Recommend me an small, low output, rechargeable, DIMMABLE, RGB, led, generic/general utility light?

[shipwreck.]

If that's not to tall an ask lolol

I'm working covert, out of a vehicle, overnights. I need a simple RGB lighting solution that I can dim to the lowest level possible to effectively see to read/write by to get the job done while maintaining cover and exercising as much light discipline as possible.

I know red light is the lowest energy wavelength. But because of that it can be harder to discern sharp detail by and actually require higher levels overall for reading for example. While green supposedly is so much easier to read detail by that you can use lower levels than red. This is why I want both. Confirm which works better for me, and/or use as circumstances allow.

And I want the dimmer so whichever is best for me or situationally I can manually turn it down to the lowest level possible.

This was way too specific an ask for Google to return viable results no matter what filters and ,-""s I slapped on it. So imma need this community to come through for me on this. Luckily it always does. As long as such bullshity things as I tend to ask for actually exists lmao

I'll try to go by the stickyd questions from here.

2) Budget: An easy question, but you may change your mind after answering the rest!

Max 30 bucks?

3) Format:

Handheldish/maybe with a clip on it for area use.


4) Size:

____MICRO - Keychain size.
____TINY - Every day carry (2-4 inches).
____SMALL - Every day carry (4-7 inches).


5) Emitter/Light source:

LED for sursies


7) What power source do you want to use?

Either built in battery pack or something I can run off my surefire rechargeable 123s so I can just pack an extra.

7a) If you have selected a rechargeable option

USB b or c if built in pack.


8) How much genuine out the front (OTF) light do you want/need? Sometimes you can have too much light (trying to read up close up with a 100 lumen light is not a happy experience).

I want to be able to dim it down to nothing and have a pretty low max output.


10) Runtime: Not over-inflated manufacturer runtime claims, but usable brightness measured from first activation to 50% with new batteries (Measured on maximum continuous output).

Ideally 16 hours, which hopefully won't be too hard with rock bottom output.


11) Durability/Usage: Generally the old phrase "you get what you pay for" is very accurate for flashlights.

____Not Important (A "night-stand" light).
____Slightly Important (Walks around the neighborhood).


13) User Interface (UI) and mode selection. Select all that apply.

RGB selectable with a DIMMER! Don't need programmable simplest operation available.

14)Material/Finish/Coating

Matte black! 👍🏼👍🏼 you know how it is...


17) Special Needs/extras: Is there anything else you want or need that hasn't been mentioned? Select any/all below.

____Red filter (for preserving night vision).
____Other filter colors (Amber, Green, Blue, _________).
____Dedicated R/G/B secondary LEDs.
____Pocket/belt clip
____Wrist/Neck Lanyard

 

[Dave_H]

I've poked around with low-cost RGB devices but no flashlights so far. Your requirements are quite demanding. Have found a couple online but some are pricy (one >US$100). One below runs on 3AAA but might take an 18650 or 18500 (can't tell from description). It appears to use 5mm RGB and white LEDs, but seems to have only high/low settings.

Pro Hunter RGB Flashlight - Browning

Lightweight, compact flashlight with high-intensity LEDs in multiple colors and modes, black polymer body with matte aluminum lens ring and a tactical-style lock-out end cap. Runs on three standard AAA batteries (included).

www.browning.com

Could you use something other than a flashlight e.g. small "pod" style light?


Dave

 

[Dave_H]

I guess the other challenge is the UI: getting to the colour/brightness setting without cycling through a bunch of
combinations; and holding your last setting ("memory").

The only low-cost RGB devices I know will do this are not flashlights: RGB LED strips, 3xAAA LED candles etc.
Some are USB-powered. Many of these use IR remote. I know this is not the form factor you are looking for.

Just thought of something: 3xAAA RGB LED "puck" style light, size of hockey puck or smaller. Self-contained,
but uses IR remote. Independent colour control, brightness (step) control; but not a flashlight. I got one
locally OTC for $4. You can get some form of white by colour mixing. This one is well sealed "waterproof" as it's intended to float in a pool!

Dave

 

[shipwreck.]

I've poked around with low-cost RGB devices but no flashlights so far.

Low cost RGB devices is exactly what I'm looking for. Doesn't need to be a typical flashlight, keychain, puck, whatever. Remote operated area lighting is not going to be ideal though. Since the point is to go unnoticed I would want to light to be very dim and highly directional.

I appreciate you taking a stab at it though! I really couldn't turn up anything myself which is why I came

Man I didn't think RGB with a dimmer switch would be that demanding but I guess anything off of extremely generic function is. A million products that all do the same thing and almost none with any unique functions? 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[shipwreck.]

I guess the other challenge is the UI...

Oof all I really need is a 4 position switch (off, red, green, blue), with a slider for dimming. I wouldn't think that would be too hard to find but I guess the industry doesn't believe in KISS. Everything is either ridiculous programmable extraneous rapid strobe functions or generic on/off. Nothing in between??

In any case I don't really care about the form factor as long as it works. But area lighting won't be ideal as I would want the light to be both very dim and highly directional to avoid as much visibility as possible, also I'd prefer something not remote.

In any case. I appreciate you helping out, that does sound like a really cool gizmo for the pool though!

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I would suggest nixing the RGB idea and going for a flashlight that has a sub lumen light mode that would be dimmer than a candle and being directional would only be seen when the beam was pointed in the exact direction.

 

[aznsx]

Man I didn't think RGB with a dimmer switch would be that demanding but I guess anything off of extremely generic function is. A million products that all do the same thing and almost none with any unique functions? 🤷🏼‍♂️

I sorta get what you're saying, and I think you're sorta right (which beats being dead wrong), but I'd just add this: You probably aren't just looking for a niche feature that isn't out there, but rather a combination of niche features, and other criteria, that may not coexist in the same product. As soon as you start combining niche features, that's where it quickly gets to be a real stretch, and it doesn't take much of that to specify yourself right out of a solution.

Continuously-variable output is a niche feature, and multi-color is a niche feature (and simple UIs are also a bit rare). If you found it all, it would probably be one of those fatally over-designed, over complicated lights laden with 'fluff', Mickey Mouse features, not really designed for serious users but more like a toy to play with, and likely of questionable design and execution overall (and they are out there, trust me). The user guide would likely be like a whole book of flow charts. You don't want that, and neither would I.

I'm not a LEO, but I'd bet money a lot of LEOs have requirements for their application(s) which are very similar to yours. You may need to consider whatever they're using, although it may not meet all your criteria perfectly. To put it simply, don't try to reinvent this wheel.

Regarding the best color for such applications, instead of looking for a light that will allow you all the options so you can essentially do your own research / experimentation, you may want to do the research on conventional wisdom and established 'best practices', and go with whatever color that research has determined to be optimal.

Instead of continuously-variable output, you may also need to consider going with appropriately-chosen (perhaps configurable) fixed output levels which are appropriate for your needs and include sub-lumen, and are accessed with a UI that is of your preference.

This is the kind of approach I would take if I had your application and couldn't find an exact match for my requirements on the market. I'm confident you can find something that's working for a lot of other similar users, and would likely work for you.

 

[shipwreck.]

I would suggest nixing the RGB idea and going for a flashlight that has a sub lumen light mode that would be dimmer than a candle and being directional would only be seen when the beam was pointed in the exact direction.

Interesting angle 🤔 I haven't heard of sub lumen devices before but it's definitely worth looking into.

That being said though, a lot of my experience is from the military. Where they swear by color filters. We use greed lights in information displays from radar to mfds because it's lower energy than blue, but high energy enough to read detail easily by at the lowest brightness possible, we use red for interior lighting at night because you don't need to discern sharp detail just to not bump into things, it's even lower energy, and preserves your "night vision", we even use blue because although it's the highest energy wavelength, our atmosphere naturally scatters it out, so it won't carry as far as other wavelengths even at higher brightness.

So that's why I strongly prefer RGB, this stuff just *works*. And I'm not sure any brightness of white light at any level high enough to read by wouldn't produce enough diffused reflection not to be noticable from any direction.

Again, bright enough to read by.

Just all my experience says "white light bad 🧐"

I uses red light filter app on my phone. And I point the screen down at the floor of the vehicle to make sure it's not bright enough to illuminate that visibly to me. That way I have a better chance that it's not illuminating my face too visibly when I look at it.

And what I've found is I have to turn the color temperature all the way down to maximum redness, the phone's screen brightness setting all the way down, and the apps enhanced screen dimming way below factory to the point it would be completely invisible in the day so you better not let it be stuck there when the sun comes up or your phone will be useless unless/until you can get to a dark room or wait for sunset lol... I have to turn that setting up at least halfway before the phone doesn't light up the interior of the car.

So it's hard for me to imagine a white light that's not going to be too bright even sub lumen 🤔 but I will look into it, I've never seen it before so I don't actually know...

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Interesting angle 🤔 I haven't heard of sub lumen devices before but it's definitely worth looking into.

That being said though, a lot of my experience is from the military. Where they swear by color filters. We use greed lights in information displays from radar to mfds because it's lower energy than blue, but high energy enough to read detail easily by at the lowest brightness possible, we use red for interior lighting at night because you don't need to discern sharp detail just to not bump into things, it's even lower energy, and preserves your "night vision", we even use blue because although it's the highest energy wavelength, our atmosphere naturally scatters it out, so it won't carry as far as other wavelengths even at higher brightness.

So that's why I strongly prefer RGB, this stuff just *works*. And I'm not sure any brightness of white light at any level high enough to read by wouldn't produce enough diffused reflection not to be noticable from any direction.

Again, bright enough to read by.

Just all my experience says "white light bad 🧐"

I uses red light filter app on my phone. And I point the screen down at the floor of the vehicle to make sure it's not bright enough to illuminate that visibly to me. That way I have a better chance that it's not illuminating my face too visibly when I look at it.

And what I've found is I have to turn the color temperature all the way down to maximum redness, the phone's screen brightness setting all the way down, and the apps enhanced screen dimming way below factory to the point it would be completely invisible in the day so you better not let it be stuck there when the sun comes up or your phone will be useless unless/until you can get to a dark room or wait for sunset lol... I have to turn that setting up at least halfway before the phone doesn't light up the interior of the car.

So it's hard for me to imagine a white light that's not going to be too bright even sub lumen 🤔 but I will look into it, I've never seen it before so I don't actually know...

I've heard some of Zebralights have levels in the millilumens or 0.01-0.10 lumen range. Other manufacturers make lights with a red LED. i don't know a lot about sublumen lights but I think the Manker E02 may be able to go down to a fraction of a tenth of a lumen. As super low sublumen levels you likely could get a separate light for that and use it mainly on the low mode. In a pinch you could use filters to reduce output of lights with 1-5 lumen modes. You can run for 50+ hours on a AAA battery at sublumen modes or longer.

 

[knucklegary]

Manker E03H AA/14500 meets all OP requirements. Comes with red and blue filters, headband, and pocket clip. It's a quality little light. Luminus SST-20 4000k hi cri emitter is the icing on the cake for me. I never leave home at night without it in my pocket as backup.

Edit: OP,, check out latest version E03H II. Manker upgraded to max (600) lumens.
Not that I think you'll need turbo lumens for your intended use.. But, you never know when you might need to blind a pissed-off dude standing outside your car window holding a baseball bat, or gun.. just saying

 

[Dave_H]

In my experience placing coloured filter over white LED can give mediocre results: red has a washed-out pinkish-white tint,
and I wonder how that works for night vision preservation (some white components getting through). I notice this with
battery-powered LED strings which at one time were mostly monochromatic LEDs, which usually looked good. Now most are
white LEDs with coloured plastic filters/bobbles, appearance varies from not bad to dismal.

Dave

 

[knucklegary]

In my experience placing coloured filter over white LED can give mediocre results: red has a washed-out pinkish-white tint,
and I wonder how that works for night vision preservation (some white components getting through). I notice this with
battery-powered LED strings which at one time were mostly monochromatic LEDs, which usually looked good. Now most are
white LEDs with coloured plastic filters/bobbles, appearance varies from not bad to dismal.

Dave

Red filter isn't that bad with the E03H no leaking white, but definitely not like SST-20 Deep Red emitter. Personally I don't see a use for red while inside a car. Manker has sub lumen levels that works for me. Light clips onto shirt for hands free writing notes, poems, or scribblings

 

[Dave_H]

I've never seen slide brightness control on a flashlight (though there may be some out there); only on small COB wall-plate sized lights. Rotary brightness is option on some lanterns (but usually only white). Another control is press/hold up/down dimming which I find on small LED desklamps (also on headlamps, have one) but not good for switching quickly among different levels.

Dave

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I've never seen slide brightness control on a flashlight (though there may be some out there); only on small COB wall-plate sized lights. Rotary brightness is option on some lanterns (but usually only white). Another control is press/hold up/down dimming which I find on small LED desklamps (also on headlamps, have one) but not good for switching quickly among different levels.

Dave

They call the hold dimming Ramping. My sofirn SP32 has a ramping mode option but I don't really care for ramping myself as you cannot tell how much runtime or the output other than lowest and highest and somewhere in the middle. If they had super low mode that you could ramp up to maybe 5 lumens that would be cool.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

The problem is that red l.e.d.s tend to have a lower voltage than blue and green l.e.d.s so you can usually find something that will give you all three colors at one setting (with a resistor or some sort of circuit wired to each to make them operate on the same voltage power source), but to find something with all three and white that dim, requires three or four separate dimming circuits. That won't be found in a lot of lights. The closest flashlight I can think of was the Inova Inforce Color (discontinued) which had red, blue, green, and white l.e.d.s. with three brightness settings for each. Had a carbon fiber body, and was built for the military. It wasn't cheap. About the best I see now is a Nitecore NU06 LE. Has your USB-C charging, red l.e.d. (3 lumens), green l.e.d. (8 lumens), blue l.e.d. (2 lumens), and white l.e.d. (15 lumens). No dimming though. Costs $27. If you can deal with just white and red with a dimmer, there's the old L.R.I. Photon Proton Pro that will do the job (but takes a AA).