15 Flash Lights (6-LED unit) and Heavy Duty Batteries Included

I went pass the aisle display for "special" items.  There was a 15-flash light pack for less than $12, after tax.  I passed the offer, because it listed the power output as a 18 lumens.  How much power does it give out over a distance?  LED works well in close distance, but it performs poorly in the outdoor.

The last LED I bought was a TechLite from Costco.  It costs $20 for two, and now it sells for $18 for 3.  The TechLite puts out 160 lumens - according the specification.  It will take 8 of the "special" to give out the same lumens. Errr..


For $12 dollars?? I decided to give that a try..

I taped 3 of the units together to form a "18 LED" flash light.  It takes 9 AAA battery, instead of just 3 AAA on the TechLite.  I don't know whether the "special LED" unit will last longer than the TechLite, but I think it should.  LED based flash light has very high degree of efficiency - the power is mostly converted into light. If the 3 units put out as much light as 1 unit, then the overall power consumption should be the same right??

 By taping the 3 units as one, the LED provides a brighter, evenly distributed light, similar to the Krypton flash light - except at a different color temperature.










photos:  2010 Poland Krakow
plugs: 782sa.blogspot.com
plugs: rts2go.blogspot.com

Rewiring TV, Entertainment Systems

Our 3 and ½ years old plasmas tv received an update wiring last weekend. I had the TV hookup with mixed new and old technologies couple years ago. Once was new technology is now pretty much obsolete, superseded with newer technology.

It had a HDMI (video only) port; the technology was so new 3-4 years ago, the $2500 Panasonic Plasma offered only 1 hookup, Today’s Panasonic succession model offers 3. It old TV didn’t even offer digital NTSC tuner either back then.

Old plasma tv also had an optical audio output for home theater/surround sound stereo setup. I am not sure whether my parents had used that feature at all. Today, HDMI version 1.3 replaces that optical interface.

Remember the “smart card” as the cable set top box equivalent for viewing HD program? Well, the optional “cable card” isn’t compatible with the local cable service provider. Now it’s a useless piece of technology.

# # #

We went back to the basics: Don’t have a new Blue-ray DVD player just yet, sticking with old faithful technology. The back panel setup is now configure to

1. Component 1 – DVD
2. Component 2 – Satellite Dish Ku Band (NOT DDS DishNetwork, Direct TV).
3. Composite 1 – VCR
4. Composite 2 – Cable
5. Air – Antenna Local HD
6. HDMI (video)– (open, may a PC video at a later time
7. No more plugs for karaoke LD player. We can’t sing anyway, sure going to miss the $200 mic.

I also notice elderly parents placed a portable boom box next to the stereo rack equipment. I realize the system was too complicated for them to operate; they had resolve to a $50 simpler device. I dump the surround sound Kenwood Home Theater with a nice bookshelf Panasonic stereo I had since 1990’s – I said nice because, there weren’t that may bookshelf systems with separate wiring for cross-over speakers. The system costs $750 in 2009 dollars, it’s not cheap considering it doesn’t even have the surround sound speakers, but it makes up the difference by giving accurate clear sound reproduction, pretty tight bass and easy to use interface.