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Problems with Drennan Mini Night Nights

P

Paul Cahill

Senior Member
I've used the drennan mini night lights on the ends of my rods without a problem for years. But this season, for some reason, I am having loads of problems. Sometimes they just don't work, other times they are are dull and fade within an hour or so. Sometimes they are fine.

I cannot work out if its because I bought a job lot six months or so and they degraded, whether somehow I've changed my style of breaking them and I'm either over-snapping or under-snapping, whether I'm getting them wet and it's affecting performance or whether I've just got a bad batch.

Has anyone had similar problems? And can anyone recommend me an alternative?
 
Get a green isotope Paul it will soon pay for itself...
 
I've often found myself trying to weight up the pros and cons of iso vs starlights...... I tend to lean towards iso as it's always there and like John says they soon pay for themselves. However the one or two times I have lost them it is annoying due to the cost implications. On the subject of the drennan ones I don't think that I've ever had much of an issue with them on the few times I have used them..... quite possibly a bad batch?
 
Re - chemical lights - these are wrapped in foil and if the foil is broken, got a small bit missing etc then the shelf life of the chemical light reduces drastically. Often coming in a pack of two, then once opened use the remaining one fairly quickly. Realistically once opened aim to use the remaining one within a month. Life of the chemical light will be reduced.
If you keep them in foil for a couple of season then should be OK, but the 'glow' life will reduce.


There are alternative designs in chemical lights, some examples - I give you clippers and knobbers:

clippers.jpg


knobbers.jpg


There are also 'wrappers' or just plain cylindrical ones of various dimensions and colours.

Isotopes - go 'Isoblobs'.

Trust me I was a research chemist once upon a time........
Cheers
Bob
 
Years and Years....Have a look at the Solar ones....
 
paul, proper isotope lights do fade with time so maybe yours are real old stock, most decent ones in my experience start to fade after abot 8-10 years to the point of fitting new ones mate:)
 
I've tried both isotopes and starlights (or equivalent) but prefer the latter as they are generally much brighter and hence do not appear to jump around so much when fatigue is setting in during the small hours. I've picked up packs of 50 for £4 so the cost is pretty low.

One thing I have noticed though is the degradation once the pack is opened, I put one on each of my rod tips on setting up one day in preparation for fishing into dark but as it happened I packed up early. When I did snap the chemical lights on my next night session a week or so later they were both very dim.
 
Those clip on ones Bob Gill suggests are brilliant, they say 12 hours but so far mine have lasted well over 24 hours, Some i started Friday evening at @1900 hrs on the W Avon, i was still using on the Kennet on Monday evening and in fact they still glow enough to use tonight. 1 i started Thursday the week before would still have been usable 10 days later, but thats probably a bit extreme. Not the cheapest lights but really bright and very long lasting. Obviously there are different brands so many probably only last a day
 
I've got the drennan isotopes. about 10 quid. Bought them 5 seasons ago and are still glowing away. can't go wrong with them, sometimes the line gets caught round the tip, but i'm just a bit careful before I cast out. They're great value.
 
The smaller drennan starlights do seem to have very little shelf life,i got some last winter for float fishing after dark for perch and two out of three packets did not glow. I bought boxes of the larger starlights,Red,blue and yellow,100 in a box, 2 per packet, for £5 from Askari about 10 years ago and they are still as bright as the day i bought them,with very poor storage in the garage.They still sell them but they are now £6.99 per 100.I use an enterprise holder with the silicon glued on to the stem so they never come off. I broke too many of the expensive isotopes over the years,sometimes when fishing.
 
Mark Swaby said:
The smaller drennan starlights do seem to have very little shelf life,i got some last winter for float fishing after dark for perch and two out of three packets did not glow. I bought boxes of the larger starlights,Red,blue and yellow,100 in a box, 2 per packet, for £5 from Askari about 10 years ago and they are still as bright as the day i bought them,with very poor storage in the garage.They still sell them but they are now £6.99 per 100.I use an enterprise holder with the silicon glued on to the stem so they never come off. I broke too many of the expensive isotopes over the years,sometimes when fishing.
Click to expand...

I use the enterprise holder too. However it's the "mini" star lights which fit. I'm glad I found someone who's had the same lack of consistency. I started getting paranoid it was my snapping technique!

I like the sound of the bulk boxes you refer to,
 
Askari has a massive amount of fishing tackle,some tat and some great deals,you just need to be selective or know what you want.They were doing the best web priced deal on a pair of penn liveliners a top Barbel reel with spend over £100 and get £20 back,last month. Paul, i use the large size starlights in the enterprise holders if you glue the silicone tube, they do not come out
 
Robert Richbell said:
Those clip on ones Bob Gill suggests are brilliant, they say 12 hours but so far mine have lasted well over 24 hours, Some i started Friday evening at @1900 hrs on the W Avon, i was still using on the Kennet on Monday evening and in fact they still glow enough to use tonight. 1 i started Thursday the week before would still have been usable 10 days later, but thats probably a bit extreme. Not the cheapest lights but really bright and very long lasting. Obviously there are different brands so many probably only last a day
Click to expand...

If your starlight still appears bright when you get back from a session, if your going out again tomorrow, try sticking your used, but still going, starlight in the fridge.

You might be pleasantly surprised.

On the subject of isotopes, I bought a float with one built in back in 1975/76 and despite being regularly used for about ten years, I never lost it and for years now, it's lived in the bedside cabinet. It's still so bright I can honestly read a book by it!

Pretty sure you wouldn't be allowed to sell it these days.
 
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