Zippo (TM) Zip Light - Anyone used them ?

lightlover

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Anyone have any experience of these ?

I bought 2 of them recently, at $7.50, reduced from 1998's $33.
They are an official product, built into a Zippo lighter case, auto-switched on/off by the same method you'd use to open a Zippo lighter.
They use a tiny bi-pin bulb, set into a reflector, all built into a slide-in unit with the battery pack.
This can be opened up without difficulty, to reveal 2 "AAAA type" batteries.

These AAAA type "things" are uninsulated, bare metal, with a button at one end, and 40mm long.
My Energizer AAAA's are 42mm long, with buttons on both ends. They won't fit in without major/minor works - I don't think I will try.
The "instructions" say that you can buy a new battery pack, and that they will fit almost any Zippo lighter.

Frankly, they have a marred and small light output, which turning the threaded reflector doesn't seem to change.

Cute but nearly useless describes them well.

Maybe I could use them for a conversion ......

lightlover
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If you open up a new Eveready Energizer 9 volt battery, you'll find 6 batteries nearly identical to the ones in your Zippo light. They are shorter than 'standard' AAAA batteries, and the end of the batery with the post is negative; backwards from 'normal' batteries. But you can use them as replacements in your Zippo light, with little or no modification.

If you want a nice , bright, small light, the Underwater Kinetics 2AAA isn't much bigger than the Zippo light, but puts out about 5 times the light; and AAA cells are easier to deal with. Of course the Arc-AAA is another good alternative.
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WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP!!!!!
When I was in Quebec on a Trip i decided to buy a new Zippo. I had been looking at that zippo light for a while, and since i dont smoke, i thought it would be a good idea. Since the day before a bunch of girls in our group had been sexually harrassed by naked french guys(no kidding) we had made friends with like every Royal Candain Mounted Police Offficer 9they carry maglites) and a bunch of huge security guards(they carry maglites too). The next day wanted to just cruise around and shop for crap.
Every other store there sells either beer hats, shot glasses or zippos. So i got a black matte zippo with the light in it (an extra 10 bucks, WHAT A WASTE). About five minutes after purchasing it, I gave the zippo lite to my friend to put in his lighter. The thing had like no light output!!! Then I replaced the light with the
the actual "lighter" piece. I will never waste my money on that again!!!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SPECIALIST:
[QB]............ 9they carry maglites) .............
QB]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

SPECIALIST, if I hadn't got them at $7.50, I'd definitely return them to the shop.
As it is, maybe I can make *something* with them - there is SOME potential that way ......
But as a piece of lighting equipment as they are, I agree with you 99%.

(BTW - I notice that the "9" and the "(" are on the same key on your keyboard
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With mine, it's even worse - the shift key also needs to be pushed well hard
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Gandalf, thanks - the batteries you describe sound as if they would fit.

Now, what do I do with a small 3v output in a case that size ?

lightlover
 
Gandalf, thanks,
the insulated batteries I took out of a 9V Duracell are a good source of "AAAA's".

However, the insulated Energizer ready-made 4A's I have, have a button on each end, and are 1mm longer than the taken apart tubes from the Duracell battery.

But unfortunately, these externally uninsulated *things* as fitted in the ZipLight are indeed 3mm shorter than the 4A's, so 2mm shorter than the ex-Duracells. They are all (for practical purposes) exactly the same diameter.

The ZipLite looks as if it could have been designed quite easily to take 4A's - that is quite *annoying*. There's a USA freephone number engraved on the side of the whole light insert to order new whole units, (lamp, reflector and all) if the batteries run out.

Not that it's a big deal, but thought I'd let people know the size differences between the very similar cells.

lightlover
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