HF 1x123 light + sammich + E-can

I saw some of the posts about the inexpensive Harbor Freight 1x123 incan flashlights and decided to get a couple to see if the E-can would work. After looking at the geometry, I realized that the sink plug should be very thin and infact be close to flush with the top of the E-can. At that point, I thought about Wayne's drop in modules. I had a prototype BadBoy that he had given me last year so I quickly dropped into an E-can and for speed, I just soldered three points from the E-can lip to the emitter board. I added solder to the anode contact on the board to give it the elevated ball needed for contact to the battery and that was the extent of building a module. I drilled a 7/32" hole through the reflector opening and then removed the rear portion of the reflector so that the LED could fully go into the reflector chamber. The result was not a bad beam at all! This has to be the fastest mod I have ever attempted! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif



In the picture above, the modified reflector and sandwich in E-can are on the right. I used a dowel from the rear to hammer out the incan lamp module. I also needed to file the lip of the battery tube for an electrical contact of the ground path. I guess this light is considered a disposable when the incan burns out.

I just finished a prototype that I can't share here but it was also small and I opted to resistor the BadBoy at 330 mA due to thermal considerations. I am amazed at the lack of heat when driving the LED's at or better, below, spec. I think this would be a smart move for this Harbor Freight light and you could have a decent task light that could be run at length.

- Don

very nice! i like the simple approach. solder should also do a very good job of cunducting the heat /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

i really should pick up one of these things...

nice work!!

Hi Don,

I see you used a LD Luxeon. How's the beam with that and the reflector? Any beam shot??

"...finished a prototype that I can't share here..."?

Yeah I know, someone might "offer a run" of'em with only an imagined, non-existent permission from you...

Hey, share via e-mail!!!

misterbulk(at)hawaii(dot)rr(dot)com...

a run? hmmmm .... sounds promising guys! feel free to go ahead!
bernhard

Lambda,

I didn't bother with a beam shot but I would say that the center beam is pretty wide in angle and there is a good spill beam as well. The center beam is probably comparable to a LD with a NX01 but I don't have a sample for comparison. This LD is over a year old and pretty sad by today's standard. I do suspect that since there are no bad artifacts or nuls that the LD might be larger in angle than a HD but likely more of the light from the batwing *is* being caught and reflected by the reflector compared to a lambertian. A good flux SE might even be a better choice for this host, depending on the desired light disbursement.

Charlie and Bernhard,

I should have said nothing. This proto is a personal light for me and it is a variation of a design concept that I have sold. There will be no runs I am involved in and it's really no big deal and I will say no more. The point I was trying to make and should have approached differently is that it is really amazing how much LESS heat needs to be managed when you drive below spec! The R2H's, underdriven can probably compete well with some of the lower flux bins in terms of luminous output and yet they "be cool"! I think this is cool! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

- Don