Coleman Packaway (Exponent?) 4xAA LED quick beam mod

UpChUcK

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So I bough the 4xAA Coleman Packaway LED Lantern for $21 @ Meijers. I got an orange and a red one and they also had blue which I'll get when I have more $$$ :broke:. I'm not sure how these lanterns are different from the Exponent line but they are pretty bright and this mod applies to Exponents too. I have seen the ugly as sin beam shots of the Coleman Exponent Packaway 4xAA and 3x123 LED lanterns throughout CPF (like DM51's comparison) and elsewhere on the web. But the lantern is such a clever design that I did not want to give up on it. I thought there's got to be an easy solution to smooth out the artifact-rich light emanating from it. So I was at the local hardware store picking up some mousetraps and went down the paint aisle and the Krylon Window Frosting spray caught my eye. So I decided to try it on the Packaway. Well, it worked well. See for yourself in the pics below.

If this mod was already done please forgive me, I did do a search albeit quick.

Here's the orange Packaway without frosting and it is arvertised as 90 lumens for 12 hours:
IMG_1383a.JPG
IMG_1415.JPG


Here's the can of Krylon Glass Frosting and my red Packaway frosted w/ 1 thin coat:
IMG_1414.JPG


A close up of the frosting with my River Rock 3xAA in background:
IMG_1402.JPG


And below some comparison beam shots with and without frosting. Note: I still have blue masking tape on the frosted one because I may do another coat. All pics taken on Canon 30D DSLR in manual mode. f6.3, 1/13 sec., 200 ISO, 28mm.

Without frosting on high:
IMG_1373.JPG


On high with frosting:
IMG_1396.JPG


On low without frosting:
IMG_1374.JPG


On low with frosting:
IMG_1398.JPG


River Rock 3xAA on high:
IMG_1375.JPG



As you can see, there is a huge difference in usable light. Without the frosting, the light is bright but the pattern is so bad that it is pretty much unusable. With the frosting however, the light not only is much smoother but also seems much brighter. :twothumbs Compared to the River Rock, it is very comparable but I did notice that the Coleman is brighter and now has a lot of smooth light going up.

I didn't know if the frosting would be scraped off upon closing and opening. But I was happy to find out that I could open and close it without affecting the frosting. Time will tell if it stays on though.

I may add additional coats to test out how much smoother the light can become, but I do not want to start diminishing the light output. Maybe 1 more coat at a later time.

Anyways, thanks for reading.
 
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MegaHurtz

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Thank You for posting your experimentations!

Im thinking of doing this same technique on my Rayovac Sportsman Extreme 300 Its a great lantern, but some of the light goes upwards instead of to the side.
 

j3bnl

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Have you considered doing this mod on your River Rock?
I have the cree (136 lumen) version of this and although the light is not as full of artifacts as the Coleman it does produce some rings from the ribbed reflector.
What I mean is the light that is reflected downwards from the lantern has some rings/artifacts.
 
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DM51

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Excellent! The Coleman is such a good design, but the clear window gives a dreadful pattern... and here you are with the solution!

How does this frosting spray work? Is it just a very effective inert diffuser coating, or is there a potential issue with it possibly reacting with the plastic to dissolve it slightly?

If you sprayed more than one coat, might it stop the lantern closing?
 

j3bnl

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Excellent! The Coleman is such a good design, but the clear window gives a dreadful pattern... and here you are with the solution!

How does this frosting spray work? Is it just a very effective inert diffuser coating, or is there a potential issue with it possibly reacting with the plastic to dissolve it slightly?

If you sprayed more than one coat, might it stop the lantern closing?

I would also like to know whether a second coat would prevent the lamp closing.:)
Everytime I look at the before and after pictures I am amazed by the difference in the light output.
 

UpChUcK

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Good mod.
Can you use this frosting spray on hard plastic?

Yes, the Coleman is plastic.

Have you considered doing this mod on your River Rock?
I have the cree (136 lumen) version of this and although the light is not as full of artifacts as the Coleman it does produce some rings from the ribbed reflector.
What I mean is the light that is reflected downwards from the lantern has some rings/artifacts.

I haven't thought of spraying the River Rock since it has a pretty smooth beam. Really doen't need it and I don't want to reduce the light any. I know what you mean about the downward-reflected light. I don't think it is that bad personally but I suppose you could smooth it out with the frosting spray. If I were to try it I would think about spraying the reflector under the top. I suppose spraying the glass would work too. I just don't know which would be more effective.

Excellent! The Coleman is such a good design, but the clear window gives a dreadful pattern... and here you are with the solution!

How does this frosting spray work? Is it just a very effective inert diffuser coating, or is there a potential issue with it possibly reacting with the plastic to dissolve it slightly?

If you sprayed more than one coat, might it stop the lantern closing?

Yeah I love the Coleman Exponent/Packaway design. :thumbsup:

I'm not sure if it "reacts" with the plastic lens. So far I have sprayed 2 Colemans. 1 was a thin single coat and that was effective enough to stop there and satisfy my desire for a smooth beam. The spray is actually made for glass so it should "stick" to plastic quite well. Time will tell.

I did however kinda mess up another one by spraying another coat too soon before the other coat dried. This lead to cracking of the frosting and a yellowing. So I waiter for it to cure completely and sprayed a 3rd light coat to fill in the cracks. So it is essetially 3 coats thick and it still closes with out scratiching the frosting any. It may scratch it you close it crooked though but so far that has not happened.

Here's the one I messed up with my impatience: :sigh:
IMG_1446.JPG
IMG_1445.JPG
IMG_1448.JPG


You can see some slight artifacts on the wall and shelf btween the lantern and my Mag ROP. But it is still totally usable. I'm not sure by how much I reduced the total light output by using 3 coats but I honestly can't tell by eyeballing it.


I would also like to know whether a second coat would prevent the lamp closing.:)
Everytime I look at the before and after pictures I am amazed by the difference in the light output.

The lantern still closes and without affecting (scratching) the frosting. Even with the 3 coat one. I would take care to try and close it straight though.
 

UpChUcK

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I sprayed a co-worker's Coleman MicroPacker (the one on the left):
IMG_1393.JPG


Here it is pre-frosting on high:
IMG_1386.JPG


And then frosted on high:
IMG_1452.JPG
 

Phaserburn

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Is it me, or is this just frickin' awesome?!

:huh:

I also have a Brunton 3C, the one you have in the above shot. I'd love to see how that comes out.

I think I'd be happy with a small overall reduction of output for reduced glare, artifacts and better up/down light distribution.

I'm assuming you tape up the lantern before spraying. How much of a coat did you use?
 

UpChUcK

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Is it me, or is this just frickin' awesome?!

:huh:

I also have a Brunton 3C, the one you have in the above shot. I'd love to see how that comes out.

I think I'd be happy with a small overall reduction of output for reduced glare, artifacts and better up/down light distribution.

I'm assuming you tape up the lantern before spraying. How much of a coat did you use?

That was my reaction exactly! :D

I didn't plan on frosting the Brunton. To me it is pretty smooth as is. :thumbsup:

Yeah, I taped it with painters masking tape. On my red Coleman, and the silver Micropacker, I sprayed only a single fairly thin coat.

I was looking at Krylon Stained Glass spray to try to warm up my Rayovac Sportsman Extreme 300 lantern. Maybe a thin coat of yellow and red for an amber glow. Or I may try putting a cylinder of amber translucent plastic inside the globe. I don't know which would be more effective :shrug: . It has smooth light but the color is a bit cool for me. My Brunton is quite warm/neutral with its amber lens :twothumbs .
 

j3bnl

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I haven't thought of spraying the River Rock since it has a pretty smooth beam. Really doen't need it and I don't want to reduce the light any. I know what you mean about the downward-reflected light. I don't think it is that bad personally but I suppose you could smooth it out with the frosting spray.

Well I sprayed the glass on my Alpkit Bulb (UK version of River Rock Lantern) and the result is below :-


1045ahe.jpg


The frosting certainly got rid of the rings on the downward light.

33ynkhe.jpg
2i6zyf.jpg


Light output is still excellent and very smooth.
No noticeable reduction in overall light output either with one thin coat.
We don't have the Krylon Glass Frosting in the UK that I could find so used Plasti-Kote Glass Frosting instead.
Just have to pick up a Coleman and do the same.
 
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DM51

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Well I sprayed the glass ...
Light output is still excellent and very smooth.
No noticeable reduction in overall light output either with one thin coat.
We don't have the Krylon Glass Frosting in the UK that I could find so used Plasti-Kote Glass Frosting instead.
Just have to pick up a Coleman and do the same.
I'll be very interested to hear how you get on with the Coleman. Is the Plasti-Kote the same stuff as the Krylon, do you know? Does it seem like a durable finish?
 

j3bnl

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I'll be very interested to hear how you get on with the Coleman. Is the Plasti-Kote the same stuff as the Krylon, do you know? Does it seem like a durable finish?

Will let you know when I get around to ordering one and giving it a coating.
I am not sure if the Plast-Kote stuff is the same as the Krylon used by UpChUcK but its all I could find in the UK.
It seems durable enough but I suppose only time will tell.

Edit :- The instructions say to remove glass frosting that you need to soak in hot water and scrub with a scouring pad so I guess that kinda proves that it must be quite durable.
 

UpChUcK

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Well I sprayed the glass on my Alpkit Bulb (UK version of River Rock Lantern) and the result is below :-

The frosting certainly got rid of the rings on the downward light.

Light output is still excellent and very smooth.
No noticeable reduction in overall light output either with one thin coat.
We don't have the Krylon Glass Frosting in the UK that I could find so used Plasti-Kote Glass Frosting instead.
Just have to pick up a Coleman and do the same.

Nice!!! I may have to spray my River Rock now! :twothumbs

I'll be very interested to hear how you get on with the Coleman. Is the Plasti-Kote the same stuff as the Krylon, do you know? Does it seem like a durable finish?

The Krylon Glass Frosting seams to adhere well to the plastic lens. Will it scratch? I'm sure it will, but it will take a good amount of pressure to scrape it off once it's cured.

Will let you know when I get around to ordering one and giving it a coating.
I am not sure if the Plast-Kote stuff is the same as the Krylon used by UpChUcK but its all I could find in the UK.
It seems durable enough but I suppose only time will tell.

Edit :- The instructions say to remove glass frosting that you need to soak in hot water and scrub with a scouring pad so I guess that kinda proves that it must be quite durable.

I also found Rustoleum Glass Frosting when I was at Home Depot yesterday. Is the Plasti-Kote made for plastic specifically?

I gonna pick up the Rustoleum and I'll look out for the Plasti-Kote and get that if I find it. I may have to pick up a couple more Coleman Packaways for this experiment ;) .
 

j3bnl

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Coleman ordered.:thumbsup:
Will post up pics of the Coleman after Plasti-Kote treatment when it arrives.:naughty:
 
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j3bnl

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Ok Coleman has arrived so some pics of it after the Plasti-Kote treatment :-

Coleman closed :-

24qqzpu.jpg


Coleman Open :-

1z3ctv7.jpg


On Hi :-

u7lhh.jpg


On Lo :-

2guz5hy.jpg


The Coleman has had 3 coats of the Plasti-Kote and still opens and closes with ease and hasn't (as yet) scraped any of it off.
 
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UpChUcK

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Ok Coleman has arrived so some pics of it after the Plasti-Kote treatment :-

The Coleman has had 3 coats of the Plasti-Kote and still opens and closes with ease and hasn't (as yet) scraped any of it off.

That is a nice smooth beam!!! :thumbsup:

What, no before pics? :nana: You were too excited to spray the lantern, huh?

So what are your thoughts on the frosting, Brian?
 
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