I have experienced everything you've mentioned with my flashlight. It does buzz too!

 

i lost mine
then again, it performed it really badly.

Good thing I use cree led flashlights

 

The red light blinking means low battery, solid red led means good charge...or is it the other way around? I can't remember

 

Flashlight?..Theres a flashlight back there?
Oh yea, I remember the salesrep pointing that out.
Honestly, I have never used it since I bought this thing back in 2007, and probably never will.
You can be sure i'll forget that its there if I ever breakdown at night.
Im thinking right now, the only time I would ever remove it from its mount is to drain the water out from the infamous water leaks, but so far so good.

 

I've used mine several times, but I don't ever recall seeing the red light come on.

 

You know, I completely forgot it was there. :icon_rolleyes:

 

I've used my two times, and both were just because I was looking for a reason to use the flashlight in my Patriot.

 

Ours is used all the time, great to have if you have kids and drive at night. Mine love to read so they have it on a lot of the time.

 

So I took the flashlight out of the Pat today to find how long it will last before dying ... and also to drain the battery completely - it`s said to be good for them once in a while. It switched itself off automaticaly after 5 minutes. Switched it on again ... auto off in 5 mins. I wonder if yours do that too or if it`s just mine having a "tired" battery and thus the circuit shuts it down to preserve energy. I`d also like to know if someone`s flashlight has a steadily glowing red LED instead of blinking one like mine.

Thanks for any feedback

 

drain the battery completely - it`s said to be good for them once in a while.

Yep, because of so called "memory effect". That's only with NiMH (or older NiCd) batteries. Li-ion (or LiPo) don't have the effect and these batteries are not recommended to drain completely. Not sure which type of battery Pat's flashlight has but I'll test the 5-minute thing anyway, Boy George.

 

OK, here goes:

Johnnie's Patriot Flashlight Test no. 1
(minutes : seconds)

Test 1.1
00:00 Ignition
00:03 Red LED starts blinking (I hold flashlight on my hand)
01:00 I put FL on the table and it switches off
I try to turn it back on with no results. I hit the damn thing several times with my hand and finally it works again. Test 1.1 - failed.

Test 1.2
00:00 Ignition
00:40 Red LED starts blinking
07:00 Light dims
08:15 Switches off

1 minute break time

Test 1.3
00:00 Ignition, Red LED starts blinking
07:05 Light dims
08:14 Switches off

Test conditions: The flashlight was in room temperature (+23°C) for 1 hour. Before that it was inside the car in it's own place. The car has not been driven for 4 days and temperature during that time has been -15° - -30°C. Test was made with flashlight's "full power" (one push on the button).

At no time was the LED steadily glowing without blinking. Silent buzzing could be heard.

 

Mine was doing this from day one. It would start blinking almost right away so I believe blinking red means low battery.

I took mine in to get it checked out becuase then it just died one day and they had to readjust the pins because they were not making good contact with the flash light so the battery was never fully charged.

 

OK thanks guys ... oh and Johnnie your test is absolutely perfect You say "Test was made with flashlight's "full power" (one push on the button)." so is there another way to switch it on with less than full power or something?

 

Yeah, man! It has a "three-press switch". From US owner's manual (and my Finnish one has the same): "To operate the flashlight, press the switch once for high, twice for low, and a third time to return to off." But I don't see much of a difference (in brightness) between these two modes.

I too believe blinking red means low battery - mine is two years old and I guess it's not like a new one anymore, hence blinking usually right away.

By the way, Boy George, was your five minutes just a rough estimate? Or did you time it?

 

It`s just very rough ... I glanced at a clock, left the flashlight on the fridge and after some time noticed it`s off ... looked at the clock again ... about 7 or 8 minutes passed, so I rounded it up to aprox. 5 mins. I still have it there on the fridge at home so maybe i`ll time it exactly

 

OK! By the way, did you know that Patriot's headlights have the timer system, too? (I don't mean the delay that can be turned on from EVIC options.) I turned on the lights (engine not running) so I could see in the total darkness when I left the car for a moment. After 5 minutes or so (this time it's my estimate) headlights turned off, only parking lights stayed on.

 

That`s cool and practical ... can save your battery from draining completely. Is there anything about this in the manual? Anyways, I`m gonna try that as soon as I get a chance

 

I haven't found anything about this from the manual. My own little discovery.

Yeah it's kinda cool, although I think the reminder buzzer would be enough for most. And I would really like daytime running lights (or immediate low beam headlights actually) because we are never allowed to drive without lights.

 

Well my Pat does have the DRL`s and I appreciate it because the law requiers to have lights on at all times. So I don`t have to worry about forgetting to turn them on like it sometimes happens in my wife`s Renault which doesn`t have DRL`s. And you can get a hefty fine from the cops if they catch you with the lights off. But what puzzles me is why do my DRL`s turn on right after I turn the ignition on and stay on even during starting which burdens the battery unnecessarily, especially in winter And I wonder why there isn`t a way to turn the DRL`s off, it could be usefull in some situations. My Dodge Neon which I had some years back had the DRL`s too but they turned off automaticaly whenever you put the parking brake on and then turmed on again when you released it.

 

You just have to use your parking (emergency?) brake. Don't know if it does that on the Pat but every car I had with DRL when you pull on the parking brake lever the DRL turn off. So when I start my car with the parking brake still on, the lights won't burden the battery.

So if you pull on the parking brake lever for only 1 click, the lights turn off but it's not enough to put the brakes on. So at slow speeds it's a way to have your lights off (I don't recommend this at high speeds, even if the parking brakes are not feeling like they are on, they could be dragging a little and overheat).

 

If there's a switch to turn them off on the brake, you could always add a separate switch too.

I wonder if the interior lights turn off automatically if you leave a door ajar? My Dodge Ram truck does that.

 

I wonder if the interior lights turn off automatically if you leave a door ajar?

I clocked it and this is how it's with Patriot:

Door ajar: 1,5 minutes
Gate ajar (cargo door): 10,0 minutes

 

i dont have a red LED on mine. but mine leaks LOL. Its soaked and it still works. good quality. lol


why are people talking about DRLs? i love this forums, by the second page of a thread people already discussed 2 or 3 completely different topics. haha

 

I dont khow there is a flashlight I am going to go look no salemen tell me I have a flashlight.