Single LED flashlight. Twice as bright as my Photon II

This new light is twice as bright as my Photon II white and costs only around $8.00 to build. Just so no one thinks I'm exaggerating I am providing complete instructions so you can all build your own if you wish. Have fun!



I found a small single AA cell flashlight today at Walmart (price $3.00) It's made by Garrity. Bright orange with a black rubberized head and black switch. They come in several colors. I picked the orange so it'll be easier to find in the drawer when I go looking for it. I took of the keychain off because I don't intend to use it on my keyring but you may want use it that way.
Unscrew the head of the unit and then unscrew the bulb holder. This one uses a bi-pin bulb. Pull out the bulb with small pliers. It was in kind of tight. Trim down the leads of a 5600mcd white LED ($1.75 at http://whiteleds.net/ )short enough to fit in the holder. It should stop when the little square pegs on the LED leads hit the black plastic. Drill out the reflector hole big enough to accept the LED. File around the edges of the hole to remove any plastic fragments. Rinse out the reflector with water and blow it out good with canned air to get all the plastic shavings out. Cut a spring (40 cents at ACE hardware store) down to about an inch and a fourth and wrap the middle with black electrical tape so it won't rattle and to keep it centered. Bend the end of the spring and make a little pig tail so it will make good contact with the battery. Drop in the spring (pigtail up). Insert an Energizer A544 (6 volt) battery ($3.00 at Walmart). Wrap the battery with some black tape first to keep it tight in the body of the light. Put the bulb back in the head of the flashlight, screw in in and fire it up. This thing is bright! It lit up my whole basement. I tested it in complete darkness against the white Photon. It's easily twice as bright. I could see a target all the way across the room that I couldn't even make out with the Photon. The little reflector in the head probably helps for that. I didn't use any resistor but it hasn't gotten hot or burned out yet. I'll use it for a while and see what happens. When it first starts up with a new battery it spikes to 100 mA but then settles down to a steady 80 mA in about three seconds. I did also see a 6 volt lithium battery about the same size for around $7.00. If the LED burns out with the Alkaline battery I'll put in a fresh one and try the lithium. It might be safer to run because of the better internal resistance. By using the tape on the spring and battery to keep the guts tight, this thing really has a solid feel to it. The ruberized head is nice and the body isn't cheap brittle plastic at all. My 5 year old daughter accidently dropped it down the stairs when I showed it to her. No damage at all. If the LED doesn't blow out, this might be my new favorite mini LED flashlight.

Thanks for the detailed instructions. Sounds like a nice, easy and fun project.

I'd imagine that you must be overdriving the LED, but if you can get extra light without killing it, why not. I'd gladly trade led life for brightness. Even if bulb life is down to 10,000hrs it's not likely you'll ever burn it out.

RonM

Brad's nu adapted lite probably
works so well, because he takes
FULL advantage of the reflector
that came with it..
I just converted my old ('92)
aluminum 1xAAA to a 3mm white ld
and it focuses to a pinpoint!
People who have great fun-as I
do with these things..shouldtake
a look at the little special
reflectors MADE for the 5mm led. www.theledlight.com -6 for $1.20
BTW-that little A544 batt. that
Brad is using is in reality
nothing more than 4-LR44s (357s) together in a single can..120mah
(Yeah, I've taken those apart too)
-usually, when the 544 battery
wears down, you can open it and
you will find 1 or more good
cells u can still use..
batteryman

Just a note to say that in comparing my homemade modified flashlights to the Photon I don't mean to say that the Photon isn't a great flashlight. I have the white one and never leave home without it in my pocket. I use it a lot. It's just that it sounds like a lot of us have the photon so it makes a good benchmark when trying to describe the brightness of other lights.

Hey Brad:

What angle LED did you/do you use? 20? 50?

I used a 5600mcd white 20 degree LED.

Here are some pictures of the light inside and out and a shot of the new flashlight along side of the Photon II white with good batteries in both.

Your "twice as bright as a Photon" estimate was very conservative. The home made light is not only brighter but projects over a larger area. Total light output has got to be around 4x the Photon. Thanks for posting the pics.

RonM

Filed out the body of the light with a round file. Now takes two CR2 lithium batteries 750mAh). Quite a tight fit but just was able to screw the head back on. Had to file the contact on the bulb holder base a bit. Uses a 39 ohm resistor to get a steady 50mA. Runtime should be greatly improved. Around 15 hours I think. Sanded the reflector and painted it white to make smoother looking light output.

Brad. Any word on whether the light is brighter with the A544 or with the resistered dual CR2s? You know I'm in the same boat with these CR2s. 39 ohms sounds like a nice mild touch. I may try it when (if) my LED roasts.

I still can't get the two CR2 batteries to fit. I got tired of filing. Now I just have one CR2 in it. I peeled off the battery skin and it fit. With just one CR2 it's still brighter than the photon and should get around 50 hours from the one battery if I figured it right. It was way brighter with the 6 volt battery but just wouldn't last long enough.

Guy,

Sorry. I thought you were asking about the Infinity. The little orange plastic light got messed up some how. I filed down the contact on the head too much. I put a blob of solder on it to build it back up and the heat messed it up some how. Now it doesn't work right. I bought it at a "Target" store out of town. If I see it again I will buy another one.