Re: Flashlight Bulbs

Don, your excellent points are duly noted, but my original question
remains valid. Which slightly modified reads, given that there of tense
of millions of 2 D-cell flashights as a market, why are conventional
PR-2 bulbs no longer generally available, while the batteries
themselves readily are?

I suspect that the reason is three-fold. First, the PR-2 bulbs worked
very well and lasted a long time (unless dropped while burning) -- I
would guess based on my experience 8-10 years as an average. Second,
compared to a Krypton bulb, PR-2 bulbs are incredibly cheap when
available -- Krypton bulbs are expensive (and based again on my
personal experience) don't last very long. (I've tossed out 3 Krypton
flashlights because both the flashlights and their bulbs turned out to
be total crap and unreliable, while like the Energizer Bunny the old
Rayovac contractor' model flashlight keep going and going! That's why
all contractors who require a reliable and rugged flashlight keep using
them). Thirdly, newer is not always better -- This is why contractors,
utility meter readers, and others who need a reliable flashlight stick
to the tried and proven old reliables, which mostly use PR-2 bulbs --
on in the case of 6-volt lanterns the PR-13 version.

Ask any old design engineer and he/she will likely share with you two
saying, first "Better is the enemy of good." Second, "If it ain't
broke, don't fix it!"

In a flashlight, reliability and dependability is far more important
that state-of-the-art performance!

Harry C.




Don Klipstein wrote:
In article <1158963097.160469.306070@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
hhc314@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
John posted: "Isn't that the century old device that we replace with an
LED? "

John, almost but not quite. The LED flahlights are nice, but limited in
their utility. I'd guess that the problem with them is that they are
too monochromatic,

Ever see the white ones? Ever see their spectra? Well, the usual white
LEDs are not perfect, but they are a good enough kind of "white" to
improve upon "cool white" fluorescents in terms of color rendering index!

plus they tend not to throw sufficient lumens.

There are now some that I see as defeating such a claim! Such as most
and maybe all Pelican "Recoil" models, and for that matter a large
majority of units having a single LED rated at least "1 watt"? Even the
Dorcy brand ones I have seen at Target with "1-watt" LEDs? And almost all
others that rightfully say that the LED is a "Luxeon" one even if they do
not mention wattage?

This makes them a bad match for practical illumination for a human
eyeball. :-)

That has not been my experience!

For emegency lighting and close work in dark surrounding, I far prefer
my old Rayovac flashlight with its PR-2 bulb.

Drop it when it is on and the bulb has some fair chance of getting
killed as dead as bugs die in Raid commercials!

Same for Mag lights with incandescent bulbs, even though the rest of the
flashlight can probably survive getting over by an 18-wheeler!

For serious power outages I still use a Bernzomatic propane lantern with
its radioactive gas mantle. No homeowner should be without one of these.
It provides equivalent illumination as the Coleman gasoline powered
things, but without the mess or the fumes. Mine is still functioning on
the cylinder of propane that I purchased back around 1975, and you would
be surprised to learn how often it has been used. (Do they even sell
these things today?)

They are now making mantles non-radioactive (and slightly inferior to
the old ones that were/are only mildly radioactive).
Meanwhile, I have on hand enough batteries, LEDs, resistors, flashlights
(mostly LED ones), to not be wanting for light! Just try putting almost
any Pelican LED model, any model with a "Luxeon" or any other LED at least
1 watt or even a Lightwave 3000 ***-first into a coffee mug to make a
nice illuminating spot on the ceiling! It is a step below a gas mantle
lamp with a propane tank, but what will be reasonably purchasable to put
in every room that has high cance of desiring light when a bad power
failure hits?

An advantage of LED flashlights is that most tend to go into "energy
conservation mode" when the batteries weaken - especially if the batteries
are disposable alkalines! When a propane tank gets depleted, it is
depleted! And incandescent lamps have efficiency decreasing greatly when
underpowered, and I find this to be the biggest reason why LED flashlights
(and bicycle lights) can claim so much longer battery runtime!

When the electricity has been out for more than 4 hours, it's time to
haul an old no-name 3-Kw generator out to the driveway and connect it
to the house with the so called "suicide cord", of course making sure
that first the main breaker to the house has been turned off. In years
past this old rig has powered the house for sometimes 3 or 4 days at a
time (in Fairport, NY during winter). It can get pretty cold in
Fairport, NY, and many of the furnaces don't run without electricity.
:-)

As a high-tech guy myself, I learned to distrust modern technology --
It works great when it works, but in a pinch trust the old tried and
proven methods.

I am considering the LED flashlights that have proven themselves to be
in the cream at the top or close to that to have adequately proven their
superiority over incandescent ones. Mainly, when batteries weaken, at
half of full current an incandescent flashlight "lamp" ("bulb") is dimmed
to in or almost in "cigarette glow" category, while LEDs do not lose
efficiency that badly when underpowered. Heck, most white LEDs have a
slight gain in efficiency from mild, moderate and moderately severe
underpowering!
Give a white LED 20% of rated current, and look forward to often
somewhere around 22% of "full" light output! Give your favorite
krypton-filled incandescent flashlight lamp 20% of "full normal" current,
and expect light output to be somewhere between "dim side of idling
cigarette" and that of a cockroach that has endured (but not survived) a
"Raid" commercial!

- Don Klipstein (don@xxxxxxxxx)

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