Ledcorp's 2 LED PR bulb or make my own?

Ledcorp\'s 2 LED PR bulb or make my own?

I wanted to get some advice from people who have bought Ledcorp's 2 led PR bulb replacement.

I have one of Dorcy's Boss flashlights in which I placed an led bulb that I got from Dorcy's CoolBlue Led flashlights. I'm thinking this led is the same one Turtlelite uses since the 2 company's are well connected and the led itself appears to be grounded just like the Turtlelites. However, the beam is a little narrow and I'd like to get a brighter beam. I'm otherwise fine with it, I just like to modify stuff to bring out their true potential

I was thinking about buying one of Ledcorps 2 led bulbs because I want to make my Dorcy into a Turtle-lite II clone. Does Ledcorp do anything to the Dorcy flashlights other than put their logo and stick in their own bulb? If I do buy one of their bulbs, I assume I would need to get the 2 led 4 cell bulb since the Dorcy uses 4 AA's. Is that right, or do I need a different one? I'm new at this.

But I was also thinking about making my own since Ledcorp's is around $19 (seems alot considering you can buy white leds for less than $2 each). I do have a bit of soldering experience and I constantly modify everything I buy (my motto: If ain't broke, you ain't finished) but I know very little about electronics, i.e. calculating what resistor I would need and what configuration I would solder all this together. Will I get similar results if I make one of these 2 led bulbs myself or am I better off buying one of ledcorp's bulbs? Should I stick to 2 leds rather thand 3; should I go for a Luxeon mod? Are there any websites that detail these modifications? I've seen some that cover mini-mag modifications and a Luxeon Star in one of those large multi-cell flashlights but not one with 4 AA's.

Any suggestions or a point in the right direction would be great.

Re: Ledcorp\'s 2 LED PR bulb or make my own?

I put together a 3-led light using the Dorcy Boss from Waldo-mart. Works great and have been using it constantly for over 6 months.

If you don't want to engineer your own 3led bulb, go to theledlight.com and you will find them for sale -$18.

If you do want to build your own, you can do so either out of a cleaned-out PR base. Or you can make a new PR base out of copper plumbing parts and nylong nuts/washers. If using individual dropping resistors for each led, use 100ohm for a 25ma/led. Or use 47ohm for 53ma/led. Or anything between 100 and 47. Use the 1/4watt resistors as you don't need to go to 1/2 watt.

Re: Ledcorp\'s 2 LED PR bulb or make my own?

By all means make your own - I made a 3 led PR Base bulb using the 1/4 watt 100 Ohm resistors for my ArcWhite - 3 fit fine in the base. I had to file around the outside of the LEDs to trim them back a little from the bulb flange but it works great.

If you're new to this, I have a set of links under "Bright Websites" section. It's stuff I have found very useful as a new member. Here is a link to the bulb mod tutorial: http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/bay/4397/led/light-to-led.htm

DP

Re: Ledcorp\'s 2 LED PR bulb or make my own?

Here is another link on the mechanics of the conversion. I followed this one to make a single white led for three cells (4.5V) with a 33 ohm resistor. I plan to make a three led version soon. http://home.mho.net/jedmartin/ledlamp.htm