Reply to: What a rip-off

[TimberWolf]

They built the mother of all poundlands in town a while ago, I quite like wandering about it, the HDMI cables for the monitors I am using just now came from there, I got a tablet stand last week that sits hidden behind my sofa so when I am not using it I can drop it onto that for recharging.

I like to think I know what needs to be quality and be willing to pay a lot for and what I can buy cheap just to get by on.

A mothership landed near near me too. It's entertaining walking around looking at the low prices. A bit like Habitat, but in reverse - even with Habitat's 70% off sales on my jaw drops at the high prices and awful tat.

I notice that Poundland's packs of e.g. Mars bar and Snickers (at 3 a pack now) are cheaper in Sainbury's though, where you can get a 5 pack for £1. Probably a loss-leader.

[TimberWolf]

Why disposable? We are running out of landfill space.

You may as get one that you can reuse. My £5 camping LED camping torch is brilliant it blinds people.

Ideally it won't be disposable, but I like the idea of carrying stuff that's not worth much in case it gets nicked/broken, etc. I suppose I was mesmerised by the price too.

[SueEllen]

I only wanted a small disposable torch, for camping. I have a nice ultra-bright (and expensive) one on my keyring too, but that uses small batteries and I use it sparingly.

Why disposable? We are running out of landfill space.

You may as get one that you can reuse. My £5 camping LED camping torch is brilliant it blinds people.

[TimberWolf]

Anyone care to hazard guess at the circuit diagram of this torch? It has 9 LEDs, which I imagine each need at least 2V to work, and 3 AAA batteries (1.5V each) connected in series outputting about 4.5V.

[TimberWolf]

Which reminds me. I accidentally placed my compass near my iPod Touch while on holiday, and my iPod Touch is kept in a case that closes with a magnetic catch. (I sometimes wonder if this is good for the Touch). Anyway it fried my compass, i.e. it was pointing in the opposite direction to where I thought it should point, which was causing me some confusion. Luckily I often navigate by the Sun, and given that conflicting directions I chose the Sun.

Sadly I threw that cheap compass away, not thinking about it. A compass only has one direction, it's either going to be right or 180 degrees wrong, from magnetic north. Or it might not settle anywhere. Mine was 180 degrees wrong. But had I stopped to think, I could have just re magnetised it using a powerful magnet I have, or perhaps even used my iPod case.

[TimberWolf]

Why don't you go to a camping/outdoor shop and spend the £5 on a torch that actually works out of the box?

I only wanted a small disposable torch, for camping. I have a nice ultra-bright (and expensive) one on my keyring too, but that uses small batteries and I use it sparingly.

[SueEllen]

So one Poundland torch needs:

Reading specs £1
Glue £1
Wet and dry paper £1
Batteries £1

Anything else?

Why don't you go to a camping/outdoor shop and spend the £5 on a torch that actually works out of the box?

[minestrone]

They built the mother of all poundlands in town a while ago, I quite like wandering about it, the HDMI cables for the monitors I am using just now came from there, I got a tablet stand last week that sits hidden behind my sofa so when I am not using it I can drop it onto that for recharging.

I like to think I know what needs to be quality and be willing to pay a lot for and what I can buy cheap just to get by on.

[xoggoth]

Poundland?? Are you lot made of money? We have a 99p Shop in our town, never shop anywhere else.

[TimberWolf]

Result

Well just stuffing one piece of aluminium foil near the edge inside the tube seems to have done the trick, perhaps by luck. I now have a nice bright beam, but am employing only one good return path out of the three available, assuming I'm right about those edge contacts. Does this spell doom for overloading the circuit? I'm not going to open the case up again now to see if all three contacts are connected together, it's staying closed now. Yeaha, I can shake and knock the torch and switch it on and off at will with no loss of brightness or any funny business.

[Cliphead]

But doing so will void the warranty?

You're worried about warranty on a £1 torch?

[TimberWolf]

A had some brief success by stuffing some aluminium foil down the shaft, and hoping for the best, and got a bright beam - presumably the brightness the torch should have been from the start. My pushing the lens is meeting with limited less success now and at best results in what I know now to be a weak beam. I'm thinking of putting some solder on the 3 contacts that look as if they are supposed to make contact with the metal body of the tube? But doing so will void the warranty? I might try stuffing some aluminium down the edge first instead, again, near the 3 edge solder contacts. My fault does sound subtly different to Paddy's (no looseness or movement detected), though in the same area.

[minestrone]

I honestly do not know how they make some of this stuff, OK it's slave labour at the manufacturing plant and mostly it is crap stuff that I buy for a single job but materials, shipping, distribution, branded stores, UK store staff and making a profit on a pound minus VAT.

[OwlHoot]

Just tried that, expecting nothing, and it works now! Muchas gracias. I now have a shiny torch and am hopeful that the battery will last ages for camping purposes, because the light output is quite modest for a 3 AAA torch.

A torch for a pound?! Skinflint!

I have a wind up LED torch, which can also charge mobiles.

[minestrone]

A thread with more time taken over it than the designer spent designing it.