Help me pick LED lantern/flashlight

I'm about to move into a van for the next two years. (Lot's of fun travelling) For a number of reasons, I do not want to install a deep cycle battery and regular lighting. I'm going to try and get by with D cell flourecent lights and an LED flashlight or lantern for back up.

I already have a CMG Bonfire Tent Lantern with three yellow LEDs. I'm looking for a white light and also something a little brighter. A flashlight that I can hang would be fine as long as it's short enough to hang from the ceiling of the van. I guess I'd also like the beam to be fairly wide so that its more of an area light.

AA batteries, if side by side, would allow the light to be short enough to hang from a 4 foot ceiling. C or D cells would work too as long as there were only two of them. More than this and the light becomes too long to hang.

What's out there that might work for me? Any ideas?

Thanks,

Scott

You could trey the Holly Solar "Pilot 3" which is a 3AA light (not side by side so might be a little long for you?) but has 3 wide angle 50 degree white leds which would be great to light a wider area when hung up from its tail (has a lanyard attachment loop moulded in which would work well to hang it from). See its Punishment Zone review for the full lowdown and a link to the manufacturer`s site...

<center> http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/pilot.htm </center>

Try taking a "Taplight" and replacing the PR base lamp with a LED from Ledcorp
http://ledcorp.com/bulb_99-4.html

This LED will emit light in all directions and last a really long time on 4 AA's. It is also easy to use, just push the front in and it goes on, do it again and it is off. I would imagine it would be brighter than a Bonfire and it is white in color. I would say the Taplight itself is maybe 2 inches high and about6 inches in diameter. I haven't found a place on line that sells them yet.

Brock

"jbechto", another board member, often sells Taplights on Ebay that are already converted to white LED, for about $8-ish. Not the LEDcorp ones inside but still pretty good light output from what I`ve seen. I think he also offers a custom service so you could have one with more than 1 LED fitted if you want more light.

What about an LED headlamp? There are at least three or four different headlamps available.

This would solve my depth problem. They use AA batteries and those batteries are perpendicular to the led assembly. I could mount it on the ceiling and it would only hang down a few inches.

The copy that went with two of the headlamps I found described them as "centerwieghted". Surely I could find a way to diffuse the light that wouldn't gobble up too much of it. Any ideas?

Also, is it safe to assume that a 4 led lite driven by 3 AA batteries is going to be brighter than a 3 led light driven by 2 AA batteries?

Anyone know anything about led headlamps? Suggestions?

What about the Eternalite? It looks short enough. Is it bright enough to use as an area lite in a van? Would I need to diffuse it?

Thanks,

Scott

FWIW: I have both the Princeton Tec Matrix LED headlight and the Pretzl Tikka. The Tikka is by far, much brighter than the matrix. The matrix has 3 white LEDs but its output is not only less than a single LED photon microlight, but about equal to the single LED Infinity Task Light by CMG, which is too dim for area lighting. The Pretzl Tikka is blazing compared to the Matrix. Locally the Matrix is $40 USD, and the Tikka is only $33 USD. So if either of these two lights are under your consideration, I would strongly reccommend the Tikka over the Matrix.

My $0.02
Ed

Scott,
"jbechto" sold me a 2 LED Taplight that works pretty darn
well, and seems to run a loooong
time on even the new Nimh AA 1650maH cells.
This light is somewhat nicer than the "TV" ones, in that it
even has a "pullstring" for on/off (in addition to the lens push on/off)-they both work well
You can get even two different lens options..-No, folks, I don't work for John!..
Lastly, may I suggest the Eveready Arcwhite (HIGHLY efficient and brilliant White)-[4xAA batts]
fluorescent/incand.spot combo.
You can even hang this one from
the ceiling too...

travelinglightman

Hmm... how about wiring sets of three in series (whites or maybe some colors) to run off the van battery. You could place them through out the van. This would cost very little and would free to run (cool too).You could have a set of blue, green, turquois. For red and yellow you would need to wire the in sets of four. Put in some switches to change between colors or run them all. This way you could have mood lighting haha...ok..ok...I like the tap light idea. Just my one cent

Check out the post by Ritch " my first LED project" to see how series wired LED`s work. I know there are a few drawdacks but still. Super simple.

Does anyone have an e-mail address for jbechto? The tap light suggestion looks promising. (But so do a lot of the other suggestions.)

Scott

contact John @:
[email protected]

Hey, have you ever considered using Electrolumenescent ribbon? You can get them in any length and are cost effective. You can tie them directly into your cars 12 volt battery. You can buy them at www.tantrumco.com however it's under some reconstrustion now. But you can e-mail about the products there.