mobile1
Flashlight Enthusiast
Here is my first mod, let's call it the Army light.
-Extremely Bright (3x5w w-bin)
-smaller than a coke
-runtime of 45min
-powered by 8xAA 2300mAh RECHARGEABLE batteries
-fully regulated (3xDownboys700 & 1 StepDown converter for a cooling fan to enable continuous operation)
on the left - original flashlight, on the right 3x5W with fan and 8AA regulated
It all started that I saw an old vintage hot rod car. I though that it would be fun to do something like this for a flashlight. So I got me a really old Swiss Army Flashlight (Center Pic on the left) with the goal to convert it to the brightest regulated light possible with rechargeable batteries(center pic on the right).
After removing everything I took 3x5 Watt (w bin) Luxeons mounted them on a heatsink with a built in 5V fan. Each of the LED is regulated with a separate Downboy, mounted on top of the heatsink between heatsink and the optics, this provides also cooling for the downboys. The fan got it's own step down converter. For the optics I used a TriFraen Lens. Behind the openings in the front (originally from 3 sliders to turn on a red, green and blue filter - had to take this out to make room for the batteries) I soldered a black mesh which provides a fairly aggressive look.
Because of the step down regulators the light can be driven with anything between 9 and 16V. For batteries I used 8 rechargeable 2300 mAh AA batteries which should provide a runtime (so far just a calculated guess) of about 45 min.
The light itself is about as high as a Coke and it is incredibly bright!!! Despite the fan the light still gets fairly warm - but stays stable. The air the fan is pumping out though is hot. On the back of the light I drilled some holes through which the fan takes in the air, then the air goes through the heatsink and exits through the vents in front and on top of the light. I am thinking about replacing the fan step down converter to a higher voltage one to increase fan speed.
The light has a beautiful chrome switch on top. after a third turn of the nob, a push on the button provides a momentary on, a half turn switches the light to continues on.
It took me quite a while to do this light, to find a heatsink that can fit into the case with the lens, to find the best battery setup and specially to make the switch work which is just a few milimeters of space on top. The assembly heatsink-fan, stepdown regulators and optics would probably go well into a variety of other settings.
The light is NOT water proof (unlike an M6) but hey I'd rather have 3 times the runtime and virtually no operating costs with the rechargeable batteries.
The beamshots show from right to left, the original army light, than an Arc LS than the 3x5W light.
This light is so bright that if you shine the light on some plants for just a couple of minutes, they think it's high noon and start opening their leaves... really cooool!!!
-Extremely Bright (3x5w w-bin)
-smaller than a coke
-runtime of 45min
-powered by 8xAA 2300mAh RECHARGEABLE batteries
-fully regulated (3xDownboys700 & 1 StepDown converter for a cooling fan to enable continuous operation)
on the left - original flashlight, on the right 3x5W with fan and 8AA regulated
It all started that I saw an old vintage hot rod car. I though that it would be fun to do something like this for a flashlight. So I got me a really old Swiss Army Flashlight (Center Pic on the left) with the goal to convert it to the brightest regulated light possible with rechargeable batteries(center pic on the right).
After removing everything I took 3x5 Watt (w bin) Luxeons mounted them on a heatsink with a built in 5V fan. Each of the LED is regulated with a separate Downboy, mounted on top of the heatsink between heatsink and the optics, this provides also cooling for the downboys. The fan got it's own step down converter. For the optics I used a TriFraen Lens. Behind the openings in the front (originally from 3 sliders to turn on a red, green and blue filter - had to take this out to make room for the batteries) I soldered a black mesh which provides a fairly aggressive look.
Because of the step down regulators the light can be driven with anything between 9 and 16V. For batteries I used 8 rechargeable 2300 mAh AA batteries which should provide a runtime (so far just a calculated guess) of about 45 min.
The light itself is about as high as a Coke and it is incredibly bright!!! Despite the fan the light still gets fairly warm - but stays stable. The air the fan is pumping out though is hot. On the back of the light I drilled some holes through which the fan takes in the air, then the air goes through the heatsink and exits through the vents in front and on top of the light. I am thinking about replacing the fan step down converter to a higher voltage one to increase fan speed.
The light has a beautiful chrome switch on top. after a third turn of the nob, a push on the button provides a momentary on, a half turn switches the light to continues on.
It took me quite a while to do this light, to find a heatsink that can fit into the case with the lens, to find the best battery setup and specially to make the switch work which is just a few milimeters of space on top. The assembly heatsink-fan, stepdown regulators and optics would probably go well into a variety of other settings.
The light is NOT water proof (unlike an M6) but hey I'd rather have 3 times the runtime and virtually no operating costs with the rechargeable batteries.
The beamshots show from right to left, the original army light, than an Arc LS than the 3x5W light.
This light is so bright that if you shine the light on some plants for just a couple of minutes, they think it's high noon and start opening their leaves... really cooool!!!