Maratac AAA led swap?

[CNR]

Hi all!

I have an old (first gen I think) Maratac AAA copper which I absolutely love but the tint of it's small led is blueish and it was always annoying me though I learned to ignore it.

I was wondering, is there a way to change it to something like a warm/neutral Nichia without reducing the runtimes and reliability?

 

[Noctiluco]

Normally you will be able to unscrew the pill with a pair of fine-tipped scissors, and access the led to unsolder it and solder a new led with a light tint to your liking. To do this you must handle the soldier. I had no problem changing the LED on my AAA copper Maratac.

 

[CNR]

Thanks Noctiluco, i can do that, but isn't there a danger of the new led not having the same forward voltage as the old one and overdrive/burn it?
I'd expect the driver to be specific for the led inside.

 

[scalpel_ninja]

I have a titanium AAA x2 Maratac and reflowed a Nichia 219b 4500k without any issues. No overheating issues at all.

 

[Bimmerboy]

Hi CNR, not to be confused with hi CRI. 😜 Flashlight humor.

The Maratac has a boost driver, and the input voltage of a standard AAA will be less than the forward voltage of the LED, so no worries about burning anything. The driver will boost voltage as needed to maintain proper current to the LED.

Mod away!

EDIT: You'll actually gain a tiny bit of efficiency if the replacement LED has a lower Vf than the old one.

 

[CNR]

Cheers! i'm leaning towards sending the light to Vinh for a complete mod (driver pill, heat sink and led) to be able to also use 10440, only problem is that he's in the US and i'm in EU so passing twice through customs may prove more expensive than the mod it self