Energizer Folding LED Compact Light upgrade.

If you haven't thought about putting some hot LEDs into this folding lantern, think again. I just put a couple of Nichia CSs in to the one I've got and it makes quite a difference. One suggestion though, try to match the output of the LEDs before you put them in. I got them close but it was harder than I thought since I ran them off 2x2026 to test but when they got installed they weren't quite the same.

If you don't know this light try here. I was just thinking about it again because of PlayboyJoeShmoe's thread about 8 days of no power. They were his "number one most used" lights. :wow:

One other thing, the newer version uses both LEDs low and high rather than the one LED mentioned in the link above.

-LT

Agreed. This is a nice upgrade mod, and fairly easy to do. It gives this light new life, and it's tremendous runtime makes it a good blackout/camping light.

I modded one of these to run with the high power MJLED type LEDs (Uncut).

I wired the two leds in parallel so both come on in both modes (LO-HI).

I doubled the size of the LOW resistor to reduce the current level by one half for double the run time and decreased the HI resistor to give about 75 mA per LED.

In LOW mode the modded one at 1/2 the current of the stock is brighter than the stock on LOW. On HIGH it is VERY bright and really lights up the room.

Now I just need to mod some other ones.

wwglen

wwglen said:

I modded one of these to run with the high power MJLED type LEDs (Uncut).

I wired the two leds in parallel so both come on in both modes (LO-HI).

I doubled the size of the LOW resistor to reduce the current level by one half for double the run time and decreased the HI resistor to give about 75 mA per LED.

In LOW mode the modded one at 1/2 the current of the stock is brighter than the stock on LOW. On HIGH it is VERY bright and really lights up the room.

Now I just need to mod some other ones.

wwglen

Click to expand...

Okay guys. You've started the job, so you better finish!

Were there any tricks to opening the unit? Hidden scews, latching parts, etc? What value did you use for the resistor?

Did anyone do lux measurements before and after the mod?

Inquiring minds... well you know.

Daniel

i put 26k in mine

one trick I have used to match LEDs better is to run them at low currents first and match them as well as I can then run them at higher currents and see how they look together.
It is usually at lower currents the difference is more noticeable.

I haven't yet modded any of my lanterns but have some ideas.... someone modded one with a very low low output. I think about 2-5ma/LED on low would probably be nice for a nightlight as the low and high normally are not different enough to be useful.

gadget lover,

No hidden screws but you nee to be careful with the hinge part. I could only get the screw head side open but that's all you need. After that a little finesse will get the board and LEDs out. I just checked the orientation of the LEDs before removing them so I didn't put the new ones in backwards and used one of those plunger solder removers to get the extra solder off and popped the LEDs out. I clipped the legs on the new LEDs a bit long just in case then resoldered. That's about it.

-LT

Thanks.

I'll see what I have handy to put in mine.

These are great lights for when you just need a little area light. Reading in the tent, that kind of thing.


Daniel

Re: Energizer Folding LED Compact Light upgrade

The above information is some good stuff for the Energizer Folding Light. I modified my with the Nichia CS LEDs yesterday. It makes a big difference and now its a lot brigher and a warmer light. Here are a couple pictures of the inside of the light.

The first one is with the hinge removed.




The 2nd picture is a closeup of the circuit board. When you replace the LED's the longer leg is the postive side. Its hard to tell with the older LEDs since they are already mounted on the board. I marked them in the picture since the orientation is different for each LED.

Also when you place the board back in the light make sure the wires are running under the grooves at the bottom of the board to keep them from getting pinched. Also make sure before placing the hinge cover back on that the wires are routed around the little posts on the bottom of the hinge.




When I get time I want to play with the resister valves to make the dim mode a little dimmer. If I get a chance this weekend I will pull out my other camera and try to post shots of the light beam before and after the modification.

Re: Energizer Folding LED Compact Light upgrade

Thanks for adding the pictures. I was so excited when I did mine I forgot all about the "Greater Good".

-LT

Re: Energizer Folding LED Compact Light upgrade

Seeing how "difficult" the mod is prompted me to do mine this afternoon. :thumbsup:
(I love 5-minute mods!)

Larry

Here the shots I promised of the difference in the lighting of the folding light and the modified light with the Nichia CS LEDs. Its a new camera and I forgot to make note of exposure before I resized them. But I tried to keep the same exposure for the 3 foot shots and the same for the 8 foot shots.


Unmodified in BRIGHT mode:





Modified in BRIGHT mode:






5 foot from my window

Unmodified in DIM mode:




Modified in DIM mode:




Unmodified in BRIGHT mode:




Modified in BRIGHT mode:




Hope this helps out.

Did you just swap the LEDs?
Or did you change the resistors also?

~John

jtice said:

Did you just swap the LEDs?
Or did you change the resistors also?

Click to expand...

I just swapped out the LEDs. I did notice I made a mistake with the distance. I placed the distance from the camera to the wall not the light to the wall. I just changed it.

On mine I cut the resistance on HIGH to allow for 75mA through each LED (About 1/2 the original value).

I also doubled the value on the LOW resistor to cut the current in half and double the runtime.

Most of the time the LOW is still too bright to use as a night light even with 1/2 the current.

The HIGH is good though.

wwglen

I swapped mine out just now.
I have had these leds so long I am not sure what they are.
I got them from a GB a while ago, I know they were something good. lol

Heres my before and after shot.


~John

I started to modified my second light tonight and got side tracked. I was thinking of a way to improve the lid of the light with a better reflective material then the white background. I took apart the lid using a tiny jewery screwdriver. I stuck the point by one of the top corners between the clear plastic cover and the edge of lid and slowly lift up. I was able to go around the lid without breaking any of the pegs which held it in place and removed the clear lid and tubes. There is no glue holding the lid in place. I played a little with foil but didn't like that. I was thinking if it had a mirror type finish it might improve the reflection. Any ideals out there? Here is what the lid looks like with the cover and tubes removed.




Steve

Steve,

Yea I was thinking that today also,
but not sure how to go about it,
you really need a mirror the exact right size to pop in there.

hmmmmm :thinking:
~John

I have been thinking od placing a sheet metal refelctor and mounting a 3 watt clone in it.

Frost the lens and run it at about 1-2 watt levels.

wwglen

I don't think laying a small mirror in there will work. There are grooves in the bottom of the lid where the tubes rest in. We need something flexable. Something better then foil. Is there such a thing as mirror spray paint? Also painting the white relectors at the end of the tube with a mirror coating might help also. If its a spray type coating we want to be sure it won't flake over time.


Steve