LED Flashlights 101

T5 Tactical Light Model: 8421 See details Our price: $90.00

Every household today has access to a flashlight.  In most homes a flashlight is easily accessible in the event of a power outage or emergency.  Nowadays, many people are keeping flashlights in their emergency kits in their vehicles as well. You just never know when you are going to need a light source. Flashlights play critical roles when it comes to emergency situations, outdoor occasions, or in power outages.  Previous models of flashlights have always been handy but not entirely reliable.  Traditional models have high battery usage, die without any notification, and the output of light varies widely from brand to brand.  LED flashlights have become more widely used, quickly replacing today’s standard flashlight models, because the technology addresses some of these major issues.

LED technology allows flashlight manufacturers to make more durable, longer lasting and brighter handheld lights.  In these devices, light-emitting diodes are used instead of a standard filament light to create the light beam itself.  These lights do not use mercury in their design. The technology incorporates semiconductor technology to make a more efficient light possible. 

The LED flashlight itself is constructed through a series of metal or aluminum housing chambers that are joined.  These chambers join to create a section that is tubular in nature, and is then connected to the battery element of the LED flashlight.  The battery element is responsible for holding at least one battery that is strong enough to provide enough voltage to operate the light emitting diode.  The bulb will be located at the far end of the tubular chamber, and in this bulb a series of electrons move around the bulb to create reactions that ultimately provide the light production from the flashlight.

The secret to the success of the LED flashlight is that these flashlights function at much lower levels of power than incandescent flashlights.  As a result, they require less energy from batteries than standard filament light bulbs.  In many cases, hundreds or even thousands of more hours of battery life can be seen with the use of an LED flashlight.  The LED bulb is also known to be much stronger than a traditional bulb, and is able to withstand severe blows that would typically break a conventional filament bulb. 

An LED flashlight is generally regulated through electronic means in order to maintain a consistency in the output of light as the batteries begin to fade.  In other words, as the battery life drops, the user of the flashlight will not notice this, as the light from the flashlight will stay the same.  In a standard flashlight on the other hand, the light is not regulated electronically, and as such, the light will get dimmer and dimmer as the battery life begins to go.

LED flashlights generally generate far less heat than regular light sources, which contributes to their efficiency. Flashlight technology that offers a low power LED bulb will definitely generate much less heat than larger models.  In larger models, a significant amount of heat will be generated, but because there is a semiconductor junction within the model, the heat dissipates quickly.  Many larger LED flashlights that operate under a higher power will be constructed with aluminum casings to prevent too much hit around the chamber while being used.

LED flashlights and LED bulbs offer many advances in flashlight technology. They are more affordable in terms of saving on battery costs, and are much more eco-friendly than their standard bulb counterparts.

~Ben Anton, 2008

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