Ideas for upgrading Cheap led light

New to this site ! just wondering if anyone has any ideas what I could do to upgrade a 9 led 3 AAA powered light with click switch on rear. the leds quit working so I was wondering what I could do to make some use out of the flashlight it like one of the 8 dollar lights on ebay and HB tools

you probably used lithiums or nimh in it and fried the LEDs. I wouldn't waste my time with 3AAA 5mm LED lights as you can get into high power LED based lights for not much more than the trouble of upgrading it.

Actually he probably has some fouled contacts or a dead switch.
Check the switch for conductivity with a multimeter, or if you have another 9-LED light try it on that.
If that doesn't work try unthreading the collar holding the LED board forward and lightly sand the solder contacts to the LEDs and both sides of the threaded collar.
Thats all I ever had to do when mine failed.

There is no good mod or upgrade for these.
I've tried a 17500 with an O-ring but as voltage drops the output tanks

Thanks for the advise. I actually took one of the leds out and tested it to a power supply and couldn't get it to work so I tried the rest and only 2 of them worked is there something that I could get on a board like a single more powerful led and drop it in. The housing isn't expensive but it seems to be a waste not to use it for something.

those lights are disposable, it would cost you more to upgrade it than to buy a light like you are wanting that one to be. higher power LEDs require reflectors and/or optics and heatsinking which that light does not have. save your money back and start reading the forum especially the marketplace good deals and you can pick up a nicer light for cheaper. I paid $11 for a 2AA light with a luxeon rebel at BigLots that isn't too bad

If you really want to modify it, keep it around till your first mod with a high power LED. Then swap the LED that is being replaced into the light you have now with a bit of heatsinking. With no reflector, you'll get a flood light.

One upgrade is to buy a 3 AA light.
AAA just don't last as long as AA and die faster.

I just bought a 4 AA light for Harbor Fright and it's OK.
$3

Good luck finding a new one. If you get another 3 AAA check it out with a amp meter to insure the LED's are getting only 15 ma or so each. So 9 would be 135 ma total. If not add a resistor.

cannondalecaad said:

New to this site ! just wondering if anyone has any ideas what I could do to upgrade a 9 led 3 AAA powered light with click switch on rear. the leds quit working so I was wondering what I could do to make some use out of the flashlight it like one of the 8 dollar lights on ebay and HB tools

Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies! I have been learning more and more from this site I hope to be able to build me some high power bike lights. Its cool to see everyones mods on here great info!!

Welcome to CPF

A great light to have for both modding or not,is a rc g2 from dx.

I've bought about 30 of them over time -great for leaving in handy spots at work and home/car and giving as gifts (after fixing them).

You could tie a bunch together to make a bike light

Type in (at the search box)

rc g2 dx


Cheers
Dom

ken2400 said:

One upgrade is to buy a 3 AA light.
AAA just don't last as long as AA and die faster.

I just bought a 4 AA light for Harbor Fright and it's OK.
$3

Good luck finding a new one. If you get another 3 AAA check it out with a amp meter to insure the LED's are getting only 15 ma or so each. So 9 would be 135 ma total. If not add a resistor.

Click to expand...

I just checked the LED's and they are reading 21ma and a total of about 172ma This is from another cheap 9 LED that I had laying around. I used my 30 dollar Craftsman multimeter to check these so I don't know how accurate this reading is. I dont have a nice Fluke to check them So will running this light at these readings cause them to burn out if so and I add a resister, what kind do I need ? and will this resister decrease the brightness of the LED's ? Sorry if these are silly questions but I am new to this stuff.

~20 ma on decent 5mm LEDs will have some brands fading slowly over time but driving them at more they will fade and burn out even as chances are the current varies among them usually so some may get 21, some 16 and some 27 even. If you are using the cheap batteries (usually heavy duty) that come with most of those lights they will be unable to put out as much current as decent alkalines and if you were to use lithium or nimh the current to the LEDs could pass 40ma easily.

I've chimed in on another thread that asked almost an identical question. I'll do a search and see if I can find it. Edit: That wasn't hard - https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/247604.

In that thread I mentioned I had modified a 3xAAA, 9 LED torch with a Cree XR-E P4 and 8° optic, with an AMC7135 driver. It has worked OK ever since, although some of the contacts have high resistance.

I gave away an identical torch before modifying it, but measured the current draw in it before it went: 450 mA. Yeow!