I was in the Dollar Tree store and saw these one buck cheapo flashlight designed to look like an aluminum styled light. My previous experience with dollar store lights is that they are horrible junk. I figured I'd give these things a try since I was needing a host to put a micro controller in.
These are not half bad. While they won't impress the high end flashlight people, they aren't bad for $1, plus it worked. Body is grayish luster finished plastic. It also comes in a natural aluminum color and black (probably other colors too). It needs 3 AAA batteries in a carier. It turns on with a rubber covered reverse clicky. LEDs are those really cool bluish LEDs. They are set in a deep reflector that does nothing with this type of LED as it was designed for low dome LEDs.
First mod: I unsoldered the 3 LEDs and put in Cree low dome white C535A LEDs. I replaced the 4.7 ohm resistor with a 10 ohm to lower the drive current and increase runtime. LEDs get about 35ma each with new Alkaline cells. The LEDs match perfectly with the deep parabolic reflectors. It has a tight thowy beam with a circle of close-up spill light. A super successful mod!
Second mod: I took some Radio Shack 276-0017 LEDs and filed down and polished the epoxy dome and reshaped them to be low dome LEDs. I soldered them in and also changed the resistor to 10 ohms. I really love the color tint. The die of the LED set higher so focus was not perfect. More floody than the first mod.
Third mod: I programmed a micro controller and assembled it on a small circuit board. I installed this along with red, blue and green 5mm LEDs into the light. This light has a big space around the switch area where a small circuit board will fit. Tapping the switch changes modes (individual LEDs and combination to make 7 different colors along with a red and blue blinker mode like a police car light. This is one neat mod! One drawback is the color mixing is not perfect as there are color fringes around the edges. When all LEDs are on when shining the light on color objects it makes the colors appear intensified kind of light those GE Reveal brand bulbs do.
Beamshots: Top, Cree LEDs (L) vs originals (R). Bottom (L) Cree vd RS (R)
These are not half bad. While they won't impress the high end flashlight people, they aren't bad for $1, plus it worked. Body is grayish luster finished plastic. It also comes in a natural aluminum color and black (probably other colors too). It needs 3 AAA batteries in a carier. It turns on with a rubber covered reverse clicky. LEDs are those really cool bluish LEDs. They are set in a deep reflector that does nothing with this type of LED as it was designed for low dome LEDs.
First mod: I unsoldered the 3 LEDs and put in Cree low dome white C535A LEDs. I replaced the 4.7 ohm resistor with a 10 ohm to lower the drive current and increase runtime. LEDs get about 35ma each with new Alkaline cells. The LEDs match perfectly with the deep parabolic reflectors. It has a tight thowy beam with a circle of close-up spill light. A super successful mod!
Second mod: I took some Radio Shack 276-0017 LEDs and filed down and polished the epoxy dome and reshaped them to be low dome LEDs. I soldered them in and also changed the resistor to 10 ohms. I really love the color tint. The die of the LED set higher so focus was not perfect. More floody than the first mod.
Third mod: I programmed a micro controller and assembled it on a small circuit board. I installed this along with red, blue and green 5mm LEDs into the light. This light has a big space around the switch area where a small circuit board will fit. Tapping the switch changes modes (individual LEDs and combination to make 7 different colors along with a red and blue blinker mode like a police car light. This is one neat mod! One drawback is the color mixing is not perfect as there are color fringes around the edges. When all LEDs are on when shining the light on color objects it makes the colors appear intensified kind of light those GE Reveal brand bulbs do.
Beamshots: Top, Cree LEDs (L) vs originals (R). Bottom (L) Cree vd RS (R)
