Ultracapacitor LED Flashlight Charges In 90 Seconds

Iddo Genuth writes "The California based company 5.11 Tactical has recently introduced a new innovative flashlight — 'Light For Life' UC3.400. Unlike regular flashlights requiring constant battery changing this new LED torch offers a rechargeable battery that can be recharged in as little as 90 seconds using ultracapacitor technology. Various military and rescue units might benefit from this new development, ensuring them a light source at all times."

Comments

Hmm...

[brian0918]

Slashvertisement, anyone?

Re:Hmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

+1 insightful

Better be a mighty fine flashlight for $170

[jfengel]

TFA says it's a $170 flashlight. It's got a lifetime warranty, but I always lose flashlights before they fail on me.

What I want to know is, how quickly does it self-discharge? It doesn't do me any good to have it charge in 90 seconds if I don't need it until the power goes out.

Re:Better be a mighty fine flashlight for $170

[Feanturi]

I paid $10 for a wind-up flashlight that appears to have the same style of 3-LED array as this one. It's nice and bright, requires about 1 minute of winding to provide 15 minutes of full illumination, with less-bright light available after that. Considering that I never need anything other than a working pair of hands to charge it, I think the one I've got is much better for ensuring there will always be light when I need it. In a power outage, or out in a tent somewhere, a 90-second DC charge time doesn't do me any good at all.

Re:Better be a mighty fine flashlight for $170

[pz]

TFA says it's a $170 flashlight. It's got a lifetime warranty, but I always lose flashlights before they fail on me.

What I want to know is, how quickly does it self-discharge? It doesn't do me any good to have it charge in 90 seconds if I don't need it until the power goes out.

There's a really simple answer to this: use high-quality non-rechargeable batteries in your it-must-work-when-the-power-goes-out flashlight and change them once every few years. You can get Lithim chemistry AA batteries that have a claimed shelf life of over 10 years.

Then, use a separate flashlight with rechargeable batteries for when you just need it for a few minutes and can wait for a recharge, or can tolerate slightly-flat batteries.

The ultracapacitor flashlights are a very costly solution to a problem that, for most situations, is easily remedied with traditional flashlights and properly selected batteries that cost 1/20th as much. Hell, you can get a new 4-pack of lithium AAs every year for two decades and come out ahead cost-wise.

The ultracapacitors are for a different application, methinks. Like for the military, as suggested, where cost isn't an issue, power sources are readily available, and performance drives everything.

Re:Better be a mighty fine flashlight for $170

[nizo]

This thing could be really awesome if you were holding it when you walked outside in the rain.

Re:Better be a mighty fine flashlight for $170

[peragrin]

Well both of my flashlights only require a regular shaking. The motion is something most slashdotters are good at anyways.
Led, a couple of capacitors, and a easy charge method works well

Re:Better be a mighty fine flashlight for $170

[Hijacked Public]

A bunch, but the cost is a secondary consideration in a lot of circumstances. Surefire has long been selling handheld lights at even higher prices. Even their small personal incandescents were in the $100 after they started enforcing their dealer MAP agreements.

There are plenty of field applications where a person can't carry $170 worth of Wal-Mart flashlights, but needs something that stay lit for a while, recharge quickly, and is durable.

Re:Better be a mighty fine flashlight for $170

[kv9]

... a regular shaking. The motion is something most slashdotters are good at anyways.

yes, from constantly making martinis to all the hot mamas, right? shaken, not stirred ladies!

Re:Limited usefull information.

[jdong]

Actually the reflector design makes me strongly suspect some 5mm's used. Even if they used premium quality 5mm emitters like the Nichia GS series, I doubt it'd have the same light output level of a Cree setup. Bottom line is parent is correct -- It takes me 5 seconds to swap out an 18650 or RCR123. Charging an integrated ultracapacitor for 90 seconds loses by any comparison.

Re:Limited usefull information.

[captaindomon]

The AW 18650 is a lithium ion rechargeable battery. This is a capacitor system, they are a very different technology. Try to get an AW 18650 to recharge in 90 seconds. It will asplode.

Re:Limited usefull information.

[archermadness]

So, this flashlight's power source has around 62% (pessimistically) or 82% (optimistically) of the energy of an 18650, but is several times the size.

I think I'll pass on this one.

Sure, it only has (according to your numbers) at most 82% of the charge capacity as an 18650 Li-Ion battery--but it can recharge in 90 seconds, and do that up to 50,000 times. That's something no battery can do. Plus, they shouldn't self-discharge (as that's typically an issue with batteries, not capacitors).

Re:Limited usefull information.

[Hijacked Public]

Lumen ratings have become a marketing game and nearly everyone is quoting theoretical numbers rather than measured ones.

Back in the incandescent days there wasn't as much advatage because most high end flashlight customers knew the ratings applied only to the first few seconds of operation. That and there wasn't enough competition among manufacturers to mean much. With constant voltage LED drivers lumens matter more, and now that there are several players in the emitter game, and making lights, things are getting out of hand.

No way on earth 5.11 is measuring 270 lumens out of this light with an integratign sphere.

Re:90 seconds!

[SleptThroughClass]

That's actually a myth, the flashlight in Doom 3 is actually grue powered.

Do they have a small grue on a treadmill, forever running away from the light which it generates?