Old Ikelite Refurbish and/or Mods

[shadow-cw]

Hi all,
I have been lurking on CPF for a while and decided to join. I'm still flashlight ignorant so please excuse me if I ask a dumb question.
A friend on mine gave me an old Ikelite Modular dive light. I would like to know what I would have to do to refurbish the battery pack and if I can run a brighter bulb in it. Right now it has a OSRAM 6v 20w bi-pin bulb. The battery pack appears to me to be made of 6 rechargable D sized batteries. It's marked on top:
IKELITE MODULAR
SUPER LIGHT:
USE #4308 OR
ANY 6 VOLT BULB

MOVIE LIGHT:
DWH/DWJ MOVIE BULB

CHARGE FOR 3 HOURS WITH 4052 CHARGER
OR CHARGE EVERY 30 DAYS
MADE IN USA.

Charger and switch assembly is made into the top of the battery pack. Battery pack is screwed and glued together.
It still charges and operates, but the switch is alittle sticky and I'm sure the batteries are in need of changing. If it can be refurbished would be good or if it can be modded to get more power and longer run time would be great.
I'll try to get some beam shots tonight.
Thanks for the help,
Caleb

 

[Klem]

The quickest way would be to upgrade the lamp to a higher wattage...say 50W. To be frank however, anything else you do like replacing those batteries will not be money well spent. You would be better off buying a current off-the-shelf dive LED instead. Same brightness, if not brighter in a smaller package with better quality light (higher Kelvin colour).

Another option...That waterproof housing with switch may be useful if you are DIY hobby inclined for upgrading to a 35W HID. It will outshine most other torches with sheer lumens and the colour temperature will be better quality than incandescent also. Get a slim 2-part car headlight kit and a HID globe. Attach and waterproof the ballast to the outside. Source a reflector that will fit inside your housing if the existing one will not work. Buy or construct a Lithium-ion battery pack to go in the space left by those old NiCad D Cells.

 

[shadow-cw]

Hi,
Thanks for the info. I know that changing the old batteries out will not be cost effective but I may do it anyways. I'm going to try a 6v35w and a 6v50w or 55w bulb, which ever I can find. The old batteries still hold a charge but I don't know for how long. I tried it against my buddies brand new UK C8 light and the old Ikelite out shines it. I have tried a few LEDs but they seem to have more of a flood than a spot. Just wanting to fix this one up until I can afford a Brightstar Darkbuster Rechargeable HID 24W.
Thanks again,
Caleb

 

[Klem]

Fair enough...The Ikelight might outshine the UK C8, but be mindful they are both incandescent old technology torches.

That Darkbuster 24 will set you back about $300USD, without batteries. You can use that Ikelite housing and put your own 35W HID in it. It will outshine the Darkbuster (and most anything else) for a quarter of the price.

All you need is a metal reflector that accepts motor vehicle bulb sizes (H3 is a popular size). You can find these in cheap 6V hardware torches or hand-held, or vehicle mounted spotlights. Then buy a slim ballast and HID globe of your preferred light colour on EBay (about $50USD). The ballast needs between 9-16V to work. Consider how long you want it to run and what space is available in that Ikelite and buy or make a Li-Ion battery pack to suit.

One small engineering dilema. You'll need to put the ballast outside the Ikelite to dissipate the heat generated by the ballast. Otherwise it will work but get pretty hot inside, and this will damage battery capacity, among other things. Doing this also frees up space for more battery capacity.

Here's a shot of a DIY 35W HID using an Otterbox 8000 and Hella 6" vehicle spotlight. The immense light output is due to three things;
The 35Watts of HID
The width of the reflector (6"/150mm)
The collimated design of the reflector (spotlight).

If you can do this with the Ikelight you can dive deeper than I can with this thing (Otterboxes are rated to 100ft). The only waterproofing you need overcome is the outside ballast. The downside is you'd be limited to a reflector the diameter of the Ikelite.

This torch, your Ikelite and the Darkbuster are not compact torches, and so if you are going to carry them you may as well make them the brightest torches imaginable.