Tesco Light Charging Problem

[carl27]

I've cut down a couple of Tesco torches, looking for a way to waterproof the battery pack, and charge them up via a jack plug or some other type of push connector fitted it line maybe, so that I don't have to keep opening the pack to remove the batteries and push them into my charger.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated :twothumbs

 

[Essexman]

I've got no idea how to waterproof them, just wanted to welcome you here and ask - please tell us more about the mods on the Tesco C's.

They look great like that cut down.

Are you using the std LED's , optics and drivers?

How did you cut them down etc

cheers

BTW I'm no expert, but I think your pics might need to be made smaller?

 

[DM51]

carl27, I've put a link in there instead of that huge photo. You'll need to resize it to 800 x 800 pixels max - please see Rule 3.

 

[ecotack]

Carl27, Your Clips have given me an idea, thanks!

To waterproof your batteries I suppose shopping at Tesco you could use one of their cheap tupperware boxes, or buy an IP68 one from say CPC and get the Jacks at the same time. To waterproof a jack socket just silicone the back.

 

[carl27]

Sorry about the pic size It should be ok now.

I've put the batteries in a tupperware box, good idea thanks ecotack.

The torches are standard apart from cutting the battery tube right down then grinding the threads off the end cap and pressing it back into the cut down battery tube, I've cut up a mobile phone charger for the wires and used 4 pipe clips to fix them onto the handle bars. It all works well and they are brighter than my mates £100+ lights, there are a few beam shots of these torches on this site but I might have a go tonight.

The problem of charging the batteries still keeps me awake at night

Can I just cut into the wire with a small socket used for headphone extension wires and then charge the batteries with a simple wall charger, instead of stripping the batteries out and putting them into a bench charger each time ?

Please help, god knows I need my beauty sleep:shakehead

 

[Essexman]

Sleep is for the weak..........

IF you want a a lot more throw you can alawys do this.....

All parts came from DX. I had to remove 2mm off the front of the dropin module to make it fit. Also had to remove some off the inside of the round threaded ring bit inside the head/body.

 

[carl27]

Thanks Essexman tell me more, yes I do want more throw, I can't have too much

• Any chance of a link to the parts at DX
• Do you have any pics of your mod in action
• Has anyone else "modded" a Tesco torch

Bump....... Charging the batteries problem ? Anyone ? :thinking:

 

[Essexman]

Thanks Essexman tell me more, yes I do want more throw, I can't have too much

• Any chance of a link to the parts at DX
• Do you have any pics of your mod in action
• Has anyone else "modded" a Tesco torch

Bump....... Charging the batteries problem ? Anyone ? :thinking:

Parts list:
Drop in
Glass
Driver

Carl27 - Don't buy any of the glass, I got a 10 pack and have some spare, drop me a PM with your address and I'll post a couple to you.

Thinking about it, the reason I removed 2mm of the front of the drop in was because I needed to make room for the batts over the whole length. It was that tight I couldn't screw the tail cap on right. You wouldn't need to worry about that with the bike set up.

I've no pics of this mod in action. It makes a very bright spot with good spill, but it it a narrow beam, think pencil like beam.

Another good mod for a std tesco 2C is to put GITD powder and epoxy around the emitter, shines thro the optic really nice,

 

[carl27]

Thanks for the help Essexman, are you using the standard emitter? im not seeing one on the parts list. Thanks for the offer of a glass,lovecpf

PS..........GITD powder looks fantastic :wow:

 

[Essexman]

Thanks for the help Essexman, are you using the standard emitter? im not seeing one on the parts list. Thanks for the offer of a glass,lovecpf

PS..........GITD powder looks fantastic :wow:

Yes I used a Cree XRE LED. The refector is designed for them, here's some on DX link, link both are Q5 which is a high power bin, but they may be a bit of a white/blue tint.

For bike riding you may wish to go for a lower bin, say Q3 brightness, but a warmer tint to bring out the colours of the world as you zoom thro the forest etc.
Cree LED are available from UK to. Maybe look at RS components or farnell?

 

[carl27]

OK I've soldered wires onto the connections on my battery charger, ran a cable to a jack plug and soldered the other part of the jack plug to the + & - on my lights.

The charger charged the batteries ( 5000mah C cell x 2 ) ok before so if there isn't any other way it will have to do.

I'll run the batteries flat and see what run time im getting and then check they are charging ok with my DIY charging set up.