1-AAA or AA LED flashlight?

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Anyone know any commercially avail. 1AAA or 1AA led flashlights? TIA...

-- Zygote (zygote1@zygote1.zygote1), December 17, 1999

Answers

I've seen some el cheapos (single AA) at the checkout line at either K-Mart or a similar store.

It should make a nice platform for a white LED flashlight if you use several LEDs and two of the small 6 volt lithium batteries in series.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 17, 1999.


Let me correct what I said: the flashlights I saw were *not* LED flashlights, they were conventional bulb flashlights.

I don't believe you'll have a lot of success running an LED off a single 1.5 volt cell.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 17, 1999.


Last summer I saw some "toy" flashlights that might be what you are looking for. Check out the low end section of K-B Toys or Toys R Us.

Also, knick-knack stores might have something like that. Hit the under $2.00 bins. I *think* I saw some LED squeeze lights. I don't know what battery they use. These are not White LEDs, these use the much cheaper red or yellow LEDs.

The problem with flashlights is the &%&$&@ switch.

The high end camping stores sell really nice white and blue LED lights but these run $20 and up.

Final plug, check out WRP 133 on the drawing for some free white LED kits.

-- cory (kiyoinc@ibm.XOUT.net), December 17, 1999.


Zygote,

Best that I know of are from Ledtronics (310) 534 1505. I think Jade Mountain's lights are from Ledtronics; you can buy straight from Ledtronics, but I think you have to buy a bunch. The price per light is cheaper, though.

-- eve (123@4567.com), December 17, 1999.


I purchased a red-led unit from this person: http://www.stpaulmercantile.com/deltalit.htm but he doesn't have that listed anymore. The white ones seems nice, but will naturally be more expensive than the mass-produced standard bulb lights. Have purchased a number of items from this vendor, and always satisfied.

-- Ford Prefect (bring@your.towel), December 17, 1999.


For the Do-it-yourselfer...

I found a 20 led light strand (Christmas lights) that run off 2 "C" batteries at Wal-Mart for about $4.00. These led lights have a nice little socket (common Christmas tree light type). I bought 5 strands, that's 100 led bulbs for about $20.00!!!

Be advised, these are red led lights enclosed inside a plastic "red cherry" covering. Took me about an hour to cut/break the cover off one light. Even then, the led bulb was not as bright as a 1600 mcd. Still, the red led bulb IS bright enough to be useful in a flash light or better, in a panel, IMHO.

I installed two new "C" batteries and these 20 lights are still glowing after 60 straight hours being "on". However, I noticed a drop in brightness after the first 12 hours or so. Don't yet know what volt these individual led lights are. (Still have some experimenting to do.)

Look for these lights in the Christmas Decoration section. One hunderd led light bulbs for $20.00, you can't go wrong!

Enjoy!

-- GoldReal (GoldReal@aol.com), December 17, 1999.


The White LEDs need 4.5V or so (3 batteries) due to the higher voltage requirement of the LED. So-called "White" LEDs are actually blue - the epoxy does some sort of filtering.

Oracle/red LEDs (a lower frequency of light) can operate at lower voltages.

-- Anonymous999 (Anonymous999@Anonymous999.xxx), December 17, 1999.


Oracle

Make that ORANGE!

DOH!

-- Anonymous999 (Anonymous999@Anonymous999.xxx), December 17, 1999.


I just bought a Brinkman Endura lawn accent light with a little solar panel for recharging the AA nicad battery used to power a single white LED. Seems to work pretty well, battery not working at full capacity yet but produces an approx. 3 foot circle of soft glowing light (pretty good reflector on it) and I use it when I milk my goat after dark and could read labels on items stored in our lawn shed at night. Simple, under $20 at Walmart and also has a wall bracket so yuo can set it up as a torch. I am sure there are "better" setups but this one looks like it will work for us - I need to think about how to keep all my little rechargeables charged even on cloudy days... hmmmm cig. lighter adaptor for charger.....

-- Kristi (securxsys@cs.com), December 17, 1999.

Zygote,

The problem is that LEDs (at least all the ones I've seen), operate at a higher voltage than a single AA or AAA baterry will put out. The cheap, readily available jumdo yellow ones from Radio Shack (6000mcd, $2.95, item #276-205) have a forward voltage rating of 2.8v. They won't even glow dimly, at the 1.5 volts put out by one alkaline AA or AAA. The white LEDs that I've seen are rated at even higher voltages (4 and up).

You might be able to rig something up using lithium batteries that are small enough to fit inside a single battey flashlight case, but these are considerably more expensive, than regular alkalines. Plus you might have to do some hunting around to find just the right battery size, and time does appear to be a tad short.

I have seen some fairly tiny flashlights that work on two AAA's. So I'd start with one of those. Remember that the one drawback to LED lights, is that they are much more sensitive to incorrect voltage, than incandescent bulbs. Even being a few tenths of a volt over-voltage will drastically shorten the life of the LED. If you use the RS Jumbo Yellow LED, you need to use a resistor to drop the 3 volts of the batteries to the 2.8v the LED needs. 10ohms of resistance is more than enough, but RS doesn't sell a 10ohm in the tiny 1/4 watt size needed. It you connect two 22ohm 1/4 watt resistors in parallel, you will get 11ohms, which works great. However even a tiny 1/4 watt resistor, is pretty big, when you're talking such a teeny-tiny flashlight, so you'll probably need to have teeny-tiny fingers to pull off the conversion.

If you have the time, I'd go to RS or any electronics parts source, and look for the smallest plastic projects case you can find. Also get a baterry holder for two AAA batteries a jumbo Yellow LED, the proper resistor(s) and a recessed push button switch. The LED I'm referring to is focused, so it doesn't need a reflector. It can just be sticking out thru a hole in the case. The finished project will fit nicely in your pocket. And as an added bonus, it will look sort of like a phaser, from Star Trek(G).

-- Bokonon (bok0non@my-Deja.com), December 17, 1999.



Why don't you just get flourescent bulbs? They pull less power than standard bulbs.

Whats the big obsession with LED's? After all they are just diodes that emit light, and not very bright light at that. Nothing majical about them except someone got a truckload of them and has been trying to offload them on people.

Their common use is a signal lamps, I have never known anyone who would try to use them for lighting an area, it doesn't make sense. Next thing you know someone will be trying to pass off zeners.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), December 17, 1999.


"Whats the big obsession with LED's? After all they are just diodes that emit light, and not very bright light at that. Nothing majical about them except someone got a truckload of them and has been trying to offload them on people."

"Their common use is a signal lamps, I have never known anyone who would try to use them for lighting an area, it doesn't make sense."

This type of stuff really bugs me. People with no knowledge about something spout off about it in spite of that fact.

I've used LED lighting for a few years now. The Nichia white LEDs I use put out 6 candella of white light for 30 milliamps of current. This is about 100 times the light output of the low output LEDs used for panel indicator lamps. A 3 LED light on the ceiling in my trailer provides a very useful amount of light of 1/3 of a watt of electricity. I also have efficient compact fluorescent lights but sometimes I don't need that much light (or want to use 45X the power). The 3 LED light has the LEDs pointed in different directions to provide a navigation level of lighting; down the hall, on my kitchen counter and onto a bedside table. A second LED lamp on the ceiling, which I use as a reading lamp, has all 3 LEDs pointed down to a desk where I like to read at night and is quite sufficient for the task. I reviewed a LED area lamp a few years ago which used 36 white LEDs and used about 4 watts of power to provide light equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb.

I live off the grid and make my own power so every watt counts. With potential Y2K problems with power looming many people are trying to figure out how to get the most benefit with a limited amount of power. A second consideration is using subdued lighting to avoid standing out in a blacked out neighborhood. LEDs fill the bill here since they focus the majority of their light output in a small area.

Using three of my 3 LED lights (consuming a bit less than a watt) I can get 600 hours of light draining the 100ah battery in my small DC solar power system to 50%. That's 10 hours of light per day for 60 days (and probably more since the discharge hour rate is so low). Another way to put it, I get about 50 hours burn time (for all 3 light units) for every hour of full sun on one of my solar panels.

Stick to the stuff you actually know something about.

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), December 17, 1999.


"Stick to the stuff you actually know something about"

Diodes are common circuit devices. They are used to ensure the direction of electron flow. They are used as a safety device to prevent the backflow of electrons if something shorts out. They are also used in rectifying AC to DC in bridge rectifiers.

Zeener diodes are useful because they block electron flow up to a predetermined voltage and when that limit is reached the voltage above that limit is allowed to pass.

I developed a piece of test equipment back in 1977 that used zeener diodes which would not light a lamp if the correct voltage was present, but would light a lamp from the overflow voltage of the saturated amplifier. This basic design is commonly used in many test "probes" today, there is even the one that you stick in you wall outlet to check for voltage. But then you know best don't you? As you say, I should stick to things I know something about~~~~ *snort* and you must be sooo much smarter then me to judge that I do not know what I'm talking about.... Oh, buy the way, the first "diodes" were in the form of vacume tubes.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), December 17, 1999.


check out this link:

http://www.glow-bug.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?page= flashlights.html&cart_id=1164791_7881

the "infinity" uses 1 AA.

-- xraydoc (rays@roentgen.com), December 17, 1999.


Dorcy makes a 1AAA 1 led flashlight. Reviewers have noted fresh alkaline batteries last about 3-1/2 hours. They are also reviewed as being 3 times as bright as a maglite solitaire 1AAA.

They are hard to find in retail stores. I got mine from allbattery.ca Canadian$15 + shipping. If you are not from Canada Froogle "Dorcy 1aaa led flashlight" They are listed at US$9.99

The light is much brighter than my Maglite, about the same as a 4AA Dorcy/Radio Shack led flashlight (The yellow barrel rubber end one). The spot is much wider than the 4AA flashlight making it more useful. Maglite about 3inch spot at 10feet when focussed. 4AA about 1foot 1AAA about 2feet

WARNING: Dorcy put shrinkwrap around the battery to keep it fresh. Unfortunately the wrap is not noticeable and will prevent the flashlight from running if you do not remove it before popping the battery in. All Battery threw in a couple extra batteries (non shrink wrapped in my package -maybe they were getting returns from people who did not notice thye shrinkwrap. I found out about the shrinkwrap from flashlight reviews and modifications) WARNING #2. You screw the cap on to turn on, unscrew to turn off. If you do not unscrew enough, pushing on the momentary tailcap button will turn the light on. I have unscrewed the tailcap to the point where pushing on the button does not turn the light on, then hit the button from a different angle and the light came on. So make sure you give it another half turn to preserve your battery. This applies to other Dorcy aluminium LED flashlights with the tailcap switch as well.

Dorcy makes a 1AA 3 LED flashlight too. From the pictures on the Dorcy website the head might be a bit too big to fit comfortably in a jeans pocket.

-- Adrian Chong (achong@zenon.com), June 28, 2004.



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