Fuel shortage?

[MacGyver]

Re: Fuel shortage?

cool signature macgyver i agree 100%...

Thanks. I love "fix it"!

i'm curious how much you have invested in your led setup?

The bulbs cost an average of around $10, the bases around $5. I already had the wire, alligator clips, soldering irons and heat shrink tubing. And I also already had an 18 amp hour gel cell and charger that I use on my boat. But, starting from scratch, and figuring you were only going to use the battery for the lights, I would think you could put a two light setup together for under $100. That's calculating a small gel cell, a small charger, 2 bases, 2 bulbs, wire, clips and electrical tape/heat shrink tubing. (Hint: Amazon.com and free super saver shipping is your friend)

[hwc1954]

Re: Fuel shortage?

hwc - I'm going to have to look into that flashlight/diffuser setup for myself. I like my comforts when I'm on a trip, but I'm on a constant hunt for ways to downsize anything I can.

You can make your own diffuser. Just find a translucent travel bottle or jar that has the right diameter opening to slip over your flashlight. The diffuser is nice in the tent when you don't need a spot light, but just want a little non-blinding illumination.

I have those little flashlights and batteries for the car, for emergency use in my backpack, etc. So it's easy to use them for camping. They clip to the hook in my tent.

The big advance in rechargeables has been the Sanyo Eneloop batteries. Unlike all previous NiCad and NiMH batteries, these don't lose their charge sitting on the shelf. So they work really well for flashlights.

The latest generation LED bulbs are pretty amazing. My little two AA flashlight is blinding compared to old D-Cell Maglites.

My little Petzl Tikka 2 might be the handiest little gadget ever. I use it all the time around the house. It is so nice to be ablet to put serious illumination on a chore, just by looking at it. For example, plugging in cables in the back of a computer. Perfect for navigating a campsite at night. I'm not crazy about the blinding glare of lantern.

[MacGyver]

Re: Fuel shortage?

You can make your own diffuser.

Yeah - I've done the bottle trick. Can't have everything looking MacGyvered. I really like the looks of the small, compact light you've got.

[tplife]

Re: Fuel shortage?

For under $100.00 I could get two new Model 288 Colemans putting out up to 1000 lumens each with enough fuel to power them for 6 camping seasons...It all comes down to measured lumens output. If you need to have lighting in your campsite, look at those ratings...The hiss is quiet and not annoying, the glare is not an issue as the lights are set up in a tripod configuration 20 feet behind chairs on the perimeter of the campsite with their shades. What you have is reasonable visibility at a low cost. When a task is at hand, one of the lamps is turned higher for running the stove or breaking out the s'mores gear. It's cheap, lasts a lifetime and does everything you ask of it. I've never found LED gear that will do that. When I do, I'll be the first person bidding on it on Ebay! That said, I like MacG's posts and projects. Where the heck do we learn all this stuff if not from each other?

[dave wyath]

Re: Fuel shortage?

I personally prefer propane. it gives you the option of the small canisters for portability or the large tanks for larger supplies of gas. the main advantage that I like is the fact that propane never goes bad; never gets watered down and you can store it for decades without any degradation of quality. add to the fact that's it's almost odorless and it's number one in my book

[farout]

Re: Fuel shortage?

I was under the impression that there was a divice and hose that let you run any coleman prophane light or stove from a big BBQ type Prophane bottle. Am I wrong?

[MacGyver]

Re: Fuel shortage?

Not at all - there are propane poles and adapters made by quite a few companies

[James.]

Re: Fuel shortage?

I was under the impression that there was a divice and hose that let you run any coleman prophane light or stove from a big BBQ type Prophane bottle. Am I wrong?

yes, there are adaptors to let you run your grill off the small cylinders:
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-300000...ropane+adapter

and the ones you are talking about that let you run small stuff off the big tanks:
http://www.amazon.com/Stansport-Prop...ropane+adapter

[farout]

Re: Fuel shortage?

I thought so. We use so little gas fuel, that even at $ 8. a bottle it wouldn't pay for all the added equipment, yet. We are looking at a couple of things so we can camp more. This year we did'nt camp once or fish, too hot and I had medical things going on, yuck!