Uses for the solar rechargeable Free Light

[ikendu]

There is another thread about buying this new, solar, rechargeable, keychain size light. I thought it might be neat to discuss uses for this light.

I've always thought that with a small, rechargeable light, you could put a bit of velcro on the back and, during a day hike, place it on your cap to recharge. Hike forever and always have light at night!

There is another post that talks about keeping it on your rear view mirror for an always ready car light (good idea)!

Here is the thread that talks about the light.

Solar rechargeable Free Light

 

[remuen]

I use my first Free Light as a home/night light. During the day its somewhere beneath the window (no direct sun light) and when I come home I take it in my pocket. During the night it's on my bedside table. I'm sure I will carry a second one on my keyring. So I will never have to buy batteries for this kind of light

 

[The_LED_Museum]

I wonder how it will work here. My window is north/northwest facing (around 11:00 on the clock face), and the sky is approximately 80-85% obstructed by surrounding buildings. (Some view!)
Between May and August, I get up to 3 hours of low evening sun a day, from October through March, I get no sun whatsoever. I wonder what the recommendation for sun exposure/charging on this light is, and if it will even charge at all in these already poor condtions during the part of the year when there isn't any sun at all.

Anyone who has a room with an obstructed north or north/northwest view is invited to help test this with me when we get our lights.

 

[remuen]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The LED Museum:

Anyone who has a room with an obstructed north or north/northwest view is invited to help test this with me when we get our lights.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am using my Free Light now since two weeks. I use it every day, not really for an hour or so but several times per day or night.

To test its charging abilities during the day I hang on a kook in the kitchen which also looks north/northwest. This hook is about two meters from the window on a place which is possibly the darkest one in the kitchen and has for sure no direct sun light. The Free Light seems always to be fully charged (because of the DC-DC converter I can't say this for sure).

The manufacturer claims it needs one day sun light for a full charge but IMO in the practical usage you won't discharge the cell so much you need such a long recharging time. I think I use this light already much more than it would be used as a real keychain light.

 

[remuen]

Since about one week I try to use my Free Light as much as possible without recharging it in the sun/daylight. I carry it all day in my pocket and use it very often (just playing with it). Coming home after work I put it on the table where it gets for 1 to 3 hours some artificial light from the bulb above the table. That's all the 'food' it becomes to recharge the battery. So let's see how long I can do this.

 

[Darell]

Craig -

What Rene suggests in the last post is what I was thinking for you guys living in the dark. I think the ambient artificial light in your room will be enough to keep it charged. Place it under your desk lamp when you work, and all should be fine. You need to find a place to Velcro the thing to your chair's roll-bar.

If none of that works, just remember to put it in the path of whatever light you next run-time test.

 

[JollyRoger]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by darell:
Craig -

What Rene suggests in the last post is what I was thinking for you guys living in the dark. I think the ambient artificial light in your room will be enough to keep it charged. Place it under your desk lamp when you work, and all should be fine. You need to find a place to Velcro the thing to your chair's roll-bar.

If none of that works, just remember to put it in the path of whatever light you next run-time test.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey, true, huh? I bet there's plenty of light from all the runtime tests Craig does!

 

[machspass]

I'm looking forward to playing around....er, I mean experimenting with mine!

I wish the case was held together with screws so I could open it up and take some measurements.

 

[remuen]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by machspass:
I wish the case was held together with screws so I could open it up and take some measurements.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Unfortunatly for you and me it is completly glued. I would do the same if I could. Would be very intersting.

It would also be very interesting to measure the efficency of the charge pump. Hope Emil Ackermann is reading this and will give as the answers.

 

[Darell]

I was just noticing that the thing is about the same dimensions as my keyless remote for the car. Wouldn't it be slick to have the PV cells, battery, LED AND the remote all in one bundle? wouldn't really have to be any bigger than what I have to lug around now...

Hmm....

 

[remuen]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by darell:
I was just noticing that the thing is about the same dimensions as my keyless remote for the car. Wouldn't it be slick to have the PV cells, battery, LED AND the remote all in one bundle? wouldn't really have to be any bigger than what I have to lug around now...
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's sort of weird: You have the bigger cars and the smaller remote controls and we have the smaller cars and the bigger keyless remote controls ......

Who will first realize your idea? Ford, BMW, GM. Mercedes .. or maybe Nokia which will integrate all this and a lot more into a new Nokia communicator ....

? Btw, Victorinox is another candidate as they could add all these features into a SAK ....

 

[Darell]

Yeah, it would be nice if the SAK had a REAL LED light. I've seen the one that's available, and it is more novelty than anything else.

 

[remuen]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by darell:
Yeah, it would be nice if the SAK had a REAL LED light. I've seen the one that's available, and it is more novelty than anything else.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There are some more SAK with an integrated LED light available:

<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Victorinox SwissLite (a small pocket knive like on my pictures with the Free Light)
<LI>Victorinox Midnite Manager (another small pocket knive)[/list]As far as I know both Victorinox knives have a red LED.

The other Swiss manufacturer (Wenger) has two real SAK with LEDs:
<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Wenger SAK Laser Pointer (with an integrated red laser pointer)
<LI>WENGER SAK Spot Light (with an integrated white LED as far as I have seen)
[/list]

In my former post I thought of an SAK not only with a real LED light and a solar panel but more also with an integrated keyless remote control for the car ...

 

[remuen]

As posted a couple of days ago I am testing the recharging capabilities of my Free Light.

I have used the Free Light now for almost two weeks without recharging it in the sunlight. I'm playing just a bit around with it and demonstrate it to everyone who wants or wants not to see it

. I don't know how long it is switched on every day (maybe 10 to 15 min

) but I'm sure it is much longer than it would usually be used as a keychain light in it's supposed usage.

Every evening I put the Free Light for about 1 to 3 hours on the table in our living room where it becomes some artificial light from the ceiling lamp. As this is not an academic test I really don't know any details as lumens on the table, exact recharging time and so on. All I know is that it is a 21 W energy safe bulb and the distance between bulb and Free Light is about one meter. So the experts among you can make some estimations of how much light the Free Light gets there.

More interesting to me is:
Yesterday evening I made a run time test and let the Free Light on for about one hour. As I don't have a lux meter I had to compare the brightness with some other lights

. After one hour the Free Light was a bit less bright than it was in the beginning but still bright. As I don't want to completly discharge the lithium cell I stopped the run time test after this hour.

Now I am continuing as before means that I don't recharge the Free Light in the sunlight/daylight. Let's see what will happen within the next couple of days. I'm optimistic ....

 

[The_LED_Museum]

I just got my Free Light today, so I haven't had a chance to experiment just yet. It's a bit smaller than I thought it would be, and the solar battery has an appearance unlike others I've seen. It's micro-textured, and almost looks like the cloth that business pants are made out of.

The lanyard *can* be replaced with a keyring or dog leash clip if desired by gently pulling the little black A-ring apart with two pairs of pliers. No need to actually cut the lanyard off as had been brought up in another thread.

Brightness is comparable to, though just slightly brighter than my white Infinity, and the LED has a bluish, cross-shaped splotch in the center with the remainder of the beam a warmer or slightly greenish hue of white. Not pee green like those bad Luxeons, just a very slight tint.

Comparision with other lights: the CPF Arc-AAA smokes it quite handily, a version 1.xx Arc-AAA is also brighter, but only by a small margin. Those of you with standard issue Arc-AAAs bought around the 1st of the year or earlier should have an idea of about how bright the Free Light is. Think of it kind of as a flattened Arc that you never have to change the battery in.

Pictures of beam comparisons... well, you usually need a camera for that. Guess that'll have to wait awhile.

But since I wasn't feeling well today, I never made it to the post office or even got the camera packed up. So I'll try some pictures, but they'll almost certainly be out of focus. So keep that in mind when looking at the shape and clarity of the beam.
I can still use the camera with an extra lens held in front, so I might still be able to produce clear photos of the product itself.

Oh, and the letter I got with it?
"...You get a handy flush light, such as small that you can have it all the time with you..."
I can see somebody visited one of my websites about toilets before typing this letter up...

 

[The_LED_Museum]

Switch side.

Photovoltaic side.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

Free Light on the left, Arc-AAA on the right.
I didn't have enough hands to juggle the two lights, the corrective lens (held in front of the camera), and the shutter button all at the same time. So this isn't that great of a shot.

 

[Graham]

Thanks for the review Craig..

The output looks ok compared to an Arc AAA. Pretty good, I reckon.

How does the casing feel? Fairly robust?

Can't wait to get mine. Back to watching the mailbox again..

Graham

PS. I can't remember if you ever got a Purple (darkish blue) glowring. Do you want one? I've got a bunch, and can send you one for the collection if you want..

 

[remuen]

Craig
Thank you for posting your first impressions and pictures of the Free Light. As I set this Free Light ball rolling I'm very keen to learn what you as our professional flashlight reviewer think about this light. I am also very interested to see your first measurements results.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The LED Museum:

The lanyard *can* be replaced with a keyring or dog leash clip if desired by gently pulling the little black A-ring apart with two pairs of pliers. No need to actually cut the lanyard off as had been brought up in another thread.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It was me posting this

. I didn't think of pulling the A-ring apart. But as I several times pointed out: I'm not a flashlight reviewer .... But at least I also have had the idea of the keyring. The pics in the other thread do proof this

.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The LED Museum:

Think of it kind of as a flattened Arc that you never have to change the battery in.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey Craig, am I right if I understand this conclusion as a compliment for the Free Light?

Craig, please forgive me for this:

As I had the chance to check (not test) 77 Free lights I will make some aditional comments and remarks to your first impressions in this thread Worldwide first regulated solar rechargeable keychain LED light (Page 13)

 

[Graham]

Just got my Freelights! They're great little lights, too.
In terms of brightness, a little dimmer than an Arc LE, but definitely much brighter than an Infinity, in my opinion.

Here's another photo of it, and my bad attempt at a beam comparison with an Arc LE..

Arc LE on the left, Freelight on the right. Both lights held about 2 feet from the wall.

Graham