Fiat Lux LED

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
-Genesis 1:3

I've been very impressed lately with LED flashlights. We have two giant incandescent flashlights that use multiple D-cell batteries and recently, when I needed them at night, the output was useless as the batteries were old (not dead, just old). I got better light from the LED I keep on my keyring. The old flashlights are more useful as a weapon than for lighting the dark.

According to Wikipedia,  in 1999, Lumileds Corporation introduced the Luxeon LED, a high-power white-light emitter which was used in the first LED flashlight, the Arc LS, in 2001. LEDs can be significantly more efficient than incandescent lamps. An LED flashlight will have a longer battery life than a comparable incandescent flashlight and LEDs are also less fragile than conventional glass lamps.

Our two D-cell flashlight produces on the order of 15 to 20 lumens of light. A small LED flashlight operating on an AA cell can emit 100 lumens. 5 times brighter with less power!

Bottom Line

LED flashlights would be a great holiday gift. We saw a gift box of 4 for $20 at Sears. My wife says she'll buy when they are discounted 50%. She got lucky once with a LED flashlight at a Dollar store but has not seen them there since. On Amazon.com there are many LED flashlights for under $20 and some under $10. I don't yet see the value in LEDs selling for $100 or more.

P.S.
Fiat Lux in the blog title is the Latin often used for Let there be Light, perhaps the most well-known phrase from the Bible. [Wikipedia says Fiat Lux actually means "let light be made" and that "Lux Sit" is a better translation in Latin but C'est la vie.]

γενηθήτω φῶς (or genēthētō phōs) - Greek
יְהִי אוֹר (yehiy 'or) - Hebrew

When the lights go out...

"That was the night the lights went out in Georgia" - song lyrics

Yesterday our neighborhood lost power while we were cooking dinner. It was after sunset so the room was instantly pitch black. My first thought was, "I wonder where my wife keeps the flashlights?" We have several around the house but at the very moment I needed one, I had no clue where to find one.

Then I remembered that I keep a flashlight in my pocket. (Old joke: Is that a flashlight in your pocket or are you happy to see me?) I have a key chain light that is the size of a quarter and at most a 1/2 inch thick. It puts out a very bright light and has proved to be very useful. I'm on my third key light over many years as they do eventually burn out or break. They can be found for under $10 at many stores and make a nice gift. Here's a variety of them on Amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=3180301

Bottom Line

If I had practiced a power outage drill I might have remembered where we keep the flashlights in the house. Fortunately I used my key light to go to our living room and light a candle that we keep on our coffee table.

A word of caution about candles. The Red Cross discourages them - many house fires are started by candles. We use a long burning candle in a glass jar so there is little chance of tipping over or of the flame spreading. Never leave a candle unattended!