LED Flashlight--Off topic

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 23:54:01 GMT, Clark Magnuson vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

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I have to disagree. Lambs show signs of playing together sometimes. This indicates a modicum more of intelligence than their elders. This is not to say that lambs are not dumber than hens. Just that they are not the _only_ things.

***************************************************** Have you noticed that people always run from what they _need_ toward what they want?????

Could that be a sign of the times, much the same as microwave ovens and computers? When the newness wears off and competition enters the arena, prices will drop drastically? What you paid, especially considering the difference in the dollars from Canada to the US, makes your buy almost a giveaway. Maybe I won't get in a hurry for one, I'm still "enjoying" my little AA Maglite. Very cool, your purchases were.

Harold

I have one of these also. You are correct. These buggers are expensive. But I have done two things for cheaper batteries for these. First right next to the 123 cells there is a 6 volt battery that looks suspiciously like two 123 cells inside a little plastic case. These plastic cases break apart and then you got two 123 cells.

Even cheaper check out the surplus electronics places. I got a couple of boxes of these cells for less than 2 bucks a cell.

Sheep, are known by the less charitable cattle ranchers..as "range maggots"

Gunner

"People are more violently opposed to fur than leather, because it is easier to harrass rich women than it is motorcycle gangs." - Bumper Sticker

Cows are cantankerous, not stupid. They can co thru a maze pretty fast to get to some sweet feed.

Shhhh.. it's easier for city folks to believe that their burger comes from an animal too stupid to know the difference between life and death.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

I once had a Costa Rican cowboy tell me that "If cows were faster we would ride them instead of horses." Horses, in his opinion, were "dumber than fence posts".

On topic - I feel there is a real market for someone to produce a flashlight with all the current carrying components gold plated. The lifetime of *any* flashlight I have owned (salt water and high humidity enviorment) has been determined by the build-up of corrosion internally. This corrosion is exaserbated by gases given off by the batteries. Regards. Ken.

The Zweibrueder V2 Tactical Power Chip is made that way. Very nice little flashlight, using a 1-watt Luxeon LED and a Fraen collimator. (They don't tell you that, but that's how it's made) It's brighter than a minimag 2AA and shorter so it fits in a pocket nicely. All contacts and springs are gold plated. Good design, well made.

It's made in Germany, available in the US from Coast Cutlery.

I made a glass cover lens for mne to protect the plastic collimator from getting scratched while riding around in my pocket. It's held on with a shop-made press-fit black delryn cap that looks like it grew there.

BTW, the cat pictured on the referenced web page is a puma, not a mountain lion......no crosshairs in the photo either....

I plan to gold-plate the springs and contacts on the bikelights I'm working on.

Quarterhorses are smarter than cows.

I figured I could not buy the LEDs alone for that price, so I bought 6 of the little ones and gave some for christmas and birthdays.

The little button cells most common up here are the 357s I go to the "dollar store" and buy 5 357As for a Canadian dollar. I use them in my digital calipers, laser pointer, Keychain LED flashlight (forgot about that one - cost me $3.00 canadian with batteries) and the clip-on "reading light" 3 led units I also bought from Princess Auto on sale for about $6 each.

I'm not a city boy. Grew up on a dairy farm (part of my youth, anyway). Actually a mixed farm.Had hogs too. The hogs are MUCH more intelligent, and just as stubborn (hense the expression "pigheaded")

Only a cow or a deer will stand at the side of the road all night waiting for a vehicle to come along and light the way - then meander out in front of it in a stupor.

FYI: You won't see a "Cougar" in New Mexico, though I understand that there are plenty of "Mountain Lions". Likewise, you don't get attacked by a "Puma" in California - that big mean kitty ripping your arm off is a "Cougar" or perhaps a "Mountain Lion". No "Cougars", "Mountain Lions", or "Pumas" in the appalachians, but rumor has it that there are a few "Catamounts" wandering about eating the occasional deer (or hiker). You might see a "Mountain Lion" in Colordao, but I'm led to understand that it's a lot more likely that a local will tell you you're looking at a "Cougar" if you should ask.

In a nutshell, Regardless of where you see it or what the locals call it, it's the same beast - just named differently.

snip-------

My limited exposure to pigs leaves me thinking they are likely smarter than a lot of humans I've known, so I heartily agree. Perhaps you've tried to get one back in a pen after it got out. Those suckers seem to know exactly what you're thinking and make that task extremely difficult..

Harold

I had a good dog for that - part border collie, part sheppard - all genius. Old Rex would NEVER let a hog get behind him, and the hogs were smart enough NEVER to cross him twice!!!!

Doesn't take much. You have to be carefull not to mistake a devious nature for intelligence. Cows are devious, not smart.

Nothing like a well trained Border Collie to help out! :-)

Ted

These are not the button cells, they are about 5/8 dia. X 1 3/8 long.

Really good LED flashlights don't decrease much in brightness as the battery runs down; they have voltage boosting circuitry that takes the battery voltage and steps it up, providing a nearly constant light supply. This lets you suck every last bit of power out of alkaline batteries, running them down to about 1 volt per cell. It's a very significant improvement over incandescent bulbs, which start out bright at 1.5 volts/cell but very quickly lose brightness and efficiency as the voltage drops, becoming a sickly yellow.

Voltage-boosting circuitry (these are DC-to-DC converters) doesn't have to be particularly expensive, although it often is. Walmart sells a "Dorcy" brand single-AAA LED flashlight for $6, which has it. But most LED flashlights just use three cells in series, to provide enough voltage to run a white LED, plus a resistor in series with the LED to limit the current.

There are conversion modules sold for AA MagLites which replace the incandescent bulb and holder with a Luxeon LED (usually 1 watt) together with voltage-boost circuitry. One is made by Terralux:

I haven't tried those; the ones I've used are from Wayne Yamaguchi:

They've worked as advertised; but be warned that he caters to the flashlight tinkerers at so his website is very cryptic.