PCC
Flashlight Enthusiast
I had bought a yellow Tekna Lite 1 back in the day and put it into a survival kit and pretty much forgot about it for a number of years. I dug it out earlier this year and the alkaline AA battery that I had put into it had leaked all over the place, ruining almost all of the metal components and destroying the reflector. All that I'm left with is the outer shell (tube and bezel) as well as the bulb assembly but the negative spring and metal contact that it is attached to is too damaged to salvage. I just ordered a replacement negative spring assembly and an L222 bulb from Tek-tite for this light but now I'm having second thoughts about it. I want to run a lithium cell in it to eliminate the risk of a leaked cell again and something brighter wouldn't be bad, neither.
What would you do with this little light? I pretty much want it to be a survival light to be kept for emergencies or if I find myself stranded in the middle of nowhere so the K.I.S.S. principle applies here.
1) bore it out for a single CR123a battery or keep it intact and use an AA lithium? I don't have any AA lithiums so I would have to buy some but I do have CR123a batteries. Which would provide longer run times and better shelf life?
2) buy a better replacement bulb like the Tek-tite L233? Should I risk the shorter run times of the Luxeon I LED from the brighter LED or just use the L222 with it's dimmer 5mm LED? I can always put the L222 into a different light and get the L233 or keep the L222 as a dimmer spare bulb if it looks like I need the longer run times.
3) any thoughts about putting a reflective coating back onto the plastic reflector? I know that there's a chrome-like paint offered at my local hobby store but I've never tried it and don't know if it'll make a decent reflector or not. I suppose that it's better than the black plastic cone that is there now. How about strips of aluminum foil carefully glued onto the reflector then polished?
Thanks for any insight you can provide to me!
What would you do with this little light? I pretty much want it to be a survival light to be kept for emergencies or if I find myself stranded in the middle of nowhere so the K.I.S.S. principle applies here.
1) bore it out for a single CR123a battery or keep it intact and use an AA lithium? I don't have any AA lithiums so I would have to buy some but I do have CR123a batteries. Which would provide longer run times and better shelf life?
2) buy a better replacement bulb like the Tek-tite L233? Should I risk the shorter run times of the Luxeon I LED from the brighter LED or just use the L222 with it's dimmer 5mm LED? I can always put the L222 into a different light and get the L233 or keep the L222 as a dimmer spare bulb if it looks like I need the longer run times.
3) any thoughts about putting a reflective coating back onto the plastic reflector? I know that there's a chrome-like paint offered at my local hobby store but I've never tried it and don't know if it'll make a decent reflector or not. I suppose that it's better than the black plastic cone that is there now. How about strips of aluminum foil carefully glued onto the reflector then polished?
Thanks for any insight you can provide to me!
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