Power Tool WorkLight LED Mod

pointedspider

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
24
I discovered a very simple, and very inexpensive way to mod ALL power tool work-lights to LED! My flashlight is a Milwaukee V28. 28VDC, 3.0Ah battery. The original lamp drew 25 watts. I tried to use resistors to drop the voltage to a useable 3VDC to run the LED's but they got extremely hot. These were 15 watt resistors. It worked, but the resistors got too hot to install in the plastic case. Plus it was still drawing 18 watts. So I had to think of something else. I was at a yard sale one day and while digging through a box of wires, I saw a tag that said, INPUT: 10-30VDC OUTPUT: 5VDC @ 2A. It was an old Motorola cell phone car charger. This was the trick, especially for $0.50. I took it apart and saw this tiny little regulator circuit board. I wired the 28V side and installed the board into the head of the light using hot glue. Turned the light on and check voltage. Sure enough, 5VDC output! I bought a 32 LED flashlight from the hardware store, removed the LED board from the head. I used a grinder to widen the reflector to fit the LED board. Nice and tight. I put a 3.3 ohm, 3 watt resistor in series with the LEDs and reassembled the light. The 28V side pulls 100mA, the 5V side pulls 700mA, a total of just over 2 watts! This is a great mod for any incandescent work-light and the battery last forever. I have one battery that will not run my drill, but with this mod, it will run this flashlight for over 5 hours! I have already modded 4 since I did this and everyone was flawless. DeWalt, Hitiachi, Boush, and Skill. Hot glue is your best friend when modding electronics. This takes some electronic knowledge to do this and awareness is key. Some of these work-lights have a circuit board in them to monitor the battery level and turn the light off before completely draining the battery. Do not worry about this. Treat this mod as if you are simply changing the lamp in the light. This mod cost me about $6! I have a nice, white, super bright work-light that looks like it was factory made! And the best thing is, if you knock it over, the lamp doesn't blow. Have fun!
:rock:
 

Switchcom

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Mar 27, 2014
Messages
2
I've been following your posts on this subject all over CPF.
I realize this was over a year ago, but thanks for the info. More and more of these lights are coming up for sale on CL and eBay since the mFcr's are going LED. These lights are big and roomy enough to make a great 'my first mod' project for the many newcomers to the forums.
How about an update on how yours are holding up, what you would do different, tips, etc.?
I'd love to see some pics of your work and get a few pointers before I dive in to my Milwaukee 18V

thanks again!
 
Top