Odd flashlight upgrade?

donn_

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 10, 2007
Messages
8,067
Location
Great South Bay, LINY
I'm not sure this is the right forum for this question, but here it is anyway.

I have an older Ikelite Sata-Lite. It's a dive light, but I use it for surf fishing and a variety of other things.

It's a 4.8V Halogen bulb, driven by 4 C-cells in a separate housing, and connected by a coiled-cord.

Clipped together:

004-2.jpg


Back view, with SS clips:

002-7.jpg


Front view:

001-9.jpg


It's fairly bright as it is, and has proven to be quite saltwaterproof, but now that I've discovered the pleasures of LED upgrades for my other flashlights, I'm wondering how I would go about dropping one in this.

Any suggestions?
 

Marduke

Flashaholic
Joined
Jun 19, 2007
Messages
10,110
Location
Huntsville, AL
Can you remove the bulb and take a close picture of it? It looks to me like it might be a standard PR base bulb, which means the possibilities for upgrade are nearly endless for a 4-cell light.
 

Marduke

Flashaholic
Joined
Jun 19, 2007
Messages
10,110
Location
Huntsville, AL
Looks like a regular PR base bulb to me. There is a large number of dropings that you could use with it. Do you want all out brightness, runtime, or some special color output?
 

donn_

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 10, 2007
Messages
8,067
Location
Great South Bay, LINY
It's used as a hands-free utility light, so I guess the best bet is a happy combination of runtime and brightness. I can't use too tight a beam.
 

Gunner12

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
10,063
Location
Bay Area, CA
The Ministar seems to fit your task, though I would suggest upgrading it with a Seoul for more output. There isn't that much to start with. If you could ind a Seoul Everled, that would be a better choice.

IMO, the best choice is modding, that way you could set your own output level(depending on the driver) but that is usually irreversible.

I think you elektrolumens light would be brighter that any of the above drop-ins.
 

donn_

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 10, 2007
Messages
8,067
Location
Great South Bay, LINY
I spent some time searching, and it looks like the Ministar 1, TLE-1F is the way to go. From what little I know about these things, it looks like a perfect drop-in, and will undoubtedly be brighter than the halogen.

The Anglelux won't replace this light. It's tailor-made for surf-fishing. The battery pack clips on my wader belt, and the light-head clips on the top of the waders, and is much much lighter than the Anglelux. I also doubt if the Anglelux is as water resistant.
 

Gunner12

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
10,063
Location
Bay Area, CA
Made for surf fishing? Cool. The light also looks much more comfortable to use then the Anglelux.

The TLE-1F might not be brighter then the halogen. How much does the current bulb draw?
 

donn_

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 10, 2007
Messages
8,067
Location
Great South Bay, LINY
Update..I tried a TLE-1F, and it didn't run at all. It also didn't run in a 3D Mag or a 4D Dorcy lantern, so it may be a defective unit.

The search goes on.
 

Gunner12

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
10,063
Location
Bay Area, CA
Have you tried reversing the batteries?

Some lamps have reverse polarities with the positive and negative switched around. Incas work either way but LEDs only light up when the polarity is right.
 

donn_

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 10, 2007
Messages
8,067
Location
Great South Bay, LINY
An update:

I picked up the Craftsman PR drop-in. It worked in the MAG, worked in the Dorcy lantern, and it worked in the IkeLite, with the batteries reversed. Unfortunately, it's so much dimmer than the halogen bulb, it's more like a downgrade than an upgrade.

I'll have to keep searching, or send the light away to be modded.
 

mikekoz

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 19, 2007
Messages
1,281
You may want to try one of the Mag drop-ins that are locally available at Walmarts, Kmarts, etc. They are labelled as 3 watt LED's, for whatever that means :shrug:, and they are available for 2 to 4 cell lights. They are not 500 lumen super powered upgrades but they are bright! They are also inexpensive, and easily returned if they do not work! Just my 2 cents!!

Mike
 

Chrontius

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 11, 2007
Messages
2,150
Location
Orlando, FL
Speaking of polarity, would the Nite-Ize dropin be reverse-voltage protected? I tried one in an Eveready Dolphin mk.5 and didn't notice it wasn't working until I smelled the magic smoke leaking out.
 
Top