EDC and behaviour, energy savings.

[headers]

Does having a good always-there EDC lead to changes in behaviour? I assert that it does but would be interested for other views on this.


For example, our basement has several lights hooked up chaotically to several switches. If I go down there I have to put a light on of some form. The default light would be the main switch at the door.

The EDC in my pocket might become the default light if I were going down for a shorter period, maybe to find something as opposed to actually working down there (and indeed it has).


A single 60W incan house light bulb consumes 60 joules per second from the grid by definition. My M61W/18650 EDC consumes about 5 joules per second (I think, please check that calculation below?). These five joules originally came from the grid at some efficiency less than 100 percent. Whatever that (reasonable) efficiency it seems I save a fair bit by using the EDC in this case. Also there is some chance I will leave the basement lights on after my task but no chance the EDC is left on.


Note that the key to the EDC is it being always there. If I had to go to a drawer for a light before going to the basement I would probably not do it but because it is always in my pocket my behaviour is changed.

That master switch for the basement actually turns on a lot of lights so I consume more like 200 joules per second. If I were to replace all the bulbs in the basement with LED household thingies that would cost a bit and still consume more than the EDC per second of use.

Also when working outside on the patio at night I can choose between the 120W flood on the house or the EDC. If it is a short simple task then the EDC does often get used, especially given that the flood switch is in an awkward place.


More generally, what else would change about the world if more people had an EDC?


Calculation Note: A 2.6 amp hour lithium ion 18650 has 3.7V * 2.6A * 3600s = 34632 joules of energy in it. Say it lasts 2 hours with an M61 hence in one second I use 34632/7200 = 4.81 joules with that light.

I used 3.7V to be conservative, similarly the 2 hours. Changing these up only makes the light use less. The conversion efficiency for a Pila charger is measurable with a watt meter and I may in fact do that some time, unless somebody here has done it....

 

[Flying Turtle]

Having an EDC light has indeed changed my behavior for many years now. Most "normal" folks would probably call it silly or obsessed. Prowling around the house at night I seldom turn on the regular lights. I haven't converted my wife, so if she's still awake the house lights blaze. But, if she's asleep or out of town I might use only flashlights and lanterns. I guess it is kind of silly, but fun, and I suppose I'm saving some money on energy. Of course I more than make up for that buying flashlights. :shakehead

Geoff

 

[Dnva]

Absolutely. Even my wife who groans everytime a box shows up has been converted. I can't count how many times a week I am asked, "can I see your flashlight", "Multi-tool", "pocket knife", etc.

Se even will go in my drawer to get a "real light" at night rather then use the caveman torches she has in hers. I told her the other day that it was about time she gets her own.

 

[tandem]

A single 60W incan house light bulb consumes 60 joules per second from the grid by definition. My M61W/18650 EDC consumes about 5 joules per second (I think, please check that calculation below?). These five joules originally came from the grid at some efficiency less than 100 percent. Whatever that (reasonable) efficiency it seems I save a fair bit by using the EDC in this case.

The efficiency of the EDC light is far greater by comparison to the incandescent light because so little of the energy (say 2%) which the incan consumes is actually used in the production (conversion of energy) of light; most is converted to heat energy.

We've got CFL's everywhere and have had for many years now except above the kitchen sink where for some reason we have an ultra long lasting high end incan after renovating that room last fall. When it dies no doubt we'll replace it with a CFL.

Despite the CFL's, I too prowl the basement either with my EDC in hand or in total darkness. My home office where I've run my business from for the past 15 years occupies about 1/3 of the basement, and at night I never turn on the basement light or even EDC to get there. However if I'm after something from my workshop or the pantry the flashlight goes on before I consider turning to the CFL lights down there. At night my office is lit by a high tech arrangement of LCD monitors and nothing else.

I don't think my night vision is quite as good as it was say when I was 10 or 20 years younger but it is still good enough to navigate our house in the city in the dark even if the blinds are drawn. Something tells me night vision isn't a use it or lose it ability but I pretend that it is, perhaps to gauge the change over time if nothing else. For that reason I don't routinely wander the house with my EDC lit even though I do have it on my person or at arms reach 24x7.

 

[Mr. Shawn]

Whenever I head down to the garage to retrieve something, I automatically whip out my EDC to light my path instead of turning on house lights. I use a flashlight at every opportunity.

Re: CFLs, we have many throughout our home but only in locations where the lights stay on for extended periods. From what I've learned, using a CFL for brief periods of time will shorten its life: http://www.ehow.com/facts_5783273_do-bulbs-burn-out-quickly_.html

 

[Minjin]

The efficiency and power savings isn't really due to the different types of light sources we're talking about here, it is due to the fact that you are only lighting exactly where you need to be. If you think about, personal lights are all we really need. Nothing in our homes needs to be seen except by another human. There's no reason to light an object up if no one is looking at it. The same can be said for heating and air conditioning. We'd save a tremendous amount of energy if instead of worrying about heating and cooling our environment, we just did it to ourselves. It is certainly interesting to think about.

 

[Lucciola]

After several years of reading my first post. Hi everybody!

Since my first EDC, an ARC-P AAA I have so become used to having a small flashlight with me that I rather feel like "wearing it" rather than "carrying it". Important thing is that it is small and readilly accessible.

And of course it has changed my behaviour. It's something some of my friends never understand: "Why do you cary a light, I don't use one often."

Of course you can't use a flashlight which do not have. Today I use my light so often, also during daytime, that I hardly know how I got along without it.

In the meantime I hardly switch on the lights in my flat when I walk around at night. Most bulbs are energy-saving which take a moment to reach full brightness. If I just walk from A to B I don't bother any more switching the lights on.

There's just no point flooding the whole house with light when all you need is a small spot to prevent you from falling over the kids toys.

And slowly slowly my wife also gets the idea since I fixed an ARC-P to her keychain without asking her half a year ago.

Her, six months ago: "Take it away, I don't need it"
Her, now: "You never remember to change the battery in my keychain light".

Anyway, apart from being useful a light is always something men like to play with. :naughty:

Greetings from Germany

Lucciola

 

[tandem]

Re: CFLs, we have many throughout our home but only in locations where the lights stay on for extended periods. From what I've learned, using a CFL for brief periods of time will shorten its life

Excellent point... I'm only just realizing that it's been about 10 or 12 years that I started wandering the house in the dark and that timeline ties directly to the adoption of CFL's here. It's been so long since I changed my behaviour I didn't remember what really prompted it.

After doing a little research this morning it does appear that newer products are more resilient and some brands even market themselves as being flick on-off tolerant.

We've only got run of the mill CFL's and they tend to either be on for extended periods (living room at night) or mostly off (basement lights). The kitchen table light is a CFL in a fixture - it may have lasted 15 years of dinnertime (and homework in the winter) use. It is possible I replaced it once over that time.

Much of the kitchen lighting is spill from undercabinet lighting. I prefer it; my wife likes the ceiling pot lights in the reno'd kitchen. Forgot about those, halogen. Prior to that we only had FL under (and over) cabinet lighting before the kitchen reno and I liked FL under the cabinet very much despite it being really old tech (before). For the new kitchen I found some very nice sleek FL fixtures for under cabinet lighting. They perform much better than before - they are fairly inexpensive, instant on, no hum, good quantity of light output. I have all but one of the under cabinet lighting fixtures on one circuit but they can also be individually switched off. I do most of the cooking and like good counter task lighting and I don't turn on the overhead pot lights myself.

FL was my preference for under cabinets because I dislike halogen puck lights - being involved in fire and disaster assistance probably taints my opinion on putting very hot lights in direct contact with wooden cabinets let alone indirectly heating stored foodstuffs. FL light is more even, anyway.

Probably some of our upper floor and basement floor stairway lights are the most switched on and off but still I don't see that we have a frequent replacement issue. Whether we have a cost issue or not I am not certain.

I'm inclined to look at lifespan and costs on a lighting use basis. If I'd spend X in incandescent light acquisition plus energy costs to light a given room per year and Y for the same to acquire CFL plus operational energy costs, I would hope that Y is less then X. Certainly CFL's in practical use around our home seem to be lasting very long, at least those not bought early on in the CFL revolution. The early ones, at least those we had, seemed to like to go poof - we had two smoky failures within a month of each other -- learned a few manufacturers including lights we had were subject to a recall order -- so we granted all the old CFL's in our home an early retirement.

 

[tylernt]

After several years of reading my first post. Hi everybody!

:welcome:

"Why do you cary a light, I don't use one often."

Of course you can't use a flashlight which do not have. Today I use my light so often, also during daytime, that I hardly know how I got along without it.

Exactly!

 

[defloyd77]

The efficiency and power savings isn't really due to the different types of light sources we're talking about here, it is due to the fact that you are only lighting exactly where you need to be. If you think about, personal lights are all we really need. Nothing in our homes needs to be seen except by another human. There's no reason to light an object up if no one is looking at it. The same can be said for heating and air conditioning. We'd save a tremendous amount of energy if instead of worrying about heating and cooling our environment, we just did it to ourselves. It is certainly interesting to think about.

EXACTLY!!!! Not to mention you'll only need like 1/100th of the lumens.

 

[Xacto]

To be honest, I do not care if I save energy and even with comparably cheap brad CR123 in my lights, it is surely more expensive to walk around the house using my SF6Ps (sometimes I do a house clearing drill.... heck it makes fun and it never hurts to keep the little child inside alive).

So yes, my behavior did change since I got into flashlights (earlier this year).

Cheers
Thorsten

 

[RobertM]

To be honest, I do not care if I save energy and even with comparably cheap brad CR123 in my lights, it is surely more expensive to walk around the house using my SF6Ps (sometimes I do a house clearing drill.... heck it makes fun and it never hurts to keep the little child inside alive).

So yes, my behavior did change since I got into flashlights (earlier this year).

Cheers
Thorsten

How about rechargeable cells? Once you buy the cell, it only costs whatever your power costs from the grid to recharge it.

 

[Cataract]

The main thing that has changed since I carry flashlights daily / nightly is that I have to recharge batteries several times per week now.

I usually have my newest light close at hand while I'm watching TV or in front of the computer, so I'll use it to look into the closet or get some other flashlight or flashlight maintenance equipment out of the night stand with my ENC. I'll also turn off all the lights and use that light to get to bed rather than going back and forth switching lights on and off. Every now and then I'll use it while brushing my teeth.

 

[davidt1]

I charge my batteries at work and use them in my Zebralight H501 at home for everything from cooking, reading, working, washing dishes, taking shower, taking out the trash, and using the toilet. I am sure I have saved some money on electricity cost.

For taking a shower, brushing teeth, and any task that needs overhead lightning.

For everything else like reading, cooking, working, washing dishes, etc.

 

[grumbler]

I've found that owning expensive flashlights has caused me to go out of my way to invent situations to use them. And sometimes it's just fun to light up a building several hundred feet away.

 

[red02]

Since getting involved in the world of high-power lights my light/power useage hasn't changed much, or probably at all. Going to the bathroom at night has probably changed the most. Using a low-low to get around is much easier on the eyes, especially, when you just wake up. I still study/read with a 15W CFL, turn on the lights when I need to and turn them off when I don't. The lights I use are pretty much restricted to outdoor activities.

While it would be interesting to measure with one of those plug-in meters how much energy a battery charger draws I doubt the savings are significant. When you consider the cost of running heat, AC, televisions, computers, phone, laptops and refrigerators a few extra KWhs/mo don't amount to much.

If the average KWh costs $0.12, its difficult for me to care about the extra 0.004KWhs I need to charge my NiMHs...

 

[tolkaze]

The largest % of my electricity usage is from my hot water heater, it uses an insane amount (like... 40% or more of my total power bill) so if I take shorter showers and drop the storage temperature by a couple of degrees, I could offset the entire cost of my lighting bill. Having said that, any change in behaviour will reduce consumption of power, for instance, boiling some veges in a pot, but also steaming something else above it on the same element.


I do use my EDC more often than lighting but mainly for ease of use... instead of having to get to the light switch, I can have light the instant I need it, not totally blinding myself in the process.

But yes, I guess a little bit of energy needed to charge a light, for a specific amount of light, it would be cheaper to use my EDC, but the savings would still not effect the overall amount.

As for Incan vs CFL vs LED lighting, cost wise, it would take a while to offset the cost of CFL's, depending on where you buy them, and the cost of power in your area, it ends up being about the same cost to run incan or CFL. LED's are still far to expensive for the amount of light I use.


tl;dr EDC for most tasks, but not because of cost, just convienience

 

[Xacto]

How about rechargeable cells? [...]

To be honest - I am too lazy to read me into that matter and from what I can glimpse so far - too complicated and/or dangerous with two cell lights and uneven charged CR123 cells. Since using my SF6Ps is purely a fun thing, I'd rather use the regular CR123s. Since I started the whole flashlight craze, I just drained one pair inside my SF6PD incan. Since all the other lights are LED's they still run on their first set of cells.

Cheers
Thorsten