Cold Cathode Lights - what's available?

Cold Cathode Lights - what\'s available?

So I'm wondering what CPF knows about these cold cathode lights. I've played with one or two in the store - they seem very bright and robust - but the only two I've seen are the Coleman mini lantern, and an Energiser??? flashlight with a cold cathode lightsource built into the handle.

Here's what I've found so far:

http://store.yahoo.com/green-mountain-traders/notmth.html

http://store.yahoo.com/safetycentral/noname54.html

http://store.yahoo.com/campingsurvival/miflpola.html

Is there anything else available? I really like the super high efficiency and very clear, even light quality... but these form factors really kinda suck. I'd love to find something small, pocket sized, because the light from these items would be totally ideal for a map light or a work light. Anything else out there?

Re: Cold Cathode Lights - what\'s available?

nothing else out there I have seen other than lights like those and the 3 different eveready CCFL lights, arcwhite, doublebrite, and the trailfinder version. Most of your CCFL mini lights are going to run off of 4AA cells although I wish they would make one with a twister mini CCFL and put it in a lantern. I took a doublebright and ripped the CCFL and the ballast out and put it into a rayovac kids lantern and it is really a nice little lantern now.

Re: Cold Cathode Lights - what\'s available?

There is also the eveready Arc White. You can get them at walmart, prety nice little light and relatively cheap for the light.

Re: Cold Cathode Lights - what\'s available?

I am moving this over to Spotlights/Lanterns/HID it might get more action over there /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Re: Cold Cathode Lights - what\'s available?

If you can put up with the simply awful "user interface" that is the sequential pushbutton mode switch, this one: http://torchreviews.net/nuwaifx602.htm is nicely pocket-sized and the brightness is not bad for its diminutive size. But to turn the tube off then back on again you have to click off and on through the LED and lamp modes too, pushing the button five times in total.

I have another one using a similar CCFL tube bearing the Pifco Evo brand, it used to be avaliable online but their parent company appear to have abandoned their UK online store which is a shame. It is larger and construction isn`t teriffic either, but does have a simple 3-position slide switch to select tube or (fairly useless) 3mm LED.

If you aren`t averse to a little DIY, it is probably fairly easy to modify the Nuwai lamp to bypass the LEDs/lamp so it operates only as a CCFL with on/off switch. I havn`t tried this but it`s a potential solution if the endless pressing of the button to get the mode you want gets on your nerves...


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Re: Cold Cathode Lights - what\'s available?

You may also want to check out these Nuwai Lights
Nuwai CCFL

Re: Cold Cathode Lights - what\'s available?

[ QUOTE ]
Lynx_Arc said:
I wish they would make one with a twister mini CCFL and put it in a lantern.

[/ QUOTE ]

I did this to my Coleman 8D Remote lantern myself. Not a CCFL though, just a sawed off 20W Spiral Lite I had left over after putting the electronic ballast in a fluorscent ultility light.

There were only 2 wires from the inverter/ballast that needed to be hooked up to the CFL to make it light up so I think it may light up CCFL tubes as well. Be careful, 300 volts AC at 120hz or whatever high frequency dosen't feel good!

Shortly after I moded my lantern, Coleman did make a few lanterns with 13 watt Twister CFLs that were based on their 8D Classic series lantern


They were sold through Sams Club for a while. The only difference was the Spiral CFL instead of the U tube.

Re: Cold Cathode Lights - what\'s available?

They still have arcwhite at places like office depot but I think it may have been discontinued. I don't really like the CCFL energizers with the single LED in them as the beam from it is more irritating than useful. What I was thinking is the tiny ~1/8 inch diameter CCFL could possibly by twisted into a mini twister *bulb*, if so then you may be able to get a lot of light in a smaller area.

As for the 8D lanterns they are 12v and if they made 12v twister auto lights it would be easy to mod. A 20-30 watt spiral lantern would be the bomb except in cold weather, That is why I put 4 white LEDs in my mini lantern so it would be useful in the cold also, as the CCFL puts out more than twice the light for twice the current draw.

Re: Cold Cathode Lights - what\'s available?

<font color="purple">...the tiny ~1/8 inch diameter CCFL could possibly by twisted into a mini twister *bulb*...</font>

Like this one?



This is a mains voltage GU10 type reflector flood lamp using a CCFL spiral tube. It`s quite bright, cool 4000K white colour, though definately aimed at decorative uses rather than major lighting. Don`t know how avaliable they are just yet, but assuming a source could be found, you could probably carefully dismantle one and install the tube in place of a regular 6 watt one in a small battery lantern. CCFL seems to be slightly different to regular mini fluorescents regarding drive, but it could work in theory.


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Re: Cold Cathode Lights - what\'s available?

The length of the tube mostly determines the drive current/voltage of it. I assume the one in the picture is considerably longer than the standard CCFL in flashlights so you would probably have to either redesign the ballast or get another one with more output otherwise it will be underdriven. The one problem I could see with a twister CCFL is it would probably be more fragile than the larger ones, perhaps needing slightly thicker glass tubing to prevent breakage if you ever dropped a light with one in it.

Re: Cold Cathode Lights - what\'s available?

If you are looking for a source of ccfl lights, I have seen them at www.bgmicro.com in different colors and lengths.