The Lamps, Lanterns and lighting thread

So now that we are off and running let's talk about seeing in the dark. At the very bottom of the list are candles. The only good thing I can say about them is that they will store forever and need no maintenance at all. I make my own.

Next up the list are wick type lanterns. They come in all shapes and sizes and are cheap. I have a few indoor ones and some of the Detz outdoor ones. They also give off some heat but are not very bright. First pic is a 14" double cut wick lantern.

Now we get to the two-way street. Up until a couple of years ago LED technology was lacking so the way to go was the Aladdin Lamp. Aladdins are the brightest non pressurized lamp out there. They are not cheap but they work. They also give off 2500 btu's of heat and are very efficient. Second pic is the Aladdin. Same exposure settings as the first pic. Here in Colorado Aladdin's will need a light booster that fits on the chimney.

Back to the LED's. Last year I embarked on a project to outfit my camper with them. I found a supplier of 1/2 watt LED's and went to work. I also built a small desk lamp that worked great. Because of the nature of what I needed I built my own bulbs (third pic). The end result was I went from using 40 watts to 8 or so in the camper per fixture.

I am now leaning to using the Aladdin's in the winter and the LED's in the summer. I have the ability to power the LED's and the run time from just a small 10Ah battery was very good.

I will touch on pressurized lanterns. The Petromax is very bright and very loud. Colemans are great for outside lighting and I do have a couple.

Just some thoughts.

I picked up a rechargeable LED lantern/radio on clearance at wall-mart for $8 last year. I wish I had picked up two or three. Rechargeable LED lanterns can still be found for under $30. Since the work with a mechanical arm crank generator I would feel more comfortable having two since eventually all things mechanical will break.

I have one of those flashlights that does not require batteries, but does require you to shake it back & forth to create a charge for the LEDs.

It works, but not too bright, and the charge isn't vary long.

But it is maintenance free.

I have a coleman propane latern...thing puts off some good heat and a ton of light.

I always have 2 flashlights in my pack, and plenty of extra batteries. I have one superbight cree light that could easily be used for spotting, and have 2 extra sets of batteries for it...they last about 1-1.5 hours per charge. the other is a maglight for various things and can probably go 6 hours on a couple AA's.

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Originally Posted by jerrymrc

At the very bottom of the list are candles. The only good thing I can say about them is that they will store forever and need no maintenance at all. I make my own.

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How much ear wax do you produce??? i don't think could ever make a candle[LOL]


but really, how do you make your own?

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Originally Posted by sniper7

How much ear wax do you produce??? i don't think could ever make a candle[LOL]


but really, how do you make your own?

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Paraffin, coffee can, thermometer, wicks and molds. You can use milk cartons for molds. Buy the block of paraffin at Michaels with one of those 40-50% off one item coupons. That is where I also get my wicks and other junk from. You can get into making candles for less than $25.

I re-melt leftover wax and save the small glass that the candles from the dollar store came in. I also have 2 molds. One for votive s and one for a simple square but mainly I just reuse the glass. I also have colors and scent's for the ones around the house.

It also was a popular pastime to do with the Kids when they were younger.

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Originally Posted by jerrymrc

Paraffin, coffee can, thermometer, wicks and molds. You can use milk cartons for molds. Buy the block of paraffin at Michaels with one of those 40-50% off one item coupons. That is where I also get my wicks and other junk from. You can get into making candles for less than $25.

I re-melt leftover wax and save the small glass that the candles from the dollar store came in. I also have 2 molds. One for votive s and one for a simple square but mainly I just reuse the glass. I also have colors and scent's for the ones around the house.

It also was a popular pastime to do with the Kids when they were younger.

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Very cool, looks like I need to give that a try!

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Originally Posted by sniper7

How much ear wax do you produce??? i don't think could ever make a candle[LOL]


but really, how do you make your own?

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mybuster recently tested this theory on tv... yuk.

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Originally Posted by sniper7

Very cool, looks like I need to give that a try!

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If ya give it a day I will show ya. Just making some now.

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Originally Posted by jerrymrc

If ya give it a day I will show ya. Just making some now.

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I'd be interested in seeing that too. I have a couple of the Deitz lanterns and several LED flashlights with plenty of spare batteries, but those will only last a matter of weeks. Definately need a longer term process in place.

The easy way to make candles. Gather up your stuff (posted above) and here we go. We are going to reuse those dollar store candle glass. Peal off all the labels and put what is left on the stove on LOW. All we are trying to do is melt the wax enough to get the old wick out (picture 1)

Once the wicks are out and halfway clean (picture 2) we need to melt the paraffin. Get a coffee can and make a spout on it. put your thermometer and the paraffin in it and start to melt it on LOW (picture 3).

Gather up your wicks and other stuff. (picture 4) Today we are using wire wicks that are already made. You can buy bases and bulk wick but today is easy. I use small paper clamps to position the wick with a stick (picture 5) Continue to melt the paraffin keeping it right around 200 degrees. I go ahead and add my color to it. Once all the paraffin is melted I turn it off and let it get below 175 for glass. The correct temperatures are marked on the thermometer for the type of mold you are using. I will finish in the next post.

Now is the time to add you scent if you so want. (picture 1) pour into the glass and reposition the wicks if necessary (picture 2) After a while the paraffin may pull down a little and you can top it off so to speak. let the candles cool and your done.

That is all there is to making simple candles.

I have several of these, and appear to be working still after 11 years of storage.

White gas, 100 hour candles

http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_CL%20C700_A_name_E_Clear+Mist+1 00+Hour+Emergency+Candle

and 4 of these... 120 Hour I believe these are the same you'll find in the stores with relegious figures painted on them...

http://www.homedefenseproducts.com/c...c7f48d05dbf58a

SO, I finally came to realize that the "Aladdin lamps are just the old kerosene lamps. I've been meaning to get some of those.

Jerry, do you have plans/schematics for the led mod for the camper bulbs?

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Originally Posted by theGinsue

SO, I finally came to realize that the "Aladdin lamps are just the old kerosene lamps. I've been meaning to get some of those.

Jerry, do you have plans/schematics for the led mod for the camper bulbs?

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I could whip up something. There are some that are available already made and I bought a couple but I was not impressed.

I also would like to learn to do the LED bulbs.

Chris

Also interested in learning what material you used as the circuit board/led placement holder.

Someone on another board just posted that they converted their whole RV to LED and the lighting as terrible because it was too white. Apparently LEDs might not be the best with direct lighting. It personally probably wouldn't bug me, but it's something to think about if it might bug you, or the wife. So consider hiding the LEDs behind something to make it indirect lighting. Just a heads up.

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Originally Posted by theGinsue

Also interested in learning what material you used as the circuit board/led placement holder.

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The board was cut from some old X-ray extender boards. Just plain old glass/epoxy. Drilled the holes and mounted them up. left a 1/2" tab to stick in the socket and epoxied it up.

The back side, how it looks in the housing and the next two are the light. First is a 19W incandescent and the second is the LED. The commercial ones were almost as bright but the color almost hurt. BTW the LED pic is with the added diffuser.

I hadn't considered that. Thanks for the heads up.

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Originally Posted by Stuart

Someone on another board just posted that they converted their whole RV to LED and the lighting as terrible because it was too white. Apparently LEDs might not be the best with direct lighting. It personally probably wouldn't bug me, but it's something to think about if it might bug you, or the wife. So consider hiding the LEDs behind something to make it indirect lighting. Just a heads up.

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yep. The commercial bulbs I bought almost hurt. The LED's I bought were just about right. I also added a second diffuser even though these bulbs had a 40 degree spread. They are also 10MM bulbs. I got a hold of some scrap diamond diffuser panels that had chipped edges and it worked wonders.

Have to show the desk lamp I built out of a socket and a piece of wire.

They also now sell LED's that have the yellow tint of incandescents.

And one more thing about LED's and the camper. Unless you have a very good inverter the standard one in most campers will kill the LED's even the commercial ones.

Running on battery power is fine but the 1/2 wave inverter will take them out as I found out.

I now keep my LED's for dry camping only until I can mod the inverter.

Walmart has the 64oz bottles of lamp oil for $5.XX. I seem to remember that same size bottle being around $9.00 back when this thread started, but I could be wrong. Thought I'd post in here since we've gained lots of new members since.

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Originally Posted by Irving

Walmart has the 64oz bottles of lamp oil for $5.XX. I seem to remember that same size bottle being around $9.00 back when this thread started, but I could be wrong. Thought I'd post in here since we've gained lots of new members since.

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Need to get more of that. I am still set on the Aladdin's for the winter and LED's for the summer. I have a friend in upper IL that lost power a month ago or so and used 3 Aladdin's for heat and light for 5 days while they were repairing the lines. He said he would run the wood stove during the day and shut it down and run the Aladdin's at night.

Customizing by adding multicolored LEDs would help with the harshness of the white ones. The same way stage productions use multiple colored gels to balance the light on stage.

Btw a n LED is the electric equivalent of a check valve , an ac-dc inverter kills them quick because its fluttering them open and shut at 60hz. You could put a big rectifier upstream and that should help.