Some Unique old lights to mod

My Dad was going through his attic and found some lights from the past that he thought would be interesting to mod.



The first light looks an awful lot like a lighter. The top is plastic with door that you flip open to activate the light. It runs off of 2 AA batteries that are housed in the bottom (blue) part. The light also sports the boy scout logo.

The second light (small hard to see) is a keychain light made out of what appears to be a gold or gold coated metal casing. The bulb (burnt out) is almost exacly the size of a 5mm led, and was powered by a 625 mercury battery (common in older cameras) http://www.batterymart.com/battery/BAT-A625PX.html I will probably be buying some cr1232 batteries to power a 5mm led in this small case.

Light #3 is a lantern sporting a place for 2 C cell batteries in its base. It has a switch that makes contact to one of two bulbs. I am guessing they are for high/low, but both bulbs were missing, and dad doesn't remember.

Light #4 is a minimag for size reference. It sports a kroll switch and Auralight's hotwire mod

Light #5 is a small single cell AA sized light with a slide switch. I've already modded this one with a dorcy AAA logic board with a snow white LED from peak in it. I had to encapsulate the entire board into epoxy in order to mount it. There was a 2-3 mm gap around the LED when fitting the stock reflector (which I wanted to keep) so I filled that space with glow powder mixed into epoxy.

#5 was the one my dad seemed most interested it. "it was my dad's first flashlight" he said, making this my grampa's light - which would have some history to it. I plan on giving the new improved version back to dad so he has a piece of his dad that he can carry with him.

All in all, i believe these lights will provide me with hours of modding fun... as soon as I figure out what to do with them.

ok, very bad form to reply to an ancient thread....but it looks like you're still active here....and might a pm might be worse form? anyway, i'm kind of into 'unique' mods so i'm hoping you might update this someday - I'm especially interested in the lantern

I agree with deathrocket(?) that lantern looks very promising. I wonder if you could put something like an XML pointing straight up or down and mount a reflective cone with the point sitting right on the led, kind of like a reverse reflector? See, we all have the bug: All you have to do is look at a light and the gears start spinning irrevocably.

BTW, my dad just gave me a box (!) of old flashlights, one of which his mother gave to his dad. I've been trying to think of what I want to do with them, some are collectors items, and while I'm not into collecting as a hobby, I don't want to modify anything in a way that won't be reversible just in case it ends up being valuable. Food for thought. Definitely keep everyone posted on what you end up doing.

you're the first person to figure out my username. I totalled the motorcycle a couple years after adopting the name....so i guess it wasn't one

anyway, I think store bought led lanterns have a reflector as you described or globe/optic within the outer. If it were mine, and glass, I'd paint the inside of it. If my ex was still here it would be red, and in the front window - but i digress lol

Well, for the Aurora hotwire, I recommend two AA size IMR cells and a FM1794 bulb, giving you a 1000 lumen minimag.

The lantern could go with IMR C cells, and six-cell Maglite bulbs - the Magnum Star is a very nice lamp off two lithium-ion cells, and I'm sure you can find something lower-powered to fill the other hole.