NO BATTERIES, LED LIGHT YOU SHAKE!!!

[Quickbeam]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>They claim the same thing, 30 minutes of shaking produces five minutes of light. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

30 seconds. Not minutes. Can you imagine 30 MINUTES of shaking for 5 min light? - YUK!

Also, the Nightstar uses a white LED and a magnetic reed slide switch - no hole in the case for the switch. The switch is made with the blue SrAl Glow in the dark powder, so it glows for 10 hours after charging up in light.

The Forever flashlight has a black slide switch (don't know if it's magnetic or not, doesn't GID) and has a blue LED - lousy for color rendition, which may be necessary in an emergency involving wiring/maps/etc.

 

[larry]

got my forever light and just finished comparing it to my nightstar. it uses rubber bumpers at the end of the magnet's travel as compared with the nightstar's opposing magnets to repel the the traveling magnet. the switch is mechanical not magnetic like the nightstars. the nightstar has a hot spot which gives its beam more distance and usability. both beams weaken equally during my 4 minute no shake test. remember, both of these flashlights are designed for "last resort" illumination when nothing else will work due to unavailibilty of batteries or bulbs. the nightstar is about 50% more expensive, but everybody may not agree that its worth the extra money.

 

[Steelwolf]

Maybe because it is meant as a last resort light, I might still be tempted to pay the extra. Those rubber bumpers could melt or crack in this heat, the contact switch could be corroded precisely when I need it. They could have scrimped on the plastics and used an inferior material that doesn't hold up so well?

More testing and comparison is needed. A full "Punishment Zone" treatment may be called for.

 

[leddite]

sharper image has a "shake light" for $30...

http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productview.jhtml?sku=DK009

looks very similar to the excalibur forever.

hmmmm

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I have one of the nightstar versions, and it is a sealed polycarbonate housing with a magnetic reed switch.I dont think this one will ever have a problem. it is a little pricey though, but it will never fail you.

 

[hank]

Has anyone built a sealed generator using rotary instead of back-and-forth motion?

Hmmm, imagining the PogoStickLight .....

But would a rotating device be more straightforward than shaking a tube?

I'm envisioning a Hula-Hoop or a Yo-Yo or a Frisbee-powered LED ("get the light where you want it, THROW it there, or have it come back to you .... ) or the LED boomerang, or maybe a simple pull-the-string-powered gyroscope model.

 

[watt4]

Originally posted by zerox:
They also don't say how much light can be stored........

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I like that way of describing it. Storing Light

 

[snake]

Yes! Quickbeam,
30sec for 5min!!.. if your storm just last for overnight.. you will need to shake it quite a lot! a candle will do better.

Sorry we are flashaholic!I shouldn't say candle. An Impact with Li is much better.. no need to shake while you eating, reading or going to toilet .. since most likely we do things more then 5mins..

at that size we can carry many battery... I think if it could reduce to keychain size is very good.. as 5min for keychain light is fine.

 

[hank]

>coleman sentinel
Nope, that's old technology (grin). I'm thinking of that _sealed_ tube with the magnet and coiled wire sealed inside -- but wrapped around in a circle, maybe with more than one magnet flying around inside if you could keep them spaced out. So to speak. Maybe something like a chaotic pendulum could be used instead, some way to keep the thing charging with rotary motion instead of having to shake it by hand. Oh well, another time.

 

[Saaby]

Watt said:
I like that way of describing it. Storing Light

A couple years ago the science teacher let the class debate weather light was matter or not, one of my arguments was that you can stick a hose in a completely sealed box and turn it on but eventually the box will burst, but you can stick a light in a completely sealed box and it will never burst (Light is so much friendlier than water) what's the point of all this? You can't store light

Anyhew, I have one of those lights where you squeeze a handle and it powers a generator and the light, well, lights. Well I took it apart today because it isn't working (I think it's a bulb issue...) and it's like a tiny generator like the kind that make the power for your house, the crank turns a wheel via a clutch...is this kinda what you have in mind?

 

[Quickbeam]

Kinda like this?: http://ccrane.com/coleman_sentinel.asp

 

[logicnerd411]

I saw a no-batteries light in a Sky Mall catalog Summer 2002 edition, while flying on Northwest Airlines. See it on your next vacation.

 

[CCW]

Hey Saaby,

How about those glow-in-the-dark materials. I thought they "store" light.

You put the stuff in light so that it "absorve" light. Then you take it in dark, it "emits" light, until it runs out light. Isn't this storing light? Sort of rechargeable battery...

 

[Empath]

Saaby,
It would be getting too far off topic to continue here, but it might be a good one for the Cafe. Light can be stored. Nearly all that exists physically is stored light, and the process to a great extend is reversible.

Recently light has even been stopped still, while maintaining it's modified characteristics. In other words, it's ability to carry data (like in fiber optics cables) is sustained until the light is permitted to regain it's speed.

 

[Saaby]

Well either way light isn't matter and you can leave that light in that box all you want and it'll never "'spring a leak"

 

[AlexGT]

Really??? I tought us humans don`t have the technology to do that yet,are you sure? the only thing I know that can stop a Photon in its tracks and even make it run in reverse is a cosmic Black hole, time travel stories are made from this stuff!, I`m interested,where you read that?

Thnx
Alex

Originally posted by Empath:
Saaby,
It would be getting too far off topic to continue here, but it might be a good one for the Cafe. Light can be stored. Nearly all that exists physically is stored light, and the process to a great extend is reversible.

Recently light has even been stopped still, while maintaining it's modified characteristics. In other words, it's ability to carry data (like in fiber optics cables) is sustained until the light is permitted to regain it's speed.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">

 

[Empath]

Stopping Light

 

[CiTY]

Hey guys, has there been any thought of adding some bigger capacitors/more to extend the run time?

 

[Quickbeam]

Stopping light is cool, but, believe it or not, an even stranger thing has been done. I can't find the article, but something similar was done with shining a laser into a chamber of a certain type of gas and the laser finished leaving the chamber BEFORE it finished entering the chamber! That's right, the light beam traveled FASTER than itself effectively breaking the light speed barrier. Talk about quantum physics!

sorry for the off topic....

Edit: x-ray's clarification article (below) refutes the "faster than light" experiment, but at least we can dream....

I wasn't aware of this new analysis - Thanks X-Ray!

 

[x-ray]

Well Quickbeam, while we're off topic you may want to look at this link:
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/13/9/3

I think this is the faster than light experiment you mentioned...