Doug S
Flashlight Enthusiast
I recently modded a Dorcy 1AAA LED light by installing a 1W luxeon as described in the post here:
Dorcy 1AAA luxeon mod
My primary interest in portable lighting is for use in cave exploration which has been a lifelong interest of mine. I liked the resulting Dorcy mod so much that it became my "last ditch" third source of light mounted on my helmet. This past Saturday I put it to the test to see if it was actually sufficient for traversing a passage of moderate difficulty. Here was the scenario. With a group of friends I entered a cave that was previously unknown to me. Since various members of the group had different agenda, we soon split up with the result that I toured the cave solo, not encountering the others until my return to the entrance chamber. Using my usual [very bright] primary light I toured several hours of moderately complex cave. At that point I intersected a passage that I have previously traversed and was at that point about 45 minutes from the entrance. I decided to put the modded Dorcy to the test and use only it to traverse the route to the entrance. From this point to the entrance, passage dimension ranged from 40'X40' passage down to belly crawls. While not particularly complex, some route finding was required. Result? I sucessfully used only the Dorcy though I had to move at a somewhat slower speed due to the reduced lighting. I lost only a couple of minutes in light related route finding errors. Conclusion, the modded Dorcy is adequate for my intended application of "last ditch" backup.
Dorcy 1AAA luxeon mod
My primary interest in portable lighting is for use in cave exploration which has been a lifelong interest of mine. I liked the resulting Dorcy mod so much that it became my "last ditch" third source of light mounted on my helmet. This past Saturday I put it to the test to see if it was actually sufficient for traversing a passage of moderate difficulty. Here was the scenario. With a group of friends I entered a cave that was previously unknown to me. Since various members of the group had different agenda, we soon split up with the result that I toured the cave solo, not encountering the others until my return to the entrance chamber. Using my usual [very bright] primary light I toured several hours of moderately complex cave. At that point I intersected a passage that I have previously traversed and was at that point about 45 minutes from the entrance. I decided to put the modded Dorcy to the test and use only it to traverse the route to the entrance. From this point to the entrance, passage dimension ranged from 40'X40' passage down to belly crawls. While not particularly complex, some route finding was required. Result? I sucessfully used only the Dorcy though I had to move at a somewhat slower speed due to the reduced lighting. I lost only a couple of minutes in light related route finding errors. Conclusion, the modded Dorcy is adequate for my intended application of "last ditch" backup.
