LED Torches & Maglites

BigD · #1 (**permalink**) 21-10-2009, 12:21

The dark nights are drawing in, and as it is dark when I get up and dark when I get home, it seems like a suitable time to throw some light on the subject of torches.

I have a chunky maglite (3A battery size, normal bulb), but it seems that there are many new compact products like a "lenser" on the market that pack LEDs instead of normal bulbs. Are these any good for illuminating pathways, car boots etc ? Do the batteries last longer than an equivelant "normal" torch ?

My experience with a flashing LED front bike lamp has not been encouraging...

BigD

Enikoy · #2 (**permalink**) 21-10-2009, 19:12

Us MTBers have been going nuts for these lights for night riding in the forest. Sure not exactly what you are after but the supplier has a range of torches at bargain prices and free postage from HK.

https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25149

Dingbat · #3 (**permalink**) 21-10-2009, 22:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigD

The dark nights are drawing in, and as it is dark when I get up and dark when I get home, it seems like a suitable time to throw some light on the subject of torches.

I have a chunky maglite (3A battery size, normal bulb), but it seems that there are many new compact products like a "lenser" on the market that pack LEDs instead of normal bulbs. Are these any good for illuminating pathways, car boots etc ? Do the batteries last longer than an equivelant "normal" torch ?

My experience with a flashing LED front bike lamp has not been encouraging...

BigD

one of our people has built a lamp using LED's that uses batteries normally discarded as being "flat", it runs down to something like 0.7V

BigD · #4 (**permalink**) 22-10-2009, 07:46

It's possible to manage the luminance wrt battery decay with some smart electronics. I don't know how many of the commercial torches do this.

It begs the question: do you want a torch that dims gradually over time, or fails suddenly ? A bit like the analogue vs digital interference.

The sexy one ones have collator lenses to shape the beam. Which is nice.

I must say I prefer man-tools to gadgets. Who needs three layers of useless menus on a battery-dependant technical device to access a really simply function, when you can have the dedicated hardware (compass/slide rule/stopwatch/map) ? Yes I do have a wind-up watch before you ask...

BigD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dingbat

one of our people has built a lamp using LED's that uses batteries normally discarded as being "flat", it runs down to something like 0.7V

HAT · #5 (**permalink**) 22-10-2009, 21:03

Saw this on gadget show last week...

FiveFWD - LED Lenser X21 review by The Gadget Show

should enable you to see "your" mad relative coming right at you, in the night....

Dingbat · #6 (**permalink**) 23-10-2009, 13:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigD

I must say I prefer man-tools to gadgets. Who needs three layers of useless menus on a battery-dependant technical device to access a really simply function, when you can have the dedicated hardware (compass/slide rule/stopwatch/map) ? Yes I do have a wind-up watch before you ask...

BigD

I agree but, the logic is simple. An LED needs 1.2V but a battery can deliver power at 0.2V so you need a boost converter, This needs a clock and needs to be switched on and off. The simplest thing to do is far too simple so the challenge worthy of any engineer worth his salt is to design a microprocessor with transistors that switch under 0.1. Since you have already built the microprocessor into the torch, it would be a shame not to install linux on it and a multi-layer user interface, better still a web interface via Apache and Tomcat for individual settings, stored in MySQL ....

peachy · #7 (**permalink**) 23-10-2009, 14:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dingbat

I agree but, the logic is simple. An LED needs 1.2V but a battery can deliver power at 0.2V so you need a boost converter, This needs a clock and needs to be switched on and off. The simplest thing to do is far too simple so the challenge worthy of any engineer worth his salt is to design a microprocessor with transistors that switch under 0.1. Since you have already built the microprocessor into the torch, it would be a shame not to install linux on it and a multi-layer user interface, better still a web interface via Apache and Tomcat for individual settings, stored in MySQL ....

This sounds great, I never previously realised I needed a torch that runs Linux but now I see the light, where can I purchase this GNU ubertouch?

BigD · #8 (**permalink**) 26-10-2009, 08:22

I saw the Lenser range of torches in conrad, Messer Dolmetch and Media Markt. The prices vary enormously, and for reasons unknown the only place that had a price indicated for the P7 model was Dolmetch and it weighed in a hefty 119chf.

BigD

peachy · #9 (**permalink**) 26-10-2009, 09:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigD

I saw the Lenser range of torches in conrad, Messer Dolmetch and Media Markt. The prices vary enormously, and for reasons unknown the only place that had a price indicated for the P7 model was Dolmetch and it weighed in a hefty 119chf.

BigD

Which is the best LED touch on the market that runs on AA batteries? I tried to find out from CandlePowerForums but started to loose the will to live after reading a few pages of discussion.

BigD · #10 (**permalink**) 12-11-2009, 17:50

The Lenser range are brilliant (pun intended). I bought a couple of the V2s and a P7 from Media Markt. Check out the Lumens output for a decent idea of their capabilities. They are expensive 60chf for the V2 or 90chf for the P7 but they really are hard-core torches used by security and police forces. The "tactical" torches simply have a low light setting for your covert operations in the Migros car-park.

Get one of the models that can be focused. These things can throw a shadow on the dark side of the moon. (There is no dark side on the moon really-...as a matter of fact it's all dark...)

BigD

Quote:

Originally Posted by peachy

Which is the best LED touch on the market that runs on AA batteries? I tried to find out from CandlePowerForums but started to loose the will to live after reading a few pages of discussion.