Brighter than the mini mag and small??

I have been away from this site for awhile and the last time and what got me started here was I was looking for a small bright light. The size of a mini mag but brighter and not eat up batteries. At the time there just wasn't anything really out there. Has anything new come along? Jeff

Yea!

Go to Craigs site for lots of reviews:
http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/

Lambda Illuminator and Ill Pill and other stuff:
http://home.mchsi.com/~lambda/lambda3.htm

Another drop in 2AA replacement:
http://www.inretech.com/

MadMax and Brightboy drop in:
http://home.attbi.com/~theledguy/hobby/flashlight_modifications.htm

ARC LS
http://store.yahoo.com/flashlight/

Elektrolumens
http://www.elektrolumens.com/

Brinkmann Legend LX, available for under 20 bucks at most Wal-marts - really nice incadecent light! Uses 2 123 Lithium batteries.

Mr. bulk's mod:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=000458

That should keep you busy for a while!

There's always the old standby Arc AAA...

Saaby, Jeff asked for something the same size as a MiniMag and brighter. The Arc AAA doesn't satisfy either requirement.

A little shorter...a little fatter...a fair amount brighter...the Underwater Kinetics 2L. Uses 2 123 lithiums for about 3 hours of burn time. If you want something just a little bigger than the minimag (it's oval rather than round) and it uses 4 AAs (in 2 groups side by side) and is a little bigger around in the head...the Underwater Kinetics Q40 (or 4AA). Uses the same lamp as the 2L.

Cheers,

Richard

Has anybody done the measurement to measure the actual light output?

Yesterday I finally found a solar panel in my kid's toy box. I hooked it up to a multi-meter (micro-amp).

Lambda Illuminator :- Half scale at the meter
MiniMag with Nextar bulb :- Completely pegged the meter even when not in focus :-(

This came as a complete shock to me.

- Vikas

I'm lookin at Craig's site. His measurements for LI and E2 are almost similar! All min, max and average readings for Lambda Illuminator and SureFire E2 are very close to each other.

Am I reading those charts wrong??

Thanks,
- Vikas

http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/e2-2.htm
http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/lambda2.htm

If you don't need the exact size and shape of the mini-mag, you might look at the Princeton Tec Rage light. With 4xAAA batteries, it's considerably shorter and thinner than the mini-mag and only slightly wider. Completely waterproof and rugged as heck, it's also much much brighter and has a better beam shape than the mini-mag. Battery life will probably about the same as the standard mini-mag.

Personally, I'd shy away from the Lithium 123 battery options: the batteries are ungodly expensive and don't last that long. They are, however, really really bright.

Note on solar cells -- the material used in any particular cell may respond best to a narrow range of wavelengths. Any light source that is also narrow in range may or may not match the solar cell. An incandescent source is much more spread out across the visible (and heat) spectrum.

Originally posted by hank:
Note on solar cells -- the material used in any particular cell may respond best to a narrow range of wavelengths.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Not true. Solar cell spectral response ranges from UV to IR. "Peak" is broad and in the IR. What it actually measures is quite different from light [what the human eye responds to].

Originally posted by hank:
Depends! a solar cell from a toy -- as was used for the comparison above -- may well be a selenium cell.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Highly unlikely. You are correct, however, that selenium based photovoltaic cells exist. It is true that selenium based photovoltaic cells have a narrower sensitivity peak and that it is in the visable.

Originally posted by hank:
not as broadly sensitive as, say, CdS photocells.
.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">CdS photovoltaic cells do not exist to my knowledge. CdS photocells are photoconductive sensors, i.e., their resistance changes in response to radiation.

Jeff- I was looking for the same light. The E2e is FAR brighter, approx same size. But it does eat more expensive batts and at a faster rate than the minimag.

So I recommend the opalec newbeam. It gets the most use of all my lights.

I found this at http://www.nrel.gov/ncpv/pdfs/solarcellspectral.pdf



Notice that most of the cells tested seem to favor the longer wavelengths, i.e IR energy.
That PDF file has lots of good info on photovoltaics.

e-

Originally posted by battman:
So I recommend the opalec newbeam. It gets the most use of all my lights.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I use my Olapec Newbeam almost daily also, and it is also one of my favorites, but it is not nearly as bright as a Legend LX or any of the LS lights.

For up close work, or walking around the house at midnight, the newbeam is great, but it would not be my light of choice on a dark road, miles from anywhere.

Now it might be ONE of the lights I would like, with a 10-12 hour run time, it would be a nice backup light, but I would rather have a 3AA LS or the Streamlight 4AA 7LED light, and a Legend LX with extra batteries.

Check out the Inova X5T. It's a little thicker, but a lot brighter.

Paul

Depends! a solar cell from a toy -- as was used for the comparison above -- may well be a selenium cell, not as broadly sensitive as, say, CdS photocells.

But aside from that, agreed! Sensitivity peaking in the infrared means the photocell is going to "see" an incandescent bulb as "brighter" than a white LED, as was described above. It's hotter, but is it usefully brighter?

To compare the useful visible light brightness of an incandescent with a LED will take more than an unknown type of photocell from a child's toy.