Rayovac Lantern Moddable?

fenix-store
This should be in the lantern section of the General Light Discussions. To answer your question, Yes it is modable. I have one and did take it apart. You are on the right track by removing the screws from the battery compartment. once they are removed, gently pry between the batt compartment and outer case to loosen the innards up then pull out. It took a little effort to get mine apart but there was no glue anywhere, just tight fitting plastic. The LED array is on a board about the same size as a normal LED star board. I measured the current at the emitters @350ma on nicads and a little higher on alks. If I had a Seoul on a star at the time, I would have swapped it out. If you mod yours, be sure to let us know how it works out.

Bob
 
#1
I hope this gets moved instead of closed.

#2
I hope someone can be kind enough to give up a pictoral walkthrough.

#3
I hope it is a simple emitter swap to put in a P4-U2 LED, I have none on stars right now. EDIT, I can make a sink.

#4
THANK YOU FOR THIS THREAD!
 
Last edited:
This thread could go to Lanterns, but as it's about a proposed mod I'm going to move it to Homemade & Modified. I'll leave a redirect here in General.
 
Sgt. LED said:
#1
I hope this gets moved instead of closed.

#2
I hope someone can be kind enough to give up a pictoral walkthrough.

#3
I hope it is a simple emitter swap to put in a P4-U2 LED, I have none on stars right now. EDIT, I can make a sink.

#4
THANK YOU FOR THIS THREAD!
Click to expand...

Hey Sgt, I may look for a descent P4 on a star and try a swap. The tint of mine is not really that bad, but a warmer color might be interesting. I'll do pictures when I do the swap.
 
Re: **MODDED** Rayovac Lantern Moddable?

I got a couple of Seoul emitters today so I went ahead and replaced the LED array with 1 U2SV0H emitter. The swap was pretty straight forward. I would have preferred a star but all I could find was an emitter. I had a small piece of aluminum so I hacked, and I mean hacked out a quick sink.
Firstly, remove the batteries and the 3 screws holding the innards in the housing. Once the screws are out, gently pry with a small screwdriver or similar between the outer case and the battery carrier. The batt carrier will pop right out.
lantern2.jpg


Drill out the 2 rivets holding the array down. Take note of the polarity.
lantern3.jpg


The array is held down with some kind of adhesive, I used a sharp and narrow knife blade and just slid it under the array to loosen it. Cleaned up the remaining adhesive from the pedistal, put some thermal paste down and screwed the new emitter in place with 2 small screws in place of the rivets.
lantern4.jpg


Finally, put it all back together and enjoy the new light :cool: I was hoping the new emitter was a little warmer but I can't really tell much difference. The output seems to be a little better but not by much. If I can find a warmer tint, I think I'll do it again. The tint in the picture is just a little bluer than reality.
lantern5.jpg


*Edit* After using the lantern and comparing it to another, it is definatly brighter and a little warmer in color. Also I was looking at the OEM emitter array and discovered on the bottom of the LED base, there are three resistors. I suppose one could change the value of those to get a little more or less light from this lantern.
 
Last edited:
Re: **MODDED** Rayovac Lantern Moddable?

that is a nice LED lantern.
 
I wonder how much aluminum there is in that heatsink post, and how well it will dissipate heat. It would be neat seeing a custom driver, such as a D2DIM for example, and a more neutral P7 operating at 3-6W. Where did you get your lantern, and how much do they normally run for? Is there any other lanterns using high power LEDs that have good heatsinking and are mod friendly? Thanks for sharing. :twothumbs

-Tony
 
Gryloc said:
I wonder how much aluminum there is in that heatsink post, and how well it will dissipate heat. It would be neat seeing a custom driver, such as a D2DIM for example, and a more neutral P7 operating at 3-6W. Where did you get your lantern, and how much do they normally run for? Is there any other lanterns using high power LEDs that have good heatsinking and are mod friendly? Thanks for sharing. :twothumbs

-Tony
Click to expand...

The heat sink post is hollow. The post sits inside the frosted plastic dome so it doesn't get much air circulation. The LED is only driven @ 350ma or a little higher with fresh alkaline batts. I'm sure it would be plenty bright with only a P4 driven @ 1A or so but heat might be a problem unless you ventilated the dome. I bought mine online at the Ace Hardware store for around $35.00.
 
Last edited:
Golden dragon's maybe?

Anyway I now have this lantern and would like to upgrade it like ledaholic.

I will need a heatsink, thermal glue, an LED, and skill.

Is this best done with a P4 or would any other LED make the mod more complicated? I might have a warm tinted K2 around here somewhere, is that OK for a straight swap?

Well I would be killing the newer version of the Sam's Club element to get the K2. It sure looks like a K2 anyway.
Ugh! It won't be dimmer that stock will it?! :sick2:
 
Last edited:
Any other LED that is more efficient at the same drive level as the stock LED should be brighter. Any Lux III, Seoul, K2, P4 will work. If you can solder, you can do this mod. Only 2 wires to mess with, just pry the old one up and glue down the new one.
 
OK I did it!

Well mostly........
A quite warm K2 is now in there and working well but the star is not glued down. I must say it is hard to tell if it is brighter now. It certainly isn't dimmer and the warm tint makes it way more pleasant.

It is just the tension on the wires holding it down, I know that isn't very good but I have no thermal paste.
That being said the star is thicker than normal and the cheapy light it was in used no heatsink either.

But hey this was so easy to do if the emitter does cook I will just do it over again with a little more planning.
 
OK
On the perimeter of the aluminum disk there were 4 indentations.
At these 4 points I placed those tiny screws that hold fauxton's together.
I am pretty sure that heat will easily move down the screws to the ribbed tower the lantern has. I can see that the LED's disk is still somehow not touching the tower all the way around! Half of it is flush and the other half has a tiny bit of space that is visible when held up to the lights.

I am calling this one done untill I order some arctic alumina. With that I'll put a bead of it around the LED disk where it meets the tower. I don't think it's nessesary however.

EDIT: Did it anyway 2 months ago, forgot to update!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Wooden Lantern Build
Replies
9
Views
2K
alpg88
alpg88
datiLED
Micro Lantern build
2
Replies
38
Views
7K
bl4kkat
bl4kkat
Lumencraft (Matt)
600 lumen 18650 powered Camping Lantern
Replies
6
Views
5K
badtziscool
badtziscool
bl4kkat
Yellow Navy Battle Lantern to LED help
Replies
12
Views
6K
alpg88
alpg88
L
Replace D Cell LED Lantern With 18650's
Replies
3
Views
4K
DIWdiver
DIWdiver

Latest posts

Top