1 watt LS in a headlamp vs incandesant

N4aeq · Apr 26, 2003

I noticed some 1 watt LS on ebay lately & thought about replacing the bulb in my rayovac headlamps. I wonder if it
would be usable sense the lamp in it now [email protected] is about
3.6 watts & the luxeon star is only 1 watt.
Are the LS more efficient or is the output still about the
same as a standard PR or Krypton bulb of the same wattage?

Blue_Shift · Apr 26, 2003

You could use them in your headlamp. There are two issues (that I know of) that you would have to address.
1. The LS would need some resistance, or it would burn up.
2. The LS needs a heatsink. The only problem with the plastic headlamps is that they don't dissapate heat very well. So, you may need to have holes /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif in you headlamp so the heat can get out. You would also have to have some metal too act as a heatsink on the back of the LS. If it gets too hot you might burn up your LS. The only way to avoid this is to under drive your LS. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif
hope that helps

worklite · Apr 26, 2003

hey kg4ote try the rayavac 3 in 1 mod. in the modified forums. it mods the rayovac headlight with a ls. takes about 15 minutes to do. very easy mod. i modded three of them with a high dome. good spot and good spill light. so far no problem with head dissipation. i believe lux luthor started the mod.

woodbender · Apr 26, 2003

Here is my latest mod. It is my first attempt at an led headlamp. It has a double heatsink with resistance. I am hoping the holes in the lamp to the battery compartment along with the heatsinking will keep it from overheating. I just finished it yesterday, so I haven't pushed it yet. It is very bright and the beam from the 30mm optic is awesome.
http://woodbender.freeservers.com/photo2.html

PhotonBoy · Apr 26, 2003

Cool looking light!!

What value of resistor did you use? Are you going to be running alkaline or NiMH? Would you change the resistor value for NiMH?

woodbender · Apr 26, 2003

My resistor setup isn't as appears in the picture. I couldn't find a 1 watt 3ohm so I use two in parallel which gives me 3.2 ohms of resistance. I am running alkaline. I haven't ventured into NiMh batteries yet, but will at some point. I'm new to the electronics part of all this, so I can't speak about different resistance values. I just "ask the experts" when it's time to mod something.