I'm in the SureFire True Stories page :)

On a whim, a few months ago, I sent SureFire my "True Story", I figued it'd be boring and unworthy of inclusion compared to all the life-and-death stories, but was surprised to see it there;

"iFlashlight?
This story doesn't contain any life-threatening situations or hidden danger, thankfully. I'm an Apple-authorized repair technician, and I use my SureFires, an E1L Outdoorsman and an A2 Aviator® daily.

The most novel use I've found for my Aviator is to trans-illuminate dark LCD displays to check for backlighting problems. When an LCD-based Mac has backlighting problems, the screen may look completely black, but there's actually an image on the display; it's just not visible, due to the malfunctioning backlighting tubes. By firing up the incandescent bulb of my Aviator and holding it against the front of the display, I can bounce the light off the back of the reflector panel and make out a dim but visible screen image. If there's a visible image, then it's a backlighting problem, typically an easy fix. If the screen remains dark, it's a bad screen. Only SureFire incandescents seem to have the necessary muscle to trans-illuminate LCD screens. And, for whatever reason, LED light is absorbed more readily by the LCD screen, so they don't work for the task.

My SureFires make my job as an Apple repair tech much easier, and many of my customers have remarked on how bright my "little lights" are and asked where they can get one of their own. I always give them a short and sweet answer: "Surefire.com, that's where."

Russ W.
York, ME"

Hello Russ,

Great application and a great story...

Tom

Awesome!

I especially like the part about incans having "muscle".

Glad to hear you made it. That true stories page was the only reason I wish I'd get attacked by an elk or mountain lion, but it's good to know that you get recognition for using your lights day-in day-out as intended. So what are you going to do with the gift certificate?

I've been able to do the same thing you do with significantly less powerful LED flashlights.
You don't need to see what's on the screen, just that there's something. That does not require lots of light.

True enough, any powerful flashlight can trans-illuminate, but the place I work at has bright flourescent overheads that can't be independently shut off, there's the front of the store lights (where the service area is) and the back of the store upstairs lights, I need a light that can overpower the ambient light, and the only ones that really work well are the Aviator and my P61'ed G2

as far as the gift certificate goes, I haven't recieved anything yet, maybe my story didn't merit "front page" exposure, still, i'm just glad to have "made my mark" on the SureFire page

Congratulations, MacTech. I'm also jealous....I just knew that that swell story I sent in about a year ago involving a skunk and me and my L4 would make it, but no dice.

Seriously, good for you, and I'm glad a CPFer is getting the prize!

That's really cool! I liked that a non-Rambo use won the prize this time..lol.

Hey, did you win some kind of prize or get a flashlight or something?

I have no idea, I haven't heard anything from SureFire about any "prize", no e-mails alerting me I've won a gift certificate or anything, I may have to give them a ring tomorrow to see if I have won anything, if I won the $100 credit, I'll most likely get either a E2L or Cree L1

have the flickering issues with the L1 Cree been resolved?

You know, I had always assumed that if SF printed your story, you won a $100 gift certificate. Reading the SF website a little more closely, it looks like your story also has to be selected as the "monthly True Stories winner", so who knows. But good luck and hope you end up with the G.C.

BTW, I like your taste in SFs---an L1 and an E2l would be tops on my list as well.

that is great, while were on the subject, and you dissasemble these thing. what is to stop a Laptop LCD display from Frilling working outside?

i have this idea that if they would flip the back down, to reveal a diffusion pannel that is now exposed to the sun, then the LCD pannel could be lighted enough to SEE out doors.
the SUN hits the diffusion, the drop down back pannel could reflect light back to it, and wala you can see the thing outdoors (finally).
then you can run with lots less power too, not needing the internal light.
would it work?

i tried to install a reflective pannel behind one 5" display to try and get a back reflection a Game boy type of TRF display, but it didnt work good enough.

I mean like WTF good is a Portable/mobile computer that wont work when your away from a power source ??? who makes this stuff anyways :laughing:

It could be the polarizers in the display blocking the light, an LCD display is actually mostly backlight components....

the last part of the display is the reflector/diffuser panel, that scatters and randomizes light from the illumination system
then in the next layer, you have flourescent (or LED, like on the new MacBook 15" models) backlighting hardware that is fed into a plastic light-diverter sheet
the next layer is generally 2-3 polarizer sheets
and another diffusion layer

the actual LCD panel is then laid on top of all the other components, the LCD panel itself is about the thickness of a penny
the final layer is a plastic safety film bonded to the top glass layer of the LCD

Basically it's like this (but much, much thinner);
|LCD panel| |diffuser| \Polarizer\ /Polarizer/|diffuser| |Light-pipe| |reflector|

Yes, I've taken apart quite a few cracked LCD panels, just for fun

so what would happen if the sun (instead of the florecent) hits the back diffusion? FROM the back where the light starts.
would the display be bright enough to see outside

Thats pretty cool. I got on there a year ago and won an E1L. Give them a call or e-mail them. Thats what I did and ended up getting the $100 certificate.

I had my story posted. It's the one about the Spanish fishermen in "Hitting the road with Surefire" section. You have to be selected for the monthly winner for the $100. That is what Surefire told me at the time.

Nice story!

I just remembered another daily use of my A2, I should have included it, as it's a somewhat amusing use

Whenever I make coffee (fresh-ground Tanzanian Peaberry, usually), I use the A2's incan beam to test the "done-ness" of the coffee....

when I hold the A2 up to the side of my French Press, and the beam only extends halfway into the coffee in the press, it's ready to be poured

Russ:
Great story & thanks for posting.

MacTech said:

I just remembered another daily use of my A2, I should have included it, as it's a somewhat amusing use

Whenever I make coffee (fresh-ground Tanzanian Peaberry, usually), I use the A2's incan beam to test the "done-ness" of the coffee....

when I hold the A2 up to the side of my French Press, and the beam only extends halfway into the coffee in the press, it's ready to be poured

Click to expand...

This is a true flashaholic story!

Congrats MacTech and kelmo. Nice stories. Thanks for sharing. Hope you guys are winning the $100.

AFAustin said:

Congratulations, MacTech. I'm also jealous....I just knew that that swell story I sent in about a year ago involving a skunk and me and my L4 would make it, but no dice.

Click to expand...

I'd love to hear your story. I'm sure others would too!

Monocrom said:

I'd love to hear your story. I'm sure others would too!

Click to expand...

You are kind, but it probably wasn't much of a thriller---just a little ditty about the L4 putting out enough of a good flood surrounding me that I was able to spot the little black and white rascal pulling up to my right, just in time for me to quickly distract my dog (the Pointer in my avatar) to go in the other direction, and (thankfully) avoid a week's worth of tomato juice baths. :eeew: