jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I have a bunch of small LED flashlights that use three AAA batteries in a holder that gets inserted into the body. They cost a little over a dollar a piece from Amazon.

I did a load of laundry yesterday, and when I opened the lid of the washer, I saw a light! I had left one of those little flashlights in a pocket, and the washing machine turned it on. It went through the 43 minute cycle, and it still works. I took it apart to dry it out, and my cheap little light is bright and healthy. Surprising, especially with the electronics of the LED.

Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

Inexpensive is not always cheap!

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

Consider the event your miracle for yesterday.

TomC. Loc: Bel Air, MD

Not only can you air your dirty laundry, Jerry, you can see it better too. Win, win. lol

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

I have several, free ones from Harbor Freight and Canon , handy item!

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I keep a small rechargeable LED flashlight in my camera case. It helps me read menus in dark and dimly lit restaurants.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

Lights are a goodness! But, do have more than one, because they will fail, and at the most inconvenient moments!

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Actually the small LED lights are great. They tend to have o rings at both ends and the on/off push button is also rubber and seal not too bad. So can be waterproof or quite good water resistant.
Their downside is the manufacturers (probably Chinese who don't care as long as the cartons keep leaving the factory) haven't yet learnt that anodising the threaded ends where you do it up is not a good idea because an anodised surface is a non conductor so the light becomes very flaky during use. Easily cured but you shouldn't have to. And I have seen dozens of them thrown out because of this.

hcmcdole

Glad to hear you gave it the laundry test and they kept on ticking! I did that with some seeds this summer (forgot I had them in my shorts pocket). Went ahead and planted them to see if they were still good - it looked like everyone of them germinated and now sitting in a pot out in a shady area of the back yard.

Hard to beat for brightness and price. It seems like you have to buy a bundle of them though. I started at Home Depot at Xmas - good stocking stuffers. My last buy at Amazon was for five, runs off one AA cell, and super bright (at least to my eyes). I just ran a test with all my flashlights and was surprised by the Lux app I downloaded on my phone. The big Maglite with 3 D-cells was still the brightest but didn't seem that way. Even the little cheapo Rayovac surprised me with its reading which runs off C-cells. That all said, it is hard to beat the inexpensive, lightweight LED lights today.

These mini-lights are very bright and it looks like they now come with 3 modes - normal, low light, and flashing.

https://www.amazon.com/MIKAFEN-5Pack-Flashlights-Flashlight-300lm/dp/B01ARA9YQ8

Abo

I clip one to my beanie and pretend I'm a Dalek.... TERRMINAATE!

Abo

But when the sheets are short, the bed seems longer.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I bought a great set of slightly more expensive little LED flashlights, but only about 50% of them work for more than a couple of days. That's a shame because they are nice lights, when they work. Similar to below. They're sold under different brand names. I've tried swapping parts between the broken ones, with no luck.

https://smile.amazon.com/Kootek-Flashlights-Waterproof-Flashlight-Emergency/dp/B077P47TF1/ref=sr_1_11?crid=1XNHJRSLSYDFU&dchild=1&keywords=small+led+flashlights&qid=1597761296&sprefix=small+LED+fla%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-11

ecblackiii Loc: Maryland

An LED is a simple, light emitting device, like a light bulb. It is not electronic. In the flashlight you have, it is switched on or off by a manual switch.

srg

😂

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

As I said earlier most small LED torches fail because of the lack of a conductor through the screw thread where you change the battery (there are other failure modes too but I have found this is the predominant one). I'll talk about them below. To fix the screw thread point I have found the easiest way is to scrape the anodising off the flat part of the ends of the threaded section, then carefully run a steel brush around the threads themselves. The idea is to try and remove as much of the anodised layer as possible. You don't need much to come off as long as you have matching points since this is one of the electrical paths between the switch end and the LED. Then I add some deoxit to the threads. This is usually a reasonably good fix.
Another failure point can be where the bit threads into the end where the switch is - sometimes you need to reposition this to make contact. A bit fiddly though. And the last point is where the body joins the LED carrier pcb. Sometimes this is just a blob of solder and it doesn't made a good connection here. I dismantle if possible and increase the size of the solder blob a wee bit. Deoxit this also.
I have had switch failures but rare. Also had the odd failure of the LED/pcb also rare.
The issue is basically very poor design and manufacture and shouldn't happen. Probably why these torches are so cheap. You think that perhaps 50c extra spent (and that is all it would take) would be well worth it and you would be quite happy to pay the extra as well for a working torch. Unfortunately a Chinese manufacturer doesn't think like that so a few cents saved makes him more money since we keep on buying the things. They also think that if their torch is 10c dearer to buy compared with a competitor that he won't make any sales because you will always buy the cheapest. Do a google search on 'tofu buildings' if you want to see an eye opener.
Generally 'brand name' torches will be dearer and much more reliable.