I made the mistake of ordering this "miracle flashlight". I cant tell you how disappointed I was in it. It puts out very little light, and use's two very anemic "light emiting bulbs. this thing was virtually useless. I sent it back for a refund. dont make the mistake of ordering this worthless light.

-- ed (edrider007@aol.com), August 29, 1999

Answers

Dont buy Y2k stuff off of idiots. Do you need supplies, then buy them locally from stores you shop at.

-- scam watcher (scam=watcher@dontripmeoff.com), August 29, 1999.

Speaking of scams around Y2K.

The local news just reported an internet scam around silver certificates issued for redemption at three local outlets, when the currency fails next year. Many people apparently bought these worthless documents, only to find the perp's actually live in Florida. Totally sickening, but as WC Fields aptly says, "there's a sucker born every minute." Not directed at anyone in particular, just the mindset of perpetrators and of victims.

Also, the news reminded us of Special K's spin ...again,...and again...and

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), August 29, 1999.

p.t. Barnam said "theres a sucker born every minuet" W.c.Fields said "go away kid,ya bother me"

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), August 29, 1999.

This looks like a job for LED-Man!!!

[Cue SuperHero music, cue OddOne in tights swooping in...]

Seriously, folks, LEDs really don't put out much light in small numbers. My (admittedly really bad) eyes tell me that six LEDs is the bare minimum, 18 is passable as a flashlight for reasonably close distances, and I use a 36-LED array on my prototype LED module (E- mail me if you're curious; I don't want to post a link in-forum), which is enough to illuminate a decent-sized room if properly aimed to diffuse off the ceiling.

If the flashlight or whatever uses less than six LEDs I'd look for something different.

The ever famous LED wrangler...

-- OddOne (mocklamer_1999@yahoo.com), August 29, 1999.

I wasn't aware of people scamming on LED flashlights, but I guess I'm not surprised.

Unfortunately people may have mistaken what is something that can be done cheaply, by electronics experimenters (Or at least people who know their way around a soldering iron), with a miracle cure for darkness.

I've put together a couple of LED flashlights, but they're strictly back-up....the "beats a blank" solution. They don't put out a lot of light, and aren't worth it, if you have to buy a commercial version. The cost of D.I.Y., if you have an old flashlight bulb lying around to sacrifice, is about 2 bucks or less ( I had the Jumbo yellow LEDs on hand, so I don't remember the exact price)

-- Bokonon (bok0non@my-Deja.com), August 29, 1999.

Michael, before you let the government tell you that this is a scam check out this website and read up on how the government is scamming YOU!

www.norfed.org

-- Fox (ardrinc@aol.com), August 29, 1999.

Just to let you know, C. Crane is a very reputable supplier of radios and such. I would suspect that they will take your experience and return very seriously. They are not generally considered "idiots". I just don't want to see a good company trashed by this one experience you have had (that they did take care of, right?). Good luck.

-- Kristi (securxsys@cs.com), August 29, 1999.

Bokonon or OddOne: What is the lumens difference between the yellow and white LED? How do you wire them in a circuit, with a pull up resistor? Is 3V optimum?

-- a (a@a.a), August 29, 1999.

a,

I used a 45 ohm resistor to drop it a little under 3v. I've never had an LED burn out, but since this is a survival item, I figure why chance it. As to the lumens difference, I don't really know. As I said, I had the yellow Jumbos on hand, so I used them. I've heard the whites are a little brighter, but I'm keeping my preps to items on hand as much as possible. I wasn't really looking for brightness - it was the low current drain I was after. Your batteries will last longer with an LED, than even with the lowest amperage GOW or GOR bulb. When the battery supply gets low, I plan on switching over to the LED bulbs, to stretch them out.

I came up with what I think is a pretty nifty trick for putting the resistor between the battery and the bulb. I posted it in the prep forum, about a month ago, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to find, since it was on someone else's thread. Basically it involves soldering each of the leads of the resistor to two copper disks (I think pennies would work, in a pinch). You sandwich a piece of cardboard or plastic, that is cut in a circle the same diameter as the batteries, between the two copper disks, as an insulator. You put this on top of your battery stack and then screw the lense and lamp assembly back in. This is a helluva lot easier than trying to fit even a 1/4 watt resistor into the lamp base. I came up with the idea, because I only had 1/2 watt 47 ohm resistors on hand, and there was no way those suckers were going to fit into the lamp base. I have given it a good "jostle" test to make sure the resistor disk didn't slip out of place, and it seems to hold.

I'm not really an electronics whiz, I've just fooled around with a few circuits. Cookbook stuff, basically. Some timers, some power supplies, played around with flip-flops, that sort of thing. But powering an LED is really the low end of high tech, so why go out and buy what you can D.I.Y.?

-- Bokonon (Bok0non@my-Deja.com), August 30, 1999.

Not to take the light away from LED's

But last week I found the perfect lightbulb for my solar/inverter setup. I have installed the cables and lightfixtures yesterday and will finish today with the rest.

What do I talk about?

I found 5 and 7 watts lightbulbs that run on 110 and fit into a regular socket.

I have replaced most light fixtures in the house with a 2 or 3 bulb fixture that is under a glas dome. One of the sockets will be wired to a seperate run of # 14 cable that is attached trough a switch box with the solar/inverter setup. This way I can use the regular fixtures to light the house. We do not need much light just enugh to see what we need in the dark. I am planing to replace the regular light switches with a 2 pole switch this way the bulbs can be turned on with the same switch. But I don't know if I will have enugh time to do so.

-- justme (justme@justme.net), August 30, 1999.