Perhaps most people think that the lamp is a simple thing, it seems not worth careful analysis and research, on the contrary, the design and manufacture of ideal lamps and lanterns need rich knowledge of electronics, materials, machinery, optics. Understanding these bases will help you evaluate the quality of the lamps correctly.
1. Incandescent bulbs
It is impossible to see a little further at night without incandescent lamps. It is not easy to make incandescent bulbs bright and energy-saving. If the bulb has a certain power, it can be filled with inert gas, which can improve the brightness and prolong the life of the bulb. Special is the sacrifice of life in exchange for high brightness of high power halogen bulbs. From the point of view of outdoor use, considering the use of multiple aspects, reliability and long-term performance, ordinary inert gas bulbs are more appropriate, of course, the use of high brightness halogen bulbs lamps also have its absolute advantages. Standard bayonet and foot socket or special lamp bladder are common in popular lamp bulb interfaces. From the perspective of universality and convenience of purchase, lamps using standard bayonet bulbs are easy to supply, with many substitutes, low price and long life. Many high-end lamps also use Halogen xenon bulbs with bayonet, of course, Halogen’s price is higher. It is not convenient to buy in China, the superba light bulbs in the major supermarkets are also quite good performance substitute. In order to make the light bulb more energy saving, can only try to reduce the power, brightness and time is always contradictory, in the case of a certain voltage, the rated current of the light bulb is much longer, PETZL SAXO AQUA uses 6V 0.3A krypton bulb, to achieve the effect of ordinary 6V 0.5A bulb. In addition, the theoretical time of using four AA batteries reaches 9 hours, which is a relatively successful example of brightness and time balance. The domestic megabor light bulb has a smaller rated current, which is a good substitute. Of course, it’s another matter if you’re just looking for bright lighting. The Surefire is typical, with a 65-lumen cap that only lasts about an hour on two batteries of lithium. Therefore, when buying lamps, check the lamp bulb calibration value, calculate its approximate power, combined with the diameter of the lamp bowl, you can basically estimate the approximate brightness, maximum range and use time, you will not be easily confused by passive advertising.
2. LED
The practical application of high-brightness light-emitting diode has brought the revolution of the lighting industry. Low energy consumption and long life are its biggest advantages. The use of several ordinary dry batteries is enough to maintain a high-brightness LED for dozens or even hundreds of hours of lighting. However, the biggest problem of LED at present is that it is difficult to solve the light collection, the divergent light source makes it almost unable to illuminate the ground 10 meters away at night, and the cold light color also makes its penetration of outdoor rain, fog and snow sharply decreased. Therefore, usually the lamps are connected with several or even dozens of LED methods to improve as much as possible, but the effect is not obvious. Although there are already high-power and high-brightness concentrating leds, the performance has not yet reached the point of completely replacing incandescent bulbs, and the cost is very high. The standard driving voltage of ordinary LED is between 3-3.7V, and the brightness standard of LED is expressed by mcd, with several grades such as 5mm and 10mm in diameter. The larger the diameter, the higher the mcd value, the higher the brightness. For the consideration of volume and energy consumption, ordinary lamps choose 5mm level, and the mcd value is about 6000-10000. However, due to the large number of LED manufacturers, many domestic LED tubes are falsely labeled, and the nominal value is not credible. Generally speaking, the LED performance of Japanese companies in imported products is recognized, and it is also the most selected famous lamps. Because the LED is enough to light up in a very small current, therefore, the nominal tens or hundreds of hours of ordinary LED lamps should be greatly reduced in actual use, perhaps a few hours before the brightness is enough to light up the entire camp, after dozens of hours with it to see the table is difficult, therefore, the installation of voltage adjustment circuit optimization configuration of electric energy is the standard configuration of high-end outdoor LED lamps. At present, ordinary LED is still more suitable for use as a camp or tent as a near light source, which is also its advantage.
3. Lamp bowl
An important factor to determine the quality of lighting is the reflector of the light source — the lamp bowl. The ordinary lamp bowl is plated with silver on the plastic or metal bowl. For high-power incandescent lamp sources, the metal lamp bowl is more conducive to heat dissipation, and the diameter of the lamp bowl determines the theoretical range. In a sense, the brighter the lamp bowl is not the better, the best effect of the lamp bowl is a circle of wrinkles orange skin shape, effectively control the light diffraction caused by dark spots, so that the light spot in the lighting area is more concentrated and uniform. Usually, having a wrinkled bowl indicates a professional orientation in the lighting.
4. Lens
The lens protects the lamp or converges the light. It is usually made of glass or resin. Glass has good heat resistance, is not easy to scratch, stable, but the outdoor use strength is worrying, and the cost of processing into convex surface is too large, resin sheet is conducive to processing, reliable strength, light weight, but pay attention to the protection to prevent excessive grinding, generally speaking, excellent outdoor flashlight lens should be processed into convex lens shape resin sheet, can be very effective control of light converging.
5. Batteries
In many cases you may complain why the lamp soon no electricity, and blame on the lamp itself, in fact, the choice of battery is also crucial, generally speaking, the capacity and discharge current of the ordinary alkaline battery are ideal, low price, easy to buy, strong versatility, but the large current discharge effect is not ideal, nickel metal hydride rechargeable battery energy density ratio is higher, the cycle is more economic, But the self-discharge rate is high, the discharge current of lithium battery is very ideal, very suitable for the use of high-power lamps, but the use economy is not good, the price of lithium electricity is still relatively expensive at present, the matching lamps are mainly high-power tactical lamps, therefore, the vast majority of the market lamps are the use of brand-name alkaline battery comprehensive performance is better, from the principle, Alkaline battery performance will be greatly reduced at low temperature, therefore, for lamps used in cold areas, the ideal way is to connect the external battery box, with body temperature to ensure the working temperature of the battery. It is worth noting that for some imported lamps, such as some models of PETZL and princeton, because the negative electrode of foreign dry batteries is slightly raised, the negative contact of the lamps is designed to be flat. When using some domestic batteries with concave negative electrode, there is a possibility of poor contact. The solution is simple, just add a small piece of gasket.
6. Materials
Metal, plastic, basic lamps are composed of them, the metal lamp body is strong and durable, common light and strong aluminum alloy is used, if necessary, metal flashlight is even often used as a self-protection tool, but the general metal is not corrosion resistant, too heavy, so it is not suitable for diving lamps, good thermal conductivity, conducive to heat dissipation at the same time, but also lead to the use of cold areas, difficult to do headlamp use, High processing costs. There are too many kinds of engineering plastics, polycarbonate, ABS/ polyester, polycarbonate glass fiber reinforced, polyimide and so on, the performance is also very different, take polycarbonate glass fiber reinforced as an example, its strength is enough to cope with a variety of outdoor harsh environment, corrosion resistance, insulation, light weight, is an ideal headlamp and diving lamp choice. But the ordinary ABS plastic used on cheap lamps is very short-lived and not durable. Be sure to pay attention to it when purchasing. Generally speaking, it can be distinguished by the feel of hard squeezing.
7. Switch
The setting of the lamp switch determines the convenience of its use. The sliding key switch similar to the iron slot torch is simple and convenient, but the congenital can hardly be completely waterproof, which is obviously not suitable. The rubber push-button switch on the magnesium D torch is easier to be waterproof and convenient, but it is obviously not suitable for such occasions as diving, and high water pressure may cause the leakage of the switch. Tail press type switch is particularly popular in small lamps, especially convenient to light and long bright, but its complex structure to take into account the tightness and reliability is a problem, poor contact in some famous factory lamps are also common. Rotating lamp cap switch is the most simple and reliable switch, but it can only do single switch function, can not be classified, it is difficult to design focusing function, dynamic waterproof is not good (water operation switch is easy to leak). Knob switch is the favorite use of more diving lamps, the structure is the best waterproof, easy to operate, easy to shift, high reliability, can lock, can not be lit.
8. Waterproof
It is very simple to judge whether a lamp is waterproof or not. Carefully check whether there are soft and elastic rubber rings in every displaceable part of the lamp (lamp cap, switch, battery cover, etc.). The excellent rubber rings, combined with reasonable design and excellent processing technology, can even guarantee the waterproof depth of more than 1000 feet. Under heavy rain can not guarantee that there will be no leakage, the reason is that the rubber elasticity is not enough to ensure the absolute fit of the two surfaces. From the design point of view, rotating lamp switch and barrel knob switch theoretically the most easy to waterproof, slide key and tail press switch is relatively difficult. No matter what kind of switch design, it is best not to switch frequently when used underwater, the switch process is the most easy to enter water, in diving, the more safe approach is to put a little grease on the rubber ring, can be more effectively sealed, at the same time, grease is also conducive to the maintenance of the rubber ring, avoid premature wear caused by aging, after many years of use in the lamp, The rubber ring is the most vulnerable part of the lamp to aging. It should be replaced in time to ensure the high reliability of outdoor use.
9. Voltage adjustment circuit
Voltage adjustment circuit should be the best embodiment of advanced lamps, the use of voltage adjustment circuit has two functions: The driving voltage of ordinary LED is 3-3.6V, which means that at least three ordinary batteries must be connected in series to achieve the ideal effect. Undoubtedly, the design flexibility of the lamp is severely restricted. The latter reflects the most reasonable use of electric energy, so that the voltage will not reduce the brightness with the attenuation of the battery. Always maintain a reasonable level of brightness, of course, also facilitate the brightness of the shift adjustment. Advantages have disadvantages, voltage adjustment circuit will usually waste at least 30% of the electric energy, so, usually used in low energy consumption LED lamps. The representative voltage adjustment circuit is used by PETZL’s MYO 5. The LED brightness is adjusted in three levels to maintain the smooth lighting of the three levels LED for 10 hours, 30 hours and 90 hours respectively.
10. Functionality
In order to make lamps can not only light, but also have a lot of additional functions or more convenient use, a variety of designs emerged.
Very good headband, in most cases can make the small hand electric play the role of led rechargeable headlamp, many diving lamps are often used in this fixed way.
The clip on the ARC AAA can be tucked into a shirt pocket like a pen, although the most practical option is to clip it to the brim of your hat as a headlamp.
L The design of the led protable flashlight is quite good. The four filters in the tail compartment are very suitable for signal use at night.
The PETZL DUO LED has a built-in backup bulb, as any qualified outdoor light fixture should.
ARC LSHP can easily use a variety of power modes according to needs. The rear end is single CR123A, double CR123A and double AA
Backup power. If you only have a light close to you, changing a battery in pitch Black can often be deadly. Black Diamond Supernova has a 6V power supply available to provide 10 hours of outdoor LED light during a battery change or when the battery runs out.
Although my personal evaluation is very low, but the magnet can be adsorbed on the metal surface of the function is still appreciated.
Gannet’s gyro-gun II, easy to use as a flashlight, headlamp or a variety of places
Post time: Dec-14-2022