Would an EMP wipe out the circuit board in a programmable LED light?

Well, there's been a lot of talk about EMP's (electro magnetic pulses) lately. Tomorrow (Tuesday, June 15, 10PM) on National Geographic Explorer there is a show entitled "Electronic Armageddon". I have my DVR set to record it. Everything I have seen or read so far portrays an EMP as a very serious threat indeed.

Now my question - would an EMP wipe out a circuit board in a programmable LED flashlight? It won't do much good to think you're well prepared for the worst by having a dozen awesome flashlights, but then an EMP renders them all useless! :sick2:

So - would an EMP wipe out a circuit board in a programmable LED flashlights?

-

Re: Would an EMP wipe out our programmable LED lights?

Chevy-SS said:

Well, there's been a lot of talk about EMP's (electro magnetic pulses) lately.
-

Click to expand...

and here as well. for the love of god, use the search function for at LEAST a dozen other threads beating this dead horse into horseburger.

Re: Would an EMP wipe out our programmable LED lights?

I haven't thought of this before... I guess it depends on how torches save their programming? I guess memory would be wiped out, but modes etc, might be different.

Re: Would an EMP wipe out our programmable LED lights?


WHooooooooooooooooooo I think we've been here a few times before.

Re: Would an EMP wipe out our programmable LED lights?

~
Would it kill the protection circuit on our protected batteries too ?

And all our chargers ?


Are the CPF servers wrapped in tinfoil to protect them ? :tinfoil:
~

Re: Would an EMP wipe out our programmable LED lights?

Ragiska said:

horseburger

Click to expand...

mmm ... horseburger ... <drool> ...

Edit: C'mon, guys, lighten up. Using the CPF 'search' for the keywords 'EMP LED' only returned 66 pages/threads (and only 65 if this one isn't included). :thinking:

Re: Would an EMP wipe out our programmable LED lights?

My lights and batteries would all be safe as I keep them in insulated containers within a well grounded aluminum Zero Halliburton case. Bring it on.

Re: Would an EMP wipe out our programmable LED lights?

Some exciting and promising new research into this matter has found that a strong EMP has a significant effect on the Chip Weevils that cause so much damage in modern LEDs. The EMP renders the weevils infertile, and further deterioration of the LED is halted.

Re: Would an EMP wipe out our programmable LED lights?

Kestrel said:

mmm ... horseburger ... <drool> ...

Edit: C'mon, guys, lighten up. Using the CPF 'search' for the keywords 'EMP LED' only returned 66 pages/threads (and only 65 if this one isn't included). :thinking:

Click to expand...

Hey man, I DID use the search. Here's what I found using the search terms "emp led". Notice the part where it says "Sorry - no matches"....................




And since when does one need a tinfoil hat to discuss something like an EMP? jeez

-

Re: Would an EMP wipe out our programmable LED lights?

No chance of my new jetbeam ST BVC being wiped, I keep it stashed under my foil lined Armadillo hat..............

and no way my incans are hurt in any way. Still, the majority of my lights are incans. Indeed, I might have to cut the protection off of the batteries, but then... I'll have light

Timmo.

Re: Would an EMP wipe out our programmable LED lights?

Chevy-SS said:

Hey man, I DID use the search. Here's what I found using the search terms "emp led". Notice the part where it says "Sorry - no matches"....................

And since when does one need a tinfoil hat to discuss something like an EMP? jeez

-

Click to expand...

cpf search can't use 3-letter words. the CPF google search yields TONS. perhaps you should review the stick of how to search cpf.

it is a lot easyer and faster to find anything on cpf google, than open new thread.
it took me .2 sec.

Re: Would an EMP wipe out our programmable LED lights?

DM51 said:

Some exciting and promising new research into this matter has found that a strong EMP has a significant effect on the Chip Weevils that cause so much damage in modern LEDs. The EMP renders the weevils infertile, and further deterioration of the LED is halted.

Click to expand...

i am such a nerd... i actually bought this lol....:laughing:

Try searching "faraday cage".

most of your non direct drive led lights will be fried. boost and buck drivers will suffer I believe.

jabe1 said:

Try searching "faraday cage".

Click to expand...

I hate to feed the fire, but no flashlight is a faraday cage (for EM waves smaller than half a centimeter) because they have holes in them. The smug incandescent crowd has a filament (it may just glow, or it may burn out), while the LED folk have an exposed phosphor, bond wires, and so on. All flashlights have a hole for the light source to shine into the reflector. Given a very strong EMP, these small holes would be significant...but someone wouldn't need such an EMP to do significant damage.

On the other hand, there is no field inside a closed conductor, and many flashlights look an awful lot like that. Moreso for things like the Twisty, where the emitter is the only thing exposed, and the driver is protected by a thick, metallic heat sink.

Also, there's issues with radiation effectively coupling to the short conductors involved in flashlights.

Hey, anyone know if aluminum oxynitride is conductive?

AnAppleSnail said:

I hate to feed the fire, but no flashlight is a faraday cage (for EM waves smaller than half a centimeter) because they have holes in them. The smug incandescent crowd has a filament (it may just glow, or it may burn out), while the LED folk have an exposed phosphor, bond wires, and so on. All flashlights have a hole for the light source to shine into the reflector. Given a very strong EMP, these small holes would be significant...but someone wouldn't need such an EMP to do significant damage.

Click to expand...

Like stated earlier, it depends on the incident angle of the pulse on the light, if the light is aimed at an angle where the window and the plastic components of the tailcap have minimal cross sections to the angle of the pulse you wouldn't expect much damage if any to the internals. Now if the cross section was maximized it would likely be devastating, though if you look at a lot of SF products, they have a LOT of aluminum and metal surrounding the circuitry by design, likely minimal if any damage would occur.

A single EMP is a very changing entity, it's not uniform at all, lots of variables and inconsistencies. Saying for sure it would do one thing or another is relatively impossible at this time. Like stated earlier, there is a lot of uncertainty with energy in the form of EMPs.

Chrontius said:

Hey, anyone know if aluminum oxynitride is conductive?

Click to expand...

I would doubt it is, though I'm not sure, it's a relatively new concoction.

SF sells a flip down beam cover, problem solved, it's a metallic plate which covers the entire front of the light, bring on the EMP's.