Cold Cathode Fluorescent in a torch

[EMPOWERTORCH]

Maplin have just started selling Cold Cathode Fluorescent lamp kits consisting of a small inverter circuit board and a 5mm * 30 cm tube in various different colours. They are incredibly bright for thier size (about the same as an 11W CF bulb). The tubes are incredibly narrow and look somewhat fragile, but would make a cool addition to a torch if I can find some way of attaching it to a housing. I'm looking for a case I can build the lamp into along with a 20W dichroic beam. The multi-torch I'm presently modding to LED isn't long enough to take the tube, and I intend to use a 12V SLA as the power source. This would make the ultimate camping light.
A twin tube light would be enough to light a dining area or mess tent.
I may also create some innovative house lighting with some of these lamps which would also be able to operate from batteries in the event of a powercut. They could also produce free light if solar cells are used to charge the batteries!
Has anyone come across these lamps yet?

 

[X-CalBR8]

I've not seen these for sale yet, but they sound really neat. I've got an Energizer Arc White so I know how nice the light is that is produced by CCF. It’s very easy on the eyes and quite nice to read by. I'm also working on a 20W MR16 mod so I will be watching this thread very closely.

 

[EMPOWERTORCH]

These CCF lamps come in about 5 different colours. I'm not sure that they are on the Maplin web site yet. Any suggestions on how to build one into a torch or lantern let me know...
The great thing about CCF lamps is that they are tolerant to being flashed and do not suffer the black ends of traditional tubss. Maplin's Leicster store has a series of them wired to a light sequencer and they have instant, flicker free starting. They come complete with the inverter board for about £12 each.

 

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[Evan]

I like CCFL, but I can point out 2 bad things about them: 1) they can be very dim until they warm up when started in a cold environment. 2) the inverter can cause a lot of TV interference if not constructed properly and shielded somewhat.

Other than that they are a great direction to explore when LEDs start to get a bit ho-hum.

The CCFL backlight from a large LCD is really cool; a quarter inch or less thick, yet the whole surface is very brightly and evenly lit.

 

[Avatar28]

There are also shorter CC tubes available, about 4 inches. That'd be, um, around 10cm I believe. Might be easier to fit one or two of those into your torch.

 

[Entropy]

For those in the USA, I believe BG Micro also has some surplus CCFL stuff, as does All Electronics.

 

[EMPOWERTORCH]

Thanks Avatar!
The 10cm would fit nicely into a Benross Multi Torch. If you know where to source them I will probably pick up some when I visit in Sept or Oct.

 

[James S]

I think BGMicro just updated their "Last Minute Additions" page with some nice 12" ones in a couple different colors.

I've got the 4" white from BGMicro and their 12v inverter. It works very nicely and produces a very bright white light.

I have not built it into anything yet as getting 12v was a problem. So I bought a lower voltage inverter from allelectroics. This works great with 3 or 4 AA cells. The problem is that it's just too large to easily fit inside anything, and it needs good support so I can't just leave the tube hanging out and i want to do a good job when I build it into something. so I'm still experimenting.

 

[MR Bulk]

Do they come in a coiled configuration? I can imagine a big coil in the middle of a large, well cone-shaped reflector painted flat-white...maybe not throw, but a powerful, forward-thrusting, white wall of light...?