Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Tue, 11/04/2014 - 13:53

I have one of the Celestron #93588 Night Light Flashlights.  It is ok, but I get annoyed at having to turn the thumbwheel everytime I want light.  I bought some of the el Cheapo miniature white LED flashlights from Home Depot (equivalent ones are everywhere, including Harbor Freight), with the intent of modifying the circuit board and inserting red LEDs.

While that would be a cheap replacement, it is not an easy one.  The circuit board in the aluminum bodies I examined is press-fit into the end.  Perhaps one of you have destroyed one of these units and figured out how to get the board out safely.

In the meantime, I went to the Arizona Science and Astronomy Expo in Tucson over the weekend (I had given some talks at the prior SWAP meeting), looking for alternatives, and found nothing.  However, as part of SWAP, we went up to Mt. Lemmon for a tour by Adam Block, and he had a couple of dozen of the miniature aluminum flashlights, outfitted with the red LEDs.  I asked him where he got them, and the answer was:

http://shop.ledwholesalers.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=35_…

These cost $7.50 (about 1/4 the cost of the Celestron unit) and work beautifully.

Does anyone else have a favorite that might even be cheaper?

Arne

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Red flash lights..

Hi Arne,

I had one of those el cheapo flash lights, mine was badged 'night vision LED torch',  the wheel switch stopped working after a while, I think it just wore out eventually.

So I bought a small flash light with a normal on/off switch and replaced the glass with several pieces of plastic from an old red A4 file, it still works after about three years.wink

Douglas.

Affiliation
None
Red LED light

Arne,

I have a "Starlite mini" from Rigel Systems, but don't recall where I bought it, save for the fact it was on line.  Actually I've had two; the first one died when the battery leaked all over its insides.  The replacement is of much lower quality; the front end is wont to fall off when you adjust the brightness.  And I suspect it would cause as much irritation as the Celestron unit.  Its sole advantage over the Celestron unit is its cost, which was around 9 or 10 bucks.

On the other hand, it is good to have something with adjustable brighness, particularly when you do visual observing, as I do.  So my question is, how bright is this thing you bought?  I went to the web site, and could not find any such information.

Cheers,

Stephen

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Not cheap but I just

Not cheap but I just bought from REI, a Diamond Cosmos head lantern ($30).  I often need to have both free hands free. The other advantage is it has a dim and bright feature, the former alegedly for looking at charts and maps and such and the later for getting around in the dark.  So we will see.  

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
red flashlight

The unit I used at Mt. Lemmon was a typical 9-LED mini flashlight, just red instead of white.  It has the button at the rear to turn it on/off.  It does not have any kind of light level adjustment.  It uses three AAA batteries, easily replacable. I find it highly useful for walking to/from the observatory, where I feel the Celestron unit is pretty dim.

Putting a red lens in front of a standard flashlight is an alternative, of course.  I used to do that with my mini mag-lite.  However, that mini unit required twisting to turn on, and so needed two hands to control.

Arne

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Red Flashlights

I own an assortment of these lights, with various numbers of LEDs, constructed of aluminum and plastic. I think I buy another one every time I go to a star party. But after all these years I still rely most heavily on my 2 LED Celestron variable brightness flashlight. I like being able to adjust the light level as needed. I find most of the 6-9 LED lights too bright for use in the observatory when observing visually.

One thing I do not like about aluminum lights is the chance of it sticking to your lip in extremely cold weather, like we have here today! The plastic ones will never accidentally peel off skin, no matter how cold it gets. Everyone sticks these things in their mouth to write, examine charts and other things in the dark, so this is a legitimate concern if you live in the frozen tundra.

I've done almost 60,000 visual observations with the Celestron light, since 1999, and it still works like new even though my teeth have made a permanent imprint on the case (as you can see in the image below).

Mike Simonsen
AAVSO

Affiliation
None
Plastic bodies

I was just going to comment but you beat me to it Mike.  One of the must-haves for these flashlights is that they have to be comfortably "mouth-holdable".

Remember that the next time an astronomer offers you a flashlight. wink

...Tim (HTY)