LED flashlight from Wal-Mart

[Jim Yanik]

I bought a neat little Dorcy LED light from Wal-Mart,1 white LED,uses -1-
AAA alkaline cell(supplied),size about 3.5" long,less than 0.5"
diameter,silver aluminum body with rubber grip,twist end-cap switch with
momentary button.
Cost; less than $6.00.

Makes a nice little pocket LED light for emergency use.

 

[John Woodgate]

I bought a neat little Dorcy LED light from Wal-Mart,1 white LED,uses -
1- AAA alkaline cell(supplied),size about 3.5" long,less than 0.5"
diameter,silver aluminum body with rubber grip,twist end-cap switch with
momentary button.
Cost; less than $6.00.

Makes a nice little pocket LED light for emergency use.

It must have some sort of DCC converter to run a white LED from 1.5 V.

 

[Luhan Monat]

I bought a neat little Dorcy LED light from Wal-Mart,1 white LED,uses -1-
AAA alkaline cell(supplied),size about 3.5" long,less than 0.5"
diameter,silver aluminum body with rubber grip,twist end-cap switch with
momentary button.
Cost; less than $6.00.

Makes a nice little pocket LED light for emergency use.

Jim,

I bought a 'lightstick' from wallmart, 1 white LED, 3 watch batteries.

I cut off the excess plastic to form a 2" flashlight.

Cost: $2.49

 

[Michael Black]

Jim,

I bought a 'lightstick' from wallmart, 1 white LED, 3 watch batteries.

I cut off the excess plastic to form a 2" flashlight.

Cost: $2.49

Locally, I've seen five dollar (Canadian) flashlights in various places.
One is saucer shaped the other is tubular like those cheap laser pointers.
I bought one of the latter, out of curiosity. It certainly was handy,
though it had a tendency to turn on while in my pocket. But the neat
thing was that it used the same batteries as those cheap laser pointers,
and I can get those for 99 cents here, making them a cheap source of
batteries.

Michael

 

[Tim Auton]

I bought a neat little Dorcy LED light from Wal-Mart,1 white LED,uses -1-
AAA alkaline cell(supplied),size about 3.5" long,less than 0.5"
diameter,silver aluminum body with rubber grip,twist end-cap switch with
momentary button.
Cost; less than $6.00.

How do these LED jobs compare to the good old mini Maglite? I've had a
AAA version as my keyring for years and it's never let me down, except
when I've used the battery in my MP3 player and forgotten to replace
it :/


Tim

 

[Michael Black]

How do these LED jobs compare to the good old mini Maglite? I've had a
AAA version as my keyring for years and it's never let me down, except
when I've used the battery in my MP3 player and forgotten to replace
it :/

I thought Maglites were an affectation, until I was given one last
Christmas. It's a two AA model, and it is wonderful. Good light,
and unlike many of the small flashlights I've accumulated over the years,
a good on/off switch so the battery isn't dead when I got to use the
flashlight the next time. (Considering how often this happens,
I have to assume that many of those switches are in fact conducting
when in the off position, enough to drain the battery over the long term
but too little to light the bulb.).

I'd been thinking about spending good money (ie at least ten dollars)
on an LED flashlight, admittedly as much curiosity as anything else.
But with the Maglite in hand, a fancy LED flashlight seems nothing
more than novelty.

But one I'm still curious about, so likely I will splurge.

One type that I've been looking at is white bicycle lights. In one
outdoor catalog here in Canada, they have some three-LED bike lights
for ten dollars, while later in the catalog they have flashlights for
two or three times as much. Obviously it's not a direct comparison,
but I find it hard to believe that a bike light would be significantly
weaker than a hand flashlight.

Michael

 

[Adam Aglionby]

Unfortunatly no one imports Dorcy to the U.K, but some comparitive review:

http://tinyurl.com/v4t3

I thought Maglites were an affectation, until I was given one last
Christmas. It's a two AA model, and it is wonderful. Good light,
and unlike many of the small flashlights I've accumulated over the years,
a good on/off switch so the battery isn't dead when I got to use the
flashlight the next time. (Considering how often this happens,
I have to assume that many of those switches are in fact conducting
when in the off position, enough to drain the battery over the long term
but too little to light the bulb.).

Mags are even better when converted to LED ;-)

I'd been thinking about spending good money (ie at least ten dollars)
on an LED flashlight, admittedly as much curiosity as anything else.
But with the Maglite in hand, a fancy LED flashlight seems nothing
more than novelty.

Try dropping your Mag whilst its on, a few feet onto rock when you need the
light...
CMG Infinity Ultra has replced my AAA Maglite for that reason plus run time
etc.etc.

But one I'm still curious about, so likely I will splurge.

Possibly cheapest LED light :

http://www.countycomm.com/light10.htm

One type that I've been looking at is white bicycle lights. In one
outdoor catalog here in Canada, they have some three-LED bike lights
for ten dollars, while later in the catalog they have flashlights for
two or three times as much. Obviously it's not a direct comparison,
but I find it hard to believe that a bike light would be significantly
weaker than a hand flashlight.

Michael

Few links that might be of interest:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/

http://www.ledmuseum.org/

www.flashlightreviews.com

http://www.inretech.com/

http://home.comcast.net/~theledguy/

Adam

 

[Paul Burridge]

It must have some sort of DCC converter to run a white LED from 1.5 V.

I believe the best torches I've ever had are the old rubber cased ones
with push button on/off switches. They *never* seem to fail.
Everything else has.

 

[Ian Stirling]

How do these LED jobs compare to the good old mini Maglite? I've had a
AAA version as my keyring for years and it's never let me down, except
when I've used the battery in my MP3 player and forgotten to replace
it :/

Comparing a 4 button-cell white LED light, which is a little under the
diameter of the minimaglite, and under half the length.
The LED is quite overdriven at 45ma, for a total power of around 160mw (a
lot of power is wasted in the internal resistance of the tiny cells which
is used to limit the current).
The minimag bulb is at 200ma or so, for a total power of around 250mw.

Comparing the brightness.
At one position in focus, the minimag will produce a more or less circular
beam with fairly even illumination.
Both this and the LED produce a beam with most of the light in the middle,
and a very obvious "edge".

Comparing the sizes of these beams against a surface when they look the
same brightness, the LED light is a whole lot bluer, and around twice
as bright. (produces a beam 1.4 times the size at the same appaerent
brightness in a dark room)
Indicating that the bulb may be only 40% as efficient as the LED.
I suspect the LED is not very efficient, but the bulb is terribly bad.

I'm trying at the moment to make a converter to allow me to put a luxeon
star into my AAA minimaglite.
This will give a brightness of around 12 times the original in high
power mode (and a battery life of halfA an hour with a NIMH cell) or
the same brightness with 2.5 times battery life (ten hours), as well
as a glow-worm "off" mode at 10uW to aid in finding it in the dark.

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Michael Black

) about 'LED flashlight from Wal-Mart', on Sat, 15 Nov 2003:

I thought Maglites were an affectation, until I was given one last
Christmas. It's a two AA model, and it is wonderful.

The six D-cell model is also popular in some circles. "Weapon, officer?
What weapon?" (;-)

 

[Joel Kolstad]

How do these LED jobs compare to the good old mini Maglite?

This 'job' here: http://store.yahoo.com/flashlight/arcaaa.html -- Beats the
Maglite Solitaire hands-down. In fact, Maglite actually sued the
manufacturer, Arc Flashlight, ostensibly based on the Arc-AAA using the same
style of identification (flashlight model # engraved circumferentially
around the top of the light) and therefore potentially confusing people, but
a lot of people (including myself) think it was more a case of Maglite
thinking it'd be easier to sue the competition out of existance rather than
competing.

---Joel Kolstad

 

[Ian Stirling]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Michael Black



The six D-cell model is also popular in some circles. "Weapon, officer?
What weapon?" (;-)

Stick full-sized NiCd cells in it, add a rope, and you can throw it over
a branch to make a quick vertical exit

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Michael Black



The six D-cell model is also popular in some circles. "Weapon, officer?
What weapon?" (;-)

The police are already ahead of us on that one. Ever see how they hold
their flashlights up near the bulb end and over their shoulders when
they're pointing them at someone.

P.S. John, my spelling checker keeps suggesting the word 'Widget' for
your last name. Pardon me in advance if one day I accidentally click
'OK'. ;-)

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

It must have some sort of DCC converter to run a white LED from 1.5 V.

Yes. I have a single 'AA' powered unit and it has a tiny boost
converter, inductor and all
in the unit.

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Paul Hovnanian P.E.
'LED flashlight from Wal-Mart', on Sat, 15 Nov 2003:

John, my spelling checker keeps suggesting the word 'Widget' for
your last name. Pardon me in advance if one day I accidentally click
'OK'. ;-)

I know about that. Spelling checkers world-wide have got it in for me.
The initials of my company name, JMWA, cause Word97 to suggest 'dimwit'.

 

[LameDuck]

I bought an indentured servant from Wal-Mart.
Apparently they have several trailers loads
that they needed to get rid of...

 

[Fred Abse]

I bought an indentured servant from Wal-Mart

I thought that sort of thing ended with the Civil War

Is there *anything* you can't get at Wal-Mart?

 

[Richard Henry]

I thought that sort of thing ended with the Civil War

Is there *anything* you can't get at Wal-Mart?

Just this seek I had to go to the hardware store across the street because
WM did not have any 16" drill bits.

 

[Jeff]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Paul Hovnanian P.E.
'LED flashlight from Wal-Mart', on Sat, 15 Nov 2003:



I know about that. Spelling checkers world-wide have got it in for me.
The initials of my company name, JMWA, cause Word97 to suggest 'dimwit'.

My favourite spell checker mistake is "rectum fryer" instead of "rectifier".
I saw it happen a few times here over the years!