Replacement (upgrade?) LED for Dorcy Lantern?

[MacGyver]

I have a Dorcy 4D lantern ( http://www.dorcy.com/products.aspx?p=414291 ) that the kids left on for several hours continuous and the LED apparently overheated and fried. Now emits jut enough light to verify that it's actually on. Yes I checked the batteries.

It appears to be a 3w side emitter star.
Is there anything I could replace this with that would work?
Prolight or Piranha (besthongkong), Cree, etc?
The only side emitters I can find are directly from Luxeon Star...seems like a waste to order just one from them. I don't do a lot of mods/repairs right now.
I can replace the star or just the emitter, whatever will work.

Thank for any suggestions

Happy New Year!

 

[codypop]

Fred at Photonfanatic.com has Luxeon Side emitting emitters for USD 5.00 including stateside postage.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

depending on the design I would just use a lambertian style LED and get a cree or SSC P4 which would make it 2-3 times as bright and since they can take more current they will probably run cooler than the old LED I would imagine.

 

[MacGyver]

Thank you for the ideas. Hadn't heard of photonfanatic, shouldn't be hard to meet the $20 minimum, and I have a US address I can use.
I'll get a side emitter and a cree to try both...if I can figure out which codes to order

Thanks again

 

[codypop]

MacGyver

There's just one thing though. If the light has a current regulator of some description, be it fancy or just a resistor, are you sure that it's putting a decent current into the "failed" LED? A bad driver / regulator may account for the LED lighting but only dimly. Grab a DMM from someone and measure the current into the LED before shelling out on a fix that may not be the solution.

Happy hunting!

 

[MacGyver]

I'm fairly certain by the look of the design & lack of heatsinking that the emitter overheated being left on for an extended period, but that's a good suggestion I will verify!