Flashlight retrofit

[mbtransam]

I have a 20v lithium ion craftsman flashlight that has 9 5mm led's. The light is horrible, throws no light at all. I would like to try swapping out the 9 with some more powerful led's. I am a mechanic and use (or would use if it wasnt so weak) the light for looking over undercarriages and interior work. The switch on the light has three settings 3,6,9 led. Any suggestions for a bright led that will last. Thanks.

 

[DM51]

Welcome to CPF, mbtransam.

I'll move your thread to the Homemade & Modified section, as I hope you should get some helpful responses there.

 

[LukeA]

I have a 20v lithium ion craftsman flashlight that has 9 5mm led's. The light is horrible, throws no light at all. I would like to try swapping out the 9 with some more powerful led's. I am a mechanic and use (or would use if it wasnt so weak) the light for looking over undercarriages and interior work. The switch on the light has three settings 3,6,9 led. Any suggestions for a bright led that will last. Thanks.

How attached are you to the multiple modes?

 

[mbtransam]

If the light is bright im happy. the multi mode is annoying at best.

 

[LukeA]

Then you'll want a buckpuck (500mA should be a good current for you) running three of these in series behind three of these.

I recommended Q4s instead of Q5s or R2s because the tiny improvement in light output with the higher bins doesn't justify their higher price. It's 0-7% more light for 16% more money.

Those LEDs will be pretty impressive compared to what you have now but will need to be mounted to a heatsink, which could be a discarded CPU heatsink or something similar. You'll also want to put some holes in the light's plastic head for airflow.

The above will be about 400 lumens (compared to the ~25 from the light on high now) and should give you 300-400 feet of useful throw.