Inexpensive LED Lithium

[JJH]

I need a half dozen or so cheap LED lights to use as emergency lights for disaster recovery. These lights would basically sit in cabinets in various rooms in a white-collar business and be used only in the event of a disaster such as a tornado hit or a power outage longer than an hour or two. I want lithium becasue of shelf-life and LED for long run-time. Inexpensive because they mostly will sit on shelves. I'd like a few options power and quality wise.
Any help with this is much appreciated.
JJ

 

[MattK]

Hi JJ,

There are dozens of viable options - can you give an idea of a realistic budget?

Frankly I would caution against anything over $20-25 as it's likely to take a walk.

Best values these days will be on unbranded Luxeon III flashlight.

 

[Lobo]

How much are you willing to spend per light? Cause if you consider the fact that there are lithium AAs, the options are almost endless. Would you prefer longer runtime over brightness? Minimum runtime? Size? Tailstanding capacity? Give us some more details, and we will try our best to find the best solution for you.
Cheers.

 

[sysadmn]

Hi JJ,

There are dozens of viable options - can you give an idea of a realistic budget?

Frankly I would caution against anything over $20-25 as it's likely to take a walk.

Best values these days will be on unbranded Luxeon III flashlight.

I hesitate to mention this for fear of being called homophobic...

I worked one place where the help desk was in the basement. During a power failure, the emergency lights were inadequate. So for safety's sake, every pod of ~6 desks had a flashlight. We stocked a few extras in the supply cabinet. First it was a 2c Maglite - with the flow of people through the area, about half of them walked. Next was $4 2c plastic Wal-Mart specials. Disappeared about one a month. Wrote the company name in sharpie - still vanished. Then the help desk supervisor had an inspiration - the replacement flashlights were bright pink Barbie specials. Just to make sure they stayed put, she wrote "Gay Pride Parade '01" on them.

Not one was taken

 

[Wyeast]

You have kind of a wide range of lights to choose from, depending on exactly how much power and runtime you want. On the low end of the scale you have things like River Rock 2AAA's or MiniMag's + Nite Ize with lithium AAA/AA cells. You'd get great runtime, but pretty dim lighting... good for closeup work or navigating a hallway.

Midrange you could go with a Dorcy Super 1W (1-CR123 cell). Pretty cheap and compact for the power and you still have decent runtime with only 1 cell. Anything in the 20-30 lumen range would be decent enough for close-range searching (like down a hallway or across a large room) if necessary.

If you're considering area lighting, River Rock 4AA lanterns with lithium cells should illuminate a room pretty well.

None of these are bulletproof construction to say the least, but should serve pretty well at around $15-25 apiece including batts.

If you have access to a Costco, you could also consider loading up on Inova X02's at $22 apiece I think? A bargain for lights that will be pretty close to indestructible.

And yes, like everyone has mentioned, plan on the lights walking away unless you keep them locked up. My recommendation would be a bunch of Minimags in the ugliest color you can find with Nite-Ize drop-ins and lithium AA's, with a few higher-powered lights kept secured for use as-needed.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Just to make sure they stayed put, she wrote "Gay Pride Parade '01" on them.

Not one was taken

That's both funny and sad that you had to resort to such measures to hang onto the company's property. I think that a light that's not so easily pocketable will be less likely to grow legs and walk off, something like a $20 LED lantern. I've seen some multi-LED lanterns at Target recently that seem like they'd fit the bill.

 

[LED_Thrift]

...And yes, like everyone has mentioned, plan on the lights walking away unless you keep them locked up. My recommendation would be a bunch of Minimags in the ugliest color you can find with Nite-Ize drop-ins and lithium AA's, with a few higher-powered lights kept secured for use as-needed.

Two problems: 1) When the lights are needed in an emergency, you're stuck with a MiniMag.

2) The same idiots who would steal emergency equipment think Mags are the best lights out there!


+1 on the suggestion of keeping a few higher-powered lights in a more secure location.

 

[Wyeast]

That's why you use the Nite-Ize drop-ins. In a pitch-black (power outage) environment, they serve surprisingly well within about 15' for navigating your way around an office, and you get enough runtime to easily make it through the night if stranded without power. Certainly bright enough to read text or use equipment within arm's reach. Cheap enough (should be easily <$20 a pop) to have a bunch of them around - redundancy is always a good thing in an emergency. It also makes it so you don't have to grope around so much to find the nearest one.

And they're dim enough to seem unimpressive (unworthy of stealing) during the workday when the lights are all on.

For the mundane stuff (walking around, going to the loo) it should be more than enough. For the high intensity work (checking the roof, etc) that's what the secured high-power lights will be for.

 

[Sigman]

...The same idiots who would steal emergency equipment think Mags are the best lights out there!...

Being a "Flashaholic", the first thing I thought of was modded MiniMags!

HOWEVER, you hit the nail right on the head with that comment!

 

[JJH]

Thanks for all the answers thus far.
I think less than $20 is a good limit for the small ones and then several of the larger ones that will be locked up.
The small ones would be mostly for navigating hallways, etc.
What are some inexpensive Luxeon IIIs?

 

[ACMarina]

I don't think you'd need anything that bright. I've navigated overnight in a rainstorm with only a map and compass and a CMG Infinity (NOT ultra). And it'll outrun any of the luxeon lights I have by a margin in standard use. I think some 5-LED cheepie lights (Like the XNova of past fame) would be along the lines of what I'd look at in an office environment. Maybe Elektrolumens Blasters for the "Big" lights, and you wouldn't need any more than a Luxeon I for those..

 

[selfbuilt]

Well, you can't get much cheaper than this for $3 shipped:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1137

It's a little dimmer than the nite-ize minimag drop-in, but pretty close the Inova X1 in both output and runtime on 1AA. Don't know if it will handle lithium batteries, but on a 2200mAh NiMH I got almost 7 hours runtime to 50% initial output.

I know any light can disappear quickly in an office setting, so the cheaper the better for lights not locked up, IMHO. Both dealextreme.com and kaidomain.com have plenty inexpensive lights that might fit the bill. You can get several luxeon clone AA lights for ~$5-8 shipped at both sites (including the very popular "ELLY" model which I know can take a lithium AA). You can even get that one with a much brighter cree LED for under $10 shipped!

Unfortunately, runtime is low on most of these 1AA luxeon clone lights for your application (and high brightness would just encourage people to walk off with them!). You can also get a MXDL luxeon clone that runs on CR123 for $6.50 shipped at those sites, but again I expect runtime would be somewhat low (although use of CR123 might discourage theft).

I still think the floodier multi-led setups would be your best bet in terms of cost/runtime/theft prevention.

 

[JJH]

Well, you can't get much cheaper than this for $3 shipped:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1137

It's a little dimmer than the nite-ize minimag drop-in, but pretty close the Inova X1 in both output and runtime on 1AA. Don't know if it will handle lithium batteries, but on a 2200mAh NiMH I got almost 7 hours runtime to 50% initial output.

I know any light can disappear quickly in an office setting, so the cheaper the better for lights not locked up, IMHO. Both dealextreme.com and kaidomain.com have plenty inexpensive lights that might fit the bill. You can get several luxeon clone AA lights for ~$5-8 shipped at both sites (including the very popular "ELLY" model which I know can take a lithium AA). You can even get that one with a much brighter cree LED for under $10 shipped!

Unfortunately, runtime is low on most of these 1AA luxeon clone lights for your application (and high brightness would just encourage people to walk off with them!). You can also get a MXDL luxeon clone that runs on CR123 for $6.50 shipped at those sites, but again I expect runtime would be somewhat low (although use of CR123 might discourage theft).

I still think the floodier multi-led setups would be your best bet in terms of cost/runtime/theft prevention.

Thanks---How about with 2 AA lithium or 2 cr123a's?
And what would be a good drop in for a Minimag AA that can take Lithium? NiteIze?

 

[Illum]

That's both funny and sad that you had to resort to such measures to hang onto the company's property. I think that a light that's not so easily pocketable will be less likely to grow legs and walk off, something like a $20 LED lantern. I've seen some multi-LED lanterns at Target recently that seem like they'd fit the bill.

everything that is useful applies to the "law of inanimate motion" when stored in the office...trust me, after losing two inovas and 3 good pens...I know

in terms of "cheap LED lights" theres different advantages for different types of LED....a single LED [luxeon based, etc] is mostly used with reflectors for spot beams and intermediate illumination. Since your talking about a office blackout light, a flood beamed flashlight would be more appropriate. before you begin to judge lights in the luxeon category, consider the clustered LED array lights also

for future references, browse www.flashlightreviews.com

 

[selfbuilt]

Thanks---How about with 2 AA lithium or 2 cr123a's?
And what would be a good drop in for a Minimag AA that can take Lithium? NiteIze?

Not sure if the NiteIze will take lithiums (never tried it), but the old ~$5 SMJLED was a great minimag upgrade (need to drill the reflector opening, though). I keep one in the car with 2AA lithiums - runs brighter, great runtime. Unfortunately, those are pretty much impossible to find now-a-days - but are probably your best bet if you could.

Most other minimag mods (or other 2AA lights) you are going to find are likely to be optimized for throw, which isn't really what you want. And unfortunately most of the larger, cheap, multi-LED flood lights run on 3xAAA, which is lousy for runtimes.

I'd avoid 2 CR123A lights. Decent ones are more expensive, and you can't control what people will do with them (i.e. light left on/accidental activation with mismatched cells, etc - potential for bad outcomes is higher here than with AA or single CR123A).