12 LED rayovac clone 2AA headlamp

I just recently finished modding this headlamp. I recently traded for a bunch of 26,000 mcd LEDs and figured they would be perfect for this headlamp I picked up at a closeout at Target. It was a halloween headlamp I paid $2.00 plus tax for that is essentially identical to rayovacs headlamp costing about $6. I had to sand off the white pumpkins.

I used the booster circuit I got from a cell phone gadget I have used in a 2AA disney kids light. I got it to put out about 240ma off freshly charged nimh cells with an input of about 600 ma. I currently have used heavy duty batteries in it from construction/testing that are down to 100ma input to the boost circuit and it is still bright enough to read a book by. Here are the pictures I was able to get that were not too blurry.
Here is the circuit and coil I wrapped. I used predrilled board and use bell wire (solid ~16-18gauge) I stripped insulation off to wire the LEDs to running the wires inbetween the LEDs and connecting them with jumpers.



I used a scroll saw and a dremel to cut out the cross pattern on the reflector to help capture some of the sidespill. I also used the dremel to remove the plastic light bulb bridge inside the light. I soldered wires directly to the metal plates connected to the battery holder.



finished light


The 26kmcd LEDs don't make a beautiful pattern but it is still rather bright and very useful and appears to be a good battery drainer. On the bench the light was putting out useful light down to 45ma input, approx 15ma to the 12 LEDs combined.

Total cost of the mod:
booster circuit $1.09
Host headlamp $2.17
12 LEDs $5.60
ferrite core $0.60
Total $9.46

I hope to be able to get more of these cheap booster circuits for my other 2 headlamp hosts, at $2 each I bought 3 of them. I hope to also try using 2 or 3 of these circuits in a 2D/2C cell light with 24 or more LEDs.

Just thought I would tell everyone if you want the host for this light Harbor Freight has what appears to be a clone of it in yellow on sale for $1.99. Normal price is $5.99 and the cheapest I have seen these type of lights not on sale is over $5.

WoW where u can find the host headlamp @@"

I got the host at a Target store after halloween. It was a closeout headlamp with pumpkins stenciled on it I sanded off. Cost was $2 plus tax. The equivelent of this is rayovac kids headlamp and about a dozen other 2AA clones out there. Harbor freight they put 2AA headlamps on sale once in awhile for cheap also. I also saw another vendor selling 12LED 2AA headlamps that look functionally identical to this one for about $7 or so but mine has 26k LEDs on it so it is way more efficient and either has longer runtime and/or is brighter but not necessarily prettier looking.

I figured out a way to make these type of headlamps without the boost circuit. Buy a 2AA battery holder and attach it to the back of the headband and wire it in series with the two battery pack of the headlamp and using resistor(s) you should be able to increase runtime dramatically. My headlamp is driving the LEDs at about 20ma each, luckily this is max for the circuit as the reviews are now suggesting these LEDs don't take well to overdriving.