On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:53:27 -0400, Stormin Mormon wrote:
[squeeze lights]
CY: You can get em on Ebay, in quantity down near about a
buck each, post paid.

Think I got mine free with something, so no big deal, but I wouldn't pay
for one...

Similiarly unimpressed with my 3-cell LED Mag; light output is crap.

CY: The base is an electrical connection. Screw the butt cap off,
slightly sand the end of the tube, and where the end of the tube matches
the butt cap. Sometimes they over anodize the tubes or butt caps.

Hmm, just tried, doesn't seem to be any different - but then it's still
daylight here and the issue only really showed up in pitch black
larger spaces compared to my other Mag.

Seems that the LED is a little module, so I might be able to just drop a
4.5V incandescent in there... (I don't like the blueish colour of the
light anyway, as it seems to make shadows too strong at night)

CY: They do make belt holders. You can get the belt loop, and drywall
screw the belt loop to the wall.

Hmm, I'll take a look (assuming they hold the light with the bright end
pointing downward, which I think would be more useful - hang it from a
nail on the wall etc. while doing stuff)

spare bulb out, drill, thread, and put a nut on the inside of the cap.
Might not have enough space for the spare bulb, then.

If the 3-cell's anything to go by (my 2-cell's up in the 'shop and it's
snowing and I'm lazy then there should be space I think. I imagine
they're the same base design.

I have a big ol' oil lamp for that, and so far have managed not to burn
the tent down

CY: You da man!

Sentimental reasons - it was my grandfathers. Spent ages as a kid
stripping it down, patching the holes in the tank and respraying it. Then
I bust the glass and it took another few years before I stumbled across
another basket-case donor in the same style. The wick came from the strap
from some ancient cloth bag or other :-)

Talking of which, I had a homebrew lamp made from a car headlight
grafted onto the body of a cordless drill

CY: Now, that's frieking brilliant (no joke). Very clever idea. And the
12 volt battery would be rechargable.

Yeah, I decided I loathed cordless power tools, plus I was looking for a
nice little compact motor for some robotics project at the time, so
killing the drill was a no-brainer. I had some spare round headlights
from classic car shenanigans, and it took hardly any time to mate one up
to the body of the drill. I was doing a whole pile of urban exploration
stuff and the like at the time, so it came in handy - amazed I never bust
the glass front on the headlight, though!

Nice thing about it was that it'd gradually dim when the battery was going
flat; I had one of those 10,000 candle-power lamps and that'd go from
bright to dead within only a few seconds - and it's often useful to have a
bit more warning when your main light's about to crap out on you :-)

I had a six volt hand held
spotlamp, the gel cell battery went dead. Wired it to alkaline lantern
battery, and works fine again. Carbon lantern battery did not provide
enough power.

That works :-)

cheers

Jules