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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

Thanks.  I have seen some of the LED lights.  They have a bluish "aura".  
What you brought up was what I was mthinking, about solar stuff.  Probably 
pretty far off though.....................bobford


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--- On Mon, 11/10/08, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com <Clansgian AT wmconnect.com> wrote:

> From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com <Clansgian AT wmconnect.com>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] No battery 'Ultracapacitor' flashlight
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Monday, November 10, 2008, 6:03 AM
> > >I don't really understand this technology.  The
> article doesn't give 
> > enough info.  This is not a wind-up flashligh, nor
> does it use batteries.  It 
> > lasts forever, without having to use and throw away a
> lifetime of batteries. 
> 
> It uses a capacitor or bank of capacitors.  It does not
> have batteries and it 
> last "forever" until the bulb or capacitor
> deteriorates with age.
> 
> Have you noticed that a radio or stereo will continue
> playing for a few 
> seconds when you turn it off or unplug it.  You might even
> have noticed that if you 
> turn a solid-state radio or stereo off while it is still
> plugged up, then 
> unplug it, and turn it back on, it will sometimes play for
> a few seconds then go 
> dead until you plug it back up.
> 
> In the "power supply", the circuit which converts
> the 120V AC into low 
> voltage DC (which the device requires) employs one or more
> capacitors to "filter" 
> the rectified AC.  
> 
> A capacitor is a very efficient electrical storage device
> and can maintain 
> that storage for a very long time.  When I was doing
> electronics bench work (an 
> exticnt occupation), I had two enourmous capacitors there
> about the size of a 
> coffee can each, something like 22,000 mfd, and I'd
> charge them up from a 12v 
> DC source and use them to power the transistor radio for
> nearly a month.
> 
> Capacitors charge instantly.  Even those huge coffee can
> capacitors took no 
> more than 45 seconds to charge.
> 
> With the advent of low power, low voltage LEDs for
> flashlights, this 
> capacitor based flashlight is quite feasible.  
> 
> Here's the bit.  This same principle crops up time and
> time again.  Do you 
> have one of those LED flashlights that use batteries??  You
> can charge a NiMHd 
> battery, AA or AAA, and that flashlight will keep a bright
> beam for months 
> (used a few minutes a day).  The new technology that makes
> this flashlight 
> feasible is not the improved capacitor, it's the LED
> bulb, which IS a turning point 
> technology.  It won't be many years before that's
> all we use anywhere for 
> lights.  Have you noticed those new traffic lights with
> LEDs,  many times more 
> clear and visible.
> 
> So why not have a whole house full of capacitors to store
> your solar and wind 
> generated electricity?   It's probably coming, but they
> are ghastly expensive 
> compared to batteries and prone to failure.
> 
> 
> James
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