Who wants a shoot at modding a....

PlayboyJoeShmoe

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Streamlight 3AA Task Light LUX?

It had a slightly off center LED of a slightly bluer than I liked tint.

Today I killed it by knocking the LED off the star and busting the connections. :ohgeez:

If a nice white LUXIII was put back and centered that would be okay... :)

But if someone wants to try a Cree or even one of those things that doesn't have a real good following right now (that for the life of me I can't pull from my lousy brain!), I offer the chance. :rock:

It has a thin disk of metal that the star is crimped to, that is held down by a screw out piece. It has a fairly shallow reflector that can be focused to a decent extent if neccesary. The switch is part of the stuff under the disk and I see at least one resistor or something in that area. :popcorn:

I suppose it's possible that I could put a new star in it. But I have BIG WALLY fingers and a big wally soldering iron and don't believe I could do the precision soldering neccesary. :awman:

I had it at work with a piece of Wrightright on the lense. It was not among the most picked up and used lights we have there. If it gets nicely updated I'll probably bring it home. :touche:

So whataya say?
 

3rd_shift

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Do you have a picture, or a link to the flashlight maker's site?
If I knew what it looked like, I think i could put a much stronger, Seoul semiconductor P4 led in it.
I have blank electrically isolated stars waiting just for these leds. :)
 

chevrofreak

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I modded one a while back and totally killed the light. It was a fairly difficult build though since it used a red/orange LuxIII that I had a hell of a time electricaly isolating.

I still have the reflector from that light laying around and I tried it out with an XR-E, and what do you know, the beam actually isn't that bad! Might not be a bad light to mod!

(These lights use a batwing LED so putting a lambertian in might not work well)
 
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PlayboyJoeShmoe

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Uh, this one did NOT have a batwing LED. I definately busted a Lambertian off the star.

I'm still thinking about it, and have read the PMs.

Seems the easiest and safest bet is to go back LUX.

I'm not exactly made of money either....
 

chevrofreak

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PlayboyJoeShmoe said:
Uh, this one did NOT have a batwing LED. I definately busted a Lambertian off the star.


That's interesting, I wonder if the one I modded was older? I think it had one of the old 3 digit bin code LuxI batwings in it.
 

PlayboyJoeShmoe

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I did put the light in my truck.

If I can convince my Sony FD90 to cooperate, I'll get pics of it apart.

The only real problem I see with it is the thin metal disk is IT as far as heatsinking goes. Though if some sort of effort was made with epoxy or something to increase contact....
 

PlayboyJoeShmoe

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SL3AALUX-Apart.jpg


Here is a pic of it apart.

First Left is Bezel with lense and reflector attached (and I don't see a way to get them out)

Next up is the gadget that screws in to hold the thin disk with the star crimped on down in the body for ground and sort of heat sinking.

Then the Star/Disk/Switch module with apparently one resistor attached.

Then the body that holds the switch module in the light.

Then the body itself.

I could probably solder a star back on the disk. But I figure one of y'all can use some artic epoxy or something to help with heatsinking, maybe even make a new heavier disk, possibly put a Cree or the other new LED in it etc.

What say yee?
 

localguy808

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i changed a few of the bulbs out. a u-bin is nice but the cree raised up a little bit was better. i also removed the resistor. in fact, i just bought 2 of these today. im gonna cut one down to use (1) 14500. the tpi for the tail is the same as a minimag. good luck
 
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PlayboyJoeShmoe

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Chev, that may be true...

But I have actually SEEN a LED with an hourglass shape (everled teal for example) and THAT is what I think of when I think "batwing".

I got PMs off to one Seoul P4 guy and one Cree guy. We'll see what happens!
 
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