I'm too cheap for a MJLED so....

I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

I almost bought 2 MJLED's but I bailed at the last minute. I checked one of my 20kmcd on 2 alky batteries and it lit up at 15mA. I then had an idea. I made a spacer out of a dowel rod, 2 thumb tacks, an 18ohm surface mount resistor and some wire. and used one of my 14500 Li-ion batteries (current limited to about 30mA).

I then 'modified' one of the 20kmcd LED to be a 180 degree(ish) emitter, and put some green glow-poxy on the back.




But I didnt stop there. I then made some more JRLED's /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I made a red,blue and a UV, and also made a green 3mm.


But now I needed a place to keep all these other emitters. The 3mm green went into the tailcap where the extra bulb went.

the other three LED's went into a 'custom' holder. Well, I just drilles some holes at an angle into the dowel rod battery spacer.

Now a have gean OK bright, focusable m@g with the option of changing the color.

Jeff

Thanks to IDLEPROCESS for the use of some of his webspace /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

Any measurement of brightness you're getting for the light? Or a comparison to something?

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

cool should run a long time

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

Wow , that is great creative work.
I liked the way you stored the other led's in the spacer.
The beams look pretty bright.
How did you file down the led. When i do it , it the finish gets all fuzzy. Did you have to polish it later to get the clear finish. Hope i am making sense.
Thanks
Ledean.

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

Nerd, no comparisons as of yet, I dont have many un-modded lights to compare it to.
Ledean, to file these LED's down I use a stiff emery board to get it down to about 1mm above the internal wire, then I round it down to get as close to the bond wire as possible. I then wet sand it with 1200 grit. this will give the frosted finish, then you need some money $20, and new bills work best. put the open bill in the palm of your hand and polish the LED. this will give the clear finish.
Jeff

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

When I filed down my 26k LEDs I used two methods of cleaning up the rough edges.

1. Wet a paper towel with liquid wax style floor polish and dab on the filed edges. cleans it right up and dries pretty clear.

2. Rub filed portion on some simi rough cardboard. Also cleans it right up and ends up clear.

wwglen

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

Where did you get your colored LEDs?

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

Cool mod, I have done something similar.

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

I forgot to say thatmy MJLEDs just BLOW AWAY the 26K LEDs I ground down.

Even so the 26K LED giveof more than enough light to be usefull (about 2-3 times an arc AAA). Pulled 35mA on Lithiums and 5mA on Alklines (about 1/2 Arc AAA light).

I put the 26K leds in the bulb holder for those times I need a longer runtime or if the MJLED burns out from the 130mA on lithiums.

wwglen

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

jaids, I have been collecting LED's for a LLOONNNG time, I actuall have a blue silicon carbide LED I got from the Hayton Hamfest sometime 1990-91. I also have some that predate that. Most of my newer stuff is from HK via ebay. Lots of 50's and 100's. I have alot of red ones from 3rd brake light assemblies. Well, they were going into assemblies but had been misplaced during the insertion process. I only have about 500 or so of these, nice red and bright.
Jeff

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

I like the idea of having all those different colored "bulbs" in the flashlight itself! Are these 5mm and the MJLED 3mm? How well does the glow powder work? I've been wanting to try that.

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

What does the glo-epoxy on the back of the LED do? Is it so you can see the light when its off -- but only when looking into the reflector?

Tanx!

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

Isaac, the MJLED is a 5mm unit. the only green ones I has were 3mm, so I used it. I LOVE glow power, especially the larger grain stuff (NOT like corn starch). Once again, 5min epoxy, 50-70% powder, almost 1:1, really thick, a 2mm or so layer on the back of the LED. There is a decient bit of light that gets bounced back to the rear of the casing. The glow-poxy there reflects some of it back and absorbs some to charge the powder. I have charged it around 10:00 for 30secs or so, and at 5:00 I can still find it on my dresser.
Jeff

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

Cool. How much light does this and the MJLED put out compared to a stock MM? I've thought about coating a UV led in glow powder and having it on a strobe circuit to constantly keep the glowpowder charged and draw very little current, as a 6+ month running brightly charged glowpowder marker...

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

from what Ihave heard, the MJLED is brighter than the stock bulb, my JRLED's are definately less. The strobe idea should work, but I am curious to see if the power will take a charge with a short pulse. Mabyee try this with the LED right at the threshold .05mA or so...
Jeff

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

Well, not really strobe, but blinking is what I meant. Should be enough with some tweaking.

Re: I\'m too cheap for a MJLED so....

I would want to find a UV drop in for a MiniMag. No luck yet. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif