Modding an Energizer Double Barrel 4aaa

I've had this for the longest time. I believe it was my first flashlight that I used to brag about because it was so bright at the time. I found it in one of my drawers and i felt sorta, hmm, hard to say, sad maybe, that it was just lying there and not being used.

I was just wondering if anyone has experience in modding this with a LED or maybe even a cree. I went thru the search function and didn't find much info on this.

I found this though: http://www.flashlightreviews.com/mods/doublebarrel_6volt_mod.htm

Looks like an old mod. Any recommendations on what LED to use and where to get it?

Or maybe a much more experienced modder might want to give it a try, since I'm all thumbs and a newbie at this?

Would be great to bring this back in regular use.

As I recall these used a bi-pin bulb so drop ins are out of the question.

You're going to have to surface mount an emitter. Another problem is that 4AAA are running parallel and series so you're only getting 3 volts to the emitter. YOu'd have to get a driver to boost the voltage or do the 6 volt mod and then use a resistor. This would be easier with the 6AAA light cause you could just skip right to mounting a heat sink and use the existing 4.5 volts to drive the LED. Because the head of the light is completely encased in meltable plastic that insulates pretty well, I'd stay away from anything over 3 watt (and I would'nt drive that 3 watt too hard). No I recomend you do the 6 volt mod first, then get a 1-2 ohm 1 watt resistor (plenty of room inside to mount one). Get a heavy slug of aluminum or some kind of metal to mount the emitter to, and to bring the emitter to the right height for the reflector.

All in all, I'd have to say if you can pull it off it's probably not even worth it. If you're not using the light for anything else and need some mod experience, then mod away.

I modded one of these by reversing the switch leads so that the 4aaa's were in series, instead of two parallel pairs. If I remember correctly, I just had to flip over a terminal that ran to the case over to touch the battery. Then I put a dummy battery with resistor in the place of one of the batteries so it became a 3aaa. Then it ran a single white LED.

I don't have it anymore... I could never drive it with enough current to be as bright as my other flashlights so I tossed it.

Thanks so much for the info, guys. I guess I'll use this to practice on and see where it gets me heh.