I have never seen this done before but it seems really useful.
Two purposes:
Preflight inspection. A decent powerful torch is required for this.
Emergency. One doesn’t need much power, but it has to be there when you need it. This one is easy to satisfy, with a torch that uses primary (non rechargeable) cells and it’s easy to get ones (lithium) with a 10 year shelf life. Even standard alkalines are good for 2-3 years.
At home we have the old Inova T5
which is way behind the LED torch curve when it comes to efficiency, and more recent versions (with variable brightness etc) have crap reliability, and it needs AC mains power (not practical in most aircraft) but it is one of the few torches which really work well for a standby application. The wall clamp works great. Having something like this in the luggage compartment, near the door, would be super. It would always be charged.
I wonder if anybody makes such a thing with a 12V or 24V DC input.
I have an Inova torch at present (like the one above – and there is a thousand alternatives, many of them with the irritating flashing mode which you have to cycle through when you use them) but find that rechargeable CR123 cells last about 5 preflight inspections. So I keep a second battery pack in the plane, but it’s a hassle to keep taking the cells home and stick them in a charger.
Why not take a cheapo LED torch and always carry a few replacement batteries in the aircraft? That’s what I do and it works just fine…
I have seen very small LED torches which fit and recharge in the lighter socket. They construction seems to be quite good as well.
That’s a very good lead, Jesse. I found a few of them, but unfortunately all are very small and appear to have a single little LED.
This gets closest but has a 5V (USB) charging input, so there is a pretty obvious solution, with a 28V to 5V converter.
Yes but that is like a thousand others – you have to keep a spare battery kicking around. Some of them are very good though, but the really good ones empty the battery in minutes. Amazing price though!
Take your pick, I have never used anything else since they came on the market. never had one fail.
Link
Some give a very high intensity. For inspection usages I use those with which can dim. If they can not dim they tend to give to much light causing over illumination and glare, which actually makes it more difficult to inspect.
For inspection usages I use those with which can dim
Do you have any pointer? For night VFR I’ve been looking for one that can be dimmed, but so far those I’ve seen are still too bright at their minimum.
The best head mounted torches I have ever seen are from Zebralight in the USA. Unfortunately they are not very available in Europe.
They can be dimmed right down to a very low level.
