Westy,
It's a lot brighter than any 1185 based light. A LOT. No worries, you won't be disappointed on that front. However, the center intensity might not be as hot as you would expect, relative to a transverse filament light like the 1185. The 62138 is an axial filament, and the hotspot, while perfectly round, doesn't have a very intense center relative to the rest of the hotspot, and there is a great deal of spill. It still does throw--it's not a flood light--but it doesn't throw like a mag85 or MC1160, for example.
Anyway, getting back to the ceiling bounce thing, if you shine it up at the ceiling, it is like turning the lights on in the room, and you will have nice even illumination, as long as you don't look at the hotspot on the ceiling. If you do that, then, yes, you'll create a burning sensation in your retinas! LOL!
paulr,
Yes, it's charged and ready to use. Go for it. But do keep in mind that as it gets puts through its paces, the battery pack should just keep holding better and better voltage under load, as long as you don't over discharge it at any point. So be careful to turn off when you start to see rapid dimming.
And yes, a trickle of 100 to 200 mA for 24 hours would be just the ticket for it if you can make up a simple constant current charging circuit. You'll need about 17 to 18 volts from the source, as the pack reaches over 15 volts at the end of trickling.
As for the guard and switch orientation, just wanted to let people know that after this next pewter one goes out, all the rest will have a normal switch orientation, and if they do have a guard, then the hole will be in the right place to lock it off.
So, no response from Mark65, so I'm PM'ing jte. If he doesn't respond in short order, I'll just keep on skipping down the list. I want to mail out this pewter USL either this afternoon or tomorrow, but it may not go out until Monday.
And this weekend, I WILL post a new thread and take a total inventory and some pictures.