Four things you can do before changing you LED

LED’s are amazing, they can last almost forever. Well, not forever, but they can last for up to 50 00 hours, now that’s a long time! 50 000 hours is approximately 5.7 years, so what exactly could you do in that amount of time?

What could you accomplish before the LED in your flashlight died? Here are a few examples.

MASTER FIVE DISCIPLINES

It takes a lot of practice and effort to master a specific discipline or subject. It takes about 10 000 hours of deliberate study and practice to master any subject, so in the time it takes your LED to burn out, you can master it

SAIL AROUND THE WORLD

In a personal cruising style sailboat it will take about two years to sail around the globe! You could definitely go around the world twice and get close to a third time by the time you need to get to land and buy a new LED.

WALK THE ENTIRE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.

How about walking the world’s longest man-made structure? Well, to walk the Great Wall of China it’ll take about 18 months. If you walked at a fast pace, you could go back and forth twice before you had to buy another LED to light your way at night.

GO TO MARS

With the current technology, it takes seven months to reach Mars. That means it’ll take 14 months to make round trip, So, you can make the trip four times, and if you time it just right you can even sneak in another trip before you LED light goes out.

 Get us on sales@klaruslight.co.za or call on 0607222222

How your LED Flashlight can save your life!

The darkness can be a dangerous and scary place, especially in an emergency situation when you have to do what you can to fight to survive. The dark can really be your greatest enemy – it’s confusing, it creates panic and fear and it is a great place for awaiting criminals to hide.

Klarus designs and manufacture some of the most exciting, practical and innovative LED torches on the planet with ultra-high Lumen output. Place your orders today!

When it comes to staying safe and feeling safe in the dark, a reliable flashlight is one of the most important tools to keep on hand at all times. Learning how to use your LED flashlight properly can mean the difference between life and death in a number of survival situations.

Here are five ways you can use your flashlight to save your life:

- See trouble coming from a mile away!

Criminals love to work in the cover of darkness, so spoil their plans by getting an LED flashlight and spot a potential attack before it even happens. Shine your LED flashlight when you walk home and you’ll be able to light up the shadows where criminals may be hiding.

- Self-defence

A sturdy, durable tactical LED flashlight can also be used as a weapon against an attacker. Instead of holding it the way people usually do, with your fingers pointing towards the bulb, invert your fist and grip the flashlight with the bulb pointing away from your thumb. Holding your LED flashlight this way will allow you to use to jab an attacker or swing it like a baton!

- Signal for help

Use your LED flashlight as an emergency signal if you are ever lost, stranded or in trouble. Many hikers who have been lost have used their LED flashlights as signals so search and rescue teams can find them. Always remember that three fast pulses of light can be used to signal for help.

- Protect against an animal attack

There might be a time in your life when you are out camping or hiking and you come across a dangerous, wild animal. Should this happen at night, a bright blast of light in an animals eye with your LED flashlight will disorientate the creature and hopefully scare them enough to send them running.

- Escape a potential death trap

In the event that there is an earthquake, tsunami, fire or any other natural disaster you may be trapped in a dark building that you need to quickly escape from. Having a handy LED flashlight on hand will hopefully keep you calm and help you get out without too many injuries.

Survival is all about resourcefulness and getting the most out of every tool available to you. An LED flashlight is one of the most versatile tools available!

The Anatomy of a Flashlight

LENS: 

Most torch lenses are made from scratch resistant glass. It’s important to keep your lens as scratch free as possible because it is the final barrier between your light source and the world.

Some torches have a raised bevel around the lens to keep debris away; another option is to keep your torch in a holster, especially if you keep it in a vehicle where it is bound to roll around.

REFLECTOR: 

Reflectors come in two types...

-Smooth reflector: Ideal for a long throw, helps direct the light into a strong spotlight
-Orange Peel reflector (OP): Ideal for a distributed beam with a wide angle.

LED: 

The LED is where the light is emitted from and therefore is one of the most important parts of a torch. A vast majority of high performance LED’s are manufactured by CREE.

LED lights can vary in colour from “cool white” (the whitest beam) to “neutral white” (a slightly “warmer” more yellow beam, more ideal for hunting etc where you need more accurate depth perception at long distances)

New LED technology is constantly developing, you can check out this article for more information

DRIVER: 

The driver is a small transformer that takes the energy from the battery and makes it into a usable form of power for the LED.

The driver is also responsible for any modes the torch may have, such as SOS mode, Strobe mode or high, med and low modes.

BATTERY: 

Most advanced LED torches are powered by rechargeable lithium batteries.

These batteries come in various sizes with “18650”s being the most popular / industry standard for most advanced high output devices. They have a high output, a long run time and can typically be recharged around 500 times.

Protected batteries – Lithium batteries are volatile / can explode if shorted out in a bad way. “Protected” lithium batteries have an inbuilt protection fuse that runs down the side of the battery. In the event of a short circuit this fuse will blow before the battery will have a melt down.

Would you like to purchase high quality batteries at an affordable price? Order today from klaruslight.co.za

SWITCH: 

The switch turns the torch on and off, and also controls the modes (e.g strobe, high, med & low -for torches that have modes). Most switches are located at the rear tailcap of the torch, but can also be found towards the front of the torch handle torch where you would place your thumb.

Most switches are covered with a replaceable rubber membrane that makes them waterproof and long lasting.

There are two types of switches:

Basic switch: A basic switch simply works by clicking it on and off. Often you can change output modes on the torch by turning it on and off a few times.

Memory switch: A memory switch is the high tech brother of the basic switch.
Often you can program certain commands to turn on certain modes. e.g) hold down the switch for 2 seconds and it goes straight to strobe etc.

How does an LED work?

We've heard all the talk about LED's. How they're the newest and best lighting technology. Well, all of that is true, but how do LED's work?

Let's start by quickly looking at some basic lighting technology. We've all seen incandescent bulbs. They're your average light bulb. They work by heating up a tiny metal filament that glows. These bulbs generate a lot of heat vs. the amount of light produced. This wastes a lot of energy. To the flashlight user, this means that runtimes are shortened drastically and the lights are usually not very bright.

The inefficiency of incandescent bulbs was a problem. When there's a problem, people try and find a solution. Moving forward a few decades, we come to the LED, which stands for Light Emitting Diode. LED's are the brightest, most compact light emitters that are commonly available in flashlights. They are very energy efficient, small and durable and are quickly becoming less and less expensive.

A LED emitter is called a diode, not a bulb. A diode is a device that conducts an electrical current in only one direction. A bulb is not a diode since it will work with an electrical current flowing through it in either way. An LED will only work with current flowing through it in one direction. 

An LED is made up of semiconductors, which are materials that have a varying ability to conduct electricity.

Anyway, when an electrical current is applied to the diode, electrons travel from the N-type side to the P-Type side. When the electrons fall into one of the holes in the P-Type side, they release energy. Think of what happens when you drop a ball into a hole; the energy from the ball is transferred to whatever the hole is in. What can happen when an electron releases energy is really amazing, though. The energy from the electron falling into the hole is released in the form of a photon, which is a particle of light.

This continuous movement of electrons falling into the holes releases light, causing the LED to glow. This phenomenon doesn't create much heat, so it's a lot more efficient than an incandescent bulb.

Not that difficult to understand, right? LED technology is amazing and you can be assured that in the future, the technology will get better and better. 

The future does seem pretty bright, doesn't it? (Pun intended).

Klarus Light designs and manufactures some of the best flashlights in the world - visit www.klaruslight.co.za and place your order today!