Stick-on LED for Car Trunk?

[JML]

Anyone have any suggestions for a stick-on mountable LED lamp that can work with lithium batteries (AA or CR123) in a car's trunk to supplement the built-in light? It needs to be fairly bright and easily turned on and off.

My new car, a Mazda6 5-door hatch, has a light on only one side of the storage space in the trunk, and I want something on the other side so I can see in there without pulling out a flashlight.

Thanks.

 

[LukeA]

Osram-Sylvania has these at Sam's Club. They're perfect for this. They run on 3AA, are very bright, and are switched by swiping your hand over them. The base is magnetic.

 

[HKJ]

Osram-Sylvania has these at Sam's Club. They're perfect for this. They run on 3AA, are very bright, and are switched by swiping your hand over them. The base is magnetic.

Is a one hour until shutoff ok?

And how long does a set of batteries last, the have to power the motion detector?

 

[LukeA]

Is a one hour until shutoff ok?

And how long does a set of batteries last, the have to power the motion detector?

The unit shuts automatically after an hour. You can turn it off manually whenever you want. The motion detector consists of a 3mm IR LED running at maybe .5mA.

EDIT: Draw is less than .1mA from the cells. Reading from different settings on the DMM gives either .030mA or .10mA. Either way not too bad...

 

[FrogmanM]

Nice find Luke! Cool product for a trunk.

Mayo

 

[HKJ]

The unit shuts automatically after an hour. You can turn it off manually whenever you want. The motion detector consists of a 3mm IR LED running at maybe .5mA.

If the motion detection circuit (not only the led) is using 0.5 mA or below, it might be a very useful lamp. But if the circuit is using 2 mA, it start to get annoying (The batteries has to be replace every 2 months).

That is my opinion, the OP might have another .

 

[DaveG]

Just spotted them at BJ"S club yesterday,just under $30. for three. Any one have more info on them.I thought some one did a write up on them,looked last night and cant find it.BJ"s has white,black,chrome body ones.

 

[LukeA]

If the motion detection circuit (not only the led) is using 0.5 mA or below, it might be a very useful lamp. But if the circuit is using 2 mA, it start to get annoying (The batteries has to be replace every 2 months).

That is my opinion, the OP might have another .

Measuring it now, It's drawing less than 0.1mA.

 

[HKJ]

Measuring it now, It's drawing less than 0.1mA.

That is more than 2 years between battery replacement (depending on usage), now I want some of them, I have a couple of places where they would be useful!

 

[pete55555]

I use an Inova 24/7 inside my Jeep. Magnet mount, easy to turn on/off, lots of light and a good emergency flasher for emergencies.

 

[adnj]

Any reason why you can't mount another 12 volt light in the cargo compartment? Splice in to the current lamp circuit and mount with 3M two-sided tape.

 

[z96Cobra]

I use a Coleman "Tent Light" in the toolbox in my truck. It is incandescent but I believe you could swap in the Nite Ize PR base LED if you really want it to be LED. It has a magnetic base, and runs on AA's. You can get 'em at Target.

Roger

 

[JML]

Thanks for the suggestion on the Osrams.

This is a brand-new car, and there's no way I'm splicing into the wiring harness.

 

[JML]

Got 'em at Sam's Club this afternoon, along with some Energizer Lithium AA batteries to use instead of the alkalines packaged with the lights. They're much brighter than I thought they'd be -- and they have two output levels and off, selected just by waving my hand in front of the sensor. Sam's has black and silver in stock. Nice all-metal case, not the plastic that I've seen on similar puck lights. The magnet is separate, and is intended to stick on the surface, not the light. The light has a recessed back for the magnet, but I might end up with velcro.

Thanks again for the tip.

 

[griff]

I don't know how HOT it gets where you live but here is Kansas that double sided tape sticks for one or two days than you can start looking in the bottom of the trunk for that light Been there done that!

 

[JML]

The Velcro brand industrial strength adhesive will hold in high and low temperatures. I have used it to hold parking lot passes to my rear view mirror, and bought the Velcro circles for these lights. I put two on the hatch lid, on the access panels for the taillights. If they don't hold, I guess I'll come up with something else to fix them in place.

I just got worried about the AA batteries in the car, however -- I put in Energizer AA Lithiums. Will they be OK in the temperature range expected in a car in summer? (I live in Pittsburgh and the car is usually in a garage when I'm at home or work.) I've never had problems with emergency CR123 batteries stored in my car in lights, or separately for backup use...