Good Portable Lantern (Incandescent) Rechargeable

Bmccue1964 · Nov 4, 2003

I have a cheapo, yet handy, 6 volt (lantern battery) lantern with an incandescent bulb. I think the whole thing with battery cost about $5.00. I would like to get something similar which puts out decent flood lighting, is rechargeable, and runs about 3-4 hours between charges. Oh yes, it would be nice if it was less than $50.

Any thoughts? Pelican products seem a wee bit expensive.

RussH · Nov 5, 2003

Take the lantern battery out. Buy a 6v gell cell, 4 amp hour (same size now avaliable as 4.6ah, maybe 5ah) and wire it to the switch (negative) and the bulb (positive). The gell cell slips right in and will maintain about 10% higher voltage than the primary battery. I like krypton bulbs, however, better bulbs are available - search for 4 cell recommendations on this forum. Or ask Playboy JoeShmoe what he recommends for 6 volt applications. Or look into LED mods using Luxeon stars.....

One can simply open the flashlight to connect a recharger. However, incorporating a jack is not difficult, and is left as an exercise for the student. Unfortunately, 12v batteries won't fit, so you can not use the plethora of bulbs avaliable for 12v applications. There are some 6v bulbs that could be interesting. Be advised that anything over 10 watts is likely to melt your plastic reflector....

Bmccue1964 · Nov 6, 2003

Thanks. I'll research this a bit more. Great ideas!

Bmccue1964 · Dec 27, 2003

I did it! I stripped the guts out of a Target rechargeable 1,000,000 CP ($10.00) light and put them in a cheap Wal-Mart 6 volt lantern battery type flash light. Light will automatically turn on during a power failure and charges from either 12 VDC or 110VAC. Thanks for planting the thought in my head. Anyhow, the 1,000,000 CP Target light was impractical and did not run long enough.

Thanks again!

billw · Dec 28, 2003

Re: Good Portable Lantern (Incandescent) Rechargea

Heh. I found some "holiday lighting" on after-christmas
sale. 6V, 5W halogen bulb with reflector (MR-11 style)
Also some 12V, 10W in similar form factor. They should
make a fine lantern or floodlight, I think. ($0.59 each)

BillW

snakebite · Dec 31, 2003

Re: Good Portable Lantern (Incandescent) Rechargea

i have been doing this for many years.
since i maintain mission critical gear that has to work no excuses i get lots of 1 year old pulls of sla and nicads.
these have plenty of life left for flashlight and ham radio use.
i use 5 5ah d nicads in a 6v springtop.
a lm317 set for 500 ma cc so it can charge from the car.
and radioshack has a 5.5x2.1 jack that holds up well.