Christoph
Flashlight Enthusiast
Happy New Year all
I just made my first “real” mod to a flashlight it started life as a snapon brinkman 3AA, which has been sitting in a box, as it was kinda long for daily use. The mod is using an hd star purchased from ARC bin P3LW,it got scratched on the back; it is the whitest LED I have ever seen! Thanks Peter.
The first go round I just used a light touch with a file on the edges of the star and with a little AS pushed it to the bottom of the head, snug fit, and ran wire into the bulb socket. This worked ok, in operation the head and body got warm within 15-20 min. With old used Duracell’s (exp date 2004) it drew around 460/550ma. With 1600mah rayovac NiMH cells I read 700/900-ma .I think the wire wasn’t making great contact all the time. Feeling good about this I decided to go the whole hog and do it complete. I removed the plastic socket and made an aluminum slug that filled the batt tube and extended out the top about .350”, next version will be about .250” to allow for more thread engagement on the head. The connections use an 18 ga wire drilled through, at an angle from the top edge to the center of the bottom where I used a PCB for the + conn.
The – conn is a piece of the same wire splayed and inserted under the lip of the tube pinched by the slug. This is not a permanent install yet.
After these changes the same Duracell’s metered out at 650ma and the NiMH measured 1080ma they were very low on charge by then, I got several different readings these were the highest obtained while pushing down on the batteries to make better contact. Using the stock optics I get the familiar X-box hot spot will try my Mcflood reflector soon.
Securing the led to the slug, I didn’t have any AS epoxy but did have some Metal Set an aluminum filled epoxy which I use at work for just about everything. It does transfer heat, how well I don’t know, I also don’ know how tight I got it to the slug as I couldn’t really push hard on it. I used the optics to push and center the led. And the spring pressure on the tail switch held it in place till set.
Chris
I just made my first “real” mod to a flashlight it started life as a snapon brinkman 3AA, which has been sitting in a box, as it was kinda long for daily use. The mod is using an hd star purchased from ARC bin P3LW,it got scratched on the back; it is the whitest LED I have ever seen! Thanks Peter.
The first go round I just used a light touch with a file on the edges of the star and with a little AS pushed it to the bottom of the head, snug fit, and ran wire into the bulb socket. This worked ok, in operation the head and body got warm within 15-20 min. With old used Duracell’s (exp date 2004) it drew around 460/550ma. With 1600mah rayovac NiMH cells I read 700/900-ma .I think the wire wasn’t making great contact all the time. Feeling good about this I decided to go the whole hog and do it complete. I removed the plastic socket and made an aluminum slug that filled the batt tube and extended out the top about .350”, next version will be about .250” to allow for more thread engagement on the head. The connections use an 18 ga wire drilled through, at an angle from the top edge to the center of the bottom where I used a PCB for the + conn.
The – conn is a piece of the same wire splayed and inserted under the lip of the tube pinched by the slug. This is not a permanent install yet.
After these changes the same Duracell’s metered out at 650ma and the NiMH measured 1080ma they were very low on charge by then, I got several different readings these were the highest obtained while pushing down on the batteries to make better contact. Using the stock optics I get the familiar X-box hot spot will try my Mcflood reflector soon.
Securing the led to the slug, I didn’t have any AS epoxy but did have some Metal Set an aluminum filled epoxy which I use at work for just about everything. It does transfer heat, how well I don’t know, I also don’ know how tight I got it to the slug as I couldn’t really push hard on it. I used the optics to push and center the led. And the spring pressure on the tail switch held it in place till set.
Chris
