Looking to do my first flashlight build (complete noob)

Hey everyone, I am a complete noob, dont know anything about flashlights/electronics for the most part. I have a thrunite archer 2A V3 that i use all the time and it has served me well, and i have a keychain light. But i recently found out thru reddit about DIY flashlights and am really interested, but i fail to understand even the basics.

Heres what im wanting out of the flashlight:

-Very budget friendly
-Good flood (i want to be able to light up my entire crawl space underneath my house
-To work on a lithium AA battery (so that I can keep it in cold weathers up north without battery exploding)
-Not to be a tiny flashlight thats easy to lose

Thats really all i need from the flashlight, do you guys have any recommendations for completely starting out with no electronic knowledge what so ever?

(Heres what I do know so far)
-Recommendation on video I watched is to start with a convoy housing
-I need LED/circuit board/batterys/adhesive

I guess from here im hoping to receive knowledge on what parts to get to fulfill the needs im looking to fill, and for someone that would be willing to explain to me putting the light together like you were explaining it to a child (my mind doesnt work like this)

Thank you!

If your crawl space is anything like i imagine a crawl space would be, a bit of throw (as opposed to flood) will be handy.
With pure flood you will light up the ground and the underside of the floor close to you and not reach far in between ground and floor.
But maybe you mean like a ‘normal’ light, a bit in between, not pure pencil beam throw and not pure flood?
With a small light like most AA lights you will have a relatively wide beam anyway.

Do you mean rechargeable lithium AA or primary lithium?
Neither will explode in cold.
They will, like most batteries, not give full power when very cold though.

I don’t know of an AA Convoy host.
I think Convoy has 1 AA light model, but not as a host (correct me if i’m wrong).

But let me verify:
You want a light that can be kept ready for use, but you don’t use it often?
In that case lithium primary batteries are a wise choice.
I would go for a CR123A battery light, because you can buy them easy and they have good capacity (last long).
But they are not good for high power.
You can put 2 of them in series in a Convoy S2+ host, but you will need a buck driver / step down driver (circuit board) for the LED, because 2x CR123A = 6 Volts and an LED i around 3 Volts.

Hey Jerommel thank you for the reply! We have a modular home so its very wide so i was thinking i want the beam to be pretty wide to light it up however yes it would need some decent throw as well so i was thinking a good combo of both but to emphasize the need for wideness as well.

The batteries id be fine with using anything as long as it can stand the very cold temps here and not corrode or explode.

As far as use i do use my thrunite at least a few times a week, i tend to need the flashlight a lot working on the home so it will definitely get use but it wont be running for extemely long periods of time.

I hope that helps answer any holes i left in my post and thank you so much for taking the time to respond.

Okay, but then i guess you only want it to be wide sideways?
I don’t know how high your crawl space is.
But since you have that Thrunite light, i guess it is not wide enough.
So it’s about optics then.
With a normal reflector you have the beam and the spill.
The beam comes from the reflector, the spill comes directly from the LED.
In a crawling space the spill mainly lights up the ground and the underside of the floor close to you, and the beam reaches further into the crawl space.
So you want to light up a wider range further into the crawl space?
Or do you want more light around you in close range?

Have you considered a head lamp?
That’s great for when you need both hands for something else, like working on a house.

I will be using the flashlight on a normal basis so i will be using it for more than my crawl space but yes i would like it to light up a wider range for a bit of a further distance. But nothing that would cost too much money.

Also if anyone could help explain the process of building the light i would appreciate it

Convoy T2 and yes no host

Your best bet is to get a convoy S2 host with a sst-40 led and mosfet or 6amp driver and Samsung 30q 18650 battery that will be good for 2000+ lumens with a good amount of throw and spill you can build your own or buy a S2+ with a slightly shallower reflector already with a sst-40 and 6amp driver

Thanks for the suggestions. Im not sure if those batteries would do to well in 0-20 degrees farenheight tho?

There’s plenty of test on here for batteries working in negative weather fine

Welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

What’s your drive behind building the light yourself? Is it for the satisfaction of doing it yourself, is it because you think it will be cheaper than buying a ready made light, is it because you don’t think you can buy a ready made light that meets your needs, or is it something else?

Not too small and runs on AA’s. I would probably go with this.

Slightly bigger around than a D size battery, feels very solid in your hand. Add some glow paint or tape so you can find it in the dark or maybe even trit vials.
Changing the led out to a 3v XHP50.2 would make it more floody and more lumens.
I have had one for several years now and its always worked when needed and it runs of rechargeable eneloops.