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EFLARE HZ510/HZ530 BEACONS

Eflare HZ510/HZ530 Beacons, retail $TBA (www.eflarecorp.com...*)
Manufactured by Eflare Corporation (www.eflarecorp.com)
Last updated 11-24-11

The Eflare HZ510 and HZ530 Beacons are non-incendiary (does not use fire) electronic emergency flares that uses eight power SMD LEDs (color varies; I received an HZ530 that alternates red & blue flashes, an HZ510 that flashes red, and another HZ510 that flashes yellow) and a kind of magnifying clear bezel to produce their light. They flash at approximately 3.5Hz (seven flashes every two seconds), and are totally weatherproof, so you can turn them on, set them out, and not have to worry about the weather.

The HZ models on this web page are also hazmat certified; that is, they can be used in flammable or explosive environments without risk of fire or explosion.

They come in "day glow" fluorescent yellow-green bodies, so they're easy to find in your car trunk, glovebox, under the seat, or wherever you keep them. They also have retroreflective labels, so if you're in total darkness with a flashlight as your sole light source, holding the flashlight near eye-level will reveal the presence of the beacon in your trunk or wherever you're looking for it.

As you can see, the green bodies are also "blacklight-sensitive"; fluorescing (glowing) in UVA (ultraviolet type A) radiation.
In this photograph, I irradiated it with my Arc AAA UV flashlight.

* The web page shown first on this one requires that you have Quicktime installed.

SIZE

To use the HZ530, feed it first (see directly below), and then you can go to town.

Grasp the unit by its green body with one hand, and use the other hand to firmly twist the clear bezel clockwise (as if tightening it) approximately 1/8th of a turn to switch it on. Firmly twist the bezel approximately 1/8th of a turn counterclockwise (as if loosening it) to shut it off.

Press the unit firmly in the center of the optional but recommended black rubbery base to make it wind-resistant - it won't very readily blow over that way, whether the wind is natural or is a result of passing vehicles.

To use the Eflare with the suction cup accessory, you'll want to moisten the underside of the suction cup with water - or even a little saliva (spit) if water is not handy.
Moisten it just before pressing it firmly onto a very smooth, nonporous, shiny surface like glass or painted /unpainted metal.

To change the batteries in the HZ510 or HZ530, unscrew and remove the tailcap, very gently place it to the ground, and kick it into the road so somebody runs over it with their vehicle & ruins it...O WAIT!!! YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

Tip the two used D cells out of the barrel and into your hand, and dispose of or recycle them as you see fit.

Turn the beacon on at this point. Insert two new D cells in the barrel, button-end (+) positive first. Screw the tailcap firmly back on (be certain it is *FIRMLY* attached!). The beacon should begin flashing at this point; this tells you that you have the batteries in correctly and that the tailcap is on firmly enough to make an electrical connection; you may turn the beacon off now. There, you're done.
Aren't you glad you didn't kick that tailcap into the road where it can become destroyed by a truck now?

Due to the intermittent (flashing) nature of this product, I cannot take a current usage reading with the instruments at my disposal.

Battery life is advertised at 40+ (up to 80) hours.

There is a low battery indicator LED that will come on (I believe it flashes, but I could be incorrect here) when the batteries need replacing; I cannot test this until I have two D cells that are circling the drain though. The label on the side of the HZ510 and HZ530 reads that this LED is yellow.

The HZ510 and HZ530 appear to be reasonably sturdy at absolute minimum, but because of their all-plastic construction, I'll forego the smack test.

Water-resistance appears to be excellent. There are O-rings at the tailcap and at the bezel; these help seal out things like rain, mud, water, dust, pee, gasoline, motor oil, tranny fluid, windshield washer fluid, and other nasties. I turned the HZ530 on, threw it in the cistern (toliet tank) for three minutes, then ran it under the faucet (while it was still turned on). When I dried the outside off with some store brand nasal tissue (functionally identical to Cleanax), no water was found anywhere inside of it.

Here's proof I really performed "The Toliet Test" on it.

The main part of the beam is annular (doughnut-shaped), and is angled slightly upward, so it is visible to oncoming traffic.

The unit is said to be non-damaging if it were to be struck by a vehicle; though I have no way to verify this first-hand.

The HZ510 and HZ530 are outfitted with two clips on the body, so they may be clipped to coats or other heavy clothing articles so you can use them as personal safety beacons, or clipped to traffic cones. Optional accessories are a cone mount (designed to be clipped to the top of a standard orange traffic cone with more stability than the product's own clip might provide), a suction cup attachment, and a magnetic attachment. These three accessories are all designed to be clipped to the Eflare itself by sliding it up one of the two clips on the body of the product.

There are colored dots under the transparent bezel that indicate the LED color without your having to turn the LEDs on.
As you can see, this one has blue & red dots - indicating it is the red/blue unit.

The product incorporates an "advanced battery protection" system that serves to protect the batteries & circuitry when the beacon is dropped. After my sister leaves later this evening, I'll intentionally drop one of them multiple times just to see what happens...aww screw it! I'll just take one outside and drop it on grass - and maybe the concrete too...BBS...ok, after three drops from approximately chest-height onto grass (one drop each on its tailcap, body, and lens) and one drop from approximately chest-height onto concrete on its tailcap, no damage was found, and the unit still operates correctly.

The HZ series are hazmat (hazardous materials) certified - that is, there is no risk of fire or explosion.
Unlike incendiary (fire-using) flares, the Eflare HZ series can be safely deployed when flammable substances (such as spilled gasoline, leaking LNG, puddles of motor oil, aviation fuel, etc.) are present.

Hazmat accreditation:
Certified to operate safely in Class 1, Division 2 / Zone 2 hazardous areas.

According to a sheet furnished with the beacons, they are suitable for the following:

Personal visual protection
Location alert
Traffic management
Accident or hazardous scene alert
Helicopter landing zone demarcation
Forklift area demarcation
Unusual hazards
Obstacle identification
Roadside skip alert
Cleaning & maintenance
Directional markers
Vehicle breakdowns
Overhead crane alert
Crane boom night light
Vehicle loading & unloading
Emergency landing strip
Man overboard
Livestock crossings
Night harvesting

Regading the usage as "crane boom night light", I have heard from somebody whos work with light I trust implicitly; this is what he had to say:

"I would advise to use a red-flashing unit aligned vertically upward.

Furthermore, there are FAA lighting regulations that apply to crane booms that at nighttime protrude upward more than some certain extent - I suspect 100 feet above the prevailing terrain (rooftops/treetops close to the crane, otherwise the ground).

When FAA specifies requirement of a light, the requirements get strict. It appears to me generally that such requirements include use of a specific brand/model approved by FAA for such use, and that lights that have such approval tend to state such approval.

I also have the impression that FAA-approved lights for use where required to mark towers, crane booms, etc. don't hit retail markets for use as road flares or the like. It is my impression that such lights are advertised more to those who build tall buildings, towers, cranes, etc., building managers of buildings that need such lights, owners/operators of radio towers, and outfits that sell or rent cranes that would need such lights, along those lines!"

Photograph showing the HZ530 in its "on" cycle (blue LEDs).

Photograph showing the HZ530 in its "on" cycle (red LEDs).

See the movie below for a better look at it.

Unit in its rubber base.

Unit stuck to the side of a metal fan with the magnetic attachment.

Unit mounted to a traffic cone with the cone attachment.
The cone appears crumpled because it was crammed inside a box for ~18 months.

I found a standard-height traffic cone deployed outside yesterday, so I attached the HZ530 to it
and snapped this photograph without being caught "tampering with a roadway safety device".

Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs (red) in the HZ530 red & blue flare.

Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs (blue) in the HZ530 red & blue flare.

Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs (red) in the HZ530 red & blue flare; newer spectrometer software settings used.

Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs (red) in the HZ530 red & blue flare; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 610nm and 660nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is 639.80nm.

Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs (blue) in the HZ530 red & blue flare; newer spectrometer software settings used.

Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs (blue) in the HZ530 red & blue flare; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 440nm and 490nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is 463.00nm.

Spectrographic analysis of the fluorescence of the outer casing of the HZ530 when irradiated with the Handheld Blue (violet-emitting) Laser Module.

Windows Media Player movie (.avi extension) showing the HZ530 (red & blue) in action.
This clip is approximately 4.0 megabytes (4,095,748 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twenty minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

Windows Media Player movie (.avi extension) showing the HZ510 (amber) in action.
This clip is approximately 4.1 megabytes (4,142,116 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twenty minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

Windows Media Player movie (.avi extension) showing the HZ510 (red) in action.
This clip is approximately 3.6 megabytes (3,689,588 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than seventeen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

Windows Media Player movie (.avi extension) showing all three units in action.
In order clockwise from the top: yellow, red, red/blue.
This clip is approximately 2.9 megabytes (2,989,788 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than fourteen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

Windows Media Player movie (.avi extension) showing all three units deployed outside after sunset (~8:20pm PDT 10-05-07).
This is the edge of the parking space my sister's car normally occupies.
This clip is approximately 2.9 megabytes (2,932,800 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than fourteen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

That music you might hear in the first four clips is from a demo I wrote for the Commodore 64 computer in 1992.
The demo's actual filename is a toliet word, so I cannot say it here. It starts with "PU" and ends with "ED".
Think of a kitty cat being flogged with a long flexible instrument used for administering a beating and you can probably figure it out.

I cannot provide these clips in other formats, so please do not ask.

The product is not sound-sensitive; the music may be ignored or muted if desired.

TEST NOTES:
Test units (a HZ530, and two colors of HZ510) were sent by P.L. of (www.eflarecorp.com on 09-30-07, and were received late on the morning of 10-05-07.

Units were designed in Australia and made in China.
A product's country of origin really does matter to some users, which is why I published it here on this web page.

UPDATE: 02-20-09
I have decided to rate this product a full five stars and give it a place of honour in The Trophy Case!!!

PROS:
Tougher than all get-out!!!
Easy to activate & deploy
Weatherproof - even submersible to shallow depths at minimum
Bright enough to be truly useful
Will not cause vehicular damage if struck by that vehicle
Includes low battery warning
Batteries are common & relatively inexpensive
Tool-free battery change

CONS:
None that I've yet to discover

MANUFACTURER: Eflare Corporation
PRODUCT TYPE: Electronic (non-incendiary) emergency beacon / flare
LAMP TYPE: Power SMD LED and 5mm LED
No. OF LAMPS: 9 (eight power SMD and one 5mm)
BEAM TYPE: 360� horizontal, narrow vertical axis
SWITCH TYPE: Twist bezel on/off
BEZEL: Plastic (possibly acrylic) dome protects LEDs
BATTERY: 2x D cells
CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
WATER- AND PEE-RESISTANT: Yes
SUBMERSIBLE: Yes, to shallow depths for limited durations at minimum
ACCESSORIES: (optional) Wide rubbery base, suction cup attachment, magnet attachment, cone attachment
HEIGHT: 210mm (8.25")
WEIGHT: 450g (1.00lb)
WARRANTY: One year

PRODUCT RATING:

Eflare HZ510/HZ530 Beacons * www.eflarecorp.com...

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