Warm LED Lantern, also Li-Ion v Ni-Mh

[rl4eng]

Hi All,

I'd traditionally used incandescant torches and lanterns with high a capacity Ni-MH batteries, but found that as (maybe) the batteries weren't getting too much use, maybe 4 or 5 full charges a year to support camping trips and the like, they were failing to hold their charge (e.g., a 4x 7000mAh, D Cell Krypton lantern would last about an hour or so!) And these batteries were £7 each!

Disillusioned with constantly replacing batteries I explored the Li-Ion route, purchasing a Surefire tactical flashlight with 325lumen CREE LED and also alternative Krypton bulb. This ran on 2x3.6V, UltraFire 16340 cells and I was amazed at how much punch this little baby had, also the batteries seem to not lose their ability (over time) to store charge, although must admit I've not tested this properly.

Soo.. and the point of my question, my thoughts now turn towards a compact, CREE type LED lantern, (for the night-time whiskey sessions..) ideally using the same 16340 cells which I own about 12 of. Does anyone know of a suitable one? Failing that one that takes the AA-sized Li-Ion cells? (18500? - apologies I've not got the package number to hand)

Or am I wrong to dismiss Ni-MH AA batteries? It's just with my experience with them, and the Li-Ion ones just feel better, call it intuition or something?

Any help or advice, or your experiences appreciated!

Rob

 

[DM51]

Welcome to CPF, rl4eng.

I'm not sure there is a big choice of lanterns that use 16340 (R123) Li-Ion cells, but douibtless other members will be able to help you on that.

There is however a solution to the NiMH problem, which is to get yourself some LSD (low self-discharge) NiMH cells, such as Eneloops. You'll find numerous threads about them in the Batteries section.

 

[rl4eng]

Cheers DM51,

Thanks for that, didn't even know Low Self Discharge existed, though the specs for normal Ni-MH are quite shocking, 50% after two years!

As for Lanterns, I like the look of the Coleman Exponent 3xCR123A, it's tiny, though perhaps a bit pricy for what it is. Also got my eye on a Hercules SL709 (?), that could probably do with a warmer LED

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SL709-Hercules-4xAA-Cree-LED-Camping-Lantern-Torch-NEW_W0QQitemZ150372835406

Looks quite a tidy unit, does anyone know if this is OEM and if so what's the proper make/model?

Cheers!

Rob

 

[jar3ds]

this inspires me just to make lantern

its so much easier because it doesn't have to be stuffed into a dang flashlight tube

 

[j3bnl]

I have one of these Favourlight 3 AA lanterns http://www.favourlight.com/1/#products/LTC-1613AA
(known over in the UK as Alpkit Bulb or Silverpoint Expedition)
Good runtimes on Eneloops, and plenty bright enough for most.
Not sure where you live but look in this thread for the different names it goes by depending on country :- http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=232028

Could also recommend the Coast Lenser 4AA lantern see here :- http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=242597
I got mine today and very impressed with it.

 

[rl4eng]

Cheers All,

OK I went for this CREE one as a starter,

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270453745369&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

It's listed as having a 1 Watt XRC-CREE LED bulb, can anyone recommend one of the same package that's a warmer colour? I'll also need some frosting type spray as well by the look of it, should I be able to get this from a B&Q or something?

Cheers!

Rob

 

[j3bnl]

Cheers All,

OK I went for this CREE one as a starter,

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270453745369&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

It's listed as having a 1 Watt XRC-CREE LED bulb, can anyone recommend one of the same package that's a warmer colour? I'll also need some frosting type spray as well by the look of it, should I be able to get this from a B&Q or something?

Cheers!

Rob

I got some Plasti-kote glass frosting spray from B&Q.

 

[clyffepypard]

There's a warm white version of the favorlight lantern on the ebay.com right now. (10hr to go)
190340573562

It would be fine with normal alkalines or eneloops. I've been using the Panasonic infinium brand of the LSD batteries, and find they hold their charge very well too. I do slacken the end cap off to open circuit the batteries on mine, since the flashing green led will slowly discharge them. It is a shame that the drive circuitry for this cannot be turned off easily.

Another point to note about lithiums is that they don't like being stored fully charged in a hot environment, since it reduces their lifetime significantly.

A lot of people actually store their lithium cells in the fridge even, though you should let them warm to room temp before recharging, since re-charging a cold lithium cell will also reduce its lifetime.

 

[rl4eng]

Hi All,

Just a quick review on this lantern. All-in-ll I'm pretty pleased with it, it's an Ultrafire and I modded it as follows:

- Applied Plastikote spray to the plastic glass, however as the spray had a slightly yellow tint (even though can said clear!) the resulting light was a slightly green colour.. Not good so it was out with the..

-.. electric sander to get rid of the paint, and make the glass frosty. Not ideal but it worked quite well and now the lamp produces a nice diffused light. If a little 'white'.

- Had to re-enforce/bend the copper connectors that transmit power from the batteries to the two steel prongs that go into the hood of the lens. (Without this it had an extremely annoying feature in that if you moved the lamp even slightly, it would switch off and thus forget what mode it was in.) Now it behaves much better but think it would benefit from some conductive grease.

Battery life is advertised as 4 hours, but running it on 4x2500mAh Ni-MH, the lamp was still going after 24 hours! Ok not quite as bright, but easily bright enough for a small tent.

All in all a good lamp, very compact and well made (with a few mods) think it could just do with warmer LED. And next time I'll use frosted stickers rather than paint.

 

[j3bnl]

If the pasti-kote went yellow you did one of the following 2 things :-

1. Didn't shake the can long enough
2. Re-coated before you should have

Or there is a 3rd possibility you have a duff can of plasti-kote.
I say it must have been one of the above reasons as I have used this stuff on 4 different lanterns and a few other glass objects and it definately dries clear.