Hi!! I have this old 3v plastic eveready led flashlight with a broken switch. I am planning to mod it with a 5050 white led with a resistor , as well change the switch. Has anyone tried modding a plastic flashlight? Is it easier than modding metal flashlights?
Modding plastic lights, anyone??
- Thread starter Simon96
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Few people bother modding plastic lights as you can buy plastic LED lights now and also buy PR based LED drop in bulbs for them. As for your idea of using a 5050 unless you have a boost circuit you aren't going to be able to drive it at the nominal current needed and using a resistor will even make it more dim perhaps almost uselessly dim. Ebay has a lot of cheap LED PR based dropins for a dollar or two if you don't mind output of about 10-15 lumens and live in the states (USA) you can go to walmart and for about 1.50 buy a 2AA Rayovac LED light with batteries that had a 3v LED dropin that may work in your light.
IMO unless the light is a very high quality plastic light it would take a lot of work beyond a dropin swap. I've put dropins in about 3-4 lights and used them but since I've bought native LED lights with higher output than the dropins can do and deeper throwing reflectors and zooming etc my plastic lights are pretty much being ignored. I bought an SMD based dropin and am not impressed as it seems there isn't a boost circuit in it at all maybe it only has a buck as it is dim off nimh batteries.
Thanks for the feedback! I might have to use another led with a resistor or find a high power led with heats ink and driver circuit, but the basic idea is for me to get that old thing working again. I feel that plastic flashlights are easier than metal flashlights coz u don't need to use the lathe (I don't even have one!)
You aren't going to get the maximum output from an LED with only 3v... you need 4v or more as most leds are 3.2v-4.0v with the higher output needing higher voltage. Essentially you need a boost circuit to run properly off 3v unless you want to underdrive the led.
Direct drive 3v lights are fun to play with and run a long time. I've taken 3v incan lights that had little bi pin bulbs and swapped in 5mm LEDs and used lithium primaries in them and they work great because the lithium primaries have a higher voltage (1.6-1.8v) which is close to the nominal voltage the lower power leds have. Ive also taken 5mm LEDs and direct driven them with 2xnimh batteries they run for a long long time mostly as dim levels not useful for most things. Most pr base drop ins have a boost circuit that are found in 1 or 2 cell lights. I've played with even built boost circuits out of parts back before there were decent ones available in cheap lights to scavenge.
