Are there any LED Replacements for older flashlights?

I have quite a few of the bright yellow Ray O Vac Industral 2 D cell flashlights from the 1990's, and I would like to update them to LED, I love the yellow, and the size, plus the run time with D cells.

In the late 80's early 90's this was one of my favorite lights in the garage, and around the house, along with Mag lights of all sizes. Then I got a Surefire 6P, and you can guess the rest.

I know they are old, and yes, I have all the latest lights, but I still like these things, and want to make them LED. I just Don't know if any one makes a replacement that will work.

If not, I will keep them as pass out lights for when the BIG ONE hits us here in the So. Calif desert. Or, I guess I could sell them for $200.00 each on the hysterical black market that will pop us just seconds after the shaking stops. Very few people are ready, and I mean VERY few!

Thanks for any Info.

RL

There's a kit available to turn 2D lights into 8AA regulated incadescents. Not LED, but brighter than stock, and probably better runtime. I can't remember the company that makes them off the top of my head, but it should be easy to google it.

frys sells dorcy 2 and 3-4 cell LED dropins for $4 each plus shipping online. They are not very bright but should be about as bright as the incan bulb and run forever in a power outage. I have a rayovac roughneck that I modded to accept a magled 2 cell dropin. You can buy what looks like a decent 2D LED light at lowes for $13 so spending more than $5 on a dropin you would probably be better suited to buy a new LED based light instead.

Because most inexpensive lights have plastic bulb holders most LED replacement bulbs are limited to 1 watt. They are usable but not very bright by todays standards.
Many LED bulbs are designed for Maglites and do not always focus well in fixed focus flashlights.

The most economical and works with most flashlights. Note separate 3V (30LED lumens) and 4.5-6V (40 LED lumens) models.
Dorcy LED Drop in
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/288283

The brightest
Terralux TLE-6EXB for 2 and 3 cell flashlights has the latest Rebel LED. (140 LED lumens)
Don't have one. Don't know how well it focuses.

Terralux also have the TLE-1F. 2-9V (50 LED lumens) Tend to donut hole at close in distances, works better at farther distances. Throws like crazy in a 6V lantern (easily beats my MTE '900 lumen' P7)

Nite-ize has a couple of PR bulb drop ins but I can't find any in Canada.

Note the inexpensive flashlights have inefficient optics, about 65% transmission. So your OTF lumens is 2/3 the LED lumens I quoted above. The Dorcy 4.5-6V bulb is rated 40 (LED) lumens. One of their 4AA lights that uses it is rated 25 (OTF) lumens.

Nite-Ize makes a 1 watt led drop-in for "Mag 2-6 cell C or D" lights. I've used mine in every thing from a 5-cell D to a 2xAA host and it has always worked. Lowes has them for about $15 and Harbor Freight has them for about $10. Might be a cheaper way to bring back and old friend.
It will also work with a 2xAA host running 2x14500's but isn't much brighter. I had to try it and see if it would work:nana:




Barry

I have a few of those Nite Ize 2-6 cell replacement bulbs. For brightness they aren't very good, but for run time they are GREAT !! I have one that I've used in a 2 C cell light for my son's nightlight. We use it every night for 3 or 4 hours, and the batteries last over a month. Now I run it off of 2 AA in AA -> C adapters and it goes for a week at least. It produces a dim ugly donut beam, but my 5 year old loves it because we let him leave it on and he can use it to go to the bathroom at night.

I suspect that whatever conversion method you find will end up costing you more than a new light of better quality would.

Please note that there are two versions of the Nite Ize PR flange drop-in: one is the smaller dome (about 1/4") 1-Watt version and then there is the larger dome (about 3/8") 1/2-Watt version. The big dome version should give you about half the light and twice the run time compared to the small dome version. The big dome version is about as bright as the original incandescent bulb.

I've put the small dome 1-Watt bulb into a cheapo plastic flashlight and it focuses really well. Ditto for the Fulton angle head flashlights that I have. The big dome bulbs tend to give a much larger hotspot. That, combined with the lower output, means that the light is not very bright at all to your eyes with the big bulb drop-in, but any light is better than nothing when you really need light.

Tektite offers some options also, although they are not as inexpensive as some of the options listed above. I think I might have one of them in an old 4-cell flashlight in my car.

http://www.led-replacement.com/tektite.html

well if it wasn't for sentimental value, i'd say toss them.
all those pr base leds are not that bright at all,
i spend $80 on 2 everled diamonds, normal, and reversed polarity, honestly they are dimmer than 2d mag with half dead batteries, waste of money.
led bulb that came in 4d magled (first gen) is a bit better, but still dim.
i still have 1st gen. luxeon pr bulb, by today standards, total crap.

unless you willing to go further than just replacing bulb there is no bright led drop in for those old plastic lights.

however, there is a lot simpler way that will turn your old 2d light into a lot more brighter light, but it wont be led.
get yourself 2d to 6aa adapter, 6 nimh cells, and a 5cell magnum star bulb, those bulbs will not damage plastic bulb holder, also focusing will not be a problem. most expensive part will be battery holder.
i,ve moded 3 lights exactly like that, 1 was plastic bright star 2d light that had magnet on the side, dolphin lantern, and Duracell 6v lantern, difference is night and day

I have the 1 watt upgrade by nite-ize on a 2xaa light and I really like it. The tint is on the warm side and has a long runtime on eneloop. I did ordered a couple more for our 90's 2d eveready lights to give them a new life.

2 of the $1 3xAA to D adapters and a Fusion head ($25) would put out nice flood.

Does in my 2DM*g anyway...

Nasty said:

2 of the $1 3xAA to D adapters and a Fusion head ($25) would put out nice flood.

Does in my 2DM*g anyway...

Click to expand...

It probably wouldnt work in his situation as he is looking a a PR flange based bulb only. The entire fusion fixture most likely wouln't fit in his plastic 2D body.

ratz...good try. :fail:

It's that old line about once you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

RedLed said:

I have quite a few of the bright yellow Ray O Vac Industral 2 D cell flashlights from the 1990's, and I would like to update them to LED, I love the yellow, and the size, plus the run time with D cells....

Click to expand...

I recently put TerraLUX TLE-1F's in a couple of them. Had to reverse the batteries to get the polarity right.

Very happy with them. Current draw measured about 1/2 that of the original bulbs. We using one during a resent power outage and noticed it was getting a bit dimmer. The 2 very old D cells were only putting out 1.8 volts and the bulb was still putting out a useable amount of light and restarted without problems.