Power Tool Worklight LED Mod II -- Milwaukee Cree

Hi guys! A few months ago I had never seen a Cree LED flashlight in action. Well I got a chance to......and absolutely LOVE IT! So I bought one....two...three......about 20 in all! Gave 14 away for X-mas and lit up everyone's world. I have 3 UltraFire C8's(Cree XM-L T6), a CitiPower C8(Cree X7 T6), a 7W Cree 3AAA zoom-able and "Police 50W" Cree(Don't think that means 50 watts). All operate off of 18650 Li-ion's except the 3AAA. All of this thanks to all of you. Thank you!

A few months back, I started a thread featuring my LED mod on my Milwaukee V28 worklight. I used a cell phone car charger to drop the 28VDC battery down to 5VDC and then a 4 ohm resistor to drop the 5VDC to 3.2VDC allowing approx. 600mA for the entire 32 LED array. It's a good area light but I just can be pleased. The thread can be viewed here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?344312-Power-Tool-WorkLight-LED-Mod&highlight=

I bought a new V28 Milwaukee worklight off ebay for $15 and plan to mod it to accommodate a Cree LED chip. I have taken some current readings from one of the UltraFire lights with a charged battery and came up with these readings.

HI- 4.20 A
Med- 2.10 A
Lo- 0.40 A

My next issue is the current output. I hate to waste anything. I have a bunch of old even unused cell phone chargers lying around. They have a rating of 5VDC @ 2A out. This is going to be insufficient as Hi will draw over 4A. Maybe I can build a circuit that will deliver 5VDC @ 5A. I almost hate to tear into a perfectly working, amazing flashlight but I will for this project.

I have a nice heatsink/fan from an old Pentium 2 I plan to use, about an 1 3/4'' square 1/4'' deep. 3/4 w fan. Might not need the fan but want to incorporate it into thought. This might take me a while as I work all day long and have a lot of things to do. I will upload pics as I go along so that I can get feedback from everyone along the way. Any ideas with the circuit I need and mounting of the chip or about anything else will be welcomed. I LOVE FLASHLIGHTS!

Thanks guys!

I already have a Milwaukee LED Light from the M12 series and out of the box it is pretty impressive and works with all of the M12 packs I already have for the other tools in the series.

For some odd reason they only carry the M12 Incandescent at Home Depot but I read online about the LED and ordered one and it really is outstanding and has an angled head and magnetic mount too.

Just wanted to say.

AVService said:

I already have a Milwaukee LED Light from the M12 series and out of the box it is pretty impressive and works with all of the M12 packs I already have for the other tools in the series.

For some odd reason they only carry the M12 Incandescent at Home Depot but I read online about the LED and ordered one and it really is outstanding and has an angled head and magnetic mount too.

Just wanted to say.

Click to expand...

I have the M12 Drill and radio. I have had the V28 series tools for almost 8 years. Only one battery has failed to work in the tools but in the mod I made, the bad battery last over 10 hrs. What kind of LED is in the M12 light?

pointedspider said:

I have the M12 Drill and radio. I have had the V28 series tools for almost 8 years. Only one battery has failed to work in the tools but in the mod I made, the bad battery last over 10 hrs. What kind of LED is in the M12 light?

Click to expand...

I have no idea but I will try to look Today and let you know.
Like I said,I was and still am impressed with this light especially considering how crappy the incandescent is and yet it is still the one they make it seem is available?

The handiest feature of course is that I have a bunch of Batteries for it and I will usually be drilling with a few extras nearby already so the light is always next to me too.

I even like the radio for what it is and I have several drill/drivers including the right angle drill and the inspection camera too.
I have had several batteries croak but they were all from the first run years ago and were replaced free by Milwaukee.

I also use the 18v and 28v stuff after switching from Dewalt several years ago.

I love this thread and want more products like this to exist. It's like a whole new category of flashlights to mess with, plus that tasty 12v-18v high-current-draw possibility. When I see an 18v drill light, it makes me think of super-mods. I bet you could hotwire the crap out of one.

hey just wondering if there are any updates to this thread? this is the exact project i wanna do so it would be very helpfull thnx.

I've been reading CPF for years but had to start a new account as I forgot my old login info/email, etc. as I haven't been active in the forums for several years.
I am highly interested in your mod and seeing pics of the last one you did. You must be getting ridiculous run times off of that!
I am crazy excited to get started on modding this 18v Milwaukee incandescent work light I just picked up off CL. I was at Fry's yesterday and saw 2 different halogen style bell housings with different multi LED arrays that looked to be possible candidates for a drop in mod with several adjustments. One was 1.2V, the other 2V one had 16LEDs, the other, 21. They both had the 2 connector pins off the back. I didn't see the amp draw rating listed.
Has anybody else seen these? And would they make for a good place to start in a mod for these work lights.
What is your end use for this mod? I'm looking for lots of spill/ less throw.
I don't know if this is considered hijacking your thread to include questions I have about my own project, but I'm sure one of you will be eager to lambaste me as needed.
Batter up?

Switchcom said:

I've been reading CPF for years but had to start a new account as I forgot my old login info/email, etc. as I haven't been active in the forums for several years.
I am highly interested in your mod and seeing pics of the last one you did. You must be getting ridiculous run times off of that!
I am crazy excited to get started on modding this 18v Milwaukee incandescent work light I just picked up off CL. I was at Fry's yesterday and saw 2 different halogen style bell housings with different multi LED arrays that looked to be possible candidates for a drop in mod with several adjustments. One was 1.2V, the other 2V one had 16LEDs, the other, 21. They both had the 2 connector pins off the back. I didn't see the amp draw rating listed.
Has anybody else seen these? And would they make for a good place to start in a mod for these work lights.
What is your end use for this mod? I'm looking for lots of spill/ less throw.
I don't know if this is considered hijacking your thread to include questions I have about my own project, but I'm sure one of you will be eager to lambaste me as needed.
Batter up?

Click to expand...

Search CPF for Milwaukee M18 cree mod. I believe that one has a more detailed explanation