Brinkmann LED light...I have a question...

Hello everyone! I have this Brinkmann LED light that I am just not too amazed by...I got it about 4 weeks ago at walmart for $10...the beam on this is EXACTLY like the beam of the dorcy 1AAA light because of the optic in this light...the onyl difference is that this brinkmann has more throw rather than flood...Anyway I took off the top to look at the board and the led and I have a question...Please bare with me because I am still VERY new to these boards and whats on them so I don't understand everythgin about it...I see a resistor on the board, and I wanted to know that if I popped it off woudl that give me more light? will more power from the 3 AAA batteries going into the 5mm LED produce more light? I am opretty sure it will, but I wanted to make sure that the LED can handle it without being destroyed? (all I know about this led is that its size is 5mm) I am thinking that in this case the only thing the resistor is doing is keeping the runtime longer for the light? Is this true? If so I do not care about runtime, I just want to get as much light as possible out of this flashlight...

So...Do you think I can pop the resistor off without damaging the light? Or should I just leave it there?

One more thing (another issue) here is a beamshot on this light...Why is there shadows of the LED in the beam? This always bothered me since I ahve had the light...Does it have to do with the optic? It curves on both sides of the lens (Ill try to make sense of what Im saying) you know how sometimes the optic is like a dome on the outside of the lens? Well there is a dome on both sides of the lens like a small ball is stuck in the middle of the lens...Anyone know what Im talkign about? Anythign I can do to fix these shadows or is that just goijng to have to stay like that?

that light is pretty much as is. the 5mm led will not like excessive voltage at all. it may burn out immediately or it may be much brighter but that increased brightness would not last long at all before the led would fade. measured in minutes. the optic is doing it's work of projecting the light forward and so it projects the image of the led, part of that image are the lead wires.

walmart has some other lights that you could look at. if you want to start tinkering with one, i recommend the dorcy metal gear. it's well made and really easy to disassemble.

hope this helped

From the color code, that is a 16 ohm resistor. Since it is in series, if you remove it you will get no light. Reducing it's value gives more light/less runtime, increasing gives less light/more runtime.

Thansk for the info, I already have a metal gear (which is great!) I picked this oen up just to get somethgin different, I thought I would try it out...As far as the beam I know its the lead wires but I have never seen this before in any of my other LED lights even ones with the optics like this, thats why I was wonderign if there was a way to fix it...

Ok, so I migth nto mess with it then...I do not have the simple tools like a sodering iron to replace the led if it burns out from too much power so Im not sure if I want to try to take out the resistor or not? Hmmmmm, Ill have to think about it now...If I decide to just go ahead and do it anyway Ill post here letting everyone know what happened....

If its brighter but fades afterba little while even a few minuted thats still ok, I use this light in small bursts anyway like no more than 20 seconds at a time...So thats not a bid deal to me...like I said Ill think about it then I might end up just doing it anyway...well see, Ill post tonight what I decided to do and what happened if I do decide to take it out...Thanks again for the reply..

good luck!

Damn...Ok, well this is what I did...I liften the connection on one side while the light was on...when the one side of the resistor was dissconnected the light went out...I thought that maybe the power was just too mucha nd the LED burned out, but when I placed the pin back into position the light went back on...at this point I figued I better not mess with it, but as I tried to place the pice back the whole thign snapped off and fell on the floor, I now lost the resistor...and the light will not go on at all now...Did I just break it all together now? Or does this light still have a chance? By the way before I messed with it I took another beamshot at 12" from the wall...Here it is in case anyone is interested...

The resistor is your connection to the power from battery. You just pick up another one with same color bands from Ratshak or fry's and replace it. It should be fine. Now it your chance to get a lower resistor and get a bit brighter.

Ok thanks! Ill try that!

well I was tinkering with a paperclip just now and got the light to work...I stripped the plastic cover off of the 2 ends of a small paperclip and used that to compete the circuit which worked...So I think I will just use this to keep the light working...I do not have a soddering gun so I will just have to use epoxy to keep everythign together nicely...I did not ntoice a difference in output with this connection compared to the original beam...when its fixed and done I will post another beamshot at 12"...

So Jeff out of painful curiosity....... do you do electrical appliance repair around the home?

How about brakes on your car? See I know this guy who sells life insurance, and I'd be happy to buy us a policy! I'll pay even!

lol, no eletrical work for me, or brakes on my car...lol...I just never had to...I would like to do things like that but I just do not ahve any tools...Like I said to another person on here once before, I will just have to buy a bunhc of tools one day so I have everythign I need...Once I have the tools, the internet can show me everythgin I need to know about how to use them...THEN I can really have fun with light mods!

So...now I just need tools, parts, and knowhow...Hmmm, at least I have the drive to do it, lol...

Ok, well after about an hour my fingertips were covered in super glue and my patients wore thin, so I just threw the whole thing out! I really just need some simple tools, and patients, and I don't have either...Sucks but it could be worse, this light only costs be $10...Next time I won't mess with something when I don't know what Im doing, a lesson learned for $10...