OK, admitted noob here. Is there a place where a noob can get up to speed on the language one needs to get up to speed to begin to understand what you folks take for granted in discussing LED lights? Without language what you folks write is just well, another language. 
It might as well be cuneiform requiring the Rosetta stone. I guess I AM looking for a Rosetta stone of a sort.
TIA
This has some basic info: CPF guide to basic LED flashlight
Thanx!
Flashlightwiki “(LINK HERE)”:Flashlight Wiki is good for the basics. Also a must-read on LiIon safety linked “(HERE)”:Lithium-ion battery safety 101
Phil
getting into the flashlight hobby is little different from other involved hobbies…
i got hit by “terminology” and it took some time to get used to all the LINGO…
18650, 18500, 26650
and all the lingo used for the various drivers…
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once i got a little used to the emitter names, the tints, the drivers, the battery naming system? it gets more routine, i guess.
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as far as EXACTLY HOW the light gets produced? i freely admit i completely ignore that, lol…
i have gotten into and out of many disciplines in my life? and “step one” is always to get up on the terminology (lingo) at least thats best for me… shrugs
Whew! That safety thread hurt my head! Looks like I ought to pull the 18650 powered lights out of the cars and find something good that uses AAs. Or put them onto our keyrings somehow.
Thanks gents! There’s a great deal of info to be processed in the sites linked to.
Sedstar, yeah, that’s the problem. You folks know the language, but noobs entering the field just experience it as noise in their heads. Hence my question which was admirably answered.
I’ve bookmarked the sites for future reference after I thoroughly navigate them and learn what I can initially. There is so much… But it IS coming together somewhat.
Thanks again!
> cars … something good that uses AAs.
Energizer lithium primary cells — they seem expensive but shelf life is awesome and they don’t go flat in freezing temperatures.
Yes hank. I got that. I was going to press back into service my quite old AA lights that use CR123 batteries. But I tested them last night and they really are old tech. I have a really tiny POJ key ring light that is brighter. So the old lights are back in the drawer. Maybe I’ll be able to do something with them down the road.
I just bought 2 Thorfire TG06 lights. I’ll put Li primaries in them and set them and forget them. That way should the wife ever run into problems if she ever has to go out at night she has something.
i started out flashlight life here? i had never charged and used a Lithium before… and i didnt want any “weird crazy batteries” to deal with i wasnt used to.
but, once you get your first lithium rechargeable and some little charger? your hooked and you want some decent batteries, lol… it grows on you.
Unlike some places we avoid mentioning we try to be noob friendly so if you have a question or three go ahead and ask. There’s way to much to learn all at once but asking a question that’s related to a thread you’re reading will give the answer the context it needs to make sense and stick. It’s perfectly ok to read older threads and post a new question in them, it reminds us of where we’ve been and how we got here as well as what’s changed along the way. Spend some time looking at stickies in the DIY sub forum and reading reviews of lights just as a way to ground yourself and also to bookmark items of particular interest. Follow your curiousity and ask the questions along the way, we all started there.
Thanks Scott. I forgot about the stickies. You can be sure I’ll have plenty of questions, but I need to know enough to even ask them.
Have a look here too
WOW! That looks to be something of a doctorates degree! But eventually it might be a good reference.
I was hoping to work on some old tech Cabelas LED lights I bought many years ago, as a learning experience. I was just checking them out. They appear to be either one piece or LocTited. I haven’t tried to use anything other than hand methods to separate the parts as of this time. Or maybe they are reverse threaded to confound folks like me.
:laughing: Yeah i suppose it does look a bit daunting at first but i think i’ve set it up so it’s sort of progressive.
It’s mostly just condensed information from lots of different bookmarks i was using when i was first/ still learning about this hobby.
CRX, that is indeed the definitive noob info source! Thanks!
I’ve been spending a lot of time there. One needs to get through the huge amount of reference material that frankly means nothing to me at this point to get to what I need. Much of it I’m just putting on the mental shelf for later (it’s reference). But it’s all there from what I see so far.