BLF EM1....blf designed emergency light...

BFL EM1….bfl designed emergency light…

Hmmmm… BFL?? It has potential I think. :wink:

What do you think of these. 4AA or a D cell.

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 :wink: ) 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:

It should not be a problem if LSD cells are implemented inside of the package.

10 years should be no problem for them :slight_smile:

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.

GREAT IDEA!

But……

To attach it to the back of the truck/trailer would need a nasty sized magnet. Too much vibration. Certainly a small magnet is really helpful.

I have plenty of these lights hanging around the house and work. Their magnet is just strong enough to hold the light. Cheap and effective.

There are some really good magnets out there. Check out the Emisar D4s review (TK).

4 x AA is too much for an emergency light. I would prefer 2 x AA instead. Everything else is great.

What about something flat like the Nitecore EA45S and you can run it with 2xAA or 4xAA?

Moonlight is definitely a must, because as an emergency light, you could leave it on moonlight for hours.

What is this emergency flashlight used for? What kind of reflector and range does a user need for these emergencies?

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.

How do you safely charge multiple AA NiMH cells inside a flashlight?

You just use multiple small 1A buck converters to charge each of the AA cells individually.

Unlike with most of our lithium-ion lights, charging 4x cells with USB is quite easy.

But how do you do that if they’re already connected in series?

You just use an internal charger.

You do isolated DC-DC converters.

They aren’t too expensive to implement in large bulk quantities for a flashlight.

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’m contacting Sonfir.

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.

I’m retired and I’m enjoying being lazy…. :slight_smile:

Interesting idea.

I like the idea of NiMh batteries because of the longevity of holding the charge.

And….Sofirn got the first email.

Let’s see if they are interested.