Three dollars for six volts

I bought this LED light for three dollars and some cents at a gas station. It comes with two 123 lithium batteries. It's not very bright and the beam is horrible - more rings than Saturn. Does this light have potential as a host? Will you steer me in a good direction? I'm hoping I can just replace the LED with a Cree. Thanks

That LED is on a star. Crees are available on stars. That clear plastic reflector/optic thing has got to go. When you install the Cree be sure of the polarity.

knot said:

I bought this LED light for three dollars and some cents at a gas station. It comes with two 123 lithium batteries. It's not very bright and the beam is horrible - more rings than Saturn. Does this light have potential as a host? Will you steer me in a good direction? I'm hoping I can just replace the LED with a Cree. Thanks.

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I have one of those.

I decided it wasn't worth modding. The aluminum is really thin and cheap and it has a cheap plasticy feel.

Toshi

Looks like a standard Cree star would probably fit. Just make sure it's supplying the appropriate voltage and it shouldn't be a problem, though I don't know how well it dissipates heat or how much current it's giving the LED. If the beam is poor with the reflector and a Cree, just use the Cree optic like KaiDomain sells, it works great and would fit in there fine.

What gas station did you find that at? For $3.00 it's worth picking one up.

Typical white LEDs (actually, blue LEDs with a yellow/green phosphor coating) operate at around 3.5 volts. Since this is 6V, they either have a buck converter circuit (not likely in a $3 light) or they are using a resistor. If they are using a resistor, this thing will likely waste close to half of the battery power, and the output will get dimmer throughout the runtime.

If you replace the LED with a Cree, you could either get a driver circuit, such as these from Dealextreme (4 for $6.44, you could use these for a few projects -- I have some and they work well)

You could also replace the resistor with your own (say, 0.5 Ohm) and direct drive the light with a 17650 LiIon cell (It appears like you have a loose LiIon cell on your desk, so I assume you're familiar with how to handle them).

Depending on the diameter of the flashlight, one of Dealextreme's turnkey Cree drop-in assemblies (with regulator, emitter, and reflector) may actually fit, as well.

Thanks for the replies.

I went back and checked the empty rack. The price is $14.00. They made a mistake.

Yes, it's cheaply made. I think it's that glossy coating that gives it a plastic feel. It's actually thicker and heavier than my coast Lenser with the batteries and tail caps removed. I can bend the Lenser body with my fingers but not this flashlight's body - (Rigidity: I realize the coast is larger in diameter)

It's a 2(123) that I can afford and if I can mod it to keep up with current levels,




I think the star is not set properly which is why the beam is so terrible.



I decided to take it apart. How do I take that "star" out? *****edit - I got it. There is nothing on the backside and I don't see any electronic components anywhere.

2xTrinity said:

Depending on the diameter of the flashlight, one of Dealextreme's turnkey Cree drop-in assemblies (with regulator, emitter, and reflector) may actually fit, as well.

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Would you be able to tell which of the two drop-ins might fit, judging by these pictures?



Well this is out of focus. I pushed the battery up with a AA bat just to show there is some gap and the batteries fit lose. The 18650 on my desk will not fit.

thats a china made star [square emitter, not a hexagon like the luxeon, nor is it a cree/SSC P4 variant]

no name batteries....higher possibility to and possibly power capacity

for not spending $3 I dont have to risk lights going

Illum_the_nation said:

thats a china made star [square emitter, not a hexagon like the luxeon, nor is it a cree/SSC P4 variant]

no name batteries....higher possibility to and possibly power capacity

for not spending $3 I dont have to risk lights going

Click to expand...

Both cells are low at only at 2.96 each. I have opened many lithium battery packs and they all had no-name "blue" cells.

..been playing with batteries and not knowing the dangers for many many years. Fortunately, never had a "poof" - even charging lithium batteries with a 12 volt charger. I would pay attention to heat and manually cycle charge on and off. It probably defies all lithium logic - just dumb luck I guess.

Of course I would buy new cells if I put quality parts into the host. I just don't want to spend $40+/- for an aluminum tube, etc.

The Cree module from DX works! The only problem is it won't thread down. I need to fix the threads. Probably be best to try to alter the flashlight's threads.

It is much brighter than the terralux AA minimag drop-in.