On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 09:01:33 GMT, Gunner
wrote:

On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 00:40:57 -0400, "John Keeney"
wrote:


"Gunner" wrote in message
. ..
If you folks come up with decent LED flashlights, or plans..the people
over on misc.survivalism would love to have some, as this is a regular
topic of discussion.

What constitutes a "decent LED flashlight", Gunner?
I've build a few that I gave friends in, umm, that work for
the government that they've found useful.

The "white LEDs" are, as was said, blue LEDs with phosphors.
I've fooled with using the base color LEDs combined to give
white light for some efficiency gain but juggling the different
voltages & outputs using surplus components (like I do) is a
pain.

Hummm lets see.
#1 Maximum brightness over a reasonable circle.
#2 Maximum battery life
#3 maximum ruggedness in the unit
#4 as compact as possible. (and water tight)

#5 batteries must be commonly available
#6 cost

CMG Infinity & Ultra Infinity.
1. Ultra Infinity white (reg infinity - colors)
2. 40+ hours
3. thick aluminum case, as thick or thicker than a minimag,
Con: Only waterproof to 10 feet. :-(
4. slightly longer than a "AA" battery
5. "AA" batts. (doesn't get any more common)
6. $12.95 to 16.95 @
http://www.botachtactical.com/cmgequipment.html
7. Hole machined into the end LARGE enough to pass paracord
through.

http://www.cmgequipment.com/products.html

Red: Historically used for preserving night vision, red light,
due to its wavelength, does not cause your pupils to constrict.
As a result, your peripheral vision is greater and your eyes do
not need to re-adjust when the red light is turned off.

White: A white light allows perfect color distinction, but can
cause pupils to dilate, making it more difficult to see outside
of the shining light and causing a longer re-adjustment period
once the light source is extinguished.

Yellow: A yellow light offers benefits of the red and white
lights. While providing reasonable color distinction, it allows
decent night vision. Another benefit of the yellow light is
reduced bounce-back and glare when reading, leading to less eye
strain.

Green: Like red, green light preserves night vision, but offers
additional benefits, including: 1) night vision equipment does
not easily detect green light, 2) ability to distinguish colors
such as yellow and red on a map or chart, and 3) the human eye
detects light in the green spectrum at a lower brightness
compared to a red light.

Blue: Blue is also used to read maps and is preferred by EMT's
and military personnel. Also, this color has a little wider angle
beam than the other colors.

Blue/Green: Similar night vision benefits to the green light and
the blue light. Some users prefer the blue/green light to either
of these.

Infra-Red: For use in conjunction with night vision equipment.
Non visible without the aid of this equipment.