Perfect 1AAA light for LED mods...

[PJD]

...the Brinkmann Micro Max. It's the 1AAA version of the 2AA Black Max sold at Wal Mart. All you have to do to get a typical 5mm LED to fit in it is use a dremmel or drill to widen the bulb hole. There is a "tube" on the back of the reflector that engages the twist on switch, and the LED fits through the tube without any modding, so widening the bulb hole is all that's needed. I put a 5mm purplish-blue (almost UV) LED in mine and powered it up with a 12V Duracell 21/23 battery (...filled in the rest of the battery compartment with rolled foil), and it works GREAT! As an added bonus, the lens of a PAL light fits PERFECTLY in the bezel of this light. I used a dremmel to shorten the rim around the PAL lens so the bezel would fit almost all the way down, and I have a nicely focused beam. This is my first "real" mod, and I'm tickled to death with it...I wanna mod something else

! Anyway, this Brinkmann Micro Max is perfect for 1 LED mods...

PJD

...there is nothing in the world more frustrating than a lousy beam...

 

[EMPOWERTORCH]

Sounds like a cool torch! I would have thought that 12V would cook the LED pretty quickly though.

 

[webley445]

how about posting a pic?
what's the run time?

 

[Daniel Ramsey]

Do you think the Brinkmann Legend AAA could be modded as well?

 

[PJD]

I can't post a pic...don't own a dig cam. I thought the battery would cook the LED, also...but so far it hasn't been a problem. I got the idea from the posts I read here about the Mag Solitaire mod. Although the battery is 12V, I think the amperage is way low...I'm somewhat of an "electronics illiterate", so I'm not really sure why the battery hasn't cooked the LED. Maybe somebody with more knowledge than me can shed some light on it. I think I read somewhere in the Mag Solitaire post that the 12V battery wouldn't have that impressive of a run-time, but so far the LED and battery in mine are holding up OK.
As far as the Legend AAA, as long as the reflector style is the same or similiar to the Micro Max, modding it shouldn't be a problem either...another plus for the Legend AAA is that it's a tail switch light, which should make modding even easier.

PJD

...there is nothing in the world more frustrating than a lousy beam...

 

[lambda]

Originally posted by Daniel Ramsey:
Do you think the Brinkmann Legend AAA could be modded as well?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">PJD,

Dan is hinting at a little humor here. The 12V and 1AAA Brinkmann mod was developed by Dan into a suprisingly bright mod some time ago.

Check out the LED Museum review here: http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/ramsey1.htm

Dan also was the first to mod the Brinkmann 2AA for 3N cells and was the inspiration for the Lambda Illuminator. (I didn't want to keep spending the money for expensive N cells, and made a circuit to use cheap alks or NiMh rechargables).

Not everybody knows the evolution of mod lights; we need some way to list the past mods for easy searching. Helps to not have to re-invent the wheel; although at times, it's still nice to do so own your own and find out other CPF'ers think just like you.....

 

[evan9162]

The A23 isn't really a beastly 12V battery. According to Energizer data sheets, it has a capacity of 40mAh, and if I'm reading the datasheet right, it has an internal resistance of 800 ohms!

A23 Data sheet
http://data.energizer.com/datasheets/library/primary/manganese_dioxide/a23.pdf

Since it's 8 cells in series, the total internal resistance of the battery is the sum of the internal resistances of each cell (100 ohms each). You definitely don't need a current limiting resistor when using this battery.

 

[Daniel Ramsey]

I reccomend using a 10 ohm resistor for maximum light output or use a 220 ohm resistor for a longer run time. In my original testing using a single AAA battery in a Legend with the regular bulb and another modded with the 220 ohm resistor and the 21/23 12V battery the bulb flashlight was totally dead in 2 hours, the LED version was 50% at 6 hours and still glowing useably at 12 hours. With the 10 ohm resistor you should be drawing about 33mA which is normally the maximum output of the 21/23 or A23 12v battery. I could easily explain how to do this mod but as my friend lambda just posted it would be a learning process to do it yourself.
just because someone else has been there and done that does not mean its not open to improvement.
My mods were just an easy reliable flashlight that I made available to CPF members earlier this year before many LED lights were available and ordering an ARC meant being on a waiting list.

Good to hear from you Lambda, gonna send me a couple dozen of those illuminators this winter? I need a quote buddy. With or without the emitter is cool.

 

[PJD]

Daniel and Lambda...you are the "demagods" of flashlight modding! Although ya really busted my bubble...I thought I was really on to something here! ;-)...guess I'll hafta dig a little deeper into previous threads next time before I get too impressed with my own "layman's ingenuity". On the bright side, I'm LIGHTYEARS ahead of non-flashoholics :-)!!!

PJD

...there is nothing in the world more frustrating than a lousy beam...

 

[EMPOWERTORCH]

One way pof getting the required voltage in a single AA torch is to use £V lithium AA's or 2 1/2AA size batteries.
For AAA torches I've heard that if you have the tools and the skills, the individual cells of a PP3 will give you 3 battery changes! The cells are available singly as AAAA's!

 

[EMPOWERTORCH]

sorry...typo in previous post...
"£V" should have read "3V"
O well, it is 12:45am!

 

[Daniel Ramsey]

For an off the shelf mod the 21/23 battery is all thats currently available right now, the plus is that its driving an LED instead of a bulb so its a new ball game.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Daniel,

I meant to ask in my previous post how bright your light is with a 220 ohm resistor in comparison to a photon 2. What's the current draw? Did I understand correctly that it's light output drops to 50% after 6 hours? That's pretty good! Also, how bright is the initial output of this mod with the 10 ohm resistor? How long does it last? Thanks in advance for your answers.

Mark

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Daniel,

I have never built this mod because I figured that that little 21/23 battery couldn't possibly last very long. However, it looks like it's a pretty respectable performer as little lights go.

I would also like to hear from anyone else who either owns Daniel's mod or has built their own. Thanks to all in advance for their 2 cents worth

Mark

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

BTT as I am thinking of similar mods.

 

[Lantern Jack O.]

I'm kinda partial to this one for some odd reason.

You can get additional info on it and on Solitaire modding in general here .

 

[Daniel Ramsey]

You would have to ask the owners of my little mod, there is a few of them here at CPF and according to The LED Museum in a comparison test against an ARC of the same size roughly the mod was brighter. I initially sold dozens with the 220 ohm resistor, it gave out 12 hours of light but not a steady output of course but later ones a 10 ohm resistor worked just as well if not better. Its all in what the battery can literally dish out, it behaves as its own regulator of a maximum output of 33mA so a 10 ohm resistor tuned it down to 30mA the maximum for the Nichia NSPW500BS white 5mm white led. The continuous run time was only an hour or so but this flashlight was only used for short periods, here in Alaska in the winter we have only a few hours of daylight and of course the minus zero temps so the 12v battery even when cold still had enough voltage to drive the LED much better than a regular bulb.