Has anyone moded a cheap Dorcy lantern?

[KingGlamis]

I know it sounds silly but I look at that huge reflector and the huge 6V battery and I see potential. Has anyone moded one of these? Would a Cree LED work with such a big reflector? Talk about a cheap platform to start with, these things can be bought for less than $5.

 

[OhMyGosh]

Go for it !

You can get a 6v 4.5 AH lead-acid rechargable from Batterybob for $7. It would probably fit (check dimensions). That thing would run forever. Add a charging jack and a wall-wart charger and it could make a nice always-ready big light.

 

[TorchBoy]

Would a Cree LED work with such a big reflector?

It'll still have a focal point (unless it's not actually a parabolic reflector). The real question, as I see it, is whether you want the spill that it would give. It's a comparatively shallow reflector for a Cree, which puts more of its light out front (half intensity beam width 70°), so it would be very floody. The reflector wouldn't catch very much of the LED's output at all. A light bulb throws pretty evenly in all directions remember, which is how the reflector gets its strong central spot normally.

How about forgetting about the reflector and putting seven or more Crees in?

 

[z96Cobra]

There was a post on here in the past few days where someone put a Mag bulb in one and they said it made it a lot better light. Wasn't an LED though.

Roger

 

[bfg9000]

The quick and dirty mod for them was the (no longer available) Radio Shack XPR103. Near P60 level brightness and no heat issues.

But today, with Luxeon stars under a buck in B/S/T, just resistoring them to around 400mA will produce cheap, disposable emergency lights that you can leave lying around without having to worry about them walking off (the clunky bulkiness is a theft-deterrent feature). The lack of any heat path isn't too much of a problem at such low drive levels, and Dorcy themselves use no heatsinking whatsoever besides the star in their LED lantern.

A SSC would probably throw better than a CREE with such a large shallow reflector.

 

[TorchBoy]

their LED lantern.

That's a surprisingly level runtime plot. I'm converted. I say do it. Looking at my similar style Dolphin torch it looks like it could sit right where the bulb is now. Getting the LED inside the reflector would require a bit of deconstruction though.

 

[LukeA]

A SSC would probably throw better than a CREE with such a large shallow reflector.

I was going to suggest SSC for this purpose.

 

[TorchBoy]

It's a comparatively shallow reflector for a Cree, which puts more of its light out front (half intensity beam width 70°), so it would be very floody. The reflector wouldn't catch very much of the LED's output at all.

Outside of the central 120° - ie, roughly what the shallow reflector will be catching - the Cree puts out next to nothing, certainly under 10% max intensity. At 60° off centre a SSC is still at about 58% so it's the way to go if you want the finished light to have a central spot beam. And since the SSC will be at least an order of magnitude more efficient it could be quite nice. Runtime and brightness. :twothumbs

 

[LEDninja]

1 WATT- 1.5-8V LED REPLACEMENT MODULE
http://www.dorcy.com/products.aspx?p=411642
Available at Sears. Maybe under the Craftsman instead of the Dorcy name
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=155671.
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=159564

 

[Norm]

1 WATT- 1.5-8V LED REPLACEMENT MODULE
http://www.dorcy.com/products.aspx?p=411642
Available at Sears. Maybe under the Craftsman instead of the Dorcy name
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=155671.
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=159564

Polarity will need to be reversed.
Norm

 

[LEDninja]

Polarity will need to be reversed.
Norm

That is a Dorcy lantern in the 1st post. I would suggest checking the polarity 1st but every Dorcy light I got seem to have the right polarity for a LED drop in. The member that fried the upgrade was using some other brand of light.

Could try the PR2-W1-WVR LED FlashLight bulb from superbrightleds. Dimmer and does not focus well but at $5 a good tool for checking polarity. I was using them until I upgraded all my 'in use' cheap lights with 1W luxeons.
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=LIGHTS

 

[TorchBoy]

FWIW my Eveready Dolphin puts negative (centre contact on battery) onto the bulb tip. Does the LED replacement not sort out polarity?

 

[LEDninja]

FWIW my Eveready Dolphin puts negative (centre contact on battery) onto the bulb tip. Does the LED replacement not sort out polarity?

The Dorcy/Craftsman bulb does not seem to have reverse polarity protection and dies.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1889114&postcount=6

The superbrightleds bulb survived an encounter with an Energizer 2 in 1. It takes 4AA but is only 3V. Do not know if it will survive an encounter with 6V in the wrong direction.