electronic plasma lighter recommendations

please post your picks for the best plasma lighter you have used.
i am looking for one which will be superior to butane for:

1. lighting Charcoal (not gas) for outdoor grilling (BBQ).
2. igniting a Coleman (or other) “white” gas lantern wick.
3. remaining sufficiently charged over 120 days of non-use.

thanks.

I don’t know if those electric lighter can really light charcoal. There’s a small gap between the prongs that the arc passes between which works well for thin things like paper but I don’t know if you can fit a brick of charcoal in there.

Yeh, I got one of those “x-arc” lighters (more’n one, actually), and you need to light some intermediary material like paper, then toss that onto charcoal, etc.

Haven’t touched mine in at least a year, and… hang on…

Yep, just tried it, still works nice’n’strong.

Should “top it off” every now and again, I imagine.

Fwiw, a lot of those look beautiful at first, but the coating tends to wear off very fast.

I keep mine in a small molle pouch, only usb cables and some similar crap in an inside pocket, but the “rainbowy” gunmetal coating is already wearing off.

Wellp, that’s the one I take with me all the time just in case, so even though I baby it (all my stuff, actually), I can call it a “beater”. :weary:

Do people light charcoal directly on the coal with a lighter?

Does charcoal light with simply throwing buring paper on top? what brand? even “matchlight” needs some serious baby sitting feeding paper to get going. lol

Just assuming you’re going to light paper for a chimney starter or lighter fluid so no problem

Even with lighter fluid, you don’t want to get too close lighting it, having it go “fwoom!”, and practically setting your hand on fire.

paper recommended, yes :sunglasses:

yes.
everyone is correct.

the plasma lighter must first ignite an intermediary
which is then used to start the charcoal/lantern.
we want to eliminate the “middle man”.

this image shows an unsatisfactory configuration of electrodes:

this one has possibilities:

obviously, we have yet to find a suitable design for us.
please post your plasma ideas.
we are out of them.

please post your picks for the best plasma lighter you have used.
i am looking for one which will be superior to butane for:

Won’t work.

Won’t work.

Any butane lighter.
Mike

How often you gonna use it? Regularly, or only occasionally/rarely?

I got a bunch of those… emergency lighters or whatever they’re called… these…

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MEA746W/

(Wow, more’n doubled in price since I got ’em!)

that work great once you get the hang of ’em.

Was waiting for a bus, a guy holding a (real) cig asked me if I had a light, I was all like, “Uhh, nope, not really… Oh, wait! Yeah, I do!”, and whipped out that doodad, had it lit in no time.

So they do work in a pinch. Reload with AcMe, the rubber seal keeps it in forever.

Even if the brush part burns off, still makes a pretty good flint.

I do in barbecue. With that kind of lighter:

Nice and fast.

thanks for the questions….

“How often you gonna use it? Regularly, or only occasionally/rarely?”
April through October, with intensive use one weekend per month, then packed away.
we will only recharge after those weekends, then it must be able to preserve power
without any maintenance from October until the next April.

“Do people light charcoal directly on the coal with a lighter?”
yes, with butane. we were wanting to try plasma.
our idea is probably a bad one.

also, thanks for your replies.

Butt that’s the fun part!