greyghost_6
Newly Enlightened
I just got a Matco Tools flashlight (M51403) at a flea market for really cheap, and am looking to make it a much brighter light. I took it apart and it uses a Ni-Cad rechargeable battery 3.6v 2000mah, its slightly larger than a 18650 (longer and a little bit fatter). I also took apart the head unit and found that it is using a standard 21mm luxeon board at around 80 lumen. The driver is sitting inside a proprietary shell with a built in clickie and a DC jack for easy charging. Now my question: can I purchase an emitter board from DX and solder it in the old luxeon's place?
My concerns are:
1. Its not going to be much brighter due to a (unknown) possibly low driving rate of the driver that I want to keep. The driver has 2 modes, low and high.
2. Possibly burning out the emitter or driver.
I don't think I will burn out anything since Ill be using an 18650 at 3.6 and the battery the flashlight came with is 3.6. I think heating will be fine since the board sits on an aluminum board the size of 3 stacked quarters that fit very snugly into the hefty aluminum head. The light retails for $130 or so and would like to do this project. Tell me what you guys think! The light I bought:
http://www.matcotools.com/ProductImages/m51403.jpg
My concerns are:
1. Its not going to be much brighter due to a (unknown) possibly low driving rate of the driver that I want to keep. The driver has 2 modes, low and high.
2. Possibly burning out the emitter or driver.
I don't think I will burn out anything since Ill be using an 18650 at 3.6 and the battery the flashlight came with is 3.6. I think heating will be fine since the board sits on an aluminum board the size of 3 stacked quarters that fit very snugly into the hefty aluminum head. The light retails for $130 or so and would like to do this project. Tell me what you guys think! The light I bought:
http://www.matcotools.com/ProductImages/m51403.jpg
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