Bought a LedLenser V2 about 15 years ago I think. It still works, but the output drops really fast(5min) to something very low. Now I am thinking of doing a led-swap with a driver? Would this be possible in this flashlight? I don’t want to light up the entire world, just a long runtime 4hours with about 100-150lumens?
If possible what would I need?
See pic. I measured 21.5mm in diameter inside and the length of the head part with threads is 30mm.
18650 unprotected battery 4 times more capacity,
you probably need a sort of pipe carrier for the battery sone side soldered a plate on it the other side the big spring
XPG2 or Nichia 219B LED on 16mm MCPCB
Nanjg105 Driver with 2 or 3 AMC7135s
if the LED shelf is press fit to the head the heat conduction can be OK
instead of a driver you could also use two 0.25Ohms 1W SMD resistors soldered in series
I would like to stay away from the 18650, because I don’t like to buy a charger… I like the easy pickup of simple AAA batteries. I do get your point of capacity. So an AAA will have the capacity of around 1.2Ah…with this driver it would last about an hour I guess??? An alternative would be to go for another easy to pickup battery… cr123? Didn’t check the dimensions yet…
Thanks for the alternative with the resistor, but I like the idea of the drivers a bit more. It sounds like a more ’’efficient” solution.
If so, Fasttech has a 20mm star with on-board 7135 (350mA), which you can double to 2 (700mA). That seems to be the only solution thin enough to fit where that plate+LED would go.
You’d also need a blank “contact board” right behind it to make contact with the battery-holder and which’d give you the wires to solder to the LED+star board.
Might work, if you got the room. If not enough room, you can use an 18500 or even 18350, with the appropriate spacer to take up the slack.
The problem is that this design just crowbars the “soft” 4.5V from the AAAs right across the LED, just like in those crappy multi-LED tubelights you can get for under a buk each. They use the internal resistance of the AAAs to limit current through the LED. Stick a regular Li-ion cell in there, and watch the LED go incandescent and then pouf.
So you’d either have to “convert” everything to take Li cells, or stick with the same crappy 3×AAA design.
So I gotta ask, is there any particular emotional attachment you’d have to this light? Honestly thinking that it might not be worth the sweat to try to mod it. Silk purse, sow’s ear, and all that…
Just getting the parts, forgetting about the effort, you can spend 10bux and get a cheap zoomie. Or 7bux and get a genuine Convoy S2+ on a flash sale.
Thanks for your honest answer, not really emotionally attached, it’s just that the housing of this flashlight looked still very good and durable that I thought of giving it a second life.
The thing is in the beginning I bought this flashlight the output didn’t drop that fast, don’t get why I does that now? Would eneloops solve this?? Would also need to buy a charger…
Well, not thinking of modding it anymore now. Actually thinking of a MT21A now to replace this, simple 2AA flashlight with interesting mode spacing.
Convoy S2+ is 18650, like to stay away from the rechargable… have the feeling that this is more of a hassle… altough for the price of a mt21a… I could get a convoy s2+ and a Lii 500 and 1*18650
Then actually, a small AA light like a Jetbeam Jet-I would put out way more than the 150lm you were looking for. On medium, it would be about that, but you’d have extra oomf with it on high if needed.
There are 2×AA lights out there like the Zanflare F2/F2S, but I don’t have either of those, as I’m really not into multi-AA lights.
Also, Sofirn has a single-AA light, think it’s the SP10A, that I really like (side-clicky e-switch). There’s a Thorfire twin, a TK/TG something, but I don’t have that one.
It’s really not that hard to find a nice AA-based light, if that’s what you’re really set on.
If you’re willing to go to an 18650, the Zanflare F1 has built-in recharging, so you’d never need to open it up at all, just plug in the usb charging-cable.
I was going to add, if you’re okay with drilling 1 hole and soldering 2 wires, you can mod a trusty 2×AA Maglite.
Go to Fasttech, get the 800mA 17mm boost driver, the LED of your choice on 16mm star, an empty P60 drop-in (pill+reflector), and mod the Minimag. Build the drop-in with driver+LED (the soldering 2 wires part), and open-up the battery-tube to the proper depth with a 20mm drill-bit (step-bits work best, as they center nicely).
The drop-in then, well, drops in. Then screw the head back on. Loosen to turn off, tighten to turn on. That’s it.
That’s the infamous “15min Match-mod”.
800mA should get you about 150lm-200lm, depending on the LED. You’ll probably have to shave down the reflector a bit to make the LED fit, but I like 20mm TIR lenses which drop right in.
Actually thinking of a MT21A now to replace this, simple 2AA flashlight with interesting mode spacing.
