Third World relief workers seeking suggestions

I know a bunch of dentists who occasionally visit Third World countries to provide free dental care. Usually two people will be working on a patient, one dentist and one assistant that holds the flashlight to illuminate the teeth. They have been using conventional incandescent flashlights and (as you know) there is great room for improvement.

I asked one of them what they needed, and she said:

- brightness is more important than runtime

- she didn't know about regulated flashlights but thinks it would be really useful to have consistent output

- the color should be white instead of amber or yellow

- they are usually unable to recharge batteries, so they just go through disposables... the flashlights they have been using take C or D cells. I am not sure they are able to buy AA or AAA (probably able)

- when they buy a disposable batteries in the Third World, sometimes the vendor tries to sell used batteries as new

- headlamps might be interesting, but the light really has to be pointed at the right tooth, and close enough to be bright

- when the sun sets it ends their ability to work

So on their behalf, I am seeking product suggestions for

1. A bright, white, regulated flashlight. It might be nice to have an indicator that tells them when the regulation period is over a la Opalec's NewBeam

2. A way to test batteries to know whether they are used or new

3. A way to provide area illumination so they are not limited to daylight hours for their work... assume there is no electricity available

4. Perhaps a headlamp... not sure about the utility of this

Thank you in advance for your suggestions -- it's exciting, isn't it, to know that you have a chance now to help people who are desperately in need?

I get through Mexico and Central America quite a bit, At least there AA's and AAA's are very easy to find. I'd say a Fenix LED, maybe the 1 x AAA L0P (probably brighter than what they've used, and much smaller for ease of handling) or if the need more, the L1P with 1 x AA. They could always up to a 2 x AA, but it might be more than they need. Also, they flood of the L0P might be perfect.

My understanding is that AAs and Ds are the most commonly available batteries in less developed areas. The UK4aa eLED light provides a long running, well regulated, fairly bright light from 4AAs. $35 plus shipping from Premier Online Products. The similar looking Streamlight Propolymer Lux 4AA light provides much brighter (maybe too bright), well regulated, less long lasting light from 4AA batteries. $29 plus shipping from Fox International. Fox also has a longer tunning 3C version of the same light for a few dollars more.

Fenix L2T and its cheaper cousin the L2S are very well regulated, bright 2AA lights. $45 and $35 shipped, respectively, from the very highly regarded Fenix Store. The 2AA lights drain more current from AAs than the 4AA lights and so may be less suitable for regular carbon-zinc batteries (in case that's all that can be obtained in rural areas) than the 4AA lights.

The 2AA and 3AA Minimag LEDs seem to have reasonable regulation and OK brightness for up close work, and they are at a good price ($25 or less in stores).

In D cells, there are many 3D cell LED lights which aren't that well regulated (long decay alkaline battery curve), but still will put out a lot of light for a long time (tens of hours). Dorcy 3D 1W LED is an example. 3D cell Maglite LED light seems to be a good value, along with the Maglite LED bulb put in a regular Maglite.

Hats off to the relief workers for their efforts.

I might suggest some of those 5 watt solar panels (the kind sold for keeping car batteries topped off) plus chargers capable of operating off 12VDC. This would give the ability to use rechargeables in case primaries can't be found. In the long run it would likely save a ton of money as well.

Something like this might do it.
6D Corona Destroyer reviewed by The Led Museum

I have one right here, already built and ready to go.

The head is also removable for use as an area light.

As far as battery strength goes, just keep a cheap dc voltmeter handy to test any "new" batteries before buying them.
When you find good ones, they should go 15-24 hours solid at the same brightness before slowly dimming.

The price has changed.
It's Now $100 due to better prices on the parts needed.
I can also do a 5D version that is a little easier to hold, or tailstand.

Or, if one is handy with a soldering iron and has basic electronics know-how, why not build your own? :rock:
All the parts needed can be found here on cpf these days.

Hope this helped some.

Edit:

If the batteries do turn out to be used (less than 1.5 volts each), and bought at a negotiated cheaper price, this light will run ok on those too, as long as they each still have at least 1.0 volts left in each them.
The light needs a grand total of 5+ volts from all 6 batteries to run right.
This light, or one like it is a good way to finish off very cheap used batteries with good brightness and enough runtime to get something done.

I second the suggestion for a solar panel and charger. If your lights see heavy daily usage, you'll probably be better off.

If you have a white ceiling available to bounce photons off, the Dorcy 3W lantern is quite good at this, and has a ridiculous runtime. It'll run on four included D cells with the included adapter, or you can drop in a lantern battery.

It sounds like you'd benefit from a headlight. The Princeton Tec Apex is generally regarded as one of the best ones on the market. It's bright, regulated, runs on 4AAs, and has multiple brightness levels.

Best of luck!

There had been a solar rechargeable AA charger at one point.
Not sure who made it, but it was not too expensive.
This might also work for use with a more nimble 2x, or 3x AA powered light.
No more fuss with finding batteries.

If there is a vehicle, or a good car battery handy, some battery chargers will also charge from a 12-14 volt source.
Again introducing the possibility of a AA based light that can really "get in there".
Both of my Vanson D cell chargers I bought a while back have 12 volt wall wart adaptors. :thinking:
I got those chargers at www.amondotech.com for 29.99 each.
This charger.
Might be worth a try to see if a 12 volt car adaptor works with this very good charger (outdoors!).
It might blow up,
but if not and it works, there ya go! :thumbsup:

Another idea;
If a long enough cord can be found.
Connect a 12 volt mechanics' flouro worklight to a 12 volt source of some kind and bring that inside.
It can be the vehicle itself, or just a 12 volt battery charged by the vehicle, or a solar panel and lugged indoors with the light.
A good marine, or even a good car/truck battery can last 60+ amp hours.
This is a 15 watt flouro at about 50+ hours per charge on a good battery.
Some portable 15 watt flourescents are close to 60+ lumens per watt and are the better part closer to a 60-100 watt household soft white bulb, but whiter. :wow:

I can't think of an off-the-shelf medical light for "field" conditions, but this could easily be built from scratch or modified from an existing light.

I would probably start with a Welch-Allyn lamp, since they are a major medical supplier, and their incandescents and HIDs make beautiful white output.

I would probably run it off of a sealed lead-acid battery... sit the battery on the floor and hand-hold the lightweight part that lights up. The battery could be recharged from almost any source, from AC mains power to solar or a dynamo. Any 12-volt battery would do, such as a car battery, and the runtime would be fabulous even with the high-output lamps.

Or the light-up portion could be mounted in a modified desktop lamp "goose neck" to ease the workload on the assistant, and possibly the dentist, who could be getting fatigued faster from a shaky beam.

Potential problems would be getting replacement W-A lamps, and the weight of a lead-acid battery if this setup has to be upwardly mobile. I think any of the capable DIYers on this site would be willing to build such a light for a song.

The poster is talking about illuminating teeth. Anything brighter than an L1P (such as the Streamlight PP) would probably be way too bright. It looks like they've been using very cheap 2xD type lights, of which a whiter single battery Fenix would probably do the trick and be much more convenient to use. If these are dentists visiting, they could bring a 48 pack of Energizer AA's from Sams (for $15 or so). That would probably last quite a while.

Thanks for all the replies! If anyone has more to add, feel free to keep going

Yes, we are talking about illuminating teeth, either by handheld flashlight or by a headlamp. I am also interested in general area illumination to prolong their work hours past sunset. Perhaps a couple of Super6's... something with a very wide beam or no beam at all...?

I believe (I will doublecheck with her) that anything more complicated isn't going to fly in the field, at least with these particular folks ... partially because set up and tear down is a lot of work in itself.

Here is what I intend to do: I will show her my Princeton Tec Attitude and ask her if the brightness is (1) adequate (2) almost adequate or (3) woefully inadequate for dental work in the field.

If she answers (1) or (2), I will order one Underwater Kinetics 4AA eLED and see if it fits the bill. I like how it provides regulated output for the length of one normal working day.

If (3) I will order one Streamlight ProPolymer Luxeon and see if it is bright enough.

Any ideas about headlamps or general area illumination?

+1 on the Streamlight Propolymer Luxeon.

I had a power-out incident happen while my dentist was working on my teeth. The assistant was able to hold my SL PP Lux AA, allowing the dentist to finish his work. He didn't seem to think it was too bright by any means.

The SL PP Lux AA will run on any kind of AA battery(carbon zinc, alkaline, nicad, nimh, lithium, etc.), is regulated, waterproof(easy to sterilize), and nearly bomb proof.

SL PP Lux AA Review


Good luck. :buddies:

Achoo, I sent you a PM earlier, in case you're interested in more "real world" info from a trained professional.

Princenton Tec Eos headlamp with 17mm IMS reflector

Remember that they will probably be placing the light as close to the tooth being examined as possible, so the head size of the light must be small enough to fit inside the mouth and not clog up the workspace.

vic303 said:

Remember that they will probably be placing the light as close to the tooth being examined as possible, so the head size of the light must be small enough to fit inside the mouth and not clog up the workspace.

Click to expand...

That's what I thought.......

I agree with those who asked if a car was available. Finding out this should be step one. If so, a small inverter would do magic for them. I would recomend a couple (3 or 4) 110 volt 15 watt flouresant yellow bug lights for general room lighting. Rechargable batts should be no problem, as other have said, many types include a 12 volt car plug option...and anyway you can plug into the inverter for 110 charging. Ideling/running/driving the car for 20~40 minutes a day should keep the batt up with such a small load.

As far as what flashlight...don`t know...maybe a Fenix L0P or E1. Maybe they would prefer the brightness of a L2T.

disregard

achoo said:

1. A bright, white, regulated flashlight. It might be nice to have an indicator that tells them when the regulation period is over a la Opalec's NewBeam

Click to expand...

That easy, SureFire A2, white, consistent output beam.

achoo said:

2. A way to test batteries to know whether they are used or new

Click to expand...

ZTS Mini Battery tester

Think of the last time you were at the dentist. They had a big light shining in from behind the dentist's head. I'd think that anything the size of a flashlight being stuck in a person's mouth would narrow the operating field too much. Not exactly a lot of room there, and they obviously didn't do that with a D size flashlight. So, I'm thinking throw will be good, to get a bright spot in the person's mouth from a couple feet away.

:buddies: