Fireflys Tire Valve Stem Light, retail 99¢
Manufactured by (Unknown)
Last updated 01-21-13
The Firefly is a novel tire {or, "tyre" if you prefer} valve stem light that produces streaks of deep blue light when your vehicle (car, truck, motorcycle, or bicycle) is motion.
It has an automatic (centrifugal) on/off function, so there are no switches to fuss with or forget.
It features a deeper blue than usual (spectrographically measured at 433.488nm) LED under a tall acrylic diffusing "tower", and feeds that LED from a trio of AG10 button cells.
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To use the Firefly, first gently pull out the plastic tab from its side (this tab functions as an insulator so that the Firefly doesn't discharge its batteries during transport & handling) and dispose of it. Don't just throw it on the ground, or else creatures like squirrels, rats, snakes, or birds might eat it.
Look at the inner edges of the included hosel (a collar-like device); you'll note that one side has a slight 'sawtooth' pattern to it and the other end is smooth, Orienting it so that the smooth end faces the Firefly, screw this hosel onto the male threaded portion of the Firefly snugly (do not use tools, but tighten it finger-tight).
Screw the now-assembled Firefly onto the valve stem of the tire you want to be illuminated, and yes, that's it. Operation of the Firefly is totally automatic at this point; it will turn on when the Firefly-equipped vehicle is in motion, and turn off when the vehicle slows down & stops.
Fist, unscrew & remove it from the valve stem of the tire you have it affixed to.
Seperate the case halves by unscrewing the large part from the acrylic "tower", take that "tower" to a freeway overpass, and nonchalantly drop it (or chuck it as hard as you can) into the roadway so that a big rig or a bus comes by, runs over it, and flattens it...O WAIT!!! THAT'S THE GOOD PART!!! You'll probably get a ticket for littering as well!!! So just set it aside instead.
Tip the used AG10 button cells out of the barrel and into your hand, and dispose of or recycle them as you see fit.
Do not attempt to dispose of them by flushing, and for Christ sakes, please do not throw them over the side of a dock where they might hit a flounder on the way down to the bottom.
Stack three new AG10 button cells near the edge of a flat surface such as a desk, counter, dresser, table, etc. orienting them so that their button-ends (-) negatives face the floor.
Lower the barrel of the Firefly over them, scoot the barrel with the button cells in it to the edge, place your finger over the Firefly's opening (so that all of those new batteries do not fall out and clatter all over the floor or end up in the rug where they might later fall prey to the hungry, hungry vacuum cleaner!) and slide it over the edge.
Invert (flip over) the barrel now so that the open end faces up, and screw the part with the acrylic "tower" snugly back on.
Screw the Firefly back ono the tire valve stem, and be done with it.
Aren't you glad that you didn't huck that part with the "tower" into the freeway so that it could become destroyed by a car or bus now?
This is a bicycle valve stem light, not a flashlight. So I won't throw it against the wall, stomp on it, try to drown it in the {vulgar term for feces}bowl or the cistern, run over it, swing it against the concrete floor of a patio, bash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannoñata (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piñata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a laser-type device on a platform with a large readout, a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or a pack-of-cards-sized instrument that Fergy Fudgehog uses), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analyses, or inflict upon it punishments that flashlights may have inflicted upon them.
So this section of the Firefly's web page will seem a bit more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight that was born to be a flashlight and nothing but a flashlight.
Because I do not own a bicycle or other vehicle with pneumatic (air-filled) tires {my Quickie® Pulse 6 Electric Wheelchair and my Pride® Celebrity X3 Scooter have 'flat-free' tires with no valve stems}, I cannot test this product in the manner intended, and therefore I cannot in good conscience furnish it with a rating.
I did however rather briefy borrow my sister's bicycle to affix the Firefly to its front tire so I could make the video shown farther down this web page, so at least that's ***SOMETHING***.
Photograph of the product illuminated.
There is a lot of motion blur because I had to shake the living tweedle out of the Firefly in order to get a photograph of the LED illuminated.
Photograph of the product affixed to my sister's bicycle's front tire valve stem.
Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this light.
Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this light; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 435nm and 455nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is 443.188nm.
This video on YourTube shows the Fireflys tire valve stem light in operation.
This video is approximately 49.9115678457 megabytes (50,430,246 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than two hundred forty nine minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
TEST NOTES:
Test unit was purchased on Ebay on 11-04-12, and was received on 12-31-12.
UPDATE: 00-00-00
PROS:
CONS:
MANUFACTURER: Unknown
PRODUCT TYPE: LED tire valve stem light
LAMP TYPE: Blue LED
No. OF LAMPS: 1
BEAM TYPE: N/A
SWITCH TYPE: Automatic centrifugal switch on/off
CASE MATERIAL: Plastic
BEZEL: Plastic; LED protected by acrylic "tower"
BATTERY: 3x AG10 button cells
CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
WATER- AND DIET BERRIES & CREAM DR. PECKER-RESISTANT: Yes; weather-resistant at minimum
SUBMERSIBLE: PIPI PÒMDETÈ W AP ITILIZE YON BWÒS DAN KI TE TONBE NAN TWALÈT LA, NON!!!
ACCESSORIES: Male-to-male attachment hosel
SIZE: 60.50mm L x 16.50mm Dia. at its widest point
WEIGHT: 8.0g (0.280 oz.) incl. batteries
COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: China
WARRANTY: Unknown/not stated
PRODUCT RATING:
PRODUCT CANNOT BE USED AS INTENDED, AND WILL THEREFORE NOT BE RATED.
Fireflys Tire Valve Stem Light, *
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