eebowler
Flashlight Enthusiast
Sorry guys. I have no before, during or after pictures to show you but am posting here mostly to let you know that the mod is possible.
The Opalec I moded was not being used in a maglite. It was fit into my 2C bike light some time ago for a super long runtime. The black plastic ring which keeps the LEDs from touching the maglite lens was lost so it will never be used in the maglite again. Ah well.
As I said above, the mod is possible however, I didn't exactly achieve it in my attempt. I'll explain below.
Firstly, the black plastic body must be removed. I did it by cutting the top and pealing away the plastic from the epoxied LEDs and board.
The bottom of the circuit board is stuck to the base of the black plastic housing by a little bit of epoxy arround it's edges. After peeling or cutting away the sides, the base (where the legs are,) must be removed very carefully with a knife or razor blade. There are some SMD components on the bottom of the circuit board which you must avoid damaging. Also, avoid putting too much strain on the little input legs as it wouldn't be too nice if one of them breaks off.
As you will see, the highest components on the top side of the board (besides the 5mm LEDs,) are the inductor and 3mm, red LED. The other SMD components are only about a mm high at most.
What I did next was to take a rotary tool with cutting disc (or grinding disc, I'm not too sure which) and grind away all the epoxy you could get to without damaging other components. This includes the epoxy of the LEDs.
oo: (not the 3mm one) In effect, what will be left is the circuit board with approximately a 1mm thick layer of epoxy on the top with the legs of the former LEDs sticking out from it. Of course, the actual LED die of the old LEDs must also be removed.
The new CS LEDs were then cut and soldered to the legs of the old LEDs observing proper polarity.
It is possible that the legs of the old LEDs could be removed completely from the board as the solder melted while I was trying to solder on the CS LEDs. If a small cutting bit is available, maybe more epoxy could be removed from arround the legs of the old LEDs and complete removal would then be possible. A very steady hand and some fine soldering wire will be needed as the area to solder the new LED is very small.
The way I did it, in effect added on about 3-4mm of overall length to the module which doesn't affect me but may pose a problem if you're putting it back into the maglite. Maybe if you cut the legs of the new LEDs short enough, the increase in length will be minimal.
The output of the Opalec NewBeam with three CS LEDs was very impressive! Believe it or not, the total output of the module (roof bounce test with the very sophisticated eyesymmetry,) now EXCEEDS that of my UK 4AA eLED flashlight! Of course, the hotspot of the UK is much brighter however, with three 5mm LEDs and a runtime of over 10 hrs constant from only two AA alkaline cells, what more could you want?
I love my Opalec.
eebowler.
The Opalec I moded was not being used in a maglite. It was fit into my 2C bike light some time ago for a super long runtime. The black plastic ring which keeps the LEDs from touching the maglite lens was lost so it will never be used in the maglite again. Ah well.
As I said above, the mod is possible however, I didn't exactly achieve it in my attempt. I'll explain below.
Firstly, the black plastic body must be removed. I did it by cutting the top and pealing away the plastic from the epoxied LEDs and board.
The bottom of the circuit board is stuck to the base of the black plastic housing by a little bit of epoxy arround it's edges. After peeling or cutting away the sides, the base (where the legs are,) must be removed very carefully with a knife or razor blade. There are some SMD components on the bottom of the circuit board which you must avoid damaging. Also, avoid putting too much strain on the little input legs as it wouldn't be too nice if one of them breaks off.
As you will see, the highest components on the top side of the board (besides the 5mm LEDs,) are the inductor and 3mm, red LED. The other SMD components are only about a mm high at most.
What I did next was to take a rotary tool with cutting disc (or grinding disc, I'm not too sure which) and grind away all the epoxy you could get to without damaging other components. This includes the epoxy of the LEDs.
oo: (not the 3mm one) In effect, what will be left is the circuit board with approximately a 1mm thick layer of epoxy on the top with the legs of the former LEDs sticking out from it. Of course, the actual LED die of the old LEDs must also be removed.The new CS LEDs were then cut and soldered to the legs of the old LEDs observing proper polarity.
It is possible that the legs of the old LEDs could be removed completely from the board as the solder melted while I was trying to solder on the CS LEDs. If a small cutting bit is available, maybe more epoxy could be removed from arround the legs of the old LEDs and complete removal would then be possible. A very steady hand and some fine soldering wire will be needed as the area to solder the new LED is very small.
The way I did it, in effect added on about 3-4mm of overall length to the module which doesn't affect me but may pose a problem if you're putting it back into the maglite. Maybe if you cut the legs of the new LEDs short enough, the increase in length will be minimal.
The output of the Opalec NewBeam with three CS LEDs was very impressive! Believe it or not, the total output of the module (roof bounce test with the very sophisticated eyesymmetry,) now EXCEEDS that of my UK 4AA eLED flashlight! Of course, the hotspot of the UK is much brighter however, with three 5mm LEDs and a runtime of over 10 hrs constant from only two AA alkaline cells, what more could you want?
I love my Opalec.
eebowler.
