Sylvania/Osram Mini 4AA Lantern Upgrade

[dom]

PhotonFanatic is in the US and Brum has quick delivery.

I don't know anyone else apart from Cutter who sells Carclo's

Cheers
Dom

[Mercaptan]

This opportunity is too good to pass up - I just ebay'ed one, only to find out about the group buy for 8.50 + 5.00 S&H (13.50... ack, I just paid 19.00 for mine).

Oh well, live and learn. Will post results accordingly.

[dom]

Sorry about that Mercaptan
I did mention it in the first post but gave no link -have now remedied that with the link right at the top. I just wasn't sure of the rule -i'm sure i'll be straightened out if i did wrong.

Cheers
Dom

[Mercaptan]

Hey Dom,

No worries man, if this upgrade is as good as you have described, it'll be worth more than twice the price I paid!

Cheers!

[dom]

All's good then :-)

Although the Cree & 10.4deg optic makes the better lantern ,i think the Seoul & 10deg optic may end up more useful as when you use it as a torch it has a very nice beam and not as floody as the Cree beam.

Cheers
Dom

[Mercaptan]

Even with the original diffuser, the P4 SSC upgrade is fantastic. It's a very nice light (tailcap modification is a must, now the threads are smooth). I can't even begin to imagine how low maintainence this light will now be.

[Stereodude]

I got my first lantern modded tonight with a SSC P4 USXOH and the Khatod Optic. All I can say is holy crap! I knew there would be a difference from dom's pictures, but they didn't get me prepared for this. The unmodded lantern is almost a bit of a gimmicky toy. The modded one is actually useful. The modded one is brighter on low than the stock one is on high in terms of lighting up the surface it is sitting on or nearby objects.


I definitely have to give hugh props to dom for the how to guide and the inspiration to mod these. Now I've got 3 more to mod.

You rock Dom!

[Stereodude]

I got 2 more modded today. I'm waiting for the silicone to dry. I think I will keep my last one stock for now to use as a comparison point. Unfortunately it had a broken leg on the diffuser holder when I took it apart , so it's in pieces right now too. I need to get some super glue for plastic to glue it back on then put the lantern back together in stock form.

[dom]

Hey Stereodude
I had a leg broken on the diffuser holder too -superglue did well. I used Loctite 406 -stays fresh if kept in the fridge :-)

Sounds like you are doing a total stripdown.Have you tried to do the emitter swap by just taking the diffuser off?

Cheers
Dom

[Stereodude]

Hey Stereodude
I had a leg broken on the diffuser holder too -superglue did well. I used Loctite 406 -stays fresh if kept in the fridge :-)

I have a few other plastic things around the house that need gluing also, so I'm going to make sure I get the special plastic variety.

Sounds like you are doing a total stripdown.Have you tried to do the emitter swap by just taking the diffuser off?

No, I haven't tried that. I have a crappy cheap-o soldering iron and it sounds like it would be a lot more tricky to remove it that way, and I don't have the largest set of tools. Besides, I can tear one down and mod it and put it all the way back together in about 15 minutes or so.

[flashlight]

Gotta to get me one of these.

[Duodec]

Menards, a store in Ill Annoy and Wisconsin (and perhaps other states) has these Sylvania lanterns, as well as a Sylvania 'car emergency' incandescent light on sale for $6.99 each. There's an additional mail in rebate for $3 off per light (merchandise credit at Menards, not cash rebate), limit two, through next Saturday for a net cost of $3.99 plus tax if you actually spend your credits later. Still, $6.99 isn't too bad.

The ad can be found by digging from links at http://www.menards.com ; sorry I could not link to it directly. Page 23 lower right on the page.

Just an FYI if anyone's looking for some to use or modify.

[flashlight]

I managed to get one of Dom's modded lanterns & have to say that these are literally 'brilliant'!

[Stereodude]

There's a feeler for a new GB of these going on in the Marketplace if anyone is interested. link

[Stereodude]

Here are two pictures I took as part of a big comparison that shows the big difference between a stock and modded Sylvania 4AA lantern.

Stock:


SSC P4 with Khatod Optic:

[Duodec]

Definitely nice. I'm going to have to pick up a couple of those emitters and do the upgrade on my lanterns.

[Stereodude]

Here are a few more lantern comparo shots. They are NOT comparable to the two I posted earlier since the camera had a much longer exposure. As before, everything is constant between the 5 pictures (white balance, exposure, etc).

Baseline:


Stock low:


Stock high:


SSC P4 + Khatod Mod low:


SSC P4 + Khatod Mod high:

[Darell]

What??? I don't see any difference!

[Stereodude]

What??? I don't see any difference!

Open your eyes, squint carefully, and then look again.

[Darell]

Open your eyes, squint carefully, and then look again.

Woulda been nice if you'd posted that handy tip right up front! Yeah, OK... I think I can see some difference if I tilt my head just right and squint.

OK, honestly, the modified high shot looks like the aftermath of a nuclear blast.

[Darell]

OK, so I'm still confused (show of hands... who's surprised?)

You guys are just leaving the diffuser dome completely off when you add an optic, yes? Figuring out how to glue the optic on, and nothing else supports it or covers it, yes? I assume that the diffuser wouldn't fit over the optic anyway. I'm up to my eyeballs in modified lanterns, so haven't had the inspiration to mod these yet! Lazy me.

Have emitters...Must find optics...

[Stereodude]

You guys are just leaving the diffuser dome completely off when you add an optic, yes?

Yes.

Figuring out how to glue the optic on, and nothing else supports it or covers it, yes?

Yes, I used a little clear silicone on the black base of the LED around the "gummy" dome and stuck the optic in it and then tried to center the LED and let it dry. Nothing covers it and nothing supports it.

I assume that the diffuser wouldn't fit over the optic anyway. I'm up to my eyeballs in modified lanterns, so haven't had the inspiration to mod these yet! Lazy me.

Have emitters...Must find optics...

PhotonFanatic has the Khatod optics.

[ocsi]

Is there a brighter led then a Cree Q5?

[dom]

Hi Osci


There is a Cree R2 -but not available at the moment i don't think.
The difference between that and a Q5 would be negligible in this application.

Hey Stereodude
Nice pix

I've just got some of Brum's LC-1 Cree optics -going to give those a go soon.


Hi Darell
The silicone sticks pretty well -just have to make sure you put enough on.Getting a bit on the optic base doesn't seem to affect the output much,if at all
I give the optic a spin around to get as even a coating as possible.

If you were worried about it falling off -you could use the optic holder.Just have to open up the reflector/diffuser holder to accept it.EDIT (that's if your optic comes with a holder!!)

Cheers
Dom

[Stereodude]

I've just got some of Brum's LC-1 Cree optics -going to give those a go soon.

I've decided to stick to the SSC P4's and the Khatod's. I haven't seen any other optics for SSC's, and I'm not sure a Cree optic will work very well on them.

If you were worried about it falling off -you could use the optic holder.Just have to open up the reflector/diffuser holder to accept it.EDIT (that's if your optic comes with a holder!!)

I haven't been messing with the diffuser holder at all. I put the optic on after the diffuser holder is in place. I realize I can't take it apart in the future, without taking the optic off and maybe damaging the LED because the optic is larger than the opening in the diffuser holder, but that's OK. The only time I figure I might need to take it apart is if I were to upgrade the LEDs again in which case it won't really matter.

[Katdaddy]

Have you checked run times for the mod on low and high? And what about heat on high for extended run times?

[Stereodude]

Have you checked run times for the mod on low and high? And what about heat on high for extended run times?

I haven't tested anything. Runtime should be the same as the stock light. It should also run a slight bit cooler than stock since more of the electrical power going to the LED is turned into light instead of heat.

[dom]

Hi Stereodude
You use the Cree optic with a Cree emitter.
The reason i'm going to try this is the LC-1 optics are cheaper than the Carclo 10200 and i have lots of Cree emitters lying around.

When i say Darell could use the optic holder if he was worried about the optic falling off , i was talking about the enclosure most optics come with.



The Khatods from PhotonFanatic are holderless.

Just another way to go about it.


Cheers
Dom

[dom]

Have you checked run times for the mod on low and high? And what about heat on high for extended run times?

Curious Character did a runtime using a Cree P4
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/show...33#post2375033

Cheers
Dom

[Bimmerboy]

Dom, and Stereodude - a question about optics vs. diffuser, since it can be hard to judge from pics.

I'm looking to mod one of these lanterns for indoors, and outdoors for the other. The indoors mod will definitely have the diffuser as it consistenly appears from all pics to have by far the most even distribution. I like how it gives nice upper-wall and ceiling bounce. However, that light would be wasted outdoors. For example, night time on an outside picnic table.

Obviously, the optic/reflector focuses much light directly sideways. But the question is, does the optic help throw more light downward to help light up a table surface?