I don’t think you’re supposed to charge NiMH in a sealed enclosure.
Other than that I’m all for the idea, right now all our cars are equipped with little triangle shaped roadside emergency lights from Harbor freight powered by L92’s but theyre really only good for the red flashing sign, the white light they put out is a joke.
Can there be a magnet somewhere? One time my trailers lights went out and I had to get it back to my shop so I just stuck the HF light on the back like a farm machinery triangle and drove no problem.
Yeah, you have to drop either the 4xAA requirement or the USB charging. You can’t have both safely (for muggles). But, if it is truly an emergency light, make the battery integral (not user serviceable ) and make the whole bottom end of the flashlight glued and/or screwed shut. Then, put the charging port in the threaded portion of the “battery tube” like those new generation of 10180 size keychain lights. You have to take the head off to access the charge port. Now, the light is still waterproof while it is put together. Make the charge port USB-C and make it also a power bank. (this is an Emergency device, right?)
Make an accessory “power connector” to screw in place of the battery tube to allow running the head from alternative sources of power, like the power port in your car, or a phone charger in your home, or some other portable power supply. This could be used in lieu of the battery, so you can still have light while the battery is charging, even in another location. Or, it could be used because you lost your battery or forgot to charge it up the last time you used it while camping… a year ago… and it no longer takes a charge. :person_facepalming:
OK you butt biters……I made a mistake on the name. I was waiting in a freezing car for the big boss to finish shopping so please give this poor taxi driver a break! LOL
The logic of placing the red flashing led on the back of the flashilight is…when one breaks down on the side of the road, best practice is to put the most powerful light 30 feet behind the car and shine on the car and occupants….while the back end emits a red flashing led. The entire safety thing is based on MAXIMUM visibility.
As for the issue of recharging and ventilation. Force the user to take off the back cap to get access to the USB port. Built in safety and pure KISS.
1…We are running on the same path on the ventilation and safety. I prefer to put it at the cap because even if one is stupid enough to lose the cap, the flashlight is still usable but not “waterproof”. PLUS a cap is going to bounce it if it’s dropped, if one drop the head assembly, chances are it’s terminal.
2….I don’t know how many lumens it would run directly from the USB port but that is an easy solution. I’m guessing 200 lumens are not huge but if the batteries run out, it’s better then nothing. 15 foot USB cords are easily available and cheap. I must have 3 or 4 of them hanging around the house.
3….The USB charging is a “must have” because that will allow one to recharge the light while driving. That helps if one has a engine problem which can recur down the road.
I had never seen that Maratac 1D/4xAA light before, it seems to tick most of the boxes of the emergency light of this thread. Reminds me of the BLF-version of the Lumintop SD10, that I indeed keep with some D-cells for emergency (as if I need a light in emergency, with 150+ of them already)
One thing essential for getting a BLF light done: a BLF member, or a few of them, who believes in it must carry the project, put loads of time in it, find and convince a manufacturer and patiently sit it out until the light is in production. Who is this going to be?
About the batteries: I suggested a few times elsewhere that a modern flashlight on AA batteries should not have 4 of them but 3 in series. It makes for a slimmer flashlight and you can use a very simple and robust lineair driver. This used to be impossible a few years ago but the voltage of the new leds have come sown so much that they can be run regulated at high output for most of the runtime of the batteries.
The only thing wrong with a 3xAA setup is that no serious manufacturer has made one yet with a high output modern led (suggestion: Luxeon V), the concept is just used with 3xAAA carriers direct drive on an oldschool XP-E led that has too high voltage to give real light. It will need a lot of convincing to get a chinese manufacturer make something that has not proved itself before.
Remember low temperature considerations for emergency lights. Nimh does pretty good, but a lot of people in my area will only use lithium primaries in real outdoor emergency things.
There are going to be “really stupid people” issues with batteries. The flashlight has to come with either sealed access for the batteries or no batteries and a warning that do not charge unless you install rechargeable batteries. Prefer the first one. Seal them and only let people like us with a method to get around it.
Did I mention really stupid people? They plague humanity.
I know a thing or twelve about manufacturing and marketing.
To a small company, this could be something that puts their brand on the map. After all, the enthusiast market is maybe a fraction of a percent to a mass market flashlight like the one we are suggesting. I can see the potential of millions of units.
I’ll help them conceptually, but I’m not going to do their legwork. The only thing I want from them is a knock out group buy for our members.