Best LED replacement to use in RAYOVAC 4AA kids lantern-lite?

Picked up one of these cute little things, (the lantern on the far left)
http://www.rayovac.com/products/flashlights/kids.shtml
and easily substituted a PR based LED from a 4AA DORCY. Works pretty good, but most of the light (properly) goes up instead of out the sides. Does anyone know of a something (besides the $40 Everled) which might throw a little more out the sides?

Oh darn, I was going to say everled until I read your last line...

For something like that you'll almost certainly want a side emitter. Unless you want to build something yourself. 4AA's will give plenty of juice to run regular white led's. You could build a ring of 4 or 5 (or more /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif pointing outwards with no more power control necessary than the right resister.

I've had good results with the $10 unit Brightguy sells, <http://www.brightguy.com/detail.tpl?cart=1050730226534270&sku=KOE21406>. It uses a LED with 'almost no lens' and throws a very wide beam that works fairly well with reflectors. In a 'lantern mode' it does pretty good. About 80 mA.

Sorry, I can't seem to get the link to post well, you'll have to 'do it manually'.....

Recommended.

Doug Owen

Thanks Doug:

This appears to be exactly what I am looking for.
(Though I will probally also try the EverLED eventually.)

Stainless

I have modded two of these, first has a home made LED array of 9 paralleled white LEDs, 8 pointing radially, one pointing up. I used a "disembowelled PR- type bulb base, with a 10 ohm 1/4 w resistor in series with the array, inside the bulb base base. I SWAG'ed 180 mA current consumption, wanted 1.8V drop, so chose 10 ohms, The LEDs will draw more than 180 ma on fresh alkaline batteries, and pretty close to 180 mA on freshly charged NiCd or NiMH.

In addition, I put in two red LEDs in series, with a 100 ohm 1/4 watt resistor, inside the lantern's red transparent base.

The second, has an array of 12 yellow LEDs pointed radially,
two more pointing up, also with a 10 ohm 1/4 w resistor in series, and two blue LEDs in parallel, then in series with a 100 ohm 1/4 w resistor, inside the lantern's blue transparent base. The yellow LEDs are in 7 sets of two LEDs in series,
as they have about a 2.2 VDC operating voltage @20 ma.
7 sets of these should draw about 140 mA, I allowed a 1.4 V resistive drop, so 10 ohms was chosen. I figured this would work as a "bug light" and the yellow light is decent for outdoor lighting at night.

The colored LEDs in the bases are just for fun, they are not really needed.

Double check your lantern, some are wired positive to bulb tip, some are negative.

EverLEDs would need to have a notch filed into the outer rong in order to fit the R-O-V lanterns, as is done with a PR-type bulb.

/ed b in NH

Hemingray:
Thanks for the tip about the EverLed needing a notch. I may just skip that particluar application, and content myself with the units I just ordered from BrightGuy.

EverLEDs I just got have the notch in them already. The side emitter works perfectly in that kind of light. My RayOVac has the wrong polarity, but a very similar Dorcy light I got from Sears has positive tip wiring.

Only drawback is that the heatsinking sucks (I read 140F on the EverLED. Should be OK, but hotter than in other lights) and, since some EverLEDs are longer than others, one might bend the tip contact far enough down that it won't touch shorter EverLEDs or incandescents without needing to be re-bent.

radellaf:
You got more than one new everled and they all have the notch? Can you verify? That would be great. I got two of those lanterns from the same store - and they were wired differently - but it would be worth the rewire to mount an Everled.

Try putting the CCFL unit from the ArcWhite into the Rayovac lantern. Makes a super bright lantern. Just a little cutting out of the CCFL section and then making a hole in the Rayovac to fit the CCFL profile. Then a little model glue and solder the wires. Be sure to use enough model glue.

This makes much better usage of the ArcWhite CCFL as it gets nice durable body and good switch.

Re: Best LED replacement to use in RAYOVAC 4AA ki

Excellent idea, Stu! I have two ArcWhite's just gathering dust as both are currently inoperative due to the battery cover breaking into "billions and billions" of tiny little plastic shards once dropped from the astounding height of 2 feet onto a linoleum floor. Geez, those ROV lanterns go on sale here at Campers world each spring since they started carrying them. They look to be WAY sturdier than the ArcWhite. I might just try using GE Silicone instead of modeling glue for extra shock absorbency when mounting the CCFL tube. I have tons of it in those caulking tubes, and have used it instead of cement in some cases. I love how it has the characteristics of rubber as in pencil erasers. I'll post my findings when complete.
How easy was it dismantling the ArcWhite to get at "the goods"?

Ed

I ordered one of each color and all have the notch.

That CCFL mod sounds like it would work great, but sure doesn't sound easy. I'm fine with the electronics, daunted by the remodeling of the bulb holder.

The ArcWhite to Rayovac Lantern mod was not hard. You need a Dremel Tool and an hour or two. I think that I put mine together at the kitchen table after dinner. Maybe an hour of work involved. And it's all plastic shaping..nothing in the way of electronics except connecting the red and black wires.

The most complicated part was cutting around the ArcWhite CCFL section without taking off too much plastic. Making the hole in the Rayovac Lantern white base was pretty easy and quick. This mod really is useful.

Re: Best LED replacement to use in RAYOVAC 4AA ki

Stu: Do you get 360° illumination? I have gotten the CCFL unit out with that white plastic holding each end of the tube securely. Did you just grind it down to the approx width of the CCFL tube itself? But if I leave the white plastic thingie intact, I don't see how I will obtain an omnidirectional source of light. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. The ends of the CCFL tube seem to have these black rubbery endcaps and I was afraid to remove them for fear of damaging the tube.


Thanks,

Ed

Re: Best LED replacement to use in RAYOVAC 4AA ki

Another possible mod:

I have used this in a larger "no name" lantern. Luxeon star (or plain emitter, SE or hi-dome), Arctic-Silvered to a 3/4" copper pipe cap (this is what I used in my Brinkmann Rebel upgrade). Power with a MicroPuck, home made regulator, a resistor, or direct drive for a red, amber or orange emitter from 3VDC. The copper cap gives decent heatsinking, and is cheap, 39 cents at my local hardware store. Mounting and mechanicals are up to your own creativity.

I'll have to re-check my two EverLEDs, hey were from he early "special" offer and I didn't notice if there was a notch or not. These reside in two 2D magglytes, for the time being.

/ed B in NH