Advice as to whether this is a stupid idea!

Is this stupid or not?
I need/want a flashlight that will satisfy a number of uses:
1. Home defence - a 4 cell Mag lite on the skull would hurt!
2. Lighting the picnic table when I'm camping out of the back of my car.
3. Spotlighting wild life at night (in conjunction with my Petzl headlamp for night-time walking).
But, I want to use rechargeables! So, after reading lots of your stuff on the Web I came up with the following:
1. Get a 4 cell Mag-lite (there's my baton!)
2. Put an LED in it for long duration light for outdoor cooking.
3. Switch to a Krypton bulb for spotlighting.
4. Use NiMH rechargeables from RadioShack etc.
Is this going to work? Will the rechargeables be enough for the Krypton bulb? Should I put a 3-cell bulb in the 4-cell rechargeable combo? Is this just too complicated.

Many thanks for your advice. Have a nice day.

Why not a Mag Lite rechargeable?

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"A knifeless man is a lifeless man"
-Nordic proverb

I thought about a Mag-lite Rechargeable. But can you put an LED it it?

If you hop over to the LED board, I bet you'd get an answer post-haste!

My (uneducated) guess is that, if the Mag rechargeables use the same reflector/bulb assembly as their battery-eating cousins, the answer would be in the affirmative. But, since my only foray into the realm of rechargeable "security" lights is a Streamlight SL-20X, I don't know diddly about the innards of a Mag rechargeable.

There, now wasn't that helpful?

The Mag Lite rechargeable uses a bi-pin bulb instead of the common PR bulb in the alkaline versions. It has 5 sub-C nicads which works out to approximately 6V.

You can put an LED in it. But that depends on how much trouble and expense you want to go through. I'll leave the how-to to more expierenced members.

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"A knifeless man is a lifeless man"
-Nordic proverb

You could go with a 4 C or 4 D cell Mag and use a 3 alkaline cell PR2 based LED replacement. The 3 cell alkaline LED replacement should be OK on 4 NiMH cells due to the lower voltage. I don't know for sure what PR based lamp would be the best for 4 NiMH cells.

If you post a message over in the LED area I bet "jbechto" will custom make an LED for you for what ever battery config you want. He custom builds them for all sorts of light, and they aren't to expensive either.

Brock - http://www.uwgb.edu/nevermab/flash.htm

Great idea - one comment - radio shack's NIMH rechargables (even in D size) leave alot to be desired. Sanyo and Panasonic are both making superior cells to the ones ratshack is oem'ing. You can at least double the runtime if you walk away from radioshack products.

hmmwv...interesting info about RS's NiMH batteries. I use their NiCd heavy duty cells in D size; they are rated at 4500 mAh, and they have worked well for 20 years.

However, with the Krytpon Star Rechargeable Lamp, in the highest available amperage (1.7A), the run time is only about 90 min with the 3D and 4D MagLights.

I might consider switching to NiMH when my present NiCd's give up the ghost. Walt

PETER:

Give me a review of your PETZL headlamp.

Which model, cost, brightness, any malfunctions?

I want a Petzl Megabelt Zoom, might get a Pelican headlamp or a Streamlight Topspot 2.

Thanks...........

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Seen any Martians?

This is for NiMH Flasholic:

I have an old Petzl Zoom, bought in Australia years ago. I use it for night-time hiking, climbing, canyoning and Rogaining (12-24 hour navigation events) and so far I haven't had to worry about extreme cold (i.e less than 0 degrees F). I need something that will last 12+ hours so I don't have to change batteries in the dark.

I don't mind having the batteries on my head and may even prefer this to having to deal with a pack, bulky clothes, ropes AND a dangling battery case. But, in deep cold maybe you'd just have to put up with it. Also it is probably going to be easier to change the batteries using a separate battery case as you wouldn't have to take the light/helmet off your head. I thought about trying to hook-up a homemade lead from the head-top battery case to something I could slip into a jacket for real cold weather, but haven't gotten around to this so far.

My old Zoom has never been a problem. It isn't stunningly bright but this may not be a bad thing. Reading maps or climbing steep snow with something really bright on your head could compromise your night vision, simply from reflected glare. I pondered a halogen globe for times when I wanted to do some spotlighting for wildlife but decided to try other options (hence the original topic above). Petzl's (mine included) seem to be very reliable: one night on a canyoning trip a friend of mine lost his Micro in a deep, cold-water slot - we could see it shining way down on the bottom even though we couldn't dive down to retrieve it.

The perfect headlamp might be something with a halogen and a standard (maybe LED) lamp, each with separate appropriate battery sources, which was also fully waterproof. Then you could wander around in the dark all night, retain your night vision when consulting your map, but crank it up when you needed to see what that noise was way out there on the edge of your vision (without compromising the life of your standard light source).

In summary: My old Zoom's a little like my old Chevy - it's is certainly not flash but it seems unstoppable and indestructible!

Have a nice day.

Thanks Peter......I guess you do not have a Halogen bulb that reaches out to 100m? I think the standard PR bulb reaches out to 30m?

You know it's funny that a forum entitled headlamp discussion, has such little users of "headlamps".

Everybody is ga-ga over the LED lights, sure they are interesting, long LED life, long battery life. But I need raw candlepower. I need to reach out and light somebody up.

Anybody have a Pelican or Streamlight Topspot 2 headlamp?

hehehehe

Nimh -

What is your favorite "long range" light right now? I just bought a SL-35x for this purpose and it seems closer to ideal (mag is way to defocused at distances, surefire is way to diffused) - but I'm wondering if you've found a good long distance light without going to say, a lightbox or maxabeam or those pistol grip 6" headlights with 15 minutes of runtime.

I used to have a Petzl Zoom and was replaced by Megabelt. Both of them are very reliable but Megabelt does offer longer burn time and very light on your head.

You might be interested in Switchback Headlamp from Princeton which has a 2 LED array and a dual filament Krypton or Halogen bulb.

Its battery setup is very interesting as well.

Check http://www.karstsports.com/printecswitl.html

Alan

In reply to Peter's original question:

I think you're asking an awful lot of a single light; the various goals seem incompatible. The 4C Maglite form factor doesn't seem like a practical shape for picnic table use -- heavy and awkward to hold, and poorly angled & tending to roll if set on the table. But mainly, having to swap bulbs to interchange between uses seems like a problem, especially if two of those are defense and wildlife spotting. "Next, we gently sautee the scallions and garlic in olive oil and...what was that sound?" Neither two-legged nor four-legged interlopers will wait while you swap out the LED bulb.

It sounds like you really want two flashlights - perhaps complement the Maglite with something like the Eveready flourescent flashlight (though I don't know how well that will perform with rechargables).

Or, duct-tape a Streamlight Syclone to a baseball bat...

hmmwv,

I wish I had a SL-35X, thats what about 450 lumens at 40,000 candlepower? What about the 75,000 (cp) Streamlight Ultra Stinger? I like flood reflectors versus spot reflectors. I also like to be able to "open and close" beams like a Maglite. (type focus)


Right now I want a good "headlamp". I guess my choices are between.....

1) Megabelt zoom by Petzl

2) Pelican headlamp

3) Streamlight Top Spot 2


Megabelt is $50.00, Pelican is $25, Streamlight is $20.00.

It has to be damn bright and rain proof.

I like to work on, "under" and in my cars. I like to work around the house "alot" too. I need my "hands free" with a high power light so I can work freely.


Alan,

I checked out that link, I am interested. Very unique light. Give me details about your Halogen Zooms "brightness". Compare it to a specific hand held light for reference. Is it clean or does it have dark spots? Wide beam or narrow?

Thanks............

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Seen any Martians?

A picnic or camping lantern that I love are the "Coleman" twin fluorescent "tube" lights. You can get them in different sizes, battery capacities and candlepowers. They are thumbs up.

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Seen any Martians?



<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by NiMH on 01-31-2001 at 10:06 PM</font>

...to answer Peter's question, way back, about the Maglights -- the rechargeable Mag uses a (stainless?) steel reflector, not plastic like the non-rechargeables, (and a borosilicate glass lense)..better late than never...

Ted, do you know if those parts are interchangeable with regular MagLites?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by NiMH:


I checked out that link, I am interested. Very unique light. Give me details about your Halogen Zooms "brightness". Compare it to a specific hand held light for reference. Is it clean or does it have dark spots? Wide beam or narrow?

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Seen any Martians?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Petzl Megabelt is not as bright as Mag 3D and light quality in flood and spot is very close to Mag 3D. It's not bad for a headlamp.

You want real bright? How about 20W halogen headlamp runng on 7.0Ah NiMH for more than 2 hrs. Check out http://www.silva.se/outdoor/index.htm

Not impressive yet? How about 10 watt HID (brighter than 20W halogen) on 13.2v 4.0Ah NiMH for 4 hrs. This headlamp is designed for biking with optional headband.
http://www.niterider.com/products/bike/helmethid.htm

Ok, if you don't need that bright (only 15W halogen) for working around your house and love high tech stuff like digital brightness control and also want NiMH, check out http://www.niterider.com/products/bike/dht.htm

Have fun

Alan

Those "Silva" headlamps are really neat. I like the 10 watt model #365 with the 90mm reflector. Shoots out to 150m.

I don't know what a battery cassette is?

What exactly are LR20 size batteries?

The model #478 shoots out to 250m with NiMH batteries. Yikes.

This is a Swedish company are these products available in the States? Prices?

I have seen the Niteriders before, way too expensive, they don't impress me like the "Silva's" do.

The Petzl almost as bright as a Maglite 3D? That's close to 14,000 candle power?