Challenge Week #1: Incandescent Only! (2021 edition)

[nbp]

So far I have stayed true. Mostly. I went to help Dad with something on one of his classic cars this evening and he had out his 18650 powered Milwaukee Tool magnetic task lights. So I did use that under the car. But it wasn’t my light and he was the one that turned them on so I think I’m okay. I’ll let you boys be the judges. [emoji6]

[AstroTurf]

Guilty!!!

Shame, Shame, Shame!!!

[Katherine Alicia]

I’ll let you boys be the judges. [emoji6]

You should have included Girls too I would probably have forgiven you. But now....

Off with his head!!!

[bykfixer]

One day my dad said "here, hold my beer". Now it was up to me if I had beer breath after that NBP. No judgement from this guy……

So last evening I went to take a photo of some various types of light bulbs and needed some fill lighting. Ordinarily that would be accomplished with one of a variety of LED lights with various type of beams and outputs. Being it's incan week those were stashed away and only my E2E was available within arms reach. It reminded me of a photography challenge Shutter Bug did one time where you walk around a city block with one fixed lens. You adapt to the situation at hand.

The idea began as taking a photo of the bulbs inside 3 D sized lights with lens and reflector still on them. Now with a floody LED that would be easy. Disperse light evenly across all three. Yet with the thrower bulb in the E, the task at hand was not do-abale without adding a diffuser. But that reduced total light to a point where all three were not bright enough for a noise free photo from my iPhone. Oh, I could get out the SLR, take pic, move pic from camera to laptop, convert in laptop to make iPhone friendly and ten minutes later post on the web. And ten years ago that's what I would have done. And ten years ago I would have used a minimag for fill light.

Instead I took lens and reflector off the lights and covered the E with a water bottle cap. Take photo, post on share site and done. One minute process without getting up from my sofa.


Here was the attempt that just wouldn't work


Here was the result that clearly showed the three types of bulbs.

I do enjoy my incandecent flashlights but the LED option can sure be pretty handy at times.

[bykfixer]

How's everybody doing so far?
It's Wednesday and I'll still LED free.

[nbp]

You should have included Girls too I would probably have forgiven you. But now....

Off with his head!!!

Aw nuts. Well since I have been comdemned I guess it’s time to go back to LED.

I have been sticking to incan, but I’m not gonna lie, I do miss a couple of my fav LED lights. I’m also not accustomed only using one light all day every day. I have a lot of lights for different things, so it’s taking a bit to get used to using one light, and a single mode light at that!

[jabe1]

Not a problem to stick to it although I have found my solitaire on in my pocket twice.😑

[novice]

The Lightsaver Miser tailcaps on my E-series incans are making it so easy. 3 fast clicks, because 25% takes care of it 95% of the time. The fact that I have several Surefire E-series incans makes me feel rather spoiled. If all I had was a 4-D maglite and a much sinpler something else, it would be a different story. I do find myself nervously topping of the 2x16340 primary light every evening. And I am not used to the bezel getting that warm, that fast. But the warm tint, at either 100%, 50%, or 25% is very nice.

[Katherine Alicia]

Aw nuts. Well since I have been comdemned I guess it’s time to go back to LED.

I have been sticking to incan, but I’m not gonna lie

Actually just continue anyway, using that LED light comes under section 2 in the rules, or at least it reads that way to me, even though it wasn`t for your "Job" it was certainly your Duty to help which is more important really.

How's everybody doing so far?
It's Wednesday and I'll still LED free.

Great here, and I haven`t even been tempted to use a LED, I`m kinda missing my led lights but not because of the LED in them, but I just like holding them. I`m also looking forwards to doing some more modding again that I`v put off doing this week. I realy want to hear how others are getting on with this challenge too and hear their stories and adventures.

[Katherine Alicia]

@Bykfixer here`s a Halogen for your collection
this one`s a 2.5v 1A PR type that I bought last week.

[bykfixer]

Flashlight porn. Nude bulb pix. We gotta stop meeting like this. lol


Pelican 3854 hi bulb
Check out the vivacious filament on that one. Hear the roar of the Pelican

By the way, fill lighting was provided by an incandecent solitaire.

Yesterday I fired up the incan Streamlight KeyMate and PocketMate but decided they should go back to being display lights. The KeyMate when it first arrived had so much alkaline waste inside I thought it took a 4a battery or an N cell. I asked Streamlight who responded "uh, we never made a KeyMate with a lightbulb". (My response was from the movie Pulp Fiction "yes you did Brett, yes…you…did!"…… you know the part where Samuel Jackson turns over the table and shouts "say what again", "they speak English in what?" lol)
Anyway I got it going but my gosh those things are fragile. Not one of Streamlights better products. But the knucklehead incan……that's a goody there.


Streamlight knucklehead incan
One of early Streamlights better ideas yet as rare as an honest politician these days. 2aa twisty tail switch, PR-2 bulb, it was actually a pretty sweet little flashlight.

[Katherine Alicia]

Phwoaar! that`s a big... filament

I had to laugh a few mins ago, my new Seraph P60 arrived today with a 3.7v lamp module, so i`m in the bedroom trying this out and comparing it to my 7.4v doing the ceiling bounce thing (as you do), then my partner walks in... "Those had better not be LEDs!" LOL

[bykfixer]

Very cool!!

How do you like the Seraph? Nice light for the money in my view. Some say the tailcap button puts up too much of a fight. I see their point but it's ok to me.

[Katherine Alicia]

yup, I agree with them, it`s quite hard for me to click it especially with long nails, you have to be dead center and I really dislike the orange plastic cover (reminds me of the cheapo zoomies that sell for as many as you can carry for a dollar), but it`s good that it has momentary! and what I think is called "forward clicky"? I`m sure I`ll be able to mod the other switch stuff given Time though
it has a crenelated bezel which makes the beam pattern look exactly like a flower, which I think is super cute! and i`m also happy that it will take the 3.7v 150lm lamp head without burning out the switch, I have a Molicel P26a in there right now and everything seems fine. the documents said it`s a 3A rated switch which is quite nice (just a bit less than a maglite really).
Oh and they sent me some stickers as well which is always a good thing, they`ll go on my Marshall Amp a bit later along with the others
I have a dozen more lamp modules coming from Kaidomain as well, along with my G4 adaptor project, so I`m pretty much all set as far as P60 stuff goes.
I also ordered a couple more WF-502B lights as well, it`s good to have spares and they were as cheap as the lamp modules themselves so I figured why not.

I`m still waiting for the "Challenge" part LOL

[bykfixer]

Close call this evening but I caught myself before the slip up. Habits.

I went to hang a letter on the mailbox outside of my house and the clip I use was not on the box. Now for some 10+ years I've been using that small blue potato chip bag style clip to fasten stuff to the mailbox. My ocd does not allow me to use the backup red clip. Oh no, that would mean no more backup.

My instinct was to reach inside the door and pluck the flashlight hanging on a keychain rack beside the door by a wrist lanyard. (Fred Flinstone voice) "Hold it, hoooooold it!" That's an LED light. Yikes, that was close.
Phew! I ducked back in the house and grabbed a triple a minimag incan. Found the clip was holding up a 4" x 8" flag near the mailbox and I had forgotten about that.

Oh and the red clip that is supposed to be inside the mailbox was not where it was supposed to be so I ducked back in the house and grabbed a clear magnetized one from my fridge, set it inside the mailbox and am now hoping the ocd voices don't hassle me all night regarding the missing red one.

[nbp]

I need to reread the old Incan Challenge. I suspect this was easier when emitters were crappier and incan light was a beautiful change. It sure is nice, but with an arsenal of Nichia powered lights with great tint and color rendition I guess I’m not missing much using my LEDs these days. I like my little E1 build a lot, but I find I am really missing some lights, like my HDS Rotaries and my slate blue Quark. Well all of my fancy lights, I guess, but those have been getting a lot of use lately. Also I’ve had some tequila and am trying to resist the urge to fondle some lovely LEDs. Lol

[Stress_Test]

Phwoaar! that`s a big... filament

I had to laugh a few mins ago, my new Seraph P60 arrived today with a 3.7v lamp module, so i`m in the bedroom trying this out and comparing it to my 7.4v doing the ceiling bounce thing (as you do), then my partner walks in... "Those had better not be LEDs!" LOL

Relationship Goals!!

Not much to report on my end, since work has been keeping me kinda busy this week. I did spend the evening hours yesterday and today trying to kludge together some kind of low-power incan solution for middle-of-the-night bathroom trips. I thought a stock P60 lamp driven by a single Li-ion would be low enough, but that was still more light than I wanted when rolling out of bed.

So out of small random piles of scattered Maglite stuff and stray bulbs I was trying to put together a 2-cell light with a basic non-halogen PR bulb that came from heaven-knows where, since that was the only 2-cell bulb I had.

Unfortunately some of the main parts needed like springs and bulb collars had been either lost or mangled beyond hope in past misguided tomfoolery.

I realize I could purchase a few items to get setup again but I'm stubbornly trying to avoid buying more "stuff" since I've already got too much "stuff" laying around anyway.

The only good news from all this was that I FINALLY found the 3-cell Krypton bulb that had been in my oldest Mag. I put that bulb in the 4-cell Mag and now it looks MUCH better.

I think I'd better skip the ROP attempt, 'cause the way I'm going it's likely I'd accidentally burn the place down!

[Katherine Alicia]

Yup, it seems easy to go bigger and brighter (my new P60s have taught me that), but I can see how going Lower could be an issue.
I`v found that dropping a 1.2v bulb into a 2AA light with a dummy cell makes a super acceptable low lumen output light, and it`s just as easy to use the same light with a 3.7v bulb and put a 14500 in there to get a bit higher output than a 2AA, so 3 different settings with a single host! something for everybody really

[tech25]

How's everybody doing so far?

As of Wednesday I was good. I have been using a minimag and Surefire E2e. I absolutely love the tint of the surefire on new batteries (is it around 4K?) Not lacking anything for daily use. the diffuser on the E2e makes it two in one and Dc-fix on the mini mag cleans up the beam beautifully. so I have a low task light and a stronger flood light with the ability to reach out. Almost all actual usage has been with those two. I have to get a p91 for my 6p to really make a difference between that and my e2e.

In the 90's, I used to EDC a mini mag but had I had the E2e as well, I would have been set- street lights were dimmer or burnt out and light pollution wasn't a bother.

Some background for my lapse, my kids (much to my S/O dismay) love playing with flashlights. I keep track when they use my favorites and/or more powerful ones. on Thursday, one of them got my HDS NLT with Hogo special- very low, low and my ZL H600fc. I had to lower the high mode on the ZL and I clicked the HDS to turn it off but realized it was off and I turned it on... go easy on me please!

[Katherine Alicia]

Section 1. b & c should cover you IMO.

[bigburly912]

Had to use my phone today to look in the back of a circuit breaker for a sticker about the size of a quarter that is wedged in behind around 200 wires. No way to get a flashlight in there. Had to take a picture of it. I wanted to be able to make it the whole week with no LED under any circumstance whatsoever. Wish there was a better way to describe it haha.

[tech25]

Section 1. b & c should cover you IMO.

Good save! I felt a bit guilty when I realized I turned my HDS on.

This challenge reaffirmed my enjoyment for simple or intuitive lights. Now I want to get a clicky and rotary HDS with the Samsung emitter in 4K. Along with a P91, and a.... this is dangerous!

[id30209]

My god, last time somebody mentioned incan week i was just hotwire...but i was working.
Dang, now i’m at home, enjoying days off and only thing i’ve used is 2 maybe 3 times little Solitaire for night WC runs.
Interesting...


Sent from Tapatalk

[bykfixer]

Glad everyone has been largely successful in what may have been the most challenging one yet for some.
Little by little the mighty LED has gone from an addition to the light bulb to the replacement of the light bulb. Therefore folks have become acustomed to LED lights and now the light bulb'd flashlight has become a novelty to many. All around the home is LED, LED, LED so it's pretty easy to slip up. Hell even great grandpa text messages and uses LED flashlights these days.

I "LED proofed" my life the day before the challenge began so I kinda had a leg up, but even then last evening I reached for an LED light once, out of habit. In 24 hours my week will be done and to be honest I'll probably use my aviatEr with the light bulb from now on.

[Katherine Alicia]

I didn`t really have to alter much at all for this challenge, Yes I have LED lights all around the house, but my natural preference in the winter is to carry an Incan light anyway, so there wasn`t really any temptation there. I have missed my little Manker E02 EDC light that I carry clipped on everywhere I go and I have gone to go `lighthouse mode` a few times (especially when my hands are full) but my little buddy wasn`t there
I`v also found myself wishing I had a small incan light with a clip (perhaps single AAA or AA) that I could replace my E02 with but it`s probably not possible.

Going forwards I find myself thinking of all possible Light challenges that could come up next and hoping that I`ll be able to take part in those also because it adds an extra dimension to the sometimes monotonous day.
Perhaps we go further back in time, from incandescent to incendiary only candles and kerosene lamps etc... I`ll be there with my can of hairspray and a Bic lighter "Check out my new Thrower!"

[bykfixer]

The only right angle AA light I know of is a 2 cell version of the old TL-122/MX991 flashlight used by soldiers……

Now if you go back in time far enough one by DayLo was a tiny little 2c number carried by some soldiers late in WW1. Of course it's way bigger than your E02 but I bet you'd find restoring one of those to be a fun project. Especially since you only use rechargeable batteries. It uses the E10 screw in bulb and a fisheye lens so you can tailor it to a pure flood with the bulb you pick or make it throwey by picking a #222/224 bulb that has a magifier tip.

Or the JustRite aviator from WW2 is a 2x AA that can become a red light by flipping a lever that places a red lens over the bulb. Both use the pocket clip as a sliding on/off switch.

[Katherine Alicia]

it`s funny because that fisheye light at the top looks like 19`th century Victorian tech and much older than the green one, I`d be happy to give that top light a home
I`ll keep looking on eBay, I`v had some lovely lights from there before it`s just a question of being patient really and keeping some powder dry in case one comes up.

[bykfixer]

One of the things I like about an incan flashlight is the end user serviceable aspect. In 2021 that is not for many but to a tinkerer a finicky flashlight can be a fun thing. When the aa minimag I bought in the early 90's refused to light this week I just simply dismissed it and brought out another one I picked up on clearance a few years back. But this morning my curiosity got me trying to get it going.

A few years ago I tried swapping in a nite ize LED into the old girl at 2am in a dark pickup truck while board at work. Never having done such a thing it ended up with a broken on/off switch. That little part that clearly says do not remove…… well when you remove it "boing" a little spring flys out along with an important little metal thing I never did find. Member Poppy's dad had given him a minimag to try to save from maglite krypton, the alkaline battery. Poppy had gone at it with a saws-all to no avial so he sent me the switch, which had not been killed by the alkaline paste. I installed it in old #91 and for the longest time it worked just fine.

This morning I figured out something had slipped out of joint in the switch and like a dislocated shoulder, I just popped it back into place and all was right again……that was after discovering one of the two batteries inside the light was empty. The other eneloop read near full yet one had become depleted enough to not allow the light to fire up at all. Weird. But that old pewter color (now called gray) minimag travelled with me for years, never once being slimed by a leaking battery or blown bulb. And old faithful is back to working at 100% again today. So instead of going back onto the retired shelf I'll keep it in the rotation and perhaps one day I'll actually use the spare bulb still in the tailcap.

[bykfixer]

it`s funny because that fisheye light at the top looks like 19`th century Victorian tech and much older than the green one, I`d be happy to give that top light a home
I`ll keep looking on eBay, I`v had some lovely lights from there before it`s just a question of being patient really and keeping some powder dry in case one comes up.

The daylo came in officer and enlisted version. Officer was a nickel plated body. Enlisted was a really dark, almost black painted body. DayLo was a weird gimmick tried by EverReady (still 2 words at the time) where they did a contest to come up with a different name than the term flashlight. Now Conrad Hubert spent millions out of his own pocket, (which back then would be like billions today) trying to get the world to stop calling them flashlights (or torches overseas). And as you can see today it failed.

EverReady never received any contracts to supply flashlights to troops in the war to end all wars. As part of his quest to change the term he donated a few thousand of these lights to the boys for his part in the war effort. They were actually pretty nice little flashlights for the period. I lucked up and found a pair being sold together for (if I recall correct) about $35 at eBay. Neither worked but I got both going and use a #222 in the dark one and a #14 in the silver one. In stock form they aren't very bright at all, but both of mine have a very high resistance (like 15+ ohms) so with enough polishing inside parts they could probably burn a lot brighter.


EverReady still two words during their DayGlo period


The officer and enlisted versions

Fill light via BiC lighter. lol

Maybe I'll have one up and running at 100% by the next incan callenge.

[Katherine Alicia]

Yup, still like the darker one best, I`m glad you pointed out there is a difference between the 2 ways Ever Ready is spelled, I`m used to both but it could make a difference when searching online. here`s the Old way:



next to it in red (if you can make it out) is one of my lights made by BEREC (British Ever Ready Electrical Company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britis...trical_Company
they`re long gone now and the anagram name has been taken over by; Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (berec)