Old Tekna incan modified to LED

[PCC]

Can anyone identify this light?

This is an old Tekna flashlight that I had bought back in the '80's. I put it into a Kershaw survival kit back in the day and forgot about it. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the battery out of it and it leaked all over the inside of it. By the time I found the light again the damage had been done: the reflector is gone, the metal eaten away. The plastic parts, though, are still in good shape so I decided to salvage it.

I wanted to get more run time from this light so I decided to convert it to LED, but what would I use? I tested the Nite-Ize 3-LED module at various voltages and found that it worked quite well even down to 0.7VDC. It draws about 200mA on 3VDC and less as the batteries drain down so it should offer fairly long run times on a single cell. Trying to fit it into the light was going to be a bit difficult, though, so I turned an aluminum plug to fit the Nite-Ize module and made it fit the Tekna. It fits the light just perfectly. Now I need a way to get the negative pole of the battery connected to this. I milled out a negative contact strap thing out of a piece of aluminum plate after I tried to order one from Tektite and it turned out to be the wrong one. I salvaged the spring from it and used it on the one I had made.

Here's a shot of the assembled module next to the original lamp assembly.

A shot of the battery with the strap installed.

A shot of the business end of the light with the Nite-Ize module ready to go.

Here it is next to my Quark MiNi AA on low for comparison. The MiNi AA on low puts out about the same amount of light as this one does on one cell. It's rated at 2.7 lumens on low so it's not all that bad.

It was assembled to be a personal flashlight to be used during emergencies so it doesn't need to be super bright. I had planned on using this light with a CR123a cell but the battery strap looks a bit thin even with the AA battery in place so I decided not to cut it any thinner to fit the CR123a cell. I'll just fit a Lithium AA battery in it or keep alkalines separately from it for those emergencies. I do live in earthquake country, after all.

 

[Scott@Tektite]

Wow, nice job. This looks to originally have been a Tekna Lite 1 (1AA), yes?

 

[Sub_Umbra]

Cool, a blast from the past. I still have an old 2xAA Tekna around here somewhere. I went through a few in the 80s.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I have a 2N version of this light in black I have been thinking about converting to LED. I may cut back the fins in the body to accept a AA cell as I quit using it because it got expensive to replace N cells every few hours. with your aluminum plug it looks like you could design it to take a cree and a boost circuit and install it in the light. Imagine a tough waterproof version of the ITP AA with 3 modes.

 

[PCC]

Wow, nice job. This looks to originally have been a Tekna Lite 1 (1AA), yes?

Okay, I thought it was a Tekna Lite 1 but the spring I ordered from your site was a bit short so I began to think that it was something else. Marge said that the L-222 is going to be on backorder until after Christmas? I'm still waiting for one.

I have a 2N version of this light in black I have been thinking about converting to LED. I may cut back the fins in the body to accept a AA cell as I quit using it because it got expensive to replace N cells every few hours. with your aluminum plug it looks like you could design it to take a cree and a boost circuit and install it in the light. Imagine a tough waterproof version of the ITP AA with 3 modes.

I'm not quite at the level where I'm doing crazier mods so this is it for now. Yes, I have thought about a more aggressive mod for this light but I really wanted to keep it simple.

I used this light last night and it really is brighter than I had thought it would be on one cell. I'm really happy with the way this light turned out. Maybe I would follow Lynx_Arc's advice and mod this light more down the road.

 

[Scott@Tektite]

Okay, I thought it was a Tekna Lite 1 but the spring I ordered from your site was a bit short so I began to think that it was something else. Marge said that the L-222 is going to be on backorder until after Christmas? I'm still waiting for one.

Was there an X rib spacer at the bottom? Some of the '1's had bottom ribs, some had an elongated coil spring.

On the L222; Annnny day now....We had a problem getting the inductor coils.

 

[PCC]

Yes, it has the X. I think that I cut the adapter a bit too short so it didn't work. I'll just make a spacer that will sit in the bottom of the tube and sit the one I bought from you folks on top of it to make it work. This will allow me to bore the side ribs down to allow a CR123a battery to fit and allow me to use those batteries for a brighter light or AAs interchangeably. That will make this light even more versatile!

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that I chose the Nite-Ize 3LED module because of the low amp draw from the batteries and the relative lack of heat produced by this drop-in since this light engine is encased in plastic.

 

[snakebite]

anyone have a tekna lite 1 handy?
how is the lettering applied?
i just found one and it has none and no evidence of there ever being any.
i guess it could be a knockoff or a prototype.odd fresnel lense and a #112 bulb.
i identified it here.
http://www.tek-tite.com/proddetail.php?prod=TEKNA_BULB_&_BATTERY_guide

 

[nein166]

anyone have a tekna lite 1 handy?
how is the lettering applied?
i just found one and it has none and no evidence of there ever being any.
i guess it could be a knockoff or a prototype.odd fresnel lense and a #112 bulb.
i identified it here.
http://www.tek-tite.com/proddetail.php?prod=TEKNA_BULB_&_BATTERY_guide

I have 2 others and if it's black like mine there's no color on the lettering they are just raised.

If it looks like a tekna, and it floats like a tekna, it's a tekna

 

[snakebite]

i have concluded that mine is a clone,unmarked oem unit,or prototype.
i soldered a 5mm hi cri led into a mes base with a 4.7 ohm resistor and potted it.
the - terminal of the led soldered right to the base as close as possible to aid heatsinking.
and dropped in a 14500 li-ion.
big improvement.
i did one up dd and they take it well.
so i have a long run led bulb and a dd "'turbo" led bulb for mine.
the metal bulb holder adds to the surface area for a heatsink.
and since the leds are cheap even if i wear it out early i can make more for pennies.
these work great in the common "tom thumb" vintage lights too.
if one can remove the fins in the body of the 2 n cell model and drop in a 14500 one can mod it with one of these.