Help for a unique situation.

[bcoots]

Hello everyone,
You have all given me great advice in the past so I figured I might try to tap the well one more time. A church group / buddy of mine recently went on a mission trip to Guatemala and one of the needs of some down there is a flashlight.

Now the situation isn't as easy as "oh this will be fine". The reason is, electricity is at a premium. So rechargeable batteries is kind of not a good idea here. So my initial thoughts is that a long runtime light that will run on either AA or AAA batteries that we can send down there fairly easily / cheaply. The other side to that is that the light needs to be fairly bright. I know there are some Fenix and others that run on one AAA or AA battery that have CRAZY runtimes, but they aren't bright enough for them to go outside with and navigate with any real merit if needed.

So do you guys have any ideas? A really nice and bright light that will run on a single AA or AAA battery with decent enough runtimes? Budget is semi-flexible, so just hit me with what you can think of. The cheaper they are the more we can send so that might be a factor to think about.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[jimboutilier]

A Zebralight SC52 or Foursevens Quark Pro QPA comes to mind.

Also so you might want to google "Goal Zero Guide 10 Plus" or "Powerfilm AA". Two solar panel kits that can pretty quickly charge 4xAA batteries. One of these and some Eneloops and you could have almost perpetual light with a frugal single AA light. The powerfilm is particularly efficient even in poorer (dimmer) conditions and is pocket size.

 

[schizeckinosy]

My wife is from south America and whenever we visit her home, I always leave behind my pocketknives, multitools and flashlights. I bring back machetes! :devil:

One thing I've observed is that these tools are lent out widely, and while the original recipient might take special care with them, others mostly don't. I'd recommend quantity, simplicity and durability in this case, so there are lots to go around and lots of spares when they break or get lost. I agree with your battery choice - anything more exotic is asking for trouble.

Something like a gerber infinity task comes to mind, but it is a little dim. Another light that has good throw and is reliable and fairly cheap is the Terralux lightstar 100. There is also the ubiquitous, cheap, and apparently pretty tough and reliable Sipik sk68 that you can buy by the dozen on ebay. They come in lots of colors too :). In this particular case I'd stay away from the fenix or 4sevens just because of the cost/longevity ratio down there.

 

[Norm]

AA is a far better option than AAA, AA has about 3 times the energy of AAA.

Norm

 

[Rosoku Chikara]

... There is also the ubiquitous, cheap, and apparently pretty tough and reliable Sipik sk68 that you can buy by the dozen on ebay. They come in lots of colors too :). ...[excerpted]

I agree wholeheartedly with schizeckinosy.

If you go to Guatemala "armed" with dozens of Sipik SK68s (or their no-name clones), you will be a real "hero" (And, in my opinion, you will truly be "doing God's work").

SK68s are surprising bright, very useful little AA lights. Some are single mode (on/off - High only), others are 3-mode (High/Med/Strobe). They get reasonable runtimes from a decent alkaline (usually over an hour on Hi, and around 4 hrs on Med). They are surprisingly robust. They have "zoom" which allows you to have flood lighting for nearby and "throw" lighting for further away.

Most importantly, they are extremely cheap, considering how good a flashlight they actually are. (You should be able to easily find them for $4.00 each or less.) They are so cheap that, when powered by an alkaline, you can simply hand them to a stranger and say "keep it."

(Despite what you say about the electricity situation, for your friends who live down there, you might consider also bringing them some Eneloop rechargables, and a decent charger. Eneloops hold their charge for a very long time, so your friends could recharge them during those "rare" periods when they have access to electricity. It seems to me that this would have to end up being much cheaper than constantly replacing primary cells.)

Most "good" flashlights will cost you $40.00 or more. For that amount, you can take 10 x SK68s. Considering how lights often tend to "walk away" or get lost. I think a larger quantity of low cost flashlights is the only way for you to go.

 

[RIX TUX]

CK this one out

GOOGLE this....... Dorcy Cyber Light
looks pretty durable and bright - aa batteries

 

[Poppy]

Hello everyone,
bright enough for them to go outside with and navigate with any real merit if needed.

So do you guys have any ideas? A really nice and bright light that will run on a single AA or AAA battery with decent enough runtimes?

If you could define this more clearly then I am sure that members could make more specific recommendations.

Walmart sells the rayovac evb2aaled-b for $1.50 batteries included. It's a 2AA light. It has a 2PR led bulb that can be pulled out and placed into a regular 2D light.
Here's a review I wrote:

Every house should have a few
08/06/2013
Its a handy little light. The beam is terrible compared to a twenty or thirty dollar light, but at the price, every house should have a few. Great light to give to the kids to use, because AA batteries are very inexpensive and if they leave the light on and kill the batteries, it costs next to nothing to replace them with new ones.
The beam has a blueish white spot, with a green ring, then a dead area, followed by the spill.
It can stand on its tail and light a room in a power outage well enough to navigate the room, or to sit and chat with friends, but not to read. This light would light up a small room, like a bath room acceptably well.
Since it is only 12 lumens, there is a small drain on the batteries and you get pretty good runtimes. They list it at 25 hours, if I get 12 hours at 12 lumens, I'd be very happy. I am sure that it will get at least that

 

[reppans]

...The reason is, electricity is at a premium. So rechargeable batteries is kind of not a good idea here. So my initial thoughts is that a long runtime light that will run on either AA or AAA batteries that we can send down there fairly easily / cheaply. The other side to that is that the light needs to be fairly bright. I know there are some Fenix and others that run on one AAA or AA battery that have CRAZY runtimes, but they aren't bright enough for them to go outside with and navigate with any real merit if needed.

So do you guys have any ideas? A really nice and bright light that will run on a single AA or AAA battery with decent enough runtimes?

First off I'd suggest dropping the AAA idea, a AA has 2.5x the energy, cost about the same, is a more ubiquitous, and you can use a AAA in any AA light (just bring a few AAA>AA adaptors, or use $-bills and tinfoil as spacers).

I don't disagree with the cheap disposable flashlight idea, but my guess is that if electricity is at a premium down there, so too will be batteries. A cheap light may save on initial cost, but if batteries are expensive or hard to come by, then the inefficiencies (lows not low enough, PWM, outdated emitters) of the cheaper lights may cost you more in batteries over the long run.

If I understand the OP correctly, I have been struggling with the same dilemma as a minimalist camper that likes using a 1xAA for a week+ straight, continuously for 6 hrs a night. My ideal lights are the current-regulated "brightest" sub-lumen lights that will run ~200 hrs per AA, but also have other closely-spaced efficient low modes for when sub-lumen is not enough - ie, my favorite low mode spacing for maximum battery efficiency is 0.3/3/20 which I use as my L/M/H with dark adapted eyes.

I collect lights in this category, all will be in the mid-priced range (cheap and expensive lights don't do efficient/sub-lumen), I test with a light meter and stopwatch, and particularly on the low lumen side, find certain manufacturer specs to be off by a mile... let me know if this is what you're looking off.

(BTW, I do agree solar & Eneloops could be a viable solution)

 

[AnAppleSnail]

Ten lumen is brighter than you think, far away from electricity, at night.

 

[Poppy]

I don't disagree with the cheap disposable flashlight idea, but my guess is that if electricity is at a premium down there, so too will be batteries. A cheap light may save on initial cost, but if batteries are expensive or hard to come by, then the inefficiencies (lows not low enough, PWM, outdated emitters) of the cheaper lights may cost you more in batteries over the long run.

<snip>

(BTW, I do agree solar & Eneloops could be a viable solution)

Once again, reppans, I agree with your logic.

We don't know anything of the situation that these lights will be used in. Perhaps a solar charging station would be useful, until the local thugs come and take it. On the other hand maybe something like cottonpicker's solar charging station would be great, or the goalzero. I know just about nothing of either.

On the other hand there are some hybrid lights that might be worth considering; ones that have a couple of solar cells built into the light.

 

[RetroTechie]

I have a hard time imagining a situation where (over the long run) AA primaries are cheaper than charger + rechargeables. "Electricity at a premium" might mean that not everybody has AC mains connection. But where available, the cost of charging a few AA's is negligable. And in sunny countries, solar charger a good possible alternative.

 

[schizeckinosy]

My guess is that a solar station would not last a day in most of Latin America. Sad fact, but theft and other crime is rampant. I'd stick with cheap primary batts.

 

[Rosoku Chikara]

My guess is that a solar station would not last a day in most of Latin America. Sad fact, but theft and other crime is rampant. I'd stick with cheap primary batts.

You might be able to put a solar station on the roof of your own home or someone else's home, where it might not be too obvious, and not so easy to steal... (and, perhaps someone might be able to be there at all times to help "protect" it?)

But, frankly, without the OP providing a better definition of "electricity is at a premium," I don't think we will be able to understand what his options truly are.

Personally, I was thinking in terms of recharging a bunch of Eneloops when you got to some place that has electricity ("mains") and when it happens to be "on" (I assume power outages could be common). But in my experience, in countries where "electricity is at a premium," generators are also commonly available and frequently in use, even in private homes (and certainly in hotels, etc.)

So, I think you could figure out some way to charge your rechargeables on occasion. But, if it is that hard to get them recharged, you might want something like a good "fast" 8 x cell charger, and perhaps more than one of those.

 

[jimboutilier]

I'm not sure some folks have a good idea of the size and weight of the solar chargers I mentioned.

The Powerfilm AA weighs a few oz, folds up the size of a wallet and fits in your pocket. You can strap it opened to your backpack and use it while moving about or hang it on your tent while you are around to watch it. You can hang it in a window of a cabin or other dwelling, have it open on a table while you are eating, etc and it's relatively small and unobtrusive. It will charge 4 AA batteries from empty in several hours and will top them up a lot more quickly.

The Goal Zero unit is a bit bigger and heavier - about a pound and the size of a trade format pocket book. It charges even faster in bright sunlight but less fast in poor conditions. It has the advantage of being able to charge or power USB devices up to iPad size as well. Again, you can hang it on your backpack while moving about, on your tent, in a (closed) window, open on a table, etc just like the powerfilm.

These are not big fixed installations you have to install somewhere and that draw a lot of attention. Yes they could be easily stolen but they are small and light enough to keep with you like a smartphone or tablet and have lots of fastening points to prevent accidental loss or a quick snatch.

 

[gravelmonkey]

You'd be better with a charger that can run off a 12v vehicle socket. Solar can be good but you've either got to be in the middle of nowhere OR be able to supervise the thing for hours on end.

It's not the most user friendly UI (most people can work out 'low' but need to be told to cycle it to get to medium and high) but you could have a look at a 3mode L3 illumination L10.

 

[Rosoku Chikara]

You'd be better with a charger that can run off a 12v vehicle socket...

Excellent point. I have said that myself in other threads... Don't know why I didn't think to mention it here.

 

[reppans]

I don't know guys... just checking into useless statistics, wiki says motor vehicles (excl motorbikes) per capita for Guatemala is ~7% while the US is ~80%.

I think we lost the OP anyways..

 

[Poppy]

I don't know guys... just checking into useless statistics, wiki says motor vehicles (excl motorbikes) per capita for Guatemala is ~7% while the US is ~80%.

I think we lost the OP anyways..

I'm thinking that many motorbikes will have a battery and some form of generator to charge it. Even if they don't have an electric starter, they might have a battery for lights. So despite the fact they wouldn't have a cigar lighter outlet, that doesn't preclude installing one, or using alligator clips to recharge the flashlight batteries.

 

[reppans]

I'm thinking that many motorbikes will have a battery and some form of generator to charge it. Even if they don't have an electric starter, they might have a battery for lights. So despite the fact they wouldn't have a cigar lighter outlet, that doesn't preclude installing one, or using alligator clips to recharge the flashlight batteries.

As a long time motorcyclist, I wouldn't want to use my MH C9000 w/4 Eneloops charging off my bike while it's not running - specs say input is 12V/2A and it takes ~ 2 hrs to charge Eneloops. My bike has plenty of alternator capacity to handle the load while riding, but I suspect that most folks down there will be riding sub-100cc scooters and mopeds, with smaller 5 amp-hr batteries. Even if their alternators can to handle it while riding, I suspect that you won't find many folks down there doing very long rides.

 

[Poppy]

A car headlight is 55 watts, let's say that a moped is half that... 30 watts. A fully depleted eneloop is 3.75 watt hours? A 5 ampere hour 12v battery has 60 watt hours. Therefore it can easily charge a number of eneloops, let's say four. Assuming that the generator can generate enough current to power the headlight, then it should be able to replace the energy taken from the battery to charge four eneloops in about 30 minutes. Used frugally, how long would 4 eneloops last?
My numbers may be off, but I think that it is doable.