9 volt battery based lights

Why are there not more lights based on the 9 volt battery?

What are the brightest ones?

Someone made a Luxeon one a while back, just for laughs.

Fundamentally the 9 volt battery is just not that great a power source. It's bigger and heavier than two AA cells but holds less energy. They were widely used in early transistor radios as a simple way to give enough voltage to the circuitry used in those days. These days, it's easier to make radios and other devices run on lower voltage, so they can use the cheaper and more efficient AA cells.

Here's a few:

http://www.palights.com/
I have one of these. It has served me well for years.

http://www.9voltlight.com/
Don't have one. Think it's a good idea, but way overpriced.

Dan

9 volts are a terrible source of energy and are extremely outdated. One 9 volt cost about as much as a 4 pack of AAs, (name brand, retail) but only has about 1/10th as much power. 9 volts also isn't a very efficient source of power for 3-4 volt LEDs.

However, with the circuitry that the PALite & Pak-lite use, one gets some looooooooonnnnnggg runtime out of that little package.

I REEeeeeaaaly like the PALites as nightstand lights!!! That glow function makes them soooo easy to find in the dark!

Sigman,

10-4 good buddy. (ok that was silly) I concur with your statement

Dan

I purchased a Pak-Lit super a month ago after reading some of the comments about it. I keep the used 9v from my smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and clock radios (I change them every new year's day). I have been running around the house with this unit (on high most of the time) and it works great.

The low setting is enough to walk around the house and high is great to light a med room. It's easy to change batteries (snap on and off) and the glowing model works great when you take your glasses off and still want to be able to find the light. I have 10 "used" batteries so I won't need to purchase any. I'm going to see how long these used ones will last.

Sorry for the mispost.

I have one of the Pak-Lites. It's a great little light. I keep it in my BOB. Unfortunately, I agree that it's way over priced. I think their sales would skyrocket if they dropped the price down to $10-$15.

Recently I have become fascinated with Pak-Lites, I agree they are pricey at $25 for most. there is a white LED for $13 (one setting not two) I have spent way too much there the last 2 weeks and continue to appreciate what the folks at Pak-Lite can do. I made my second order when I learned that they can pretty much make any LED color combo and settings! also very nice people who care about their work and product very cool!I originally thought they were WAAAY to much $$ especially compared with the PAL Lites (including optics). I was lured into owning my first Pak lite for $9.95, an economy no frills version. with that "first" light was a color brouchure, that prompted a call to Oregon, and then I was hooked..I use 9 volt batteries elsewhere but I must say I had avoided using them in lights.AA, AAA and CR123 are fine, I just never figured a 9volt. I admit it's not Orb RAW, or Peak CPF Rainer,:naughty: but once you have one of these around, it's easy to find uses for more! a I am looking forward to my blue/green LED combo and white green combo. at about $25 each, I know they aint cheap, but they must be seen to be appreciated. there is alot to be said about the weight 1.4 oz. I dont mind but it does matter in a big way to some folks.
I have owned PAL lights and am hopefully buying some more this week
at $16 each they are less expensive the Pak Lites. The Pal is larger and does have a lense along with 2 settings with strobe. they are both worth owning for many reasons run time,size, etc....
you could get one of each for less than $41...$23.95 Pak lite, $15.95 PAL lite
shipping from separate vendors :thinking: would add some more $$$ to the cost of owning both.

I have a few PALites, they make great toolbox lights,
I also have one next to my bed, used as a night light

tsask said:

I was lured into owning my first Pak lite for $9.95, an economy no frills version. with that "first" light was a color brouchure, that prompted a call to Oregon, and then I was hooked..

Click to expand...

WOW, any chance that price is still available somewhere?

If they sold their basic models for that, indeed it could be "gateway light" into buying more from them!

I'd buy a few at that price - no doubt!

Then there is this piece of garbage.
http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/P...line&category=Flashlights_Gas&product=6119051

Does the StenLight count?

Sigman said:

WOW, any chance that price is still available somewhere?

If they sold their basic models for that, indeed it could be "gateway light" into buying more from them!

I'd buy a few at that price - no doubt!

Click to expand...

eaffiliates or cyberguys has it for $9.95

I use a few. Bought all of them from Cyberguys. They work good. I have a couple in my BOB. I use one as a night light. Great runtime. My oldest kid loves them. Not that bright, but good for reading a well. The glow in the dark feature makes them real handy.

x-treme geek has the basic for 9.95, also the standard model.

That $4.99 light doesn't look too bad but I don't understand why it uses one led instead of the obvious two leds in series.

You can make a light like this yourself with the snap connector pried off of an old 9v battery (or bought at RS for a buck or so), plus two leds and a resistor, and (optionally) an on-off switch (alternative is to just remove the battery for "off"). Total cost about 50 cents plus the battery.

I don't think it's that great a BOB light. No lanyard hole, not that waterproof, not that impact resistant, doesn't share batteries with most other gizmos, and who really needs a gazillion hour light on a bugout? A 1AA light like an Infinity Ultra makes a lot more sense (waterproof, bombproof, has a lanyard hole, doesn't run quite as long as the 9v thing but uses the most common batteries in the world).

If I really wanted a 9v light to use in a pinch, I think I'd go for the ultra cheap home-made version and treat it as disposable. It could have come in handy in the east coast blackout when the hallways of my apt building were pitch dark. That wasn't a problem for me (I had lots of flashlights) but other people had to stumble around in the dark. If I'd had a 50 cent 9v light I might have taped it to the wall to make some illumination in the hallway and just left it there. But no way I'm gonna do that with a $24.95 light or even $9.95.

The pal lights, like other posters mentioned, utilize the 9 volt battery. Back in the late 90's I ordered about 3 or 4 of these and at first I enjoyed them. It only took a month or two before they all stopped working properly. I had an intermittent contact problem of some sort. Eventually I think I found the problem to be one of the posts coming from the battery up through the circuit board to be poorly soldered and that is where my connection problem was. I don't believe I every fixed them as I just lost interest and threw them away.

Just a word of warning here.
If the battery in your 9volt-base light conks out, use a fresh battery, DO NOT take one out of a smoke detector. What's more important? Having light or having safety?? (probably get some sarcastic responses here...)