Looking for extremely small light?

Ok guys, heres the situation. I go fishing a lot during the night on Jetty's. I need a small light or something to replace the 1.5" glowsticks I use. I use them on the tip of my rod. Sure they are only .50 each but they add up because I have about 3-5 friends that go with me everytime and we all use these little glowsticks. I've tried Glow in the Dark, but it just doesn't stay illuminated long enough. I was thinking krill sticks but they are too big to put on the tip of the flishing pole. I only need about 1" -1.5" of light. I was trying make my own mod with 3 led's but the batteries ran out really fast. I'm not an electrian or anything so I don't really inderstand how to use resistors and stuff like that. Does anyone have any ideas? I'd like something reusable like rechargable AAA batteries. Any ideas, no matter how crazy would be appreciated by me and my fishing buddies!

The last time I went fishing, I used my Princeton Tec Aurora and put it on the tip of my pole. I put it so the light is facing down and the headband is hanging on to it. After my Aurora fell and 5 minutes later, I had a 5lb catfish. Actually, I left for a few minutes and my friend pulled it up. So really, I cant say it was my fish.

How the heck did you stick that thing on the tip of your pole? I have a 7 foot pole and the tip is pretty tiny..

[ I'm assuming the point it to see if the tip of the rod jerks? ]

Kind of a weird idea, but how about a CMG Infinity lightstick. I think you could make one by taking an Infinity (preferably colored) and some clear silicon. Try laying the Infinity on some waxed paper and make a large couple inch bead starting on the LED itself (it would have to cover the LED).

The idea is that the LED would light up the silicon and make a "wand".

The upside of this would be the 40 hour runtime on a single AA battery (you could use a rechargable too).

(warning, I haven't actually done this, YMMV)

-john

CMG Infinity (est $17):
http://www.brightguy.com/detail_int.tpl?cart=1027850847106701&sku=CMGINFW

Oh, another thought is to see if you can find some broken fiber optic cable from some company's networking department.

Typically this stuff is orange and has two fiber optic "wires" in it.

If you got a good hunk of this you could strip the fibers out of the outer shell and attach them to a light source like the Infinity. Run them up the pole (maybe wrap them lightly with fishing line) and cut them off at the tip. I'd use several (maybe six or so) fibers.

When engaged the tips of the pole should glow.

The nice thing about this is that the light would be on the handle and their would be next to no weight on the pole itself. Just a glow at the tip.

-john

(It is possible you could get away with nylon fishing line, dunno)

A very trick solution would be EL wire like described in this post:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=002738

However, it's not super cost effective.

-john

splitsec, how about just buying the 1.5 glowsticks for 8 cents each (after shipping) Here is an auction for 1,000 the bidding is up to $23 but I don't expect it to go much higher.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=895378070

I've been thinking about those wire lights. Unfortunately, I'd have to run the whole length of my pole which is a waste of light. But thanks for the suggestions. Zerox, thanks for the ebay thing, but those auctions usually end up 70+ dollars or so for 1000 pieces. I'm buying them by the box of 50 right now but mine come in different colors and only the green ones are any good. Plus I get em for .50 each so that sorta adds up. I guess I'm going to have to keep looking for a cost effective way to fish

You may like to llok at the Glo-Toob which is like the Krill is also designed to be a chemical lightstick replacement, but much smaller. It may a bit heavy for the rod tip depending on the kind of rod yo are using.

www.glo-toob.com

My Land Rover Horror Story

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How about a GlowRing?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2125501992

The new Glowrings can be opened fairly easy and would imho make a great replacement for glowsticks.

I think this is the best idea yet mr. Bulk !

Im curious about the starlight. How long does it last and how come the batteries arent replaceable? As for glowrings, I tried them too, but they are just way too weak. I haven't tried opening one yet but in its casing, it doesn't shine very bright. Is it brighter without the casing?

Check your local Wal Mart's sporting goods section for those fishing line floats (bobbers) that have the leds in them. They should be lite enough to go on the rod tip!

Have you considered a green or turquoise Crystal Photon 3 and a P3 crystal?

Though these are supposed to be water resistant, I'm not sure how well they'd do in this application. You can get them cheap at www.vicomptel.com

The green version is claimed to run for 20 hours.

Or there's always the old standby Arc AAA...it even uses AAAs

Thanks for all the suggestions guys I'm sure one of them will work out. Really do appreciate them and I'm sure my buddies thank ya too

I wouldn't recomend the green or turq photon. I would use a red, orange or yellow Photon 2 or 3 instead. Reason: The green, white, turquoise and Blue use 2 CR2016 batteries and only run 12 hrs. The other colors while not as bright use a single 2032 battery which is cheaper and it lasts Much longer up to 120 hrs.

They should still be plenty bright enough.

Or there's always the old standby Arc AAA...it even uses AAAs

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Maybe an Arc AAA in green or cyan. That wouldn't be a good "glow light" though, at least unmodified. Maybe a clever use of heat shrink or other tubing on on the Arc AAA head could provide a glow though. Just a thought. The Photon 3 with a crystal just seems easier.