Why you need a flashlight in your car (revisited for the hundredth time)

I saw a great example of why your cell phone light is not an all-purpose lighting solution tonight.

We were on our way home from the gathering of the cousins at our Christmas perogie-making bee (about 900, a new personal best record). We were about 45 minutes drive from home when we noticed a motorist standing by the road next to a stalled car. She was way too close to the road - admittedly, not very busy in a November weekend night, but that's exactly when drivers are least cautious, too. We noticed our other cousins ( that we'd been following for the last half hour) had turned around to investigate - someone else has also stopped just past the stalled car.

We phoned our investigating cousin and found that the motorist had a bad radiator and a bad battery - so, no flashing 4-way hazard lights. Luckily her cell was charged and she had already contacted a ride home, so we went on our way. Couldn't see the light on the phone she was waving until our headlamps were already lighting up her stalled car!

But it did remind me that if anything major goes wrong with the electrics on my car, I have no backup red flashing light other than the Eveready headlamp I keep in the glove box. I have plenty of white lights with me ( I wasn't planning any outdoor or nighttime activity at the cousins so I only had 4 lights on my person and the usual 3 in the car, as well as my wife's light). I've never bought a set of those electric LED "flares" , mostly because I always thought they looked feeble under glare of store lights - but maybe I should get a set, they'd stand out quite well along a darkened country highway.

Oh, and the H2R Nova headlamp was the perfect assistant for loading our share of perogies into the car...the cousin has yard lights, but they don't reach to where we were parked and to the depths of the trunk. I think the Nova will be riding in my parka pocket all winter.

Bill

Couldn't agree more! I build flashlights for people as a weekend thing. If you ever need a custom built light. Let me know

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

LOL... I'll post for the hundreth time what I keep in a vinyl bag attached to my ash tray.
A week or two ago, my son stopped by for the day, and at night he walked to the bus stop in the dark. I asked if he wanted a flashlight, and umbrella. He said no, I have my cell phone. In the ten minutes that he was waiting for the bus, he got pretty wet, and using his cell phone to flag down the bus, the driver overshot him by a few hundred feet.

IMO, a light with a diffuser is an essential piece of equipment in a car.

.

Re: Why you need a flashlight in your car revisited for the hundredth time

Sannfes- I deleted your post. I realize you're new here, but this is a flashlight forum, not an outlet for political or social issues. Please be cognizant of that going forward.

Poppy said:

LOL... I'll post for the hundreth time what I keep in a vinyl bag attached to my ash tray...

Click to expand...

But it never gets old!

Two other reasons for a flashlight (or three) in your car are:
Repairs often require you to get into the engine and other areas of the car that could find you dropping even damaging an expensive cell phone using it as a flashlight.
I have 3 lights in my truck and after a few years I checked them and none of them worked. 2 of them were victims of alkaleaks and were repaired while the third one has lithium AAs and didn't work I found out after a few minutes one of the contacts was a little corroded not because of the batteries though and now all 3 work again. So even having more than 1 light in a car doesn't guarantee it will work and even having lithium batteries don't guarantee it will work either but rather removes alkaleak problems. I have a habit of taking a light with me when I go somewhere that I already know may not have light and EDC 2 lights on me and have had one of them not working do to it accidentally being turned on in a pocket. The flashlight on a phone can help in a lot of circumstances but in some cases the floody nature of it makes it not greatly useful.

I carry a flashlight in my car so that on the rare occasion I did not bring my EDC (like a quick jaunt to a gas station at 2 in the afternoon)…… the OCD voices contantly reminding me I'm not carrying can be responded to with "shut up there's 3 in the car dawg gonnit".

And sometimes they're even handy at 2pm.

That voice in my head when when I don't have a light on me is bizarre.
I think I feel more naked then, than if I'd left my pants behind. American or English pants will both do.
P

Looking under seats, checking the engine or fuse box under the hood, looking at something outside of your car in the dark if you are driving at night.

Also always keep the batteries (if alkaline) outside of the light so as to avoid killing the light when they inevitably leak. I've lost too many lights to alkaleaks.

A headlamp is in the dash, and at least two lights on my person. But reading this thread persuades me I need another in the dash to loan or give out, and one in the trunk to back up the headlamp, all lithium-battery based.

I rarely go anywhere these days besides work but there is one light that is always in my car, alongside whatever I am carrying on my person but this has gotten me to thinking about warning lights...especially since I recently almost hit a vehicle that flipped and came to a stop in front of me on the freeway...I pulled over to see if they needed assistance and was almost hit myself by traffic behind me. Fortunately I had my Olight M2T on me as I got out but I did wish for something I could put on the ground or on the overturned honda to warn approaching traffic.

Surprisingly the driver crawled out seemingly unharmed, stood on the side of the exchange ramp with no problems. A good amber or yellow flasher that had a magnet to mount on the car would be nice. Time to start looking around.

My EDC is always on me. My wife also has an EDC that I put on her car keychain. This is the time of year when I can leave a light while parked and not worry about heat damage.

My car serves two purposes:

The car is the thing on the road
That takes me back to my abode.

And: The car is the thing that houses the lights that I purchased before I discovered real performance flashlights, when I was searching for such, hence my car carries my Coleman Ctac60 and Rayz 1000 Lumen 9 x AA. What to do with lights that I purchased before I discovered the Four Sevens MMU-X3? Toss them in the car!

My car lights bring back my paleo-newb memories.

I do not work for this company, and I receive no commission for mentioning their products, but this company's product is what I carry in both my vehicles. http://www.powerflare.com/products/ You may think they don't do much in daylight, and I'll freely admit they work better after dark, but when you put them on the ground or on top of your vehicle and turn them on, you WILL get noticed. I have literally lost track of the number of times I've had first responders compliment me on having and using these around the scene of a traffic hazard (accident, broken-down vehicle... whatever). It's not dozens or anything, but I truly have lost count.

I also have a Whelen Beacon (that they don't even sell any more) in amber, with magnet mounts and a lighter adapter in one vehicle, a mini LED light bar (also amber) in the back window of one vehicle, and a magnet-mount and lighter-adapter strobe. That's in addition to multiple flashlights (with traffic wands) in each vehicle, as well as DOT reflective vests. Since I live in the desert, I have removed all my magnesium flares.

I need my 3D mag to keep the hood open as the hydraulic arms are shot. Wedge it in there good and no more getting clunked in the back of the head checking fluids.

Every glove box should have a Lil' Larry with a set of Lithium AA's in it.

Flashing red to warn oncoming traffic of dangers, two brightness modes plus magnetic tail that will happily stick to the fender and illuminate a wheel change!

:thumbsup:

The lithium batteries in my lights never seem to last long being stored in the car. I assume that the heat and cold is draining them. That's why I keep flares and chem lights stashed in the car.

Flares (magnesium flares) are a bad idea for where I live (in a desert)... too much fire danger. I store PowerFlares and spare batteries in my vehicles, as well as flashlights with lithium batteries, and have had no issues with self-discharge on the batteries. I did this when I lived in a colder climate, too, and also had no issues (although I also had the flares back then). I'm not sure what is causing the drain of cells in your case.

I agree with Cyclops. I top off my LiIon cells that are kept in the car a couple of times a year, the same for the NiMH cells. I keep the lithium AA cells as back-ups. I haven't tested them, maybe they would fail. I suspect however that your flashlight may have a drain (memory?) and the drain is pulling down your cells. You might try screwing out the tail cap (lockout) a few turns and see if that makes a difference.

If there is anyone here that needs convincing of this somehow then they probably will never understand anyway?