“Palm” Flashlights – Incandescent! Blasts from the past? ;)

Last weeks I was putting some stuff together at home, and throwing some of the to the trash and I found the flashlight my parents gave me when I went to faculty!

I thought it was lost or eventually thrown to garbage a long time ago, but…not!

So I decided to buy a battery for it a in a local supermarket (actually the battery’s expiration date is 2018 but it still works :smiley: ) and last weekend I gave it a try!

So, this is just small & just for fun “blast from the past” with an incandescent palm flashlight!!

BTW, do these have a specific name other than “palm flashlight”?

And…*show’em if you got’em* :wink:

_

This is ON / OFF and momentary ON flashlight, this last feature activated through pressing that small green button in the switch! It uses a 3R12 4.5V non rechargeable battery (that costs around 1,40€)

Open the door….

Light me up!!

Throwy beam with a good amount of spill :sunglasses:


Completely centred bulb and no artifacts :smiley:

Tint comparison with Skilhunt M150 (XP-L CW)! Clearly wins on this one, IMO :wink:

Practical! Stands up and can be hanged upside down! Also has that red plastic “reflector” that…is there for something! :stuck_out_tongue:
What else can we desire? :partying_face:
I hope it can resist the rust of the years :stuck_out_tongue:

Enjoy :wink:

warm tint!

Now compare CRI to a modern LED!

Oh wait…

Hey, ~2700K 100CRI, zero pwm. :laughing:

I remember those battery packs from (disposable) angled lights. Hold it like a pack of smokes, the bulb’s angled up/forward about 30°, switch is by your thumb. Always grew fur by the time the battery went dead.

I was using my RJ02 as a “palm-light” when I wasn’t wearing it. Nice beam, easy to hold, done.

Eheh, I guess the only one I have that could “stand a chance” would be the Sofirn CO1 with 3200K Yuji Led, but even then… I ain’t sure :stuck_out_tongue:

I am not sure, but to my eyes, it goes even lower than that :o Maybe 2000K?

those batteries are $17 on amazon!

wle

I guess I will get the stock from my local shop then :smiley: Expiration date is over, but…they work :smiley:

If that’s the actual battery used, then it’s 3 B cells in series. And a B cell is 21mm×60mm, or just a smidge shorter’n a 21700 cell.

Add some for the tabs and case, and it looks like it’d fit 3×21700 cells. The bulb’d be a bit underdriven, but would run a good long time.

Throw in a protection circuit (peeled off a crapped-out protected cell) and you’d have LVP, too. :laughing:

This light is perfect, no pwm and not only can tail stand, but also tail hang. I replaced that bulb with XM-L2 some time ago in my old flashlight, and I can tell you it is worse now :wink:

I didn’t measure the battery, but I guess it’s size is not bigger than an unprotected 18650. So a 21700 cell would fit at all!

These are the measures of a 3R12 battery, taken from here : 0.9 x 2.4 x 2.6 inches

So it wouldn’t fit the bigger ones! I thought about modding the flashlight and make it different, but I guess I will keep it as it is, using these batteries.
If I find another one, I may…have to open it and make some mods, though :smiling_imp:

Ahah, that one has a bigger reflector. With a nice warm LED it may be worthy but CREE’s with shift…no thanks :wink:

The modern equivalent would be the Eye of Sekhmet, but it’s definitely not BLF-friendly:

https://www.silentthunderordnance.com/flashlights/eye-of-sekhmet

I feel like there’s more than one modern equivalent

Nice summary of “modern palm lights” we’ve got here :wink:
Eye of Sekhmet
RovyVon E300s
Nebo Slim
CRX Stratis Lumina

All different, and all very valid new ways of concretizing this concept :wink:
More effective, better runtimes, a lot less CRI, not so “old school”, still pretty and obviously more versatile!

This is the side of the 3R12 battery! It is smaller than an unprotected 18650!

SO…the best it could be done, it was to put 3 x 18650s but 21700 wouldn’t fit!

You can use 22500 li-ion batteries. They are shorter and allow you room for electronics to be installed to charge and control the discharge. Though the batterys are difficult to find.

As for your battery you purchased it is not appropriate. For the bulb you have in the flashlight (3.6V, 0.5A) the only suitable battery is an alkaline 3LR12 battery. The normal (3R12) battery you have is for 3.5v 0.2A bulbs. Your battery cant provide enough power and the bulb does not glow full brightness.

Try this one, you will see the difference and it will last for hours:

https://www.varta-consumer.com/en/products/batteries/overview/longlife-power/4-5

I still have a few GE-952-A2 incandescents safely stored away.

You could use 18500’s or something like that. Lots of people have put in three AA’s (alk or nimh) and that works fine too.

This looks promising, 18500 protected cells: