Embarassing moment with Inova X5

My colleagues at work have come to regard my flashlight obsession with amused tolerance, and even occasional interest when I boast of CPF's growing importance and influence.

The other day a bunch of us were sitting around listening to "Scuba Paul" relate some recent night diving adventures. I mentioned that some day LED's will be bright enough to be primary or at least strong back up dive lights. He wasn't sure what I meant by "LED's", so I said "light emitting diodes" which he recognized as "indicator lights". I tried to describe how bright they were getting, and one guy hauled out a partly depleted Photon which didn't impress Paul in the least, so I unholstered my black Inova X5 and said "watch this". They watched.…and watched.…and watched....... NO #%$!@^!! LIGHT!!! I tried everything and it just didn't work. It was a moment of pure unadulterated humiliation! (I'm exaggerating a little for dramatic effect). Remarks such as "And you're the flashlight expert????" and "You want to borrow my Maglite?" filled the air as I slunk away with my tailight between my legs. I couldn't wait to get home and post an "Inova Alert".

I got on line and was about to post when a mental light bulb went off. I opened the light up one more time and looked carefully. My beautiful and (usually) highly intelligent girlfriend had been playing with the Inova, had removed the batteries and reinstalled them in the "normal" but incorrect way, with the positive end pointing toward the lamp, and even though I had inspected it the first time I somehow had failed to notice it.

TMALSS (to make a long story short) the next day at work I demonstrated the now functional Inova to some politely uninterested colleagues and felt very un-vindicated until I showed it once again to "Scuba Paul" who became genuinely interested to the point that I thought he might be a potential convert and CPF member. He said he wasn't ready to go "That Far" yet and I let it drop.

Brightnorm

Brightnorm, Halarious! Thought about becoming a writer?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by carl:
Brightnorm, Halarious! Thought about becoming a writer?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

carl,

Thanks, but what would I write about? I am impressed by writers who can conjure characters and plot out of thin air and create novels, or those who assemble historical biographies or write succinct and readable articles for magazines and newspapers.

Maybe in another life...

Brightnorm

This just goes to show that some of the best writing is non-fiction! Too funny!

I actually had a similar experience with an Arc AAA. My daughter had taken it apart and totally removed the battery. When I next went to grab the thing to impress an unsuspecting LED-ignorantee, I screwed and screwed and screwed the head down until it was tight to the body. No light. Sheesh. You REALLY feel stupid staring into the unlit end of your own light, don't you?

Never have found that battery... And it was new too!

I wondered why the batteries are put in the wrong way.

Moving to LEDs...

Al

I had a similar problem with the BT1 when I first installed its battery. One of the 4 AAA cells was in backwards, and when the torch was powered up, I initially got a dissappointing glow from the Nichia. I knew that the LED was much brighter than that. I ripped the poor torch apart and measured the current...about 1 mA! I then proceeded to rip its resistor asasembly (in heatshrink for insulation) to measure the resistance, and got around 99.5 ohms. The resistor was ok. It wasn't until I reassembed the torch that I realised my mistake. Luckily the 1mA reverse current didn't do any damage to the cell (I have seen cells explode spectacularly when reverse current is passed through them) and the torch, which had been ok all along worked fine once the cell was replaced the right way around. I then had to re-insulate the resistor assembly! Fortunately on that occasion, the only person that knew about it was me, but I thought it worth sharing....we all make silly mistakes... including confirmed torchaholics!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by brightnorm:
My beautiful and (usually) highly intelligent girlfriend had been playing with the Inova, had removed the batteries and reinstalled them in the "normal" but incorrect way, with the positive end pointing toward the lamp<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ah, a victim of domestic espionage!
The saboteur should be punished most harshly, and made to realize how much effort is involved in maintaining a "cool-guy" persona.
This could take years to recover from

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Owen:

Originally posted by brightnorm:
[qb]My beautiful and (usually) highly intelligent girlfriend had been playing with the Inova, had removed the batteries and reinstalled them in the "normal" but incorrect way, with the positive end pointing toward the lamp

Click to expand...

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ah, a victim of domestic espionage!
The saboteur should be punished most harshly, and made to realize how much effort is involved in maintaining a "cool-guy" persona.
This could take years to recover from

[/QB]

Click to expand...

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She has been punished. However, to reveal the nature of her punishment would not be appropriate for the eyes or civilized sensibilities of CPF members.

Brightnorm

Did you give her the comfy chair or the soft cushions??

YC