I have another light, it's a old led lenser 5c batteries. I received it as a birthday gift around 2005. Light works good but it was in the early days of LED's and I think it was only 200 lumens but it will throw a spot comparable to lights of today. I used it for years on the original set of batteries! Does anyone know if it's possible to upgrade the LED to something brighter? Sorry but I don't remember which model and I can't find anything googling. Thanks so much for your time and help. Nate
Led Lenser upgrade
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alpg88
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2005
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Possible, yes, worth the troubles, probably not. It seems to be well build light, from the outside at least. 5C cells do not provide much power, so to make it really brighter, not a little bit, but enough to be worth the troubles you'll need to convert it to lithium ion cells, 5c total to 250mm. you can fit 3x21700 or 18650 cells, (you can go 5c nimh cells but it is old tech, you can go nimh AA as well, like top of the line, eneloops, but they are inferior to li ions) then you need to replace a driver, than the led, it is a lens optic system, so you want to stay with single die led, sst 40 probably your best bet.
But none of it worth doing if your heat path from the led to the body is poor, we can not see it on these pictures, you'll have to take the head apart. if it is not sufficient, you'll most likely need a lathe to turn new head or a heatsink, in that case it probably not worth it.
At this point there are so many different flashlights available for reasonable price, and of decent and good quality, it is no longer worth converting, you very likely invest a lot more than you will get out from results of converting, Ulness the whole idea of conversion is that you really enjoy converting, and do not care whether efforts and resources invested will not justify the result.
But none of it worth doing if your heat path from the led to the body is poor, we can not see it on these pictures, you'll have to take the head apart. if it is not sufficient, you'll most likely need a lathe to turn new head or a heatsink, in that case it probably not worth it.
At this point there are so many different flashlights available for reasonable price, and of decent and good quality, it is no longer worth converting, you very likely invest a lot more than you will get out from results of converting, Ulness the whole idea of conversion is that you really enjoy converting, and do not care whether efforts and resources invested will not justify the result.
hsa
Flashlight Enthusiast
Great looking light !
knucklegary
Flashlight Enthusiast
What a beauty, the necked-in area at top for grip looks to be spun aluminum!
Like alpg88 said you don't have the voltage capacity unless using sleeves and lion batteries in series with spacers. New driver, led.. A lot of work and investment for what?
After mods, all you've done is devalued a classic flashlight,, imo
Like alpg88 said you don't have the voltage capacity unless using sleeves and lion batteries in series with spacers. New driver, led.. A lot of work and investment for what?
After mods, all you've done is devalued a classic flashlight,, imo
I don't know? I was thinking it's aluminum but not sure?
knucklegary
Flashlight Enthusiast
Could be spun stainless tubing. It's shinny like SS, and the switch cover looks like SS
I have never seen another one like it 👍
I have never seen another one like it 👍
Toulouse42
Enlightened
It's called a Led Lenser Giga. At the time it was marketed as the brightest flashlight. It's solid steel and feels great in the hand. I remember that it cost me over 100 pounds 17 or 18 years ago. It was quite floody with not much throw. I gave it away recently as I never used it.
It's somewhere between rehab-ing a wrist watch and rebuilding a lawnmower engine.
If you have the know-how and the tools it seems pretty basic. If you don't it seems pretty difficult.
At my job one year I watched a mechanic take apart and reassemble the automatic transmission of the truck I drove there. He made it look easy but in the end I never considered doing it myself. Same with 'upgrading' old LED flashlights.
The guy that runs the TLF forum is a member here from the early years and built custom flashlights.
If you have the know-how and the tools it seems pretty basic. If you don't it seems pretty difficult.
At my job one year I watched a mechanic take apart and reassemble the automatic transmission of the truck I drove there. He made it look easy but in the end I never considered doing it myself. Same with 'upgrading' old LED flashlights.
The guy that runs the TLF forum is a member here from the early years and built custom flashlights.
I still remember seeing a post on here that said "white LED's are not yet more efficient than incandescent."
M@elstrom
Flashlight Enthusiast
Each to their own, how much brighter would you want to go?
Will there be sufficient thermal mass to keep the emitter cool?
The emitter looks like a Luxeon series most likely the 5w variant, I used to pick up the el-cheapo Kmart 3D aluminium lights with the 1w emitter and swap in the 5w... reasonable upgrade back in the day and enough to impress a non-enthusiast used to low power incandescents.
Will there be sufficient thermal mass to keep the emitter cool?
The emitter looks like a Luxeon series most likely the 5w variant, I used to pick up the el-cheapo Kmart 3D aluminium lights with the 1w emitter and swap in the 5w... reasonable upgrade back in the day and enough to impress a non-enthusiast used to low power incandescents.
