Cyan LED Torches

I've just started making and modding torches using LED's supplied by Paul Flannery. My, these babies are BRIGHT! They emit a freaher cleaner colour light than my Nichia green equipped models! I have so far built a 2LED PR bulb mod and a BT2 and they are fantastic! I can read a newspaper clearly when one of these torches is shone at a white reflective surface such as a cieling or wall. I've yet to take them nightwalking but I will be definitely taking one of these torches on my next camping trip!
The LED's are very reasonably priced and I would thoroughly reccommend Paul Flannery's supply service to all you UK torchaholics. I shall be using Paul's service regularly for my production models now!

I had my first real chance to try out the new torches...we had a localised power-outage (one of those torchaholics dream about) and I took my new BT2 cyan out around the town. Not only did it produce a fantastic beam which lit the street up, but it took some of the locals by surprise. Most English people have never seen an LED equipped torch, even less so cyan LED's, so it attracted some attention. If only I had some torches from my latest batch...I think I would have sold the lot tonight!
The torch was also useful around the home, giving out its bright, safe and flame free light. (most other people had candles lit in thier homes).
I've built several more torches today, a long-beam BT2 yellow, a BT1 in blue, and a BT2 which was supposed to have 2 blue LED's in it but has ended up with 1 blue and 1 green LED (a production mistake, you might say). The beams combine to form a kind of cyan colour, but shadows cast in its light have a blue or green edge to them which is exagerated more when the object casting the shadow is close to the torch. So, though it was a mistake I'm keeping this torch and may build others with LED's of more than one colour!
All in all I have a product which people want, so I must think seriously about how to speed up production when the expected demand increases. There are several people who are using my creations in everyday situations and are creating the same sort of interest as I did tonight with my Cyan BT2.
Watch this space!

Got any pics? Show us your creations!

Jack
I shall try to get some photographs of these torches and get them scanned at a friend's house.
As it is I use a small silver box connected to my TV and phone line to surf the web at the moment.
The cyan torches are proving most popular at the moment... demand is outstripping supply as I only build torches in spare time between my regular day job and running a Christian rock ministry.
I hope to get a "real" computer and to promote my products using a web site. It seems at the moment that the best sales team I have are those who have bought torches from me and regularly use them.
The beauty of the Box Torch is its simplicity. It has the minimum number of components for ease of construction and reliability in use. The torch consists of an ABS box, about 12cm long and roughly 25mm square section. One end of the box has a pushbutton switch and the other end has the LED's mounted in chrome bezels. Access is gained to the interior of the torch via four screws and a removable panel. Due to the long battery life, this action may only need to happen very occasionally, particularly with BT1 models on Duracell AAA's. The 4 AAA's are housed in a removable battery cage connected to the torch circuit via a PP3 clip.
Ballast resistors are used to regulate the current, these are selected to give the maximum brightness without causing any life loss on the LED's.
The torch's square profile is easy on the hand when using it as a walking torch, and it stsys put when placed on sloping surfaces. This means that it is a very usable tent light

Sounds good. I'll be interested to see the pics.

I've been mulling over a small project box type design myself. Thinking of using 2 12V 21/23A batteries to drive 4 LEDs in series (kind of like my 2LED Solitaire mod, but x 2). I've never seen anything quite like that anywhere, and it should be extremely compact - about the size of a car alarm remote.

The chrome bezels sound quite nice. Where'd you find those? Also, what kind of switch did you use?

The chrome bezels my be found at Maplin Electronics < http://www.maplin.co.uk >
I think that they may do international orders if you enquire.
They require a 7mm hole nd the LED is held in place with a rubber insert (which must be placed on the LED legs before ataching any other connections to he LED.
A threaded fastening holds it in place, although on some of my torches there is a few of these bezels whiuh are held in by friction alone.
Maplin also supply the boxes which form the cases for my torches. They also sell a cobnsiderable array of other plastic and metal enclosures. I'm looking for a similar sized diecast metal box to make metal versions of my torch.
The switch is typical of he type found on anglepoise lamps and is also available from Maplin.
The LED's in most of my earlier torches came from Maplin, but I have found Paul Flannery < http://www.paulflannery.com > to be a really good supplier particularly for cyan LED's which to date are proving to be the most popular colour, and his prices are extremely good for UK prices.
I still use Maplin for Gallium technology LED's though; thier long beam Toshiba's are eally good value at 79p each and perform extremely well when installed im a torch, be it a BT2 or a PR Conversion.
I use AAA's in my torches as they are cheap and plentiful whilst still being reasonably compact. The users I am selling to are not torch specialists or torchaholics but are people who use thier torches every day, so after thier very long life I want the users to be able to pop down to his nearest grocery store, supermarket or petrol station and buy his torchfood there!
I hope the info is useful... Happy torchbuilding...

Thanks for the source tips. I'll check around for some US suppliers for something similar to those bezels.

I agree that the more common battery types are much better suited for most users. In this case though, I think the tiny size and high voltage will be a big advantage.

The turq LED's are great for balls-out brightness. I've a handful of turq 5mm Nichias on the way right now. Ordered them from Mike. He has a post in B/S/T right now selling them. Anxious to try them out since I've never ordered from him before.

Cheers

---edit---
The turq Nichias from Mike arrived today. Good stuff!

Well done, Jack. I shall be interested in seeing the torches you make.
I'm making 4 more torches today, and that has exhausted my present stock of cyan LED's.
Are you actually making torches to sell on, or merely as a hobby?

--EMPOWERTORCH

Do you have any pics of your torches?

YC

Originally posted by EMPOWERTORCH:
Well done, Jack. I shall be interested in seeing the torches you make.
I'm making 4 more torches today, and that has exhausted my present stock of cyan LED's.
Are you actually making torches to sell on, or merely as a hobby?

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Not selling any, just having fun. Here's my 2 LED Solitaire mod: http://thelightsite.cruxial.com/mods/steve_c_soliltaire.htm
Just a little twist on the old Solitaire mod that most everyone has done.