HI, new member here that’s been lurking for a long time.
I got heavy into LED flashlights a few years ago after one of our many annual power outages.
Living in the woods in the Sierra Foothills, usually sometime during the winter we get hit with a big Pacific storm that brings high winds and/or dumps wet heavy snow on trees and power lines. Result is almost routine: power outage that can last more than 24 hours and at times up to 2-4 days.
During one of these, staring at the Coleman 8D Cell fluorescent tube lantern (that dims after 12 hours of eating 8 fresh alkaline D cells… and still leaves the batteries half full!) and that puts most of the glaring pale blue light where you don’t want it; directly in your eyes…. I decided there must be a better way to get some quality emergency lighting.
My research online brought me here and to CPF, and to realize there is a lighting revolution taking place right now brought on by the high power LED and a great company; mainly Cree that is getting rid of our old incandescent light bulbs and those fugly, toxic, unreliable ‘compact fluorescent’ bulbs. YEAH!
I’m a DIY type, so have done quite a few LED project lights; outdoor lighting, reading lamps, ‘Mule lights’ mods to old 5mm LED flashlights,etc. I gotta say though, my project lights are just hack jobs compared to the great work I see here by the likes of ‘Match’, Old-Lumens, E1320, and so many other great contributors. Thanks for all the helpful advice I have found here. I love all the stuff in DIY mod forum.
I started putting together an emergency lighting kit using Eneloop AA for power and various flashlights & lanterns. Started moding and made some ‘mule lights’ as they are ideal for interior lighting. ….well all that has gotten a bit out of hand as I have moved on to 18650 lights and OK, I think I have enough lights a batteries to keep us well lit for a week with plenty of lights still in the drawer or on loan, chargers that can use the car battery, etc.
With a few days of power outage, it’s not only about ‘survival’, but trying to get comfortable and have ‘normal’ life activities. I don’t want to stumble around in a sub-lumen darkness to get 100 hours from an AA. It’s about having a warm white flood lamp of 100+ lumen to light the kitchen counter to prepare a meal. A reading light. A lamp over the table to eat or play a board game. Anyway, enough of this rambling story, and I know I should just get a generator and be done with it. (but really that just starts another story of maintenance for 11.5 months of the year and gas cans, extension cords, ) We have woodstove for backup heat, an AGM battery for the tankless water heater, gas stove, and invariably there is snow on the deck for the refrigerator.
…So most of my lights are about batteries that will run at least a full evening of 5-6 hours without recharge, ample task lighting, can be loaned to friends and neighbors, many will run on alkaline if need be, etc. Nothing that could blow up if you don’t watch the multiple li-ion batteries or overheat and melt down if you aren’t there to tell someone they can’t leave it on high for more than 5 minutes, etc.
My first mod was a Romisen RV-235. Runs on 2 AA or single CR123. Current draw from batteries was 1.5+ Amp on high. It got too hot after 5 minutes and by my rough estimate the driver was maybe 60% efficient. (I think most of the heat was from the driver!) So I replaced the driver with a NextGen BB from sandwich shoppe.
My first flea sized solder job to put a .18ohm resister on it for a WoW 90 lumen OTF single mode flashlight that would run for 5+ hours on eneloop or drain Alkaline until there was nothing left. (won’t run on a single AA though, so won’t reverse the Eneloop)
Perfect for my use, nice beam profile, early success to encourage more tinkering.
I’ve made some 3AA mule lamps using old dim purple 5mm LED flashlights. I used the Nichia 219 and a single 7135 (from Illumination Supply) 380mA chip for driver.
So simple, reliable and useful; love those things. (translation: what a hack job!)
I do have some nice lights that I have not ‘customized’ with my hacking though: Shiningbeam S-mini, EagleTac D25LC2 mini, a few Olights; SA2, I3, I2, etc. Fenix E21…
Ok, enough rambling here. Thanks for the great site and all the great advice I have used here for the last few years.
LowLumen
