Need ideas for specialty map reading lights

Here's a real challenge:

I've been running and working road rallies for many years. These are basically events where you follow a set of intructions to drive a route and maintain a preset driving pace. Teams consist of a driver and a navigator. The ones I do are usually run at night, and reading the instructions and especially maps present a unique chalenge. The route instructions ("routes") can be 20 or more pages long and most maps are multi-colored. Since the night vision of both the people in the car needs to be preserved, that limits color and brightness level, but red light does no good to read a map with roads shown in red. Ditto with green and blue.

I have a "reader board" that is a small box with a lucite panel underneath which are three red bulbs. The instructions are taped end to end and rolled up so they can be scrolled across the illuminated surface. This works well but the board runs off the 12v. system in the car, so it's tethered to the car (not good if you need to move around a lot and really not good if the airbags go off) and because it uses bulbs, they can burn out and/or get hot, plus it doesn't work well for maps. Using a head light casts too much light (for instance, an Aurora won't ramp down low enough), too little (Photon clipped to a hat), or too wide a spill (Tikka and the like). They also reflect off the side window and distract the driver.

There are lights that mount to the headliner of the car and throw light over the shoulder of the navigator, but since they have filters (usually red only) and dimmers, they aren't cheap. Plus, since they have to be permanently mounted and use bulbs, they aren't my first choice.

Book lights or page illuminators are too bulky or too hard to change pages on the fly. Flipping back and forth from the bottom of one page to the top of the next happens often.

Maybe a finger light with mulit-color options. The maps have roads marked in red, blue, black, and other information in green. Anyone used a finger-mounted light? How much spill do they have? What are your experiences?

What I want to come up with is a cheap and reliable light source to read the routes and maps. That says to me, LED, of course, but I need something compact and compatible with maps that use multiple colors to indicate various roads. Illuminating from underneath and through the routes is one option and works well. However, maps need to be lit from above since most maps have information on both sides of the page, so I need to light both from above and below.

I need something multi-colored, LED, battery run, and preferably not a head lamp (since my buddy hates them, and I like to drive as often as he does). I'm thinking about building a new, battery operated LED reader board and using a multi-colored LED flashlight that clips to it, but I'm hoping for other suggestions.

I told you this was gonna be a challenge.

There's a Gerber light based on the infinity that would suit you nicely.. I think it's called the Recon...

And there's probably LED replacements for your readerboard. I don't know what kind of bulb you need, if it's a three digit or a four digit, but that's what I'd investigate..

For conventional maps you'll want a dimable white LED like the Photon Freedom, which can go so slow it's usable for astronomy. If you were using military maps, all of which are red light readable, then you could stick with your current red system.

I don't know how large the pages you use are.

If they are not very large, how about a pilot's kneeboard? The general use and requirements seem very similar to your needs.

They now come in many configurations. I still have and use my Telex, issued by the Navy in 1968. I have replaced the leg strap once and the lamps twice.

I guess as a testament to its function and ruggedness, it is still made. and the US military is still using them.

Kneeboard

Mark

Tritium Mapreaders

:wow:

I LIKE that!

Very cool. I was expecting $20, not $200 though..

Unfortunately tritium is expensive, but it will last a loong time.

Thanks for the replies and fast, too!

Not only am I fussy (having done this for years), but the problem is that this has to be small and organized -- the whole setup would ideally be about the size of a legal sized clipboard or a bit larger. An area about of the size of the whole page of instructions (8.5"x11") has to be illuminated. Instructions can come up fast and in a series of quick turns that if missed will get you lost fast. That size, the fact that there are many sheets, and the size of the maps have pretty much ruled out a knee board, although I like that idea a lot because it's so organized. The maps are usually from a DeLorme Atlas & Gazeteer and I'd guess that they are about 16"x10" or so. BTW, they show almost every road in the state that's bigger than a deer path and are fairly accurate, so if you haven't seen one, check them out.

I've used a Photon Flex-Beam system with both Covert and regular lights. The system is great, but the Photons either throw too tight a beam to see the page with the Covert or spread too much with the regular and that bums out the driver's night vision, even with a red one let alone a white Photon.

I've looked at the Recon and if it were smaller it would really solve one problem. I like 'em, but that's why I'm interested in any experience with fingertip lights, especially multi-colored ones.

I'd like to get rid of the automotive bulbs in the reader board since they are not as reliable as LED's and can get hot, but the replacement LED's tend to be too bright. I'm probably looking at building a new board and using multiple switched LED's -- most likely cheaper, more versatile, and easier to build than a dimmer circuit.

The whole idea is to keep everything visible but keep the night vision, too. The entire "office area" to work in is the size of the passenger seat. It's dark and it's moving, and the navigator is usually under stress already. Make things any more complicated and you throw in a touch of motion sickness pretty fast or just make it worse than it already is.

B@rt said:

Unfortunately tritium is expensive, but it will last a loong time.

Click to expand...

In less than ten years it will probably be too dim to use, depending on when and how it was manufactured.

10 years is a long time, and that's only to half-decay, IIRC, so it's not like it shuts off, IIRC

Maybe I should read more closely. Ok, here I am making disparaging comments about a product to an administrator who's trying to sell it. What a dumbass..lmfao

I'll just crawl away now.. hehe

Would one of the infinately adjustable Rigelsys lights work? They are in the stated price range.

Good suggestion! I really, really like the Rigelsys lights and the fact that they are dimmable. They'd make a great maplight for obvious reasons. I've considered them for a while. I like finding information on the web, but it is always good to hear from people who have used the lights.

The situation really calls for two lights; the light for reading maps and the reader board for the routes. What I really want to do is redesign and update the reader board. That's a small box with a light source inside. There is a top panel that is translucent. The box is deep enough to hold the lights inside and to be tall enough to hold the rolled up instructions (20 pages or more). On both ends are PVC pipes of small diameter that serve to hold and wind up the 8.5"x11" pages of the route instructions. The pages are taped to each other, the bottom of one page taped to the top of the next. You wind up the pages on the bottom roller so as you wind the top roller, you advace the pages. This lets you see the pages since they are lit from below.

The real trick is to have enough illumination from below so that you can read the instructions, but not so much that it interferes with your night vision and also low enough that it does not reflect off of the side windows or windshield. This is a lot harder than you would think. The Stevens Reader Board I have now that was made from the 1960's through the 1990's has the right amount of light, but uses automotive bulbs. The bulbs not only get warm but are nowhere near as reliable as LED's would be. Replacement LED's tend to be too bright and dimmer circuits are more complicated than I think would be worth it. Also, the board uses a cord to attach to the 12v. power of the car. That can get tangled, plus there are times it helps to be able to move the box around and even use it outside the car if working a checkpoint.

So, I'm thinkng of building a board similar to the one I have but using a battery powered LED source that is either low level or already dimmable. To start with, I'm toying with using something like a few Glo-toobs to light it up, or a few Rigelsys lights so I could get the dimmer function. The trick with those is to be able to turn on and adjust the lights from the outside of the box and to do so in tight quarters while the car is moving.

Most other lights for map reading are on goosenecks and either mounted on top of a reader board, a clipboard, or on the headliner above and behind the passenger side of the car. Nearly everyone who has used one of these lights has burned their fingers on the bulb at one time or another. The ones with dimmers and red filters cost $40 and up. Do you wonder why I want to look at LED's? The Rigelsys lights would be ideal if they could mount on a gooseneck, and I'll look at how to make that happen if I get one. As I said before, I'm also looking at fingertip LED lights that military pilots have used.

Trying to keep the whole setup simple and practical is the real trick, so any information on the use of lights that would fill the bill is greatly appreciated. Compact, easy to use lights are the things I'm looking for.

I didn't mean to give the impression that I have a Rigel light, but like you, I've been interested in them for quite a while.

They have a new series called Mini-lights that are smaller and cost less with roughly the same functionality as the originals. In fact, there is a Group Buy for CPFers going on right now at:

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=106129

Hello Chmsam,

You might also consider the A2 with yellow green LED's.

To insure against ruining your night vision, I would suggest removing the incandescent lamp and carrying it separately.

The yellow green color distorts the colors on a map, but you can still make out the information, at least I could on the maps I was checking out.

The A2 with yellow green is quite a bit dimmer than the other colors. I measured about 8 lux at 1 meter.

Tom

Even the A2 is bigger than I want to use, but I like the light for other things. There are already enough things bouincing around, so small is beautiful. I'm looking at the Rigelsys mini's or finger lights for the maps.