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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / January 2006In need of a good emergency flashlight to carry in trunk
Last night when I went to use my flashlight hidden in the trunk it failed to work due to leaky batteries and subsequent corrosion. This seems to be a pattern for my unused flashlights. They all seem to be non-working due to corrosion of the batteries. One Ray-O-Vac that had *supposedly* leak-proof batteries went back to Ray-O-Vac because they did leak. They replaced it, but it was still an annoying pain to go through. Does anyone make an emergency flashlight that can be depended on working if it is in storage for any length of time? Tia. B~ > Last night when I went to use my flashlight hidden in the trunk it failed to > work due to leaky batteries and subsequent corrosion. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > B~ No battery will last indefinitely. But I can tell you that my ordinary old Mag-Lite with 4 Duracell "D" cells still works (albeit a bit dimly) after 2 years in storage. No corrosion, either which frankly surprised me. Name-brand alkaline batteries (Duracell, Energizer) in one of the modern LED flashlights would probably give you the longest possible combined use/storage life. But you simply can't throw it in a car and expect it to be fine 5 years later. Just won't happen. Disclaimers: Posting formulated from unscientific observations. May contain small-sample statistics and other fallacies. May have been written by nuts. But anyway... Is it just me, or does the trend in alkalines seem to be toward greater and quicker corrosion, after a window of several years in which we really didn't have to worry about it too much? I gather that progress in dry-cell innards has been ongoing (at least in some chosen parts of their complicated parameter space), and in particular they have been trying to weed out certain environmental nasties. This may have something to do with it. If you really want long shelf life, try the local police supply store in search of "tactical" flashlights. Expect extreme brightness and shocking purchase price. Me, I exercise the regular sort and rotate them through progressively less critical uses, when it comes to car flashlights. I have started to see this lithium battery technology in some civilian products (e.g., ten-year 9V batteries meant particularly for smoke detectors) and it may have filtered into C and D cells by now -- presumably at a higher price, of course. (At least one car flashlight belongs in the passenger compartment anyway, for two reasons. One, there are times and places when you need to have it in your hand, lit up, and waggling around in the general direction of trouble before you get out of the car. Two, they work brighter and better when warm. The trunk is of course a great place for an extra flashlight.) Followup back to rec.autos.tech after a detour through some electronics and consumer newsgroups in search of people who know more than I do about batteries (not to damn them with faint praise). --Joe > Disclaimers: Posting formulated from unscientific observations. May > contain small-sample statistics and other fallacies. May have been [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > and consumer newsgroups in search of people who know more than I do > about batteries (not to damn them with faint praise). I put misc.consumers back, I stopped reading r.a.t long ago. Consider a wind-up flashlight. I missed the one at Kohl's for $12, which promised an hour of light for a minute of winding. I was going to buy several of them, but they were out. The 99-Cents-Only Store has some cute LED keyring flashlights that use three button batteries -- a decent price for the batteries even if you don't want the flashlight.  SignatureCheers, Bev =================================================================== "If your mechanic claims that he stands behind his brake jobs, keep looking. You want to find one willing to stand in front of them." -- B. Ward Get yourself a three- or four-cell Maglite, and keep it in the passenger compartment with you, not in the trunk. Not only are maglites damned good flashlights, but they can be used (or threatened to be used) as bludgeons in the event of roadside confrontations. And unlike other weapons, they aren't illegal to have in the car with you. Geoff Signature"You know, 'elitist' has an actual meaning. Using it as a generic pejorative only betrays your political leanings _and_ makes you look like a moron, to boot." -- John S. Novak > Get yourself a three- or four-cell Maglite, and keep it in the > passenger compartment with you, not in the trunk. Not only are [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Geoff Better yet, get a LED flashlight. The batteries last a lot longer in an LED flashlight, and the LED flashlight is brighter anyway. LED would be best for emergency use, unless you use a crank-charged flashlight or one that plugs into the cigarette socket in the car. Any mag-lite would be practically guaranteed to have dead batteries when you NEED it. (AFAIK, mag-lite hasn't produced an LED flashlight YET) But the LED flashlights will continue to produce useful light even when the batteries are almost dead, as they require very low voltage and low current to produce light. One example follows. -Dave http://mvp.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1960262 > Better yet, get a LED flashlight. The batteries last a lot longer in an LED > flashlight, and the LED flashlight is brighter anyway. I disagree with the last statement. LED flashlights aren't nearly as bright as a Mag-Lite. Nowhere close (and I own both kinds). They are beginning to get close to having the same light intensity in the "hot spot," but what they lack is anything like the amount of fill-light around the hot-spot that a Mag-Lite has. Plus Mag-lites can be focused for a tight hot-spot, or nothing BUT fill light. LED would be best > for emergency use, unless you use a crank-charged flashlight or one that > plugs into the cigarette socket in the car. Any mag-lite would be > practically guaranteed to have dead batteries when you NEED it. Like I said the other day- I've got a 2-year data point with a stored Mag-Lite with Duracells. > Like I said the other day- I've got a 2-year data point with a stored > Mag-Lite with Duracells. I can't count the number of times over the past 30 years I've had to pound dead D cells out of the Mag-Lites in the three family cars (yeah, they should have been checked on schedule, but in real life...). For that reason, we're trying out lithium-battery LED lights for those "stored indefinitely, gotta be there when you need it" applications (vehicles, bug-out-bags). The 1-watt Luxeon LED lights sold in the two-pack at Costco are the current candidates, with the alkaline AAs replaced with lithiums. A less bright light that works when finally needed is infinitely preferable to a bright light that's gone dead. SignatureSt. John It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this. -Bertrand Russell >> Get yourself a three- or four-cell Maglite, and keep it in the >> passenger compartment with you, not in the trunk. Not only are [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >Better yet, get a LED flashlight. The batteries last a lot longer in an >LED flashlight, Largely true, and mostly from LEDs not losing energy efficiency the way incandescents do when underpowered. > and the LED flashlight is brighter anyway. Usually not true. Make sure yours will give you enough light, although that is probably not much of an obstacle. > LED would be best for emergency use, unless you use a crank-charged >flashlight or one that plugs into the cigarette socket in the car. There are LED flashlights that have generators in them activated by shaking them. They have capacitors to store this energy. Better ones, after half a minute of shaking, can give 20 minutes of light. Since they have only one 5-mm traditional-style LED, they will not be as bright as most non-LED flashlights, but the latest versions have the LED efficient enough to be fairly useful. Beware of dollar store versions. I have seen two $2 versions where the magnet is fake, the coil is a decoy, and the only item storing energy is a bvank of batteries of a non-rechargeable type. I did see an especially good "shake flashlight" at Target today for $40. It will not be as bright as a Mag Light with good batteries, but it should be twice as bright as the $10-$15 shake flashlights, and the $10-$15 shake flashlights are not outright useless (although some don't run long when you stop shaking). Caution with shake flashlights in general, and especially the $40 one at Target: These have "rare earth" magnets that can scramble tapes, discs, credit cards and ATM cards, etc., maybe even 2-3 inches away. And the $40 one at Target has two magnets besides the movable one to improve shaking ergonomics. > Any mag-lite would be practically guaranteed to have dead batteries when > you NEED it. All too often true! Most Dorcy LED models and most Lightwave models and probably a majority of other LED flashlights will work usefully when the batteries are so weak as to make an incandescent flashlight bulb only 1/4 as bright as an idling cigarette. In this area, I especially like an older Dorcy model which is a short and stubby thing that looks like it should take 1 D-cel, but actually takes 4 AA cells. This thing will work somewhat if one of the AA cells has completely lost all voltage as long as such a cell that bad has not lost all conductivity. Best to use AA cells with impressive dates for "good until". > (AFAIK, mag-lite hasn't produced an LED flashlight YET) Turns out, Mag is not in the LED business, but appears to do well by sitting pretty while others sell LED retrofits for their flashlights. Check out (as well as for tone of other stuff, but a good half being LED flashlights): http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/ledleft.htm (That URL does lack a www. - this is not a typo.) > But the LED flashlights will continue to produce useful light even when > the batteries are almost dead, as they require very low voltage and low >current to produce light. There is some voltage requirement, but LEDs make enough light to form a slightly, sometimes somewhat useful beam at less than 1/20 the current necessary to get most incandescent flashlight bulbs glowing so brightly as 1 percent of the brightness of an average idling cigarette. >One example follows. -Dave > >http://mvp.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1960262 Good work! Also check out: Target - they sell a fair number of LED flashlights now. http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/ledleft.htm (mentioned above) http://www.theledlight.com/LEDFlashlights.html Lightwave products - specifically their 2000, 2100, 3000 and 4000. I know these as examples that are good at "conserving energy" as their batteries weaken. Although the 2000, 2100, 3000 and 4000 are 3-cell products and will be very dim at most if once cell has complete loss of voltage (which is not common when complete loss of voltage from one cell causes a complete loss of current flow). Pelican LED models - higher brightness with many having regulation circuitry, although that takes away much (but not all) of the battery life advantage. - Don Klipstein (don@misty.com) > Turns out, Mag is not in the LED business, but appears to do well by >sitting pretty while others sell LED retrofits for their flashlights. I got some spam from them recently indicating they're about to make a move into LEDs. One of my 3D Mags has a 32 LED replacement head. Once accidentally left it on overnight. Seemed just a bright. "Best" LED flashlight I've found for emergency use is a 10 LED 3AAA offered as a "free" gift on my credit card bill response envelope. I hate to encourage that sort of business. I figured it's just cheap China crap so someone else probably sells the same thing, but I looked around for awhile and never found anyone. At $8 final cost the illumination and ergonomics were good enough to justify stowing away several. Unfortunately, they went to $10 before I could stock up and might be even higher now. m > "Best" LED flashlight I've found for emergency use is a 10 LED 3AAA > offered as a "free" gift on my credit card bill response envelope. > I hate to encourage that sort of business. I figured it's just cheap > China crap so someone else probably sells the same thing, but I looked > around for awhile and never found anyone. I bought a few of those off of ebay. it is cheap China crap, but it still works pretty good. You just have to be careful changing the batteries, or a little spring will fall out. No big deal, easy to fix . . . unless you lose the spring. :) -Dave >> "Best" LED flashlight I've found for emergency use is a 10 LED 3AAA >> offered as a "free" gift on my credit card bill response envelope. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >little spring will fall out. No big deal, easy to fix . . . unless you lose >the spring. :) -Dave You wouldn't happen to have an item number that's still in their system? I searched again and still can't find the same thing. FWIW, I typoed before--3AA, not 3AAA. m >> Last night when I went to use my flashlight hidden in the trunk it failed to >> work due to leaky batteries and subsequent corrosion. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >use/storage life. But you simply can't throw it in a car and expect it >to be fine 5 years later. Just won't happen. IMO, better idea is to get an inexpensive work light that plugs into the accessories socket on the dashboard. These are available at all the *auto stores* and you don't have to worry about anything like batteries leaking or going dead. Lg > inexpensive work light that plugs into the accessories socket on the dashboard Those are great in their place (I've got one that also has a red flasher and an air compressor). But you need something that (a) doesn't tether you to a power cord and (b) has its own power supply so you have light even if your battery is kaput. Aside from the usual flat battery syndrome we've all encountered, I've seen complete electrical system failure enough times to want to have Plan B in the glove compartment or door pocket. Now the question that's been bothering me is this... I've got one Maglite (a foundling) that used to have corrosion problems, and a couple that don't; and the Duracells in the pantry have a supposed expiration date of 2011. I have this halfbaked theory that a frequent source of corrosion is trivial leakage current, usually across the exterior of batteries (since the device itself is turned off). What do you think of that? --Joe They do make a battery-less flashlight nowadays which uses a coil and magnet system which charges the unit up when one shakes it several times. IMHO though I think RayOvac batteries are the worst. You could keep the batteries outof the flashlight until you need them and perhaps store them in a zip lockbag in your emergency "kit" or glovebox while inspecting them periodically to insure they will be ready when you need them. The name of the shake-light thing is some Faraday-Light or some such. > Last night when I went to use my flashlight hidden in the trunk it failed > to work due to leaky batteries and subsequent corrosion. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > B~ > They do make a battery-less flashlight nowadays which uses a coil and magnet > > The name of the shake-light thing is some Faraday-Light or some such. I bought a windup flash light for one of the grandchildren for Christmas. You get an advertised 30 minutes of light with a one minute wind. Seemed to work well. > They do make a battery-less flashlight nowadays which uses a coil and > magnet system which charges the unit up when one shakes it several times. > IMHO though I think RayOvac batteries are the worst. >snip< I'd have to agree. RayOvacs were about the only source my dad had for our country store during the 50's and 60's. First part of those years we got decent service; then they went to pot. My personal experience in recent years seems to support your theory. Kinda like buying an up-to-date computer--better hurry home & use it before it becomes obsolete, or in R'Vac's case until shelf-life kills it. s I got a shake light for Christmas. I thought it was a joke at first, but it actually works. It is not going to blind anyone, but the batteries aren't going to be dead either. It looks like it will be useful for emergency illumination (at least while I find a real flashlight:)). Ed > Does anyone make an emergency flashlight that can be depended on working if > it is in storage for any length of time? Streamlight Twin-Task 1 cell lithium Streamlight Twin-Task 2 cell lithium Streamlight Luxeon LED Task-Light - 2 Cell Lithium Flashlight Buy from "http://www.swps.com/51008.html" The shelf life of the lithium batteries is about ten years. "http://www.streamlight.com/tasklight_specifications.htm" I've purchased the one cell lithium flashlights for $10 on sale at Fry's, though last time I saw them in an ad they were $15. >Last night when I went to use my flashlight hidden in the trunk it failed to >work due to leaky batteries and subsequent corrosion. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >B~ Search the Interenet for "coil flashlight" and you'll find items like this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5a9f |
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