Jungle lights and power

LED Flashlights – General Info
1

Hi All,

First time post here. I used to keep up with LED tech back about 5-6 years so I came looking at what’s new. A lot has changed and I need advice!

I am planning a 3+ month rainforest trip doing research in South America. I will probably be able to travel to a town/city every week or so. I won’t be too far from villages so won’t need to be super hardcore.

I’m thinking I will need:

- A headlamp using 1 (or possibly 2) 18650s with multiple brighness setting. Lows are important for close up work. This will probably be my main light. What would you recommend?

- A 1xAA light for my pocket. I thinking a fairly cheap focusable with high and low. Are these all pretty much the same? I’ll probably buy a few for gifting.

- A battery pack with 4+ 18650s. This will charge phone etc. If it can charge while outputting to USB that would help. I’ll probably go for good panasonic cells but I have no idea which battery pack.

- A Charger. I was thinking a Nitecore i4. Any idea if this will be happy charging from a not-so-consistent 12V solar panel?

- I already have a GoalZero 7W solar panel (and a Guide10plus 4xAA charger). In theory 7W should power the NiteCore to charge 4 cells at 350mA but I’m probably better off with a bigger panel. Is another GoalZero the best bet?

  • Something to convince Jaguars I’m not made of food.

Cheers,

Tyler

2

I’m not sure you will be able to stay in a place with access to power outlets for the hours needed to refill all the high-capacity lithium batteries, unless you stay overnight every week (in which case it’s ok). Have you considered this?

1. I would make sure to have an option that can run on disposable batteries.

2. go lightweight: skip the powerbank and just get plenty of 18650 cells and chargher that also doubles as an USB-out power device. Such as the Miller ML-102 or Xtar WP2. Multi-chemistry chargers are a big plus, of course.

3. Get warm tinted / hi-cri lights, it’s important to distinguish dangerous things in the foliage. Hi-cri really seems the way to go here. (Think Armytek or Zebralight headlamps/flashlights)

4. Best combo on person would be: headlamp + handheld thrower + backup light in pocket/fannypack (it’s a good rule to always keep a fannypack with the essentials).

5. Runtime is more important than power in those situations (you will never really need 800/1000 lumens of output in pitch black)

6. Floody headlamp is the way to go. Make sure you see where you put your foot and get some light to the peripheral part of sight to notice moving things and, most of all, enjoy the place better. Total flood is also much useful for doing anything at close rang, such as reading, putting a tent up, clearing bush and any repair/work you have to do.

7. You may already know, but hey: machete, or parang, or golok. Get one in the local market or hardware store + a file.

8. Test your solar charging setup BEFORE you go in the boonies.

For an handeld flashlight, there’s plenty of choice. Choose one that has the UI you like and comes in warm tint.
For a backup light, get one that runs on a single AA to be sure you will have light in the most unlucky situation.

If you want to go the one-kind-of-battery-only route, I’d choose AA for good runtime vs compactness factor.
Example setup: Sunwayman D40A NW + Zebralight H502W + whatever 1xAA backup flashlight you like.

3

This seems really good idea. I would try to plan everything using rechargeable AAs so that if trouble hits I can easily switch to just using AAs which are sold almost everywhere.

4

how about a power bank with built in light?

5

I think most vehicles use 12vdc to operate so a car charger adapter would definitely benefit

6

If you go with AA, you can also carry a couple of these AAA to AA adapters.

In a pinch, the AAAs will charge the fastest of all.

http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10001913/1137300-translucent-aaa-to-aa-type-battery-converter

7

First and foremost, as you will be in the jungle, I would recommend you look at neutral lights (ie. 4000K-5500K temp) vs cool white lights (ie. >6000K). Colour rendition is much better - you’ll see that log that’s in the way much better.

1. The only companies I know who make neutral headlamps without the need of you modding are either ZebraLight or Spark. From ZebraLight, consider their H600w MkII and from Spark, their ST6-460NW and SD6-460NW. Both use a single 18650.
2. For give away lights, maybe something like this is in order. For yourself, maybe something like a ThruNite T10. I am currently EDC’ing the previous generation cool white T10 which I have dropped onto concrete several times before (with keys falling on top of it as well, with every drop) and it has continued to work. Yes a few scratches here and there, but it is still producing light.
3. A tested power bank plus USB adapter combination would be this power bank from gearbest.com and Ioncell 4 USB 2A Power Adapter. The other option is to forgo the power bank, but get yourself a power bank/flash light combo just in case you need another light source. A good example is this one from kaidomain.com. If you do get the flashlight, you can choose to not get the USB adapter as well.
4. The i4 is a great choice if you are thinking about using a mix of chemistries. I am using it on this six-month volunteer trip in Philippines. No, I am not in the jungles, but in the country areas where power can sometimes be sketchy, it has worked well. I have no idea if it’ll work with the solar panels you intend to use.
5. No idea.
6. A t-shirt that says “I am not food”? :slight_smile:

8

I was in the Amazon last July then Uganda in December/January.

For the Amazon I carried a 1AA Zebra headlight, a 18650 Convoy S2 and a ShiningBeam Spark running a single AA. For charging I had a Nitecore I2 and some Sanyo 2 cell USB chargers.

For Uganda I carried the Zebra headlight, a 2AA ShiningBeam Caveman and a Tank007 tk566 single AA light.

To be honest the all AA trip was much easier since I only had to worry about a single cell type. And in the jungles and plains the AA lights were more than sufficient for my needs. When it’s pitch dark one doesn’t need all that much light, at least in my experience.

I would either go with an all AA solution or an all 18650 one. Having to carry both types was more trouble than it was worth for me. And the odds of finding 18650’s if you need them is probably close to zero.

In addition I carried a 4 AA Steripen on both trips. That was another reason why I went away from the 18650 for Uganda.

Since you have the GoalZero you can use that to charge your AA batteries, although it’s best to charge 4 similarly drained batteries at a time. That was the reason why I carried the Sanyo chargers.

Finally I tried using my GoalZero to charge with my NiteCore I2. Didn’t work at all. You should try it with you I4 to see if it does. Btw i’m able to charge my Android phone using the GoalZero battery pack.