Brillant Tool

Some guy invented a high power flash light that can ignight paper

www.break.com...


Would this be a great tool for survival you could see basicly like daylight in pitch dark and start a fire in seconds!

On one of those SURVIVAL shows on Discovery, the guy says that you can light a cigarette by putting it into the round silver reflector and hold it in the sunlight. Now, I need to try it to believe it, but if it works, the flashlight just became a bit more valuable.

First let me say damn that thing is bright. that would be really useful for signalling rescuers at night and for making a fire

Probably just a high resistance filament. I bet that thing eats through batteries.

And no, that's not a new invention. But it is a pretty cool toy!

Check out this video.

www.youtube.com...

extreme-geek.blogspot.com...

The trick is in the reflection, not the filament apparently.

[edit on 21-12-2006 by sardion2000]

yes..very intresting concept.

However in a survival situation you would not want a tool which is to high tech. Simple would be more like it. One not dependent on batteries. Where will you eventually get more batteries. Someone posted this already about the batteries.

A magnifying glass, Binoculars etc etc. Not dependent on technology.

Short term the thing to stash back in a cache is disposable lighters. Does anyone know what the shelf life is on them?? You can get them cheaply by the ten pack. This is still technology but not dependent on batteries. Hence the concept of a magnifying glass/binoculars or knowing how to use flint and dry tinder.

Ive heard that too about a flashlight reflector. Never tried it. I know a magnifying glass works. Keep several magnifying glasses around here. Binoculars too. Binoculars in the glove box of all my vehicles.

You know this flashlight they advertise that you shake and it produces light..it still charges a battery. I wonder however what the overall shelf life is of this unit. Does anyone have any idea?? Curious about this!!

Thanks,
Orangetom

the shelf life for the faraday torch (shake and charge) is 10 years without any activation. so you could stash a few for a rainy day no worries.

i'll get a link to the info later on, so you can have a look.

Shake and charge flashlights do not charge a battery. They charge a capacitor. Far easier to charge and a much longer life span. Super-capacitors are one direction in the future of battery technology.

Thanks for the info on the shaking flashlights. I am considering them for precisely that reason..long term storage. Not for immediate usage.

These flashlights are turning up more and more in the stores around here. You used to not see them so much a year ago.

As to these flashlights charging a capicator. I was taught that a battery is in fact a capacitor.

At least two conductors seperated by dialectic or insulating material. Mind you now capacitors come in multitudes of types and usages. What we call batterys also fit this definition..though they too come in a multitude of configurations.

Nevertheless the shelf life of this unit ..the shake and bake flashlight is what primarily concerns me. How long can you effeciently store one.

Thanks to all for their posts,
Orangetom

Here is my basic understanding of the difference between a Battery and a Capacitor: With a capacitor, unlike a battery , no chemical reaction is needed to free electrons for completion of a circuit. Or so I have been told.

The long term prospect of storing a shake and go flashlight is good provided that the electrical components are protected from environmantal factors that could degrade its capability to function. Keep it dry and it should last.

They sell a crank radio that has a built in light, colored light signal, siren, NOAA radio with a TV band together with an adaptor to recharge a cell phone. It can use batteries, AC or the crank.

Have you noticed how lighters are being sold with flashlights built in?

That whole flash light fire isn't that unreasonable. I work with lights called HMI's we use to simulate sunlight on movie sets and we have to be carful because they can burn a whole in a wall. the guys use them to light their smokes. mind you these are a bit bigger then the flash light but still the principle is there.

Very intresting flashlight but not something I would want to leave around my house for my nieces and nephews of which to get ahold. Or some of the neighbor kids. Not really something I would need all that much.

The shake and bake flashlight Is something I will investigate for long term storage. Thanks guys for the information on these shake and bakes.

Orangetom

You also might be able to shine a laser (the high-powered green ones) through a lense and ignite tinder that way...

Problem with flashlights or lasers...all of them have electronic components in them. In the event of an EMP-event, or sustained year-after-year use, they will fail.

A magnesium firestarter along with flint is a good bet, so is a "Fire Piston"...

Fire Piston

It only requires air pressure that you create to ignite tinder.

Videos of Fire Pistons in action



[edit on 31-12-2006 by MystikMushroom]

Don't Magnisium strips work anymore? What about those flashlights you shake up to make work?

I bought a 5-pack of knock-off shake flashlights. They were very, very cheap Chineese crap. They actually don't charge from the magnet inside, but rather run on thin-wafer-like watch batteries ... So yeah I got burned on that one. they are LED though--and work well untill the batteries die.

I do however, have a crank flashlight that has 5 white LED's in it. It's awesome because just last week we had a power outage. I hung my crank light from my celling fan and just had to crank it every other hour or so...I chilled w/my ipod video and just kicked it.

My entire family was going nuts, burning non-renewable candles and hunting for flashlights.

I came downstairs with two of my cheezy shake lights, my LED Coleman headlamp, and my my crank light. My folks were all like, "where/why do you have all this stuff!?!?"...

Well my dear old mom and dad, because once a candle is gone--it's gone.