I fancied a play with one of the Solar Spark firelighters that John Wings posted in the ebay auctions forum, so I bought one
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19624
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Solar-Spark-Lighter_W0QQitemZ6620157276QQcategoryZ36077QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It arrived yesterday, but it was a horrible overcast wet day, so there was no chance to play with it, however We had a nice sunny spell at lunch time today, so I had the perfect opportunity for a play.
The solar spark came with a little block of 'incense', so I fired that in the clip and pointed it to the sun, and it promptly started smoking after about 5 seconds, but as it smoked so easily without an ember, I didnt consider it suitable as tinder for lighting a fire, so I went and got some cotton wool to try again. After about a minute and a half of trying, nothing, the cotton wool wasn't even particularly warm, so I focused the beam onto my finger, and after about 10 seconds let out a yelp....
I suspected that the cotton wool, being white was reflecting the heat rather than absorbing it, thus making it difficult to light. I thought charcloth would be ideal tinder, but I didn't have any handy, so went for the next best thing I could think of, a fag. I put a the ciggarette in the tinder clip and alighned the beam onto it, and after about 20 or 30 seconds it was lit, no problem.
By the time I had went to get my camera it had dulled over and shortly later started to pour, but it has cleared up now, so I have filmed the process, and althoug it was now a low, weak sun, it still worked, although it took a little longer.
Although I would not choose the Solar Spark as my primary method of wilderness firelighting, I am cofident it would work in any reasonable amount of sunlight, and it is certainly a bit different, would make a good talking point, and is fun to use.
Here is the video, apologies for the poor colour, I had left the white balance on some custom setting, and its dulled over again now.
Thanks for reading, comments or questions welcome please?
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19624
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Solar-Spark-Lighter_W0QQitemZ6620157276QQcategoryZ36077QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It arrived yesterday, but it was a horrible overcast wet day, so there was no chance to play with it, however We had a nice sunny spell at lunch time today, so I had the perfect opportunity for a play.
The solar spark came with a little block of 'incense', so I fired that in the clip and pointed it to the sun, and it promptly started smoking after about 5 seconds, but as it smoked so easily without an ember, I didnt consider it suitable as tinder for lighting a fire, so I went and got some cotton wool to try again. After about a minute and a half of trying, nothing, the cotton wool wasn't even particularly warm, so I focused the beam onto my finger, and after about 10 seconds let out a yelp....
I suspected that the cotton wool, being white was reflecting the heat rather than absorbing it, thus making it difficult to light. I thought charcloth would be ideal tinder, but I didn't have any handy, so went for the next best thing I could think of, a fag. I put a the ciggarette in the tinder clip and alighned the beam onto it, and after about 20 or 30 seconds it was lit, no problem.
By the time I had went to get my camera it had dulled over and shortly later started to pour, but it has cleared up now, so I have filmed the process, and althoug it was now a low, weak sun, it still worked, although it took a little longer.
Although I would not choose the Solar Spark as my primary method of wilderness firelighting, I am cofident it would work in any reasonable amount of sunlight, and it is certainly a bit different, would make a good talking point, and is fun to use.
Here is the video, apologies for the poor colour, I had left the white balance on some custom setting, and its dulled over again now.
Thanks for reading, comments or questions welcome please?
