lights) are just that.

 

[StayInTheLight]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

Well, the emergency kit is really, right now, just an exercise in worst case scenerio. I already have an emergency bag and have a suitable battery powered flashlight in it (plan on replacing them with litiums). But a buddy and I asked ourselves... if the sh!t it the fan and society fell or zombies started roaming the streets or you were the last person on the planet, what would you carry in your bag? So one by one I started rethinking all the gear in my bag. One of the first items was my flashlight. And where else would one ask about flashlights? candlepowerforums /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

So maybe I should have started this thread out as... If zombies started roaming the streets and you were one of the only living people on the planet what flashlight would you choose?

And yes this exercise in worst case scenerio did start after Dawn of the Dead came out.

 

[gadget_lover]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

Hmmmmm. Zombies.


For really bad times, it's not the light, it's the power source that will be the problem..... I have several cheap solar cells that feed 7ah lead acid batteries that will run my Ic3 nimh charger. The AA cells go into a modded minimag with Lux III and hi/low kroll clickie. The second set of batteries would go into a home made 1/4 watt luxeon Dorcy AAA. Between the two, the sun has to hide for a couple weeks before I run totally out of light.


Just a thought, but after the crash of civilization, there will be a lot less light pollution so lower powered lights will work better.

Daniel

 

[DougNel]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

[ QUOTE ]
gadget_lover said:
For really bad times, it's not the light, it's the power source that will be the problem.....



[/ QUOTE ]

Completely agree....but would add that a lead acid battery may not be the easiest thing to carry around in an emergency pack /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif If the "end of the world" is the criteria, then some solar solution is the way to go. I have 2 small solar panels that hook up to a AA charger. Each will produce 290ma @ 7.6V or 145ma @ 15.2V (with full sun) and can be hooked up in series. Take a look at iSun Portable Solar Charger and iSun BattPak . Can use this to charge AA Nimh batteries and put them in my Eternalight EliteMax (as mentioned earlier).

There are a number of solar solutions out there. Just have to come up with the one that fits the situation you are planning for.

 

[BentHeadTX]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

If zombies roamed the earth...
I would use one of those shake lights--forever light things. Since most people are dead, their houses have batteries in them so I would use their AA batteries in a UKE 4AA eLED for a few years. Then, I would have a 12 pack of AA lithiums to feed it. Nothing like 18 hours of run time on 4 lithiums!
CMG Infinity AA would be the lanyard mounted light, it would sip off of lithium AA cells for around 50 hours. 8 lithium AAs will give 36 hours of run time of farely bright light. The other 4 lithiums would feed the Infinity.
To fight the zombies, a 12 gauge pump with a Surefire L5 with extra 123a batteries taped between the barrels. Already have ceramic body armor and a gas mask for that problem.
Now that AAA lithiums are becoming available in a few months, an Arc AAA fed with lithiums would be great as an EDC to fight zombies.
NiCADs are very good rechargables to be kept in storage. I took a defib battery that was laying around for 6 years without being charged and blasted it back to life. Took a 30V DC power supply and hammered the 12V battery with an amp of 30V motivation. Slapped it on the charger/conditioner and it registered 107% of listed capacity!
Watch out when you are "riding the lightning" with NiCADs, they can explode when you blast them. I had a 2.4V NiCAD battery pack that lasted 11 years in my shaver, just run it down all the way before charging.
If I was a paranoid, solar charger(s) a bunch of NiCADs and jumper cables to crack across them when it is time to wake them up. A D cell light with a Luxeon III would work well with NiCADs.

 

[sgtish]

hey, I know your query was posted a while ago but I just got here. I think the sharper image may have just the light for you. Don't know if it floats but it is hand powered. I tried it at the store; it's not all that bright, much like you'd expect from a small keychain led light. You shake the light along its long axis to charge somekind of capacitor or battery and it will run for a couple of minutes. Not all that great for any kind of real work but enough to get by for pretty much as long as the led lasts. Its about the size of a 2D or C flashlight as I recall and made from plastic(possibly a drawback or advantage). Worth investigating though. It was being marketed as the "Hummer" like the truck.

 

[symes]

Streamlight 4AA 7Led - use Nickel metal hydride AAs and a solar charging system... I like Brunton's 12 AA charger and I feed it from AC when available and a custom 8.5x11 file folder with two 10w panels inside. Zip it open and you get 20W in full sun.

Now, just not sure how much of all that floats...but hey, lanyard and a cork ball floats just about anything!!

 

[symes]

Re: Advice on Emergency LED flashlight please

[ QUOTE ]
StayInTheLight said:
So maybe I should have started this thread out as... If zombies started roaming the streets and you were one of the only living people on the planet what flashlight would you choose?



[/ QUOTE ]

You need to get an Arc 4+ for the Zombies...

Flash it once then just throw it at them, run, and by the time they have figured out how it works you'll be miles away

Sorry, just my sense of humor.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dedhorse.gif