Beating a Dead Horse/LED reading light for blind

cobb

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Messages
2,957
Thanks for any help anyone can give and sorry if this is the wrong forum or I am beating a dead horse.

Ok, I am legally blind, I see enough to get around, but I can not see well enough to read signs, small print, labels or license plates of cars. The bluish tint of white leds make the dots and dashes that make up words and sentences in most books and other printed material readable to me.

Right now I use a v2 6 chip at work for reading tech sheets for industrial equipment as a cold caller and either a dorcy 1aaa light or my cabelas 5 watt xpg on low to read my mail or college books. I like the cabelas cause of the square beam, but I like the bluish tint of the dorcy and v2 way more.

I got a 3 watt drop in from bog that is an led and its a bit too bright and concentrated to use to read unless you hold it 7 feet away from the book or attach it to the celling. THe cabelas xpg is a but too pale to use and the heat it generated concerns me to use 8 hours a day. I have seen folks make led lamps and some in ads, but I am not that experience in soldering and want to get a good universal light.

My two recent ideas for my lighting needs for a paper work desk job to work 8 hours a day was either an led head lamp or the mag5 thing, you know the 6 d cell mag light that uses 6 5 watt leds for a flood output that has no regards to battery life.

I use to wear a head lamp a few years ago in my apartment to read. I had one from the ccrane company that used a 2 led bulb and the energizer model. Its ok for indoors, but not that bright.

Thanks for any help here. I discover I over paid my rent and will not have to pay it for a few months, so I get to spend some money on a quality product. I dont mind the price, its ok of it uses batteries or not. That would be great in emergencies, but i would rig up a wall wart to power it full time, 8 hours a day. I can make a mount or arm, that is no problem.

THanks
 

The_LED_Museum

*Retired*
Joined
Aug 12, 2000
Messages
19,414
Location
Federal Way WA. USA
[ QUOTE ]
cobb said:
you know the 6 d cell mag light that uses 6 5 watt leds for a flood output that has no regards to battery life.


[/ QUOTE ]
The company Inretech has something called the Mega 6 that might be what you're looking for. It has six Luxeon V emitters in a 6-D cell Mag Lite body.
 

cheapo

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
3,326
Maybe a surefire L1. It would be good for reading on low.

-David
 

Free

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 25, 2001
Messages
612
Location
Arizona
Re: Beating a Dead Horse/LED reading light for bli

You might want to check out the lights from FoxFury . They have a low vision model that I have, that is specifically designed for those with visual impairments. I have Retinitis Pigmentosa, so I am loosing my vision gradually.
 

ACMarina

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 10, 2004
Messages
3,119
Location
Brookston, IN
Re: Beating a Dead Horse/LED reading light for bli

Would one of the led 110v bulbs help? I have one in my desk lamp, primarily just to say that I use LED lighting in my house, and I find the light output is just about perfect, not too bright but enough to read and see. My uncle can "See" it clearly, and he's also legally blind, seeing mostly the difference between light and shadow. He can see shapes under this light that he can't see with some other bulbs. .
 

pbarrette

Enlightened
Joined
May 5, 2004
Messages
346
Location
Huntsville, AL
Re: Beating a Dead Horse/LED reading light for bli

Hi cobb,

If it's a square beam that you're after, perhaps you could get something made with 1 to 3 lambertian LuxI's and no optics. The highdome Luxeon is notorious for having a square beam when no lens or reflector is used.

Also with no optics it tends to give more flood. A decent headlamp could probably be made using 2 luxeons running at lower power.

pb
 

cobb

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Messages
2,957
Re: Beating a Dead Horse/LED reading light for bli

Thanks.

I have a 110 volt 19 led light from the ccrane company. It works well for reading, but the beam is rather concentrated to a spot than flood. I use to use that at a job and left it on all day rather i needed it or not. I just moved the reading material around to see what I needed to. I see they do make other led bulbs, than maynot be a bad idea for the future if they have more flood than spot lights.

Yes, the mega6 is what I was referring to. I have not seen one in person, but reading your review it sounds like it maybe up my alley for a wide bright flood or led light. I am just concerned about running it 8 hours a day as I thought 5 watt leds have a limited life span and are prone to over heating. I wont mind rigging up a muffin fan and or heat sinks and wall wart to power it. Just hate to have it services or replace it every 12 weeks.

foxfury, man what an unfriendly homepage to one who uses larger fonts in windows to view the web. I did manage to find the products page and see the lights. Kind of a neat thing. Which one would you recommend? Looks like a good way to read having the leds spread out across your forehead or a great halloween outfit.

The bare led is an idea too. I know my cabelas xpg without the lens produces a wide flood of light. Just concerned about run time and heat. I can take care of heat, but if the 5 watt led will only run 500 hours, using it 8 hours a day would cause me to have to continue to replace the bulb every 12 weeks or so.

Guess i need to rethink how i will use the light? At the job I use my pocket light I have for data sheets on the walls of my cube, catalogs, cheat sheets and other flyers. I use the flashlight to scan the ones on the cube walls for more detailed info and use the catalog and loose leaf ones for general info. At the other job I have no walls to speak of to stick things to as the desk is circular and not square. I just have a binder and use the pocket light for it. I thinkfor job 2 the head light would work better and job 1, maybe the mega 6 mounted to a flex shaft hanging down from a cube wall.
 

whiskypapa3

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 6, 2002
Messages
475
Location
Western Maryland
I have a similar problem, not legally blind yet but past "just annoying" and getting slowly worse. A couple of years ago I posted my 4 lux task light here but the pictures don't come up any more. I salvaged these from my files;


Task02.jpg


Task01.jpg


Task04.jpg


The four LEDs are thermal epoxied to a small heat sink and driven with a power puck driven by a surplus 12V 1A switcher. The stalk is a section of LocLink flex hose and the base is a Dollar Store stainless bowl. has worked well but I am getting to the point I need more. On to the next step, eight LEDs driven at 500ma each. Got the heatsink (needs sawing) and all other parts, just need time to do it.

Good Luck;

WP3
 

FoxFury

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Messages
131
Location
vista, ca
Hi Cobb

Sorry for your difficulty in navigating our homepage (www.foxfury.com). We are aware of the problem and will have a remodeled website available in the first week of July.

This new site will much easier to read and navigate. It will also contain more information. Lastly, we have several new products that we will be unveiling very soon. Two will be available the first week of August.

I will keep CPFers notified in the Maunfacturers section as info becomes available.
 

Icebreak

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 14, 2002
Messages
4,998
Location
by the river
whiskypapa3 -

I remember that light. Still love it. I still wish you could develope a partnership with a manufacturer, offer the lamp and become very wealthy.

Cobb -

I would be interested in what effect a blue 5mm LED and more so, a blue 1W LED has on your ability to read fine print text. I'm thinking that a one or two them in an array populated by mostly by white leds could be helpful. InReTech or ElektroLumens would most likely do this for you.

I've opened a thread in the LED forum about light frequency and vision correction.

----------

- Jeff
 

litho123

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 13, 2003
Messages
654
Location
Chicago Suburbia, IL
http://www.infinitec.org/totalresource/visual/readingmaterials.htm

is one good resource for starters. I'm not sure if the cctv equipment would work for you, but it's worth checking into. My wife has one (video magnifier) at her desk by a company no longer in business.

The only way to see if this equipment will work for you is to take the equipment for a "test drive." Most companies will let you try them out free of charge for a week or two.

Some other things that have been helpful:

Take the Surefire F04 Beamshaper and use it on the Nuwai Q3. Or the F04 will work on a MJLED minimag light as well.

By contacting organizations for the blind, you will find a wealth of information and tools available to assist you.
 

cobb

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Messages
2,957
whiskypapa3, that sounds and looks like what I am looking for. Something to lite a page in an office. I just dont trust myself wiriing up 8 3 watt led lights and powering them without frying em. I understand the puck regulators are expensive and can only power 2 led modules at once. I would say this is the winner.

FoxFury, your product looks neat, but I do have a concern with wearing it while using a computer. Can you still see the computer screen? If you needed a tester, I wouldnt mind testing it or paying the shipping to do so. I notice a few models existed and it wasnt clear what the difference were between them other than the price. Was one brigher than the others, different colored, leds, etc.

Icebreak, I wondered about a blue led, but am unable to find one locally at a walmart or cheap online. If you have one or a cheap website, etc I wouldnt mind paying for shipping to try it or buy one if its cheap enough. I just cant part with 19.95 and then shipping for one of those blue microphoton lights.

litho123, I had planned on visiting some of those places to see what they had on display, but never got around to it. I do have and use a few and have made a few video magnifiers, but with the led light I am looking for, them cctvs are not necessary. Some of you may laugh at me using a light in a store to shop during business hours or use a flashlight to read in an office, but I swear the bluish color of the led light makes the dots an dashes that make up the information in most books or printed material turn into words and sentences for me.

Thanks for the suggestions and help.
 

ernsanada

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 29, 2004
Messages
2,962
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dedhorse.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 

FoxFury

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Messages
131
Location
vista, ca
Hi Cobb

A few of our customers use the FoxFury for computer use. They say that they can see the computer screen.
Please check your PM regarding testing our product.

The differences among our Signature Series lights are due to making the lights optimized (Photopic lighting) for the given environment. Therefore, different color LEDs are utilized. Our Scuba and Fire units are meant to withstand the rigorous environmental challenges.
 
Top