LED Zeppelin
Flashlight Enthusiast
Before I begin with the details of this mod, I would like to give you a bit of background.
Over Thanksgiving, my brother-in-law gave me a Solitaire that he received as a freebie with some purchase. Now having achieved flashlight-guru-of-the-family status, I thought I would improve it and give it back to him at Christmas.
I searched the CPF threads and found various 3 and 5 mm LED mods that looked easy enough, and began playing around with any 5 mm I could get my hands on. These were stock keychain light LED's, dual-cores, 35K, and Nichias. All of these performed reasonably well, but not overly impressive. They provided performance comparable to the same emitter in a keychain light, just in a Solitaire body. None seemed to benefit much from the Solitaire reflector.
I also thought about purchasing a drop-in Lux pill, and these have been offerred by Arcmania, Lambda, and LED_ASAP. The latter was kind enough to provide me with information about the different options for a custom build, and I'm sure my efforts here do not compare to a professional mod. But I wanted to be able to say "I did it", and with such a pill I wouldn't be able to do so in honesty. It is however, a fail-proof alternative if I am not satisfied.
Along comes Lambda's SMJLED. What is unique about this LED (aside from the awesome output and efficiency) is that it is shorter from lens to base. This is particularly beneficial in the Solitaire where the interior space in the head is limited. It also takes advantage of a reflector whether in a MM or this Solitaire.
For power, I used an Energizer A23 12 V ($1.99 for a 2 pack at Meijer's). It has a form similar to an N cell, or a shortened AAA. Some of the threads I searched mentioned that it was possible to direct drive a 5 mm LED off this cell due to the internal resistance. But when I bench-tested this with a stock keychain LED, it fried in a matter of seconds. The next attempt was to add a 10 ohm resistor in series with the cell, and again the LED fried, albeit a bit slower. I proceeded with 15 ohms and simply prolonged the agony of the sacrificial emitter. Finally I used 2 resitors in series for 20 ohms, and the LED burned bright without frying. That is what has remained as the power.
Disclaimer: This is my first light mod tutorial, my first attempts at beamshots, and by far the most words I have thrown at you in a single post. Please bear with me, I'm trying my best. One difficulty I had was trying to get my camera (Olympus Camedia C2000 Z) to do things I never asked of it before, namely extreme close-ups, and a set shutter speed and aperture. I could set one, but not both. I could only do so indirectly with "exposure compensation", but the resolution of the compensation was not adequate to access all stops. In short I am trying to persuade you to believe it's the camera's fault.
If you are trying this at home, please bear in mind that we all have different skills, equipment, and sizes of pen collections, so instead of trying to duplicate my means, focus on achieving my ends which are:
- Modifying the reflector/switch to clear the larger emitter and activate the switch mechanism without loading the LED. The importance of this cannot be overstressed if you want a reliable light. Any attempts to use the LED shoulder as a loading point for the base of the reflector as it pushes the switch in will soon be met with a sickening "snap" and a broken LED. This will inevitably happen well before you change the first cell, maybe a couple dozen cycles. The spindly little legs of the LED just weren't meant to take the complex torsion and thrust of the switching action, and you have already cold-worked them by bending them to fit the socket - they will fatigue rapidly.
If you try this mod with a standard 5 mm LED, you will find that the greater length of the LED poses another concern: the head will contact the lens of the LED when the head is tightened down. It may seem like you are not loading the LED since you have filed off the shoulder, but you still are. Though the torque acted upon it will be less due to the point contact, the thrust will still stress the legs as they have been angled and the socket is straight. The socket will begin to wear as well and contacts will suffer. You will need to precisely shim the switch to avoid this lens to LED contact by tailoring the length of the fabricated pen collar. Other solutions I have seen are going lensless, or drilling a hole in the lens to clear the LED, but I prefer my lights not to double as lint traps.
If you absolutely, positively must use the shoulder of the LED to bear the switch load at least weaken the tailcap spring to lessen the forces.
- Using an appropriate cell to drive the emitter. I chose the A23 simply because it looked like it had a larger capacity than 3 button cells. You will see how I made a spacer to compensate for the shorter cell length and incorporate the resistors. I also tested 3 alkaline button cells, and if this is your choice, I would recommend finding similar size lithium cells. No resistors are necessary.
Now for the details:
This first picture shows the various components that comprise the mod. In this picture I have already done the following:
- Filed off the shoulder at the base of the SMJLED. Do this by gently grasping the legs, and moving the LED relative to a file (I used the wife's diamond nail file). Try to avoid scratching the rest of the LED, especially the lens - the sides are not as important. Canting the LED lens-up as you file helps minimize scratching. When you are done, the LED should have a uniform diameter and no shoulder or ridge.
- Enlarged the reflector clearance hole. To do this you will need to remove the reflector from the head - by far the most time-consuming and frustrating part of the entire mod. Finesse is the key. I used a hobby knife and individually pricked and pried back each retaining tab while applying gentle pressure to the outside of the lens. There is no secret here other than patience and persistence. You will win, just keep at it. Once you have it removed, enlarge the hole until the LED fits inside loosely. I used a round diamond file, and did it by hand. I would advise against using any power tools as the reflector is quite delicate. I thought the entire neck of the reflector would eventually be gone, but there was still a 0.005" wall thickness when I was satisfied with the fit. This is beneficial if you can duplicate this; it keeps things concentric and axial. Be careful when handling and cleaning; the coating will flake if flexed, and scratch easily if rubbed.
- Cut a piece off the body of the upper Bic click pen to serve as the shell for the spacer/resistor. Note that if you then cut the ink tube by the same amount, you can reassemble the pen and no one will know. Also pictured are two 10 ohm resistors soldered and bent to fit inside the shell, and the end caps. I made those by prying them off a spent AA cell, trimmed the OD, and drilled a small hole in the "negative" one.
An AAA cell would have made more sense, but my wife is now wondering where I finally found the motivation to change the battery in that clock. The important points here are to make sure the resistor leads don't short inside the shell, and that the finished length of the spacer in near 0.65" - the difference between an AAA and the A23.
- Found another pen that has a very specific tube size (fits over reflector neck and fits inside the aluminum Solitaire body to activate switch). That pen is the lower one in the picture, and the portion that I'll use is 0.90" of the shank of the nose that fits into the body. This piece will be the reinforcement/extension of the reflector neck which is now quite weak. It is this piece that will bear the load of the switch between the switch plate and the reflector. Again, simply reassemble the pen and recycle it. Brute force used to cut this piece with a utility knife will crack the plastic, I rolled it along a table and successively scored it deeper until it lost. Then I filed the ends flat.
This next picture shows the spacer in progress. I have soldered one of the resistor leads to the inside of the (+) cap. The plastic tube will fit over the top, then the (-) cap will slide over the resistor lead and be soldered to it. The plastic melts a bit when you do this, but nothing major.
Next is a shot of the finished spacer with shrink tubing to keep it tight, the finished reflector and plastic collar (nice friction fit), and the SMJLED with trimmed and shaped legs. The plastic collar is 0.280" OD, 0.218" ID, and 0.090" long. With this particular length of collar, the light turns off 0.040" before the head bottoms out against the body. If you do this mod with a 5 mm LED, then the collar should be longer so the lens doesn't hit the LED. My best eyeball estimate is a 0.180" long collar for use with a conventional 5 mm LED (with shoulder filed off).
Finally a shot of the finished and assembled head. Before snapping the reflector back into the head, gently bend the tabs outward so they will engage the retaining groove.
When I first turned the light on, I was ecstatic. It put out more light and a better beam than my Arc AAA-P. I wanted it to come on in focus, and with this length of the reflector collar, and a bit of push-pull experimenting with the SMJLED position relative to the socket, I achieved that.
Then I got to thinking about the runtime. I have very limited means of quantitatively evaluating lights, so I decided to try side-by-side runshots against the Arc AAA-P.
The Arc was powered by a Rayovac Max + starting at 1.61V, the Solitaire a fresh A23 at 12.89 V. The lights are 13" from the wall.
Right out of the gate, SMJLED on left: (white balance at auto, F 4.5, 1/4 sec)
After 5 minutes: (same camera settings)
After 10 minutes: (same settings)
After 15 minutes: (same settings)
After 20 minutes: (same settings, I think)
Obviously the Arc has the stamina, and the Solitaire fades fast. Voltage measured after the run was 1.41 V for the Arc, and 8.28 V for the Solitaire. Then I had the bright idea to compare the tired SMJ Solitare to a stock Solitaire. The stock Solitaire has the Rayovac pulled out of the Arc, and the SMJ has the same A23: (Camera resists, goes to F 3.2, 1/4 sec. Also note that I focused the stock Solitaire to maximize the hotspot)
I felt better when I did that comparison, as the original intent was to improve the Solitaire, not beat the Arc.
Next I tried 3 LR41 alkaline button cells for power. I shrink tubed a trio, and made a spacer out of the shank of an aluminum gutter nail, some nylon tubing, and some goop to hold it together.
I chose these particular cells simply because I had them on hand. If I were serious about implementing them I would find a similar size lithium cell. Here is where my camera really fights me, and along with some errors on my part, I'll skip the embarassment and just tell you that the A23 starts out brighter, and the LR41's maintain that gap until the 15 min. mark, then they fade even faster than the A23.
Here is the most telling shot from that run. This a comparison between the stock Solitaire and the tired 3 X LR41 SMJ on the left: (camera knows best - F 4, 1/3 sec, AAA @ 1.45 V, 3 X LR41 @ 3.98 V)
Even with the 3 tiny LR41's after a 20 minute continous run, the SMJLED mod still outperforms the stock Solitaire.
Cost of this mod: Solitaire - $6.00, SMJLED - $7.00, 2 resistors - $0.40, pens - (_________). I'll spare you the cliche.
FYI the reflector collar is from an NPC pen and is available here:
http://www.pens.com/pens/Products3.aspx?prod=CLR&cat=&by=1
I think you can call for a free sample.
Coming soon will be what I sincerely believe will make this SMJLED Solitaire an Arc AAA-P beater - a 10440 Li-ion cell and charger (and another $10). I finally broke down and ordered my first rechargeables with this post being my rationalization. They should be in my hands in a couple weeks, and I will add those runshots to this post. Any bets? My money is on the SMJ.
Stay tuned...
Over Thanksgiving, my brother-in-law gave me a Solitaire that he received as a freebie with some purchase. Now having achieved flashlight-guru-of-the-family status, I thought I would improve it and give it back to him at Christmas.
I searched the CPF threads and found various 3 and 5 mm LED mods that looked easy enough, and began playing around with any 5 mm I could get my hands on. These were stock keychain light LED's, dual-cores, 35K, and Nichias. All of these performed reasonably well, but not overly impressive. They provided performance comparable to the same emitter in a keychain light, just in a Solitaire body. None seemed to benefit much from the Solitaire reflector.
I also thought about purchasing a drop-in Lux pill, and these have been offerred by Arcmania, Lambda, and LED_ASAP. The latter was kind enough to provide me with information about the different options for a custom build, and I'm sure my efforts here do not compare to a professional mod. But I wanted to be able to say "I did it", and with such a pill I wouldn't be able to do so in honesty. It is however, a fail-proof alternative if I am not satisfied.
Along comes Lambda's SMJLED. What is unique about this LED (aside from the awesome output and efficiency) is that it is shorter from lens to base. This is particularly beneficial in the Solitaire where the interior space in the head is limited. It also takes advantage of a reflector whether in a MM or this Solitaire.
For power, I used an Energizer A23 12 V ($1.99 for a 2 pack at Meijer's). It has a form similar to an N cell, or a shortened AAA. Some of the threads I searched mentioned that it was possible to direct drive a 5 mm LED off this cell due to the internal resistance. But when I bench-tested this with a stock keychain LED, it fried in a matter of seconds. The next attempt was to add a 10 ohm resistor in series with the cell, and again the LED fried, albeit a bit slower. I proceeded with 15 ohms and simply prolonged the agony of the sacrificial emitter. Finally I used 2 resitors in series for 20 ohms, and the LED burned bright without frying. That is what has remained as the power.
Disclaimer: This is my first light mod tutorial, my first attempts at beamshots, and by far the most words I have thrown at you in a single post. Please bear with me, I'm trying my best. One difficulty I had was trying to get my camera (Olympus Camedia C2000 Z) to do things I never asked of it before, namely extreme close-ups, and a set shutter speed and aperture. I could set one, but not both. I could only do so indirectly with "exposure compensation", but the resolution of the compensation was not adequate to access all stops. In short I am trying to persuade you to believe it's the camera's fault.
If you are trying this at home, please bear in mind that we all have different skills, equipment, and sizes of pen collections, so instead of trying to duplicate my means, focus on achieving my ends which are:
- Modifying the reflector/switch to clear the larger emitter and activate the switch mechanism without loading the LED. The importance of this cannot be overstressed if you want a reliable light. Any attempts to use the LED shoulder as a loading point for the base of the reflector as it pushes the switch in will soon be met with a sickening "snap" and a broken LED. This will inevitably happen well before you change the first cell, maybe a couple dozen cycles. The spindly little legs of the LED just weren't meant to take the complex torsion and thrust of the switching action, and you have already cold-worked them by bending them to fit the socket - they will fatigue rapidly.
If you try this mod with a standard 5 mm LED, you will find that the greater length of the LED poses another concern: the head will contact the lens of the LED when the head is tightened down. It may seem like you are not loading the LED since you have filed off the shoulder, but you still are. Though the torque acted upon it will be less due to the point contact, the thrust will still stress the legs as they have been angled and the socket is straight. The socket will begin to wear as well and contacts will suffer. You will need to precisely shim the switch to avoid this lens to LED contact by tailoring the length of the fabricated pen collar. Other solutions I have seen are going lensless, or drilling a hole in the lens to clear the LED, but I prefer my lights not to double as lint traps.
If you absolutely, positively must use the shoulder of the LED to bear the switch load at least weaken the tailcap spring to lessen the forces.
- Using an appropriate cell to drive the emitter. I chose the A23 simply because it looked like it had a larger capacity than 3 button cells. You will see how I made a spacer to compensate for the shorter cell length and incorporate the resistors. I also tested 3 alkaline button cells, and if this is your choice, I would recommend finding similar size lithium cells. No resistors are necessary.
Now for the details:
This first picture shows the various components that comprise the mod. In this picture I have already done the following:
- Filed off the shoulder at the base of the SMJLED. Do this by gently grasping the legs, and moving the LED relative to a file (I used the wife's diamond nail file). Try to avoid scratching the rest of the LED, especially the lens - the sides are not as important. Canting the LED lens-up as you file helps minimize scratching. When you are done, the LED should have a uniform diameter and no shoulder or ridge.
- Enlarged the reflector clearance hole. To do this you will need to remove the reflector from the head - by far the most time-consuming and frustrating part of the entire mod. Finesse is the key. I used a hobby knife and individually pricked and pried back each retaining tab while applying gentle pressure to the outside of the lens. There is no secret here other than patience and persistence. You will win, just keep at it. Once you have it removed, enlarge the hole until the LED fits inside loosely. I used a round diamond file, and did it by hand. I would advise against using any power tools as the reflector is quite delicate. I thought the entire neck of the reflector would eventually be gone, but there was still a 0.005" wall thickness when I was satisfied with the fit. This is beneficial if you can duplicate this; it keeps things concentric and axial. Be careful when handling and cleaning; the coating will flake if flexed, and scratch easily if rubbed.
- Cut a piece off the body of the upper Bic click pen to serve as the shell for the spacer/resistor. Note that if you then cut the ink tube by the same amount, you can reassemble the pen and no one will know. Also pictured are two 10 ohm resistors soldered and bent to fit inside the shell, and the end caps. I made those by prying them off a spent AA cell, trimmed the OD, and drilled a small hole in the "negative" one.
An AAA cell would have made more sense, but my wife is now wondering where I finally found the motivation to change the battery in that clock. The important points here are to make sure the resistor leads don't short inside the shell, and that the finished length of the spacer in near 0.65" - the difference between an AAA and the A23.
- Found another pen that has a very specific tube size (fits over reflector neck and fits inside the aluminum Solitaire body to activate switch). That pen is the lower one in the picture, and the portion that I'll use is 0.90" of the shank of the nose that fits into the body. This piece will be the reinforcement/extension of the reflector neck which is now quite weak. It is this piece that will bear the load of the switch between the switch plate and the reflector. Again, simply reassemble the pen and recycle it. Brute force used to cut this piece with a utility knife will crack the plastic, I rolled it along a table and successively scored it deeper until it lost. Then I filed the ends flat.
This next picture shows the spacer in progress. I have soldered one of the resistor leads to the inside of the (+) cap. The plastic tube will fit over the top, then the (-) cap will slide over the resistor lead and be soldered to it. The plastic melts a bit when you do this, but nothing major.
Next is a shot of the finished spacer with shrink tubing to keep it tight, the finished reflector and plastic collar (nice friction fit), and the SMJLED with trimmed and shaped legs. The plastic collar is 0.280" OD, 0.218" ID, and 0.090" long. With this particular length of collar, the light turns off 0.040" before the head bottoms out against the body. If you do this mod with a 5 mm LED, then the collar should be longer so the lens doesn't hit the LED. My best eyeball estimate is a 0.180" long collar for use with a conventional 5 mm LED (with shoulder filed off).
Finally a shot of the finished and assembled head. Before snapping the reflector back into the head, gently bend the tabs outward so they will engage the retaining groove.
When I first turned the light on, I was ecstatic. It put out more light and a better beam than my Arc AAA-P. I wanted it to come on in focus, and with this length of the reflector collar, and a bit of push-pull experimenting with the SMJLED position relative to the socket, I achieved that.
Then I got to thinking about the runtime. I have very limited means of quantitatively evaluating lights, so I decided to try side-by-side runshots against the Arc AAA-P.
The Arc was powered by a Rayovac Max + starting at 1.61V, the Solitaire a fresh A23 at 12.89 V. The lights are 13" from the wall.
Right out of the gate, SMJLED on left: (white balance at auto, F 4.5, 1/4 sec)
After 5 minutes: (same camera settings)
After 10 minutes: (same settings)
After 15 minutes: (same settings)
After 20 minutes: (same settings, I think)
Obviously the Arc has the stamina, and the Solitaire fades fast. Voltage measured after the run was 1.41 V for the Arc, and 8.28 V for the Solitaire. Then I had the bright idea to compare the tired SMJ Solitare to a stock Solitaire. The stock Solitaire has the Rayovac pulled out of the Arc, and the SMJ has the same A23: (Camera resists, goes to F 3.2, 1/4 sec. Also note that I focused the stock Solitaire to maximize the hotspot)
I felt better when I did that comparison, as the original intent was to improve the Solitaire, not beat the Arc.
Next I tried 3 LR41 alkaline button cells for power. I shrink tubed a trio, and made a spacer out of the shank of an aluminum gutter nail, some nylon tubing, and some goop to hold it together.
I chose these particular cells simply because I had them on hand. If I were serious about implementing them I would find a similar size lithium cell. Here is where my camera really fights me, and along with some errors on my part, I'll skip the embarassment and just tell you that the A23 starts out brighter, and the LR41's maintain that gap until the 15 min. mark, then they fade even faster than the A23.
Here is the most telling shot from that run. This a comparison between the stock Solitaire and the tired 3 X LR41 SMJ on the left: (camera knows best - F 4, 1/3 sec, AAA @ 1.45 V, 3 X LR41 @ 3.98 V)
Even with the 3 tiny LR41's after a 20 minute continous run, the SMJLED mod still outperforms the stock Solitaire.
Cost of this mod: Solitaire - $6.00, SMJLED - $7.00, 2 resistors - $0.40, pens - (_________). I'll spare you the cliche.
FYI the reflector collar is from an NPC pen and is available here:
http://www.pens.com/pens/Products3.aspx?prod=CLR&cat=&by=1
I think you can call for a free sample.
Coming soon will be what I sincerely believe will make this SMJLED Solitaire an Arc AAA-P beater - a 10440 Li-ion cell and charger (and another $10). I finally broke down and ordered my first rechargeables with this post being my rationalization. They should be in my hands in a couple weeks, and I will add those runshots to this post. Any bets? My money is on the SMJ.
Stay tuned...
