TOUCH LITE

Touch Lite, retail $5.99 (www.wallgreens.com)
Manufactured by (Unknown)
Last updated 01-06-07




Thuh kompeny thaat maiks thuh Touch Lite kant spel thuh werd "light", but they still make a decent product.

The Touch Lite is unique in the world of flashlights, in that instead of a traditional pushbutton or slide switch; or a twist on/off bezel, it has a parallel set of carbon strips at the bottom that cause the light to come on whenever you hold the product so that your hand or fingers connect the two strips.

It has a white LED at one end, and is powered by two AAA cells in its body. The body is composed of a brushed chrome finish plastic.

I was not able to find it on the Wallgreens website, which is why I did not furnish you a URL to its web page.


SIZE



The Touch Lite is ready to use right out of the package.

Just pick it up, and be certain your fingers touch both of the carbon strips on its underside. The light stays on only as long as your skin touches both of the carbon strips at once.

The product turns off as soon as contact between the carbon strips is removed.

This is a resistive switch, not a capacitive one. I confirmed this by the admittedly crude method of applying a small amount of saliva across the carbon strips, and the light came on and stayed on; it turned back off when I wiped the saliva off with the cotton material of my Metallica shirt (the one I have on at this moment).

To turn the flashlight completely off (so that it doesn't "go off" during storage or transport), firmly press & then release the black pushbutton on the tail.
Do the same thing again to reactivate the touch sensor.



To change the batteries in your Touch Lite, slide the battery door off the back, gently place it on the ground, and kick it into the garden so the hungry, hungry praying mantids will think it's something yummy to eat and subsequently strike at it...O WAIT!!! YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

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

Insert two new AAA cells into the barrel, flat-end (-) negative first. This is the opposite of how batteries are installed in most flashlights, so please pay attention to polarity here.

Slide the battery door back on, and be done with it.
Aren't you glad you didn't kick that battery door into the garden with all those hungry, hungry praying mantids now?


Here is what a praying mantis looks like.
I found this guy on the morning of 09-08-06 clinging to the basket of my scooter.

Current usage measures 91.5mA on my DMM's 400mA scale.




Photograph of the business-end, showing the LED.

The flashlight appears to be reasonably sturdy, and it is. Although I don't normally administer "The Smack Test" on plastic flashlights, I performed a modified version of this test on the Touch Lite. When I administered the test on it (ten whacks against the concrete floor of a patio; five whacks against the side of the tailcap and five whacks against the side of the bezel), I found the expected damage. There is some very minor gouging on the sides of the tailcap and bezel where it was struck. No optical or electrical malfunctions were detected.

This flashlight is splash- and weather-resistant at absolute minimum, but it is not submersible. So please try not to drop it in creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes, oceansides, docksides, puddles of African elephant pee (I guess you have to sneak into a circus for that!!!), slush piles, mud puddles, tubs, toilet bowls, cisterns, sinks, fishtanks, dog water dishes, or other places where water or water-like liquids might be found. A little rain or snow probably wouldn't hurt it though, so you need not be too concerned about using it in moderately bad weather.

If it fell in water and you suspect it got flooded, disassemble it as you would for a battery change, dump the water out of the barrel if necessary, and set the parts in a warm dry place for a couple of days or so just to be sure it's completely dry inside before you reassemble and use it again.

If it fell into seawater or if somebody or something peed on it, douche all the parts out with fresh water before setting them out to dry. You don't want your flashlight to smell like seaweed or yucky old piss when you go to use it next. Besides, salt (from seawater or pee) can't be very good for the insides. It is ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT that you douche out this light very thoroughly if it was exposed to salt water, fell into an unflushed toilet or urinator, or if something or somebody peed on it, because the touch switch is very sensitive to salt - the light could just stay on permanently if all the salt is not washed out. In this case, I would recommend taking the battery door off, removing the batteries, and actually submerging the product in fresh water a couple of times before setting it out to dry.

Resistance across the two carbon strips was measured at 18.93K ohms; the light came on when the meter probes came in contact with both strips.

Battery rattle is fairly evident; I didn't even have to shake the product vigorously in order to hear it.



Beam photograph on the test target at 12".
Measures 23,100mcd on a Meterman LM631 light meter.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrometer plot of the LED in this flashlight.
Ocean Optics USB2000 Spectrometer on loan from WWW.TWO-CUBED.COM.





TEST NOTES:
Test unit was sent by a user of Candlepower Forums on 01-02-07, and was received on the afternoon of 01-05-07.

Product was made in Hong Kong. A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.


UPDATE: 01-06-07
Touch Lites are available with body colors of white, purple, silver, and black.


PROS:



CONS:



    MANUFACTURER: Unknown
    PRODUCT TYPE: Small flashlight
    LAMP TYPE: 5mm white LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 1
    BEAM TYPE: Medium spot w/soft corona
    SWITCH TYPE: Touch switch on/off on barrel
    CASE MATERIAL: Plastic
    BEZEL: Plastic; LED protected by plastic window
    BATTERY: 2xAAA cells
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: 91.5mA
    WATER RESISTANT: Light splatter-resistance at minimum
    SUBMERSIBLE: No
    ACCESSORIES: 2xAAA cells
    WARRANTY: 1 year

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Star Rating





Touch Lite *






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