Battery Powered Lights and the Chilean Miners

I was watching Anderson Cooper on CNN talk about the rescue of the Chilean miners and he mentioned several times that they were using battery powered LED lights as their source of light. They had a dark area for sleeping and an area that was illuminated by battery powered lights where they spent their time while awake. Someone was very smart in selecting LED lights because for battery operated lights, LEDs put out more light and last much, much longer on a set of batteries than flashlights, those old tap lights (that no one ever seemed happy with) and other types of battery powered lights.

Mr Beams LED lights are battery operated, wireless lights. Typically, we have a motion sensor or RF control. For example, I would have recommended our MB980 battery-powered motion sensor ceiling light or MB530 battery-powered motion sensor step light for the mine. They are bright LED lights that are motion sensor activated. Perhaps if they wanted a remote controlled product, I may have recommended the MB371 remote controlled spotlight that uses an RF remote control to operate the LED spotlight. On a set of batteries they would have lasted for more than 40 hours. I am sure that the last thing the rescuers wanted to do was lower batteries down to the miners. We feel the same about our customers - we do not want them buying and changing batteries more than they have to. That is why we use the more efficient LEDs and quality components that extend the life of the batteries.

Congratulations to everyone involved with the rescue. They truly are heroes. And thanks to Anderson Cooper for highlighting the role of battery powered LED lights in the mine.