New Home For Dorcy 1AAA LED \"Guts\"
I don't do a lot of modding because of my extremely high level of "electronics illiteracy", but I've come up with one that only requires refitting of existing parts. I'll apologize in advance because I don't own a digicam...so no pics /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif. This is primarily for the benifit of other Modding Amateurs!
EDIT: I'll be contacting Scott (Milkyspit) to assist me in posting pics to this thread.
I've always liked the size and look of the Brinkmann Legend 1AAA keychain light, but in stock it's output sucks. I've wanted to make mine LED for some time, but I really dislike button cells and the little 12V(MN21/23) garage door opener cells because of their poor life. I took the guts out of one of my Dorcy 1AAA LED lights and fitted them in my Brinkmann Legend 1AAA keychain light, and the results are VERY satisfactory. All you have to do is make approximately 1/4 inch extension to the battery tube of the Legend to allow for the length of the step-up converter's circuit board. For my extension I simply cut the threaded end of the Dorcy (either end...they're identical) and ground the threads down with a Dremmel so it would fit inside the threads of the Legend bezel. Next, you need to bore out the hole in the Legend's reflector to accomodate the 5MM LED and grind down the little shaft on the back of the reflector to allow the bezel to be screwed far enough to cover the O rings on the battery tube. Instead of using the little retaining disc that holds the circuit in place in the Dorcy, I used a size 8S washer because it fits inside the threads of the Dorcy bezel better.
Place the 1/4 inch extension on the bezel end of the battery tube (no soldering or metal epoxying is necessary as everything will be firmly held in place when the bezel is tightened) and screw the bottom half of the bezel onto the battery tube until the top of your extension is approximately 1/16 inch below the top of the bezel's threads. Next, place the Dorcy's circuit board (LED up /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif...) down the battery shaft. It will be held in place by it's little side tabs. Place the size 8S washer over the LED and screw the top half of the bezel with the reflector onto the bottom half. If the top half of the bezel won't screw all the way on, simply unscrew the bezel the same amount of distance you need to get the top half of the bezel completely tightened. Once the top half of the bezel is on completely, torque the entire bezel down just enough to firmly hold everything in place. DON'T OVER-TIGHTEN OR YOU'LL CRACK THE PLASTIC REFLECTOR!!! Insert a battery, screw on the tail cap, and you're ready to go! If you didn't make your extension quite long enough you may need to cut a little off of the spring in the tail cap to allow it to be screwed all the way on. If you encounter flickering when the light is on, it's more than likely being caused by the spring being bent over and touching the metal that surrounds it. To correct this, I simply covered the metal around the spring with some electrical tape...problem solved.
For a single LED coupled with the sidespill being gathered by the reflector, the output is a BIG improvement over the stock Legend bulb. It's a little brighter than my Ultra G, and the peripheral light is NOTICEABLY brighter than the Ultra G's! No button cells or MN21/23 garage door opener cells...1 AAA battery, good battery life, very nice output, all in a proven housing! It won't compete with a Micro-Illuminator by any means, but for a single 5MM flashlight, the results are very nice. Once again, I apologize for the lack of pics as I don't own a digicam...but I hope some of you will find my narrative instructions understable and helpful. Regards...
PJD
I don't do a lot of modding because of my extremely high level of "electronics illiteracy", but I've come up with one that only requires refitting of existing parts. I'll apologize in advance because I don't own a digicam...so no pics /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif. This is primarily for the benifit of other Modding Amateurs!
EDIT: I'll be contacting Scott (Milkyspit) to assist me in posting pics to this thread.
I've always liked the size and look of the Brinkmann Legend 1AAA keychain light, but in stock it's output sucks. I've wanted to make mine LED for some time, but I really dislike button cells and the little 12V(MN21/23) garage door opener cells because of their poor life. I took the guts out of one of my Dorcy 1AAA LED lights and fitted them in my Brinkmann Legend 1AAA keychain light, and the results are VERY satisfactory. All you have to do is make approximately 1/4 inch extension to the battery tube of the Legend to allow for the length of the step-up converter's circuit board. For my extension I simply cut the threaded end of the Dorcy (either end...they're identical) and ground the threads down with a Dremmel so it would fit inside the threads of the Legend bezel. Next, you need to bore out the hole in the Legend's reflector to accomodate the 5MM LED and grind down the little shaft on the back of the reflector to allow the bezel to be screwed far enough to cover the O rings on the battery tube. Instead of using the little retaining disc that holds the circuit in place in the Dorcy, I used a size 8S washer because it fits inside the threads of the Dorcy bezel better.
Place the 1/4 inch extension on the bezel end of the battery tube (no soldering or metal epoxying is necessary as everything will be firmly held in place when the bezel is tightened) and screw the bottom half of the bezel onto the battery tube until the top of your extension is approximately 1/16 inch below the top of the bezel's threads. Next, place the Dorcy's circuit board (LED up /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif...) down the battery shaft. It will be held in place by it's little side tabs. Place the size 8S washer over the LED and screw the top half of the bezel with the reflector onto the bottom half. If the top half of the bezel won't screw all the way on, simply unscrew the bezel the same amount of distance you need to get the top half of the bezel completely tightened. Once the top half of the bezel is on completely, torque the entire bezel down just enough to firmly hold everything in place. DON'T OVER-TIGHTEN OR YOU'LL CRACK THE PLASTIC REFLECTOR!!! Insert a battery, screw on the tail cap, and you're ready to go! If you didn't make your extension quite long enough you may need to cut a little off of the spring in the tail cap to allow it to be screwed all the way on. If you encounter flickering when the light is on, it's more than likely being caused by the spring being bent over and touching the metal that surrounds it. To correct this, I simply covered the metal around the spring with some electrical tape...problem solved.
For a single LED coupled with the sidespill being gathered by the reflector, the output is a BIG improvement over the stock Legend bulb. It's a little brighter than my Ultra G, and the peripheral light is NOTICEABLY brighter than the Ultra G's! No button cells or MN21/23 garage door opener cells...1 AAA battery, good battery life, very nice output, all in a proven housing! It won't compete with a Micro-Illuminator by any means, but for a single 5MM flashlight, the results are very nice. Once again, I apologize for the lack of pics as I don't own a digicam...but I hope some of you will find my narrative instructions understable and helpful. Regards...
PJD
