reviewum
Enlightened
Hi CPF Friends,
On the way home I had an impulse and I stopped by my friendly neighborhood "Dollar Tree" (I have a weakness for dollar stores). Boy was I glad I did.
I have visited a few dollar stores more frequently since learning of this forum. I have found quite a few cool things to modify, tap lights, flashlights, and a portable AA fan (ripped out the motor to put in some LEDs). I have found flashlights there of varying quality, from horribly cheap to well worth my $1.00 purchase¡K
Well, as I was saying, I am very glad I was "inspired" to go last night. While strolling through my favorite isle (tools, flashlights, etc.) I found a bunch of AA mini-maglite knockoffs. They looked almost exactly the same as the real thing, but looks are often deceiving, especially in the dollar store. I grabbed one, ran over to the batteries section and grabbed some AAs and opened the packages (don't worry, I was going to at least buy this stuff). Boy was I surprised, it worked great! The weight and quality are definitely not to the specs of the real thing, but hey, for a buck, I am not complaining!!!
So, to my wife is chagrin I bought about 20 of them.
Here is one I brought to work:
When I got home I simply stuck in a 3mm white LED (from my eBay friend cwithk) in place of the existing bulb. It was definitely not very bright (3.0 volts doesn't cut it) but I was amazed that I could just stick in this LED without any cutting, drilling, or modifications to any of the parts.
Now, I just have to find a CHEAP way to modify them so they really work. Here are my options:
1) Use 3-4 of the smaller batteries.
2) Use a boost circuit.
3) Connect the body of two of the lights together.
So, any other suggestions? I am not about to spend $30 to modify a $1.00 flashlight and thought I'd call upon the masters of the mods that dwell here!
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
On the way home I had an impulse and I stopped by my friendly neighborhood "Dollar Tree" (I have a weakness for dollar stores). Boy was I glad I did.
I have visited a few dollar stores more frequently since learning of this forum. I have found quite a few cool things to modify, tap lights, flashlights, and a portable AA fan (ripped out the motor to put in some LEDs). I have found flashlights there of varying quality, from horribly cheap to well worth my $1.00 purchase¡K
Well, as I was saying, I am very glad I was "inspired" to go last night. While strolling through my favorite isle (tools, flashlights, etc.) I found a bunch of AA mini-maglite knockoffs. They looked almost exactly the same as the real thing, but looks are often deceiving, especially in the dollar store. I grabbed one, ran over to the batteries section and grabbed some AAs and opened the packages (don't worry, I was going to at least buy this stuff). Boy was I surprised, it worked great! The weight and quality are definitely not to the specs of the real thing, but hey, for a buck, I am not complaining!!!
So, to my wife is chagrin I bought about 20 of them.
Here is one I brought to work:
When I got home I simply stuck in a 3mm white LED (from my eBay friend cwithk) in place of the existing bulb. It was definitely not very bright (3.0 volts doesn't cut it) but I was amazed that I could just stick in this LED without any cutting, drilling, or modifications to any of the parts.
Now, I just have to find a CHEAP way to modify them so they really work. Here are my options:
1) Use 3-4 of the smaller batteries.
2) Use a boost circuit.
3) Connect the body of two of the lights together.
So, any other suggestions? I am not about to spend $30 to modify a $1.00 flashlight and thought I'd call upon the masters of the mods that dwell here!
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!