Are there any worth while mods for those big square incan lights?

i picked up an old light today at the thrift store, it has an interesting 'optic' thing inside the reflector, like a cross.

this shape light

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dorcy-Ind...wmlspartner=GPA&sourceid=44444444440282058037

but much older.

im thinking a VERY long running (4 hours) worklight (80 lumens?)

anyone ever mod these type of lights?

any links/ideas appreciated


or i could just do nothing with it?


:thinking:

I had a Luxeon III emitter that was left over from modifying a MagLED module so I decided to put it into one of those cheap lanterns. I made a small heatsink for it and wired it up direct drive with a resistor and it works but isn't terribly bright (probably 50 lumens) but it should last forever on that big 6V battery. Problem is, I haven't had a need to use it since putting it together.

my advice..... dump the 6v lantern unless you want to upgrade it to something closer to 200 lumens you will find the long runtime is too long and too bulky to compete with smaller lights that have more output for plenty of runtime and fit in a pocket. I recently threw away two 6v lanterns as I didn't care to pay $8 for an alkaline battery for them instead I put that towards a 3D dorcy LED light that was a little brighter and has more runtime than the 6v lantern ever had. I found I rarely use it except when I need huge throw I use a 2AA streamlight luxeon or the new 130 lumen black and decker clamp light that runs off 3AAs.

Hey dude i have moded several incan's, but they are small in size. They are either 'sanyo' made or 'geepas' made. They have head size almost equal to mag 2D.
I hope u have got much larger reflector. And so i think that u can use bigger leds, SUch as p7 or sst 50/90.
But u have to face problems with it.
The main one will be heat! Since the focal point of these reflectors are not easily accessible, u have to rise the led a littile bit to the inside of the reflector.
So u have to mount the led efficiently so that the heat can be perfectly passed out.
Also u can use battery pack with more amps becoz the body contains space to occupy more batteries.
As much as space is concerned itz not a matter. U can use biger(high capacity) boards so as to drive sst 90's.
Also take care of the plastic body of thd torch from heat damage

At 4.8V, the SPKR823 produces 84 lumens at a 1.1A draw.

With 4 x 14Ah F cells, that's over 12½ hours runtime.

With 4 x 4.5Ah NiCad D cells, you will still get your required 4 hours.

It's just a bulb swap.

(The beauty of the SPKR823 is that it produces it's full output at 4.8V, whereas most other "bright" bulbs are designed for 5.2 or 5.3V, and are thus underdriven most of the time and don't give their rated output.)

PCC said:

...I made a small heatsink for it...

Click to expand...

Nice, neat work. How did you make the heatsink?

Walmart sells a carrier with 4 D cells that replaces the square battery. I think it's about $4. The reflectors are huge but lack of heatsinking is what limits them.

I like that custom heatsink ^

I have a miniature mill in my garage that I've been using for making heatsinks and such. That was an early attempt at a heatsink and I probably would make it differently today. You can see pictures of the mill here.