Solitaire blue LED mod (photos added) - FIXED!!

BugLightGeek

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Well, I've done it now.
I've done my first mod.
SolitaireMod_001.jpg


I took an old Soliatire that was really used a ton (back before I knew any better) and modded it. It now takes a MN21/23 12v battery, a spring from Ace Hardware to take up the extra slack in the barrel and 1 extremely bright blue LED.
SolitaireMod_007.jpg

I also added WriteRight to the lens to smooth out the beam.
SolitaireMod_011.jpg
Before
SolitaireMod_012.jpg
After
It's sweet! Even usable now!
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I have a question though...in order to turn the light off, the top has to be tightened down, as usual. The problem is that when the LED is off, the plastic lens is pressing against the LED so now there's a small indention in the plastic lens from where the LED is pressing against it.
SolitaireMod_004.jpg

I thought about filing the LED down to make it focusable and to make it so the LED doesn't press against the lens but then, I don't think it would turn off. How do I fix this?

I had posted this on DarksBane temp board but wanted to repost it here. Could those of you who replied repost here so everyone can benefit? Thanks!!

Here's what the mod & LED looks like:
SolitaireMod_008.jpg
and
SolitaireMod_009.jpg
 

Vikas Sontakke

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What is the runtime with this mod? Are you using the "N" battery? Could it be considered poor man's Arc AAA alternative, albeit at high running cost?

Thanks,
- Vikas
 

BugLightGeek

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Jack...yes, that was my question there as well. I wanted to repost it here so everyone would hopefully see it.
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Vikas - I have not done a runtime test. It was done for personal use to revive a flashlight that went from never being used to one that now is my EDC in my Palm Pilot pouch. The battery is a MN21/23 12v battery, not a N battery. The N provides only 1.5v.
 

Vikas Sontakke

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Thanks Chris; I will attempt similar mod but I plan to use 3mm LED. That way I will not have to make any destructive changes.

From what I have read both 3mm and 5mm have the same output.

How about trying to cram 3x3mm LED in series? Would the battery be able to power them?

Where do I find the MN23 batteries cheaply?

Thanks,
- Vikas
 

Quickbeam

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BugLightGeek

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Vikas -
I am not sure about using multiple LED's. Right now, that is beyond me.
smile.gif
But, that will hopefully soon change. The cheapest place I found that battery was Wal-Mart. You could probably try Radio Shack or another online source.

Quickbeam -
Your site was my source for help and instructions for this mod. I don't remember any solutions (or mention) of the LED pressing against the lens though. I'll have to look through them again to see if I missed something though.
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Quickbeam

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For the 5mm LEDS I cut a hole in the lens and the LED protruded. Either that or you have to deal with the bulge in the lens (which you will have to do if you use WriteRight). Don't remove the lens or else you won't be able to shut the light off unless you fill the gap left by the lens with something else.

Hmmmm... I thought one of the links at the bottom of the Mods page had the Satcure circuit... Perhaps not. One of our fellow CPFers should be able to help us out there.
 

BugLightGeek

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I've fixed the problem with the LED pressing against the lens. Get some 5mm washers from Ace Hardware and stack 1 or 2 on top of the LED. This gives the required space between the LED and the lens so the LED doesn't touch the lens anymore.
(see photo)
SolitaireMod2_001.jpg
 

Lantern Jack O.

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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> How about trying to cram 3x3mm LED in series? Would the battery be able to power them? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not sure about 3 3mm, but 2 5mm works fine.
sol_mod2a.jpg


You can now read up on this mod at theLIGHTsite.cruxial.com. (Thanks Doug P.
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)
 

Vikas Sontakke

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After using my Dremel rotary tool, I have managed to do my first mod!

I used 3mm Nichia white LED. The first LED, I cut the legs too short. On the second LED, I had to grind the legs so that they can go in to the Solitaire. I also tried to ream the reflector hole but I did not succeed. So I ground the base of the LED. I used #25 spring from Ace Hardware.

The 3mm is bright but the beam angle is very wide.

All in all, the modification came out excellent. It does not look like home-made mod at all. It looks like it came from factory with the LED.

I have taken few pictures but with my digital camera, getting beam shots have been difficult. The manual mode in my camera leaves lot to be desired. I will post the pictures later.

ThreeLED cluster will fit but only if I can get the reflector out of the Solitaire. I tried to push it back but it did not budge. Besides, I do not know if the tiny battery would be able to power them or not. If the end cap can be hacked, then there is a chance that 2 MN21 might fit there.

I also played with the LED and few batteries to understand how they behave under different voltages. For example
1AA - 1.5 Nothing
2AA - 3.0 Lights up
3AA - 4.5 Very bright
4AA - 6.0 Dim Blue (overdriven)

Also checked current which varied from 40 to 120mA depending upon the voltage applied.

Now I need to get a good meter but those run at least $70 I I need to measure upto an Amp.

- Vikas
 

BugLightGeek

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JackOLantern -
How'd you assemble/attach/wire the 2 LED's together like that? I couldn't make out the details very well from your picture. Did you have to use any resistors?

Could you draw or give us some kind of wiring diagram for how you did it? Did you put the 2 LED's in parallel or serial?

Thanks! I'm dying to try that mod idea of yours.
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Lantern Jack O.

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Hehe. Sorry about the crummy original photo. My camera had a problem focusing close up. I've updated the photo posted above using a much larger/clearer closeup of the LED pair. To get the new image, you may have to clear your web cache, or (in Netscape) you can just hold down the shift key and click the refresh button to get the new image.

The LEDs are wired in serial. I've found that they are running just fine w/o a resistor even on a fresh battery. I just used some 5mm cyans that I had left over from an earlier mod. (I'll try some whites next.)

BTW, the runtime with 2 LEDs probably isn't going to be great. I'm guessing an hour or so.

It was not easy to join the LEDs in serial. I actually gave up on it once in disgust, but came back a week later for another try, and presto! The joined leads have to be *extremely* small so the whole thing can fit in the head w/o grounding out.

I didn't actually solder the joined leads, just folded and crimped them together tightly using some fine needlenose pliers, and then folded them up tight against the side of the LED. You can kind of see that in the photo. MAybe some of that low-temp silver paste solder would've been okay, but that's still a lot of heat right up close to the LEDs. Didn't want to risk it this time. The join, if properly crimped and folded, should do fine anyway.

I'm going to insulate the joined leads near the bottom of the LEDs (not the join itself) with fingernail polish, because they occasionally ground on the flashlight body when turning the light off/on, causing annoying flicker.

If your LED's have a shoulder at the base, like most of them do, you should file that down flat all the way around before getting started. This is so they can sit closely together and still have a parallel aim.

Once the wires are joined, and the LED pair are socketed into the flashlight's bi-pin, you can make final adjustments by bending the wires around gently with the beam running. This will allow you to achieve perfect aim. Once that is accomplished, just put a TINY drop of superglue (or maybe epoxy) on the crack where the two LED's are resting against one another, and don't even think about touching it for at least an hour afterwards. This will make the LED pair into a nice solid unit, keeping them perfectly aligned in perpetuity.

I sent this mod to Doug P. He's put it up already at theLIGHTsite.cruxial.com

Here's one more pic, different angle.
sol_mod2a_detail_1.jpg
 

BugLightGeek

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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lantern, Jack O.:
It was not easy to join the LEDs in serial...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Now, I was wondering something...(I may have this wrong since I'm new at mods/electronics/etc.
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If you set up 2 LED's in a serial connection, won't each of the LED's be half as bright as possible since they are both taking half the voltage/current from the battery? This seems counter-productive to me to use 2 LED's when 1 LED running off the full voltage would be brighter.

If you have 2 LED's in a parallel connection, won't both LED's run as brightly as possible (at a shortened battery life)? Isn't this a preferred way since you would have more light on this config?
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Lantern Jack O.

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Just to clarify, the two LED's do run at full brightness as long as the battery can sustain at least ~6V at ~20mA.

This mod is much brighter that my single LED mod using the same type LED (w/no resistor) and the same fresh battery.

I'd not even want to run the single LED on a fresh battery for long because there's so much excess current. The LED turns that pissed off bluish color that usually indicates it is being seriously overdriven.

Remember that we're using a 12V battery here? With one LED on a fresh battery, I measured ~120mA draw! That is WAY too much current. To get that down to a level that won't degrade the LED in short order, I wanted to either add a resistor, or do something useful with the excess current. I chose to do something useful with the excess by adding a 2nd LED, cutting the voltage in half.

To me, it looks like you can either add a resistor, or seriously overdrive one LED, or slightly overdrive 2 LEDs. The advantages, as I see them, is that instead of wasting current on a resistor, you get to make more light, and the LEDs should last much longer because they're not being driven nearly so hard.

There are drawbacks of course. The battery drains twice as quickly, and the two LEDs in serial have twice the minimum voltage requirement of a single LED.
 
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