I have one of the Brass ones from many years ago … It was found in an old Control-room when it was being de-manned … Haven’t a clue where it is now “safely” stored , but it is in the house or garage somewhere … Must make a concerted effort to find it one year ! … It would look nice polished.
Well , it was a fairly nice day on Sunday so they decided to stay for another night and go home on Monday afternoon … BIG MISTAKE !
Sunday evening was bad and it rained … The sort of rain that Wales is famous for … I still do not know how the Mag 2D (modified) has performed or whether the torch is even still alive … I don’t know how the two 18650’s are performing … Are they discharged to the point where the protection has cut in ? … This is very worrying.
Apparently the mud is deeper and more cars are stuck.
The toilets and showers are a long (muddy) way from the tent … The boys won’t mind that as they would get very muddy coming back from the showers , so they won’t bother going … They will get clean in the indoor swimming pool probably … Seems a shame to get dried after swimming , just to walk back to the tent and get wet in the rain … The joys of camping in Wales.
The tent is very low and inside they will be walking round like the Hunchbacks of Notre Dame … Luckily the bedrooms have sewn-in ground sheets , though with the flow of water it is apparently like walking on a slow-motion trampoline.
Luckily we are still doing the painting and decorating and won’t be able to go and rescue them … Shame isn’t it !
We will see them in the next few days and hopefully I will get the torch back … They will have a very wet tent to dry out and they don’t have a garage to hang it in …
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They had to drag all the gear about a quarter of a mile to the site road as the car (to take them home) couldn’t get any closer to their field ! … Mud and dead cars everywhere … Like a “World War One” film minus the mules and barbed wire … The “Shell-holes” were obviously where the cars had been bogged down.
Apparently they had a wonderful time and they all want to do it again … Daughter had borrowed the tent from her sister and now actually wants to buy one of her own plus all the relevant gear … The boys say they had a “wicked” time … My idea of “wicked” is exactly the opposite of theirs.
Unfortunately there has been no mention of my torch , so I live in hope that the torch is still OK and that the two 18650 batteries are still viable …
It’s enough to drive a person to drink (luckily).
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Well , I have got the torch back again … They apparently used it for going the quarter mile trip to the toilet block at night … The 2D amazed everyone with its flood of light … However , one night just as they got back to the tent , the light went out !
Daughter had some spare AA batteries , so she thought that she would replace the dead ones … Luckily she didn’t recognise the 18650 batteries inside the 2D so she put everything back again.
One of the cells had its protection tripped , so I had to “untrip” it and it came back to life at 3.60V … The untripped one was also 3.60V … They are currently (pun) being charged using two of my cheap charger boards … Power to the boards is now supplied by my 5V 4A switch-mode PSU … Seems to be working a treat at the moment … I have set the PSU voltage down to 4.94V on load as there is a fine-adjustment pot on the PSU … Just waiting for the Blue LED’s to go to RED … I know it seems wrong , but that’s the way the four charger boards came … Volts on charge are now 4.13V and 4.14V , so not long to wait now … PSU seems to be running very cool too.
It’s a relief to know that the cells are OK and that the campsite hasn’t been Li-ionised … I don’t know whether to give her spare 18650’s next time or just give her a box of AA primaries and some more ordinary torches … I could tell her that the 2D is being repaired ; that should do it.
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March, great story, glad you got the maglite back and cells recovered, also nice if irrelevant the family enjoyed themselves :bigsmile: can I suggest you check out the new light 26650/18650/4 x AAA thread, that light may cause you less stress as a loaner……
Also, where is this camp site, I have a slightly modded landcruiser and an urge to play… :bigsmile:
I have decided that I will stick to AA torches as give-aways in future … I don’t want to have to buy any other sizes of Li-Ions … I will give the family a few Duracells or similar and let them go it on their own … They still don’t think that a person needs more than one EDC torch … When they are on a narrow muddy lane , half way to the toilets on a moonless night in the rain , perhaps they will realise (when the torch dies) that a second (working) torch is essential.
The campsite is on the outskirts of Swansea a mile or two upstream of the city centre … The Landcruiser would be OK there … Shame you weren’t there at the time , as you could have winched the dead cars out of the swamp … Unfortunately most of the drivers seemed to think that a full power , eyes closed and hope for the best method was the most suitable way to go … Doddery old people seemed to get through OK , particularly on the grassy areas … There were a few people with frontal mud-stripes on their clothing … They should now know that you don’t push when standing behind the driven wheels.
The Ultrafire batteries both settled down to 4.14V when rested for a couple of hours , so they more or less survived their ordeal … I would have prefered them to be about 4.18V (rested) , but I’m waiting for another two protected Panasonic 3100mAh’s to come in the post and will gradually phase out the older cells … Unfortunately , I don’t store my cells at a lower voltage in a fridge , so they won’t last as long as they should (when treated properly) … I like to have fully charged spares readily available … I will only keep a couple of spares , but the batteries in my torches are also fairly fully charged too … I pay less than £15 for two batteries so if I have to get a couple of new ones every year , it isn’t going to break the bank.
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It wasn’t an Essex Lion … According to the newspapers the Lion didn’t have its claws painted red and it wasn’t blond ! … Couldn’t have been from Essex then !
My wife came home from work tonight and mentioned that a colleague, who has a caravan in Orsett, told her that everyone there knows about the farmer with a massive tabby cat that, from a distance, looks like …. no, really. Just the two police helicopters last week, nice little jaunt for some.