LED's are the way to go
Submitted: Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 15:59
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Rod W
Just back from spending a fortnight out in the back blocks of WA around Faye
Bluff, Mt Manning,
Lake Giles, Lake Barlee and the Karoun Reserve. There is some fascinating country in this region.
One of the blokes on the trip is George (
http://george4wd.taskled.com/), he designs/makes LED lighting systems. One night sitting around the campfire he says "what’s the difference between the fluoro (that was alight over on one of the vehicles) and the LED (that was on right next to us). The obvious answer that we all said was the fluoro was more of a yellow light compared to the
bright white light of the LED. Yes and what else asked George. But we couldn't think of anything else. No Moths said George. The fluoro had Moths and an assortment of bugs hovering around it whilst the
bright LED that we were sitting next to had no bugs whatsoever. George had also installed an LED interior light into my Troopy and there were no bugs in the vehicle.
So LED's are/will be the way to go for bug
free camping.
Also did ya know the Toyota and Nissan don't export diesel powered 4x4's into America.
Reply By: Savvas - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 16:19
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 16:19
That's an interesting piece of info. Didn't realise that the LEDs don't attract moths.
Just a thought though. The bugs are obviously more sensitive towards the fluoro than the LEDs. If it was just the LEDs that were on, would the moths then be attracted to them? As it would be the next brightest light source.
It would have been interesting to turn the fluoro off and see what happened.
As for the diesels into the US. Isuzu didn't export diesel 4x4s into the US either. Not sure if Land Rover or others do.
Furthermore, you can't buy a Patrol in the US and I have read that the Landcruiser will be dropped in the US in 2006. Both Nissan and Toyota build specific 4x4s locally in the US for that market only, with huge petrol donks.
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Follow Up By: Rod W - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 16:39
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 16:39
My Vehicle with the LED in was quite a distance away from the fluoro, like I said there was no bugs in the vehicle.
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Reply By: Utemad - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 16:36
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 16:36
LED lights also don't burn out and they have a lower current drain. Common to see them on trucks since they have 4 million clearance lights etc.
At the moment they are generally more of a directional type of light and not overly
bright like a 40w fluoro. That also has to do with the reflector though. There are many torches and head lights (miner light types) that also use LEDs.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Rod W - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 16:50
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 16:50
In power usage they talk in milli-volts. The four light LED head light uses 3 AA bateries and last up to 200 hours. Come to think of it I've never had a bug problem when wearing it.
There are 360 degree LED's
It won't be long before that are in the head lights of cars.
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Follow Up By: Utemad - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 17:25
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 17:25
Milliamps.
Technology will eventually bring them into mainstream use I'm sure.
However I have a cool torch that has 1 LED and no batteries. Just shake it and it moves a magnet through a coil to charge a capacitor.
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Follow Up By: Bob of KAOS - Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 12:13
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 12:13
Milliwatts.
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Follow Up By: Utemad - Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 12:28
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 12:28
Millimeters
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Follow Up By: Bonz (Vic) - Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 19:33
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 19:33
Its milli-inch's and theres 112 milli-inch's in a millifoot
Actualy its milliamp-hours or milliwatts at unity power factor
Anyhoo where do I get one for my GU patrol interior light and hoo much
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Reply By: Lone Wolf - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 17:03
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 17:03
The moth's are like the Borg on Star Trek... they will adapt!
It is an interesting point, and I will remember to take notice next time, and see how effective the difference is.
Cheers
Wolfie
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Follow Up By: awill4x4 - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 22:46
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 22:46
Hmmmmm Borg, "Seven of Nine" , Hmmmmmm
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Follow Up By: Rowler - Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 11:53
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 11:53
resistance is futile
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Reply By: Member - Jack - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 17:18
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 17:18
LED's are great. I have them as interior lights in my Cruiser, and also a couple of torches - one maglite type and two head torches for reading. Battery life is excellent. Only downside is that they do not throw a "long" beam, which means they are no good for looking for possums in trees etc ... but they have their place and they work
well for their given task.
Jack
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Follow Up By: Bitsumishin - Mike (WA) - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 19:38
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 19:38
I'd be interested to know where you buy these aftermarket goodies
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Follow Up By: Member - Jack - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 19:55
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 19:55
Hi Mike:
I bought the led's from a guy called George Scularo in the US, and found out about him via the LCool 80 Series website. George's website is on this link/a>. Just email him and he will send you payment details.
Torches etc I got off eBay.
Sample 1
Sample 2
Plenty to choose from.
Jack
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Follow Up By: Member - Jack - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 19:59
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 19:59
Ooops ... mucked up the links.
Try this:
George Scularo's interior lights
Led torch
Led head torch
Jack
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Follow Up By: Utemad - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 20:39
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 20:39
Replacing the interior lights with LEDs is a bloody good idea. However I'll make my own for $US25+postage.
Easy as.
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Follow Up By: Member - Jack - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 21:32
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 21:32
Hi Utemad:
:) Easy as ... when you know how. I didn't/don't, so it was easy for me to buy someone else's. I replaced
mine after SWMBO left the cabin lights on all night after getting up to get something out during the night, and I was stuck in the boondocks with a flat battery and no hills .. and *I* had to push it to get it started. At that stage I'd probaly have paid $1000 each for some that morning.
Cheers
Jack
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Follow Up By: Rod W - Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 09:34
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 09:34
Giday Jack,
George's surname is spelt Scolaro. He's the bloke I did the trip with and he is a very competent bush bloke. I see that he has already posted details of the trip on his web page. I'm the bloke with the red troopy.
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Follow Up By: Member - Jack - Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 11:03
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 11:03
Hi Rod:
Good stuff - looks like a terrific trip you did.
I can vouch for George'slights too - excellent.
Jack
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Reply By: Banjo (SA) - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 17:49
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 17:49
On my recent trip I was conscious of the energy that we DID NOT waste on flood lighting, because we both now had led headlamps. The Campo has an LED for the
kitchen too. I did note that incandescent lights now look terribly old fashioned - more like candles - and to think of the energy that some of those globes chew up with all that wasted heat ! Our fluoro is efficient but puts out hf interference - seeing we can read with the leds, all other lights might be gathering dust !
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Reply By: incisor - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 20:01
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 20:01
Hi output LED's carry a warning about eye damage i believe. the high out put ones shouldnt be used in dashes etc for this reason so i am told.
food for thought....
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Follow Up By: Member - Jack - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 21:34
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 21:34
Definitely - you don't look into them. We use LED head torches for reading, and use the old miners trick of looking slightly to ones' left or right to avoid shining the LED into each others eyes.
jACK
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Reply By: MAVERICK(WA) - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 20:03
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 20:03
I was more interested in the diesel bit - have a long look at the Patrol 4.2 as this is the last time. No Euro emmission for that one so out it goes. rgds
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Follow Up By: Member - Bruce (San Diego) - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 23:21
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 23:21
You're right about the diesel bit, there are NO 4WD's available in the USA with diesel donks, Jeep, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, GM, Mercedes, Mitis, Landrover or VW.
The only diesels which are available are in the large pickup size of the big three. Ford uses the Navistar, Dodge the Cummins and GM their own Duramax.
Also no cars in the USA are currently sold with deisel motors.
Bruce
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Reply By: awill4x4 - Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 23:04
Monday, Oct 18, 2004 at 23:04
One problem with the LED lights are that the light is predominantly blue and when you're cooking while wearing one you can't see when your steak is cooked.
Regards Andrew.
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Follow Up By: V8troopie - Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 00:59
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 00:59
Good one Andrew, I'll file this info for the next light upgrade time.
Meanwhile I'm quite happy to
cook under a bug screen and fluoro lights.
Interstingly, I have tried that insect trick on my boat to keep the little buggers out of the cabin. They WILL land on the white LED light if there is no other light around. But, they are MUCH more attracted to the fluoro light, possibly because it is so much brighter.
I found that an old fashioned wick and glass
chimney lamp, running on citronella oil, is quite effective to keep bugs at a distance, at least the biting variety.
Klaus
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Reply By: Wok - Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 05:49
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 05:49
I think its the UV that attracts the bugs. Try replacing the plastic cover of the fluro with transparent UV filter (eg scrap piece of clear skylighting).
The Luxeon white(1 W) is pretty close to 'white', the 5mm 'specials' are all over the place ( really need to buy a batch). I use a row of 6 fitted into the top hatch of my 60.....works
well.
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Reply By: bushfix - Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 08:41
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 08:41
G'day all,
anyone who wants a tiny, light,
bright torch at a good price should
check out Photon Micro lights. While not as powerul as a Surefire or the big Maglite, they throw a very
bright light and depending on your requirement, they come in different (light) colours to suit the different purposes. Very good value at $25-50 depending on which series you buy. I have found the turquoise light to be the best. You can get them at Gowings in
Sydney, not sure about elsewhere. These things are truly amazing for their size. Sits on my keyring with a Spyderco Ladybug. Very informative website at:
http://www.photonlight.com/products/photon_microlight_II.html
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Follow Up By: bushfix - Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 11:05
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 11:05
sorry Rod W,
it's not clear in my text above but these are LED torches. Not meaning to hijack your thread to start on torches. :)
Jeremy.
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Reply By: phil - Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 15:16
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 15:16
Last year in the Flinders the moths were very prevalent. I had 2 cheap flouro lights and the moths were only attracted to one. The attractive one was a single straight tube 9W type and the other a 9W U tube type. The light from both seemed the same colour.
Phil I
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Reply By: Mark- Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 21:22
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 at 21:22
Some other benefits of LED's include:
-almost indefinite 'bulb' life
-shock and vibration resistant (great for trailer lighting, dropped torches etc)
-work on multi voltages eg trailer light will work just as well between 9-24 volts
-can be made waterproof by encasing circuitry in resin
-better flash rates than incandescent bulbs (dont glow when current is shut down - very noticeable when used for indicator lamps, brake lamps
-colored LED's eg red,
orange etc dont require tinted lens material, not susceptible to sunlight fading lense material
-as mentioned previously, very, very low current draw for the same light output.
Prices are coming down while the technology is improving all the time.
One of my LED torches, doesnt even have an off switch, on the lowest setting it is supposed to last 2 years on a single 9v battery. Great for finding it in the dark. In reallity I replace the battery every 3 months or so because I use the higher settings a fair bit.
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