CMG infinity great light

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Finally decided on the white one and took it hiking this weekend in the dark too. Awesome light. I cannot describe how functional this light is. Was plenty bright on the trail at night. Thanks for all the help. My next light will be a photon for around my neck for emergencies. Happy trails
Todd
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I like to put a little masking tape around the battery so it doesn't rattle when the light is turned off. Don't make it too tight or you won't get the battery back out.
I also polished the black paint off of the reflector with white toothpaste and lightly sanded the LED to get the rings out of the green light.
 
I used some highly reflective
tape on my Infinity (cut it into
a cone), but Brad's idea is O.K.
too..output is up about 15% w/th
reflector.
Also, the EVRDY.Li @ 1.65 volts
will ALSO help boost output.
--I still wish they made this light in the AAA size though..

thglohound
 
Hey Todd, did you end up with a white or turquoise? I must agree with the other posters, polish the "reflector" and pop in a lithium. Noticebaly brighter...long life too
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Hello,
I bought the white one and love it. I am considering polishing the top down, but am concerned to do this for some reason- ha ha. Just don't want to mess it up.
Happy trails
Todd
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I love these little faces ha ha
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by videocal:

Also, the EVRDY.Li @ 1.65 volts
will ALSO help boost output.
--I still wish they made this light in the AAA size though..

thglohound
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

1.65 volts?
I use the Energizer lithium battery but it only says 1.5 volts. What is this 1.65 volt battery you are using? I would like to get one.
 
Lithium cells run at a higher voltage than alkaline. They just don't advertise them that way so people don't think they can't use them in their electronics. It is similar to the marketing on the 1.5v AA Ni-HM or Ni-CAD cells when they are really about 1.25v, although it is becoming more common to actually see them rated correctly.

Brock
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brad:
I also polished the black paint off of the reflector with white toothpaste and lightly sanded the LED to get the rings out of the green light.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Okay, I'll bite. I understand that toothpaste is a wonderful polishing paste because of the very fine grit, but how in the world do you manage to polish the "reflector" area of the Infinity? And how do you keep from abrading the sides of the LED while you're at it?

I don't have a dremel tool, either (well, I used to, but the darn thing broke, so I have all the attachments, but no way to use them-- and no, they won't fit into any of my drills, I already tried... no way to lock them in the chuck).
 
I just put a little toothpaste on a paper towel and turned it back and forth on the whole front on the light. LED too. First I scraped the black paint off with a small flathead screw driver though. I just used the toothpaste to take out the scratches and make it real shiny. It didn't hurt the LED at all. After that I lightly sanded the LED with real fine black sandpaper. Now the rings are gone on my green Infinity. If you sand it to much you can actually get it clear again with toothpaste as this is a finer grit than the sandpaper. The best thing I have seen to get the LED clear again is a three in one fingernail buffer. The kind you get at the drugstore. It's half pink and half white on one side and grey on the other side. First you use the pink then white and finish up with the grey side. I filed an LED down 50% and then brought it back to clear by using the three step buffer. This is the same type of LED that is in the Turtlelight. If you use it in a light with a reflector you end up with a nice tight spotlight.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brock:
Lithium cells run at a higher voltage than alkaline. They just don't advertise them that way so people don't think they can't use them in their electronics. It is similar to the marketing on the 1.5v AA Ni-HM or Ni-CAD cells when they are really about 1.25v, although it is becoming more common to actually see them rated correctly.

Brock
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for clearing that up Brock. It looks like I already have the 1.65 volt battery in my Infinity.
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I ripped apart my Infinity light and stripped all the paint off with paint stripper. This destroys the LED and the coil, but allows you to put in any LED you want. If you remove a little more material from the inside of the barrel (there's plenty there), you can put 2 CR2 lithium photo batteries in and drive it at 6 volts. You may need to flare the inside of the cap for the batteries to fit (a simple procedure). This makes the light brighter and gives it the ability to be relamped by the user. Also, once the LED is off, you can polish the hell out of the reflector with a power drill (no toothpaste). I noticed that the reflector is not only not parabolic, but is shaped like a cone. You can give it a curved shape too at this stage with a power drill and suitable attachment (plenty of aluminum can safely be removed from this area). Now you have a bombproof, water proof simply designed case that will accomodate any LED you want (and any future improved ones), and is brighter than the original light. If anyone wants to know, you can ask me about how to attach the LED.
 
I am interested. How did you attach the LED?
Did you use a resistor?
 
When you rip the guts out of the cap, you notice that there is a little o-ring that slips over the LED, and when you slide the LED into position, the o-ring seats into a little notch in the bottom of the cap. This won't hold it into place too well, so I'm still working on getting a rubber grommet like what appears to be on the new Infinity light. I think this can be accomplished easily enough, but I haven't done it yet. My hookup for the LED is as crude as the Photon. The anode can be bent into the shape of a spiral, so it snugly wraps along the inside diameter of the cap. The spiral shape keeps a little pressure against the inside of the cap, but bends into a circle when installed. The cathode comes straight down, then wraps into a tight spiral at its base. This way, when you tighten the light the nipple on the battery presses against this springy little spiral. This requires a little patience with some small needle nosed pliers. As far as a resistor, if you want, you could certainly put one in line with the cathode, but I don't use one. I don't believe in trying to preserve the 11 year continuous use of an LED that will be obsolete long before then anyway.
 
Thanks Guy. I might try pulling apart my green Infinity. I really would rather have a white one anyway.
 
If you're going to waste your LED anyway, try hooking up a DL123 battery to the cap first. It's way brighter than any photon. In fact the green begins to look turquoise for some reason. Sure, the LED's going to hell in a handbasket, but atleast you can enjoy the ride.
 
Guy,

I put a little 544 6 volt battery in my green light just to see what would happen. It's a lot brighter and hasn't gotten hot.

How do you get the board out of the head of the flashlight? It looks like the metal is crimped over it.

I tried using a round metal file to make it bigger inside. Too slow. I'm going out today and pick up one of those little Dremel tools. I do a lot of filing on these conversion flashlights and I think this would be a lot less work.
 
Hi Brad. I got the circuit board out by using a large, but sharp and small headed screwdriver, and puncturing it along the inside perimeter. You're right about the metal being crimped over the circuit board, that's why I cut it almost at the edge, but far away enough to keep from damaging the metal. This turned out to be unnecessary, though, as I removed this crimped over stuff anyway. Once you get down to shards of clear plastic, its's the LED. Then put the thing on a table, and punch out the center part of the circuit by hitting the LED with a nail punch and a hammer. There's still epoxy left in there, but the good thing is that by the time you get the paint stripped off, the paint stripper weakens the epoxy so much that it can just be scraped out. Be careful you don't lose the little rubber o-ring, but then again this is easily replaced. Another thing I did was sand the outside with #400 sand paper to give it a brushed aluminum effect. I may do it again with coarser paper, but I think #200 would be too rough. Let me know how it turns out and if you have any other questions or comments in the meantime. I'm really much happier with my modified one than with the original product.
 
ps. Don't sand the knurling at all. You'll regret it because even steel wooling it causes it to lose alot of its grip. Been there, done that.
 
Thanks for the info Guy. I didn't have any paint stripper so I just used my Dremel tool to get all the junk out. I put in a white 5600mcd and soldered the negative lead to the inside of the head. I let the positive lead stick straight up and filled the whole thing with hot glue. Then I just bent the lead over and doubled it and let it sink just a little bit in the glue leaving some of it exposed. Kind of crude but it works. I filed for a long time but still can't get the lithium batteries in it. For now I have a 544 6 volt battery in it with no resistor. Way brighter now and I didn't like the green that much anywhy. I would say it's a few time brighter than my Photon white now. Thanks again for the good idea.

What did you use to file out the barrel enough to get the lithium batteries in it?
The Dremel tool isn't long enough and it looks like at least a couple more hours of filing if I'm going to get the bigger batteries in it.
 
Hmmm. Well I'm afraid I used a drill press with a long bit on it with the light in a vise. Then I used a flattened wood bit to scrape out the rest of the aluminum at the bottom. I really wanted to use a lathe, but I don't have one. I'm afraid you may need to improvise here if you don't have a drill press. Probably a regular drill would work too, since the channel should guide the bit. The stacked CR2 batteries are just a wee bit longer than a single AA. I probably removed an additional 1mm from the bottom to make up for most of it. 2mm might be the maximum here. Also, I didn't remove all that much aluminum, but I did strip the labels off the CR2 batteries. This makes them substantially thinner. I eventually plan on switching to rechargeable CR2s (if I can find them) so I would only need to do this once. Be careful, though, Duracell CR2s have the body as the positive part instead of the negative part. This simply won't work. You can tell that the body is negative if you look at the top of the battery and see black epoxy at the top surrounding the nipple. Also, I should say that I did all this recently, so I'm not sure how well the LED will hold up in the long run with the 2 CR2 batteries. The 6V battery you described is surely more current limited than 2 CR2s, and would drop the voltage (and current) more through the LED. Mine still works great, but you may want to experiment with an LED you don't care about too much first. Either that, or your resistor idea could always come to the rescue.
 
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