D
**DONOTDELETE**
Guest
I'd been mulling over converting my Mini-Maglite 2AA to LED for a while, and toook the plunge today. I drilled the reflector out with a 3/16 in. bit, as suggested by one forum member, but found this too tight a fit to pass over the 5mm LED. Being that I was on the go (train, specifically) and away from a drill at this point, I used the phillips head on my SOG Paratool to bore the hole wide enough.
I filed down the leads, cut them to size, and first put in a Yellow Radioshack LED. (#276-351, 587 nm.) This worked ok, as I figured it would, as the "typical" voltage is 2.1 V, and it's max is 3. However, I switched from the old Duracells in the flashlight to new Radio shack alkalines, and pop, and a smelly micro-second later, the LED was gone. This is ok, as the yellow one was dissapointingly not bright (RAdioshack has 1900 mcd on the package. Anyone know what a yellow photon runs at? Mine is s lot brighter than this.) However, if the LED is supposed to be able to take 3 V, and I theroretically give it 3, which in reality is less, was it defective?
Now, I'm running it with a Radioshack Red LED (wants 1.7 V, can take up to 2.4, 3000 mcd, 660nm), and it's running a little hot, but has no problem with the new batteries, at least not initally. Was the problem in the first merely that I had run it for a longer total run time, even if it was on and off, and finally, the new batteries were just the straw that broke the camel's back? Or was it just a shoddy LED? Is there any reasonable way to heatsink this, or is it not worth my trouble? I like the idea of being able to switch between the incandescent lamp for power, and the LED for runtime and durability.
Overall, not bad. I would like to get some more power out of it, if this is possible, maybe by ordering a better Red LED online, or perhaps an Orange(does anyone make a Green that will run at about 3 V?)
Part of my problem, I guess, is that I like the idea of being able to run on plain old AA cells. Like my CD player, like my Infinity. It helps to standardize, even if the Infinity is not the brightest, the green works fine for me in most situations.
Stay Sharp,
Joe S.
I filed down the leads, cut them to size, and first put in a Yellow Radioshack LED. (#276-351, 587 nm.) This worked ok, as I figured it would, as the "typical" voltage is 2.1 V, and it's max is 3. However, I switched from the old Duracells in the flashlight to new Radio shack alkalines, and pop, and a smelly micro-second later, the LED was gone. This is ok, as the yellow one was dissapointingly not bright (RAdioshack has 1900 mcd on the package. Anyone know what a yellow photon runs at? Mine is s lot brighter than this.) However, if the LED is supposed to be able to take 3 V, and I theroretically give it 3, which in reality is less, was it defective?
Now, I'm running it with a Radioshack Red LED (wants 1.7 V, can take up to 2.4, 3000 mcd, 660nm), and it's running a little hot, but has no problem with the new batteries, at least not initally. Was the problem in the first merely that I had run it for a longer total run time, even if it was on and off, and finally, the new batteries were just the straw that broke the camel's back? Or was it just a shoddy LED? Is there any reasonable way to heatsink this, or is it not worth my trouble? I like the idea of being able to switch between the incandescent lamp for power, and the LED for runtime and durability.
Overall, not bad. I would like to get some more power out of it, if this is possible, maybe by ordering a better Red LED online, or perhaps an Orange(does anyone make a Green that will run at about 3 V?)
Part of my problem, I guess, is that I like the idea of being able to run on plain old AA cells. Like my CD player, like my Infinity. It helps to standardize, even if the Infinity is not the brightest, the green works fine for me in most situations.
Stay Sharp,
Joe S.
