At 22:36 10/16/99 , Doug Demarest wrote:
>I'm about to take off for Mexico in my 86 Vanagon and I'm trying to figure
>out a good way to make light in the interior for reading, cooking, etc.
>Candles may ignite my curtains and battery operated light will be expensive
>and wasteful.  I've searched for a battery charger for AA & C cells that'll
>plug into the lighter, but this does not appear to exist.  I'm sure lots of

You can get a candle lantern (I imagine the hikers have a fancy name for
it) at mountaineering stores.

Fluorescent light is quite efficient (unless the DC-AC conversion is badly
done).  I use an eleven-watt narrow-flood-beam fluorescent bulb (from
Sylvania) in a regular clip-on reading lamp fixture, powered by a small
inverter.  When clipped to the skylight fittings it lights the whole floor
area nicely, and it moves easily for task lighting or reading in bed.  It
draws probly a bit over an amp and gives much more light than the stock
fitting that draws over two amps.  It sounds like it's bigger than you want
-- you can get little three-watt fluorescent lights that plug directly into
an outlet or extension cord.  That would draw about a third of an amp
through the inverter.

An inverter will also power a recharger for NiCd batteries or whatever.  A
very small one (50w) made to power laptops should do you nicely.  They're
most efficient at loads that are a significant fraction of capacity (up to
80% or better).

One way or the other, any electric light you make is coming out of your
vehicle batteries unless you use primary cells (alkalines or
whatever).  Every time you convert it (inverter, battery charger etc) you
lose some in the conversion...(First and second laws of thermodynamics: 1 -
you can't win 2 - you can't break even).  Oh yeah, (3 - you can't get out
of the game).  Bulb efficiency (lumens per watt) gets better as you go from
plain incandescent to Xenon to Halogen, and *way* better when you shift to
fluorescent.

OTOH you can carry enough kerosene to light a lantern for a long time, and
only turn on the electrics when you need them.  Not much fun for reading,
though.  There's an Amish outfit called Lehman's that sells non-electric
stuff mailorder, including a large line of Chinese-made Dietz
lanterns.  They're not as good as the old US-made Dietz, but better than
anything else around (for less than a fortune, anyway -- not that these are
cheap).  They've got every combination of output vs burning time vs
physical size that you could want.   http://www.lehmans.com.

cheers
david
David Beierl - Providence, RI
  http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon.htm
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
'85 GL "Poor Relation"