What's the DIMMEST flashlight?

[Stanley]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

I'd say try a solitaire 'mod'. I plugged in a 5mm white led and had a very weak and used MN21/23 (car alarm) battery in it to power it. It was dim alright...

Else how about using a different coloured led instead of white? Yellow perhaps, on weak batts might give just about enough light for your purposes?

 

[paulr]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

Silverfox, what's an M1?

 

[SilverFox]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

Hello Paulr,

The M1 is SureFire's infrared LED light.

You can see the M1 here

It has just a bit of a visible red glow when you turn it on. I was thinking it might be just enough to light up a watch, but it is just too dim.

Tom

 

[paulr]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

Ah, thanks. I begin to think that using a strong infrared emitter like that actually isn't such a great idea. It's not visible, and I know it's not ultraviolet, but it still can't exactly be helpful to the eyes, close-up, dark adapted, etc. I may look for some "cherry red" led's (690 nm or whatever, visible red but deeper than the usual 635mm red led).

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

I let an ARC AAA run overnight once. The battery was down FAR. That was pretty darn dim!

Where is the a link to a Garrity 3AA adjustable 1 LED? OH! Nevermind, I have one. I think it's still too bright on the lowest constantly on setting (and you must click through Brightest and 2ND Brightest to get there!

An ARC AAA with a used up battery is what I would choose.

 

[paulr]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

The AAA gets nice and dim after the battery runs down, but shut it off and let the battery recover for a few minutes, then turn it on and you get blasted with bright light again.

 

[LightScene]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

When I wake up at night I reach for the red CMG Infinity. Yes, it's not dim, but if you point it away from you it doesn't bother your eyes. If you prefer to have a dimmer light, (I don't) then maybe a cheap silver oxide, coin cell light, with a red led would be suitable. Red is definitely easy on the eyes compared to white.

I have a Palight with the always on, and a white led. I have removed the rubber cover so that there is nothing obstructing the led. I still prefer the red infinity.

There's the answer to your question - a red Palight in the always-on mode.

 

[kongfuchicken]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

paulr, you must have really good eyes!
I have one of these really old blue leds, it runs for weeks on a 9 volt battery and is very very dim (but beautiful), if it's really what you want.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

Not with a battery as dead as I am talking about paulr! There ain't much to recover way way down there!

 

[LightScene]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

Get an Indiglo travel alarm from Walmart for $10.
For a couple bucks more, get a radio controlled travel alarm with an electroluminescent backlight, and it will set itself to the atomic clock, including the date.
These things run on AAA's.

 

[chanik]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

I think the new Photon Freedom has the dimmest setting on purpose 30,000mcd to 30mcd

 

[arab]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

Hi Chanik,

Any idea how long the Photon Freedom would last in it's dimmest (30mcd) mode? I.E. Could this be a form of "always on" as per the PAL Light?

Cheers

 

[paulr]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

I don't think the range is anything like 1000:1 and I don't think the led is at 30,000 mcd. I'd guess it's more like 1000 (lowest), 3000 (middle), 10,000 (highest). I don't have a Freedom but have played with a Scout a little and figure it's likely to be similar (except the Scout has two leds). Runtime in dimmest mode is probably in the hundreds of hours. I think the LED Museum has a current draw measurement for the Photon 3 which is probably also similar to the Freedom.

 

[chanik]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

I should have been more specific: very new Photon Freedom (IV) has the 1000:1 range. It is not very efficient at the lowest end since the microcontroller dominates the current drain there with 1.2mA. Batteries would only last ~4 days. LED museum has a review on it.

 

[vcal]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

Paul;
I have the newest, and dimmest candidate for you......

It is one of the lightstick LEDs that we got in the last group buy..

It is a <font color="red">Red</font> one, as you might imagine....I can easily look into the LED and see it's little chip glowing faithfully. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

It's running right now @ 1.81 volts, and drawing .38 mA -according to my DMM. -Been going for over 4 days on a completely SHOT L544 cell.
When I started the test, the cell measured 2.01 volts-open circuit. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
p.s.-I can even read with it, and, (with adjusted eyes) can find my way around in a dark house without bumping into anything.

 

[Chaz]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

The Photon III covert at its lowest setting is what I use to check a watch or other item without bothering anyone else. If that is too bright, a small piece of tissue can be put in the covert housing to dim the light more.

 

[Hobydog]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

Paul,

I might have a contender for your list. My first flashlight mod was simply a 3v LED in a minim*g. The pins on the LED fit right in the pin holes for the old incandescent bulb, and I had to drill out the reflector just a mite to make room for the bulb, but it worked. As I found out later, though, it is considerably dimmer than even a CMG Infinity. Great run-time - on the order of a hundred hours or so - but NOT the light you want to use if you want to illuminate the next zip code. I use it as my walking-around-at-night-and-not-stub-my-toe light.

 

[Hobydog]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

I might have another idea for you. I'm remembering my old military days and the crookneck flashight we carried. One of the filters for it was a "blackout" filter - basically a piece of opaque white plastic, which cut about 95% of the light. It occurs to me that making a blackout filter out of the side of a milk jug or a bleach jug would give the same result.

 

[bigbird]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

Get a tritium Meprolight night sight for a pistol. The front site has one glow-tube that lasts forever, and is very tiny. Suitable for drilling for a keyring...

 

[RayT]

Re: What\'s the DIMMEST flashlight?

PALLight when turned off. Emits a very dim light so that you can locate the light in the dark. It will last 2+ years in this mode.