Well it really was a dirty hack. The patient is an ordinary double C incandescent light with a very weak body and a weak output.

I wanted to try side emitting 1W Led Emitter for the first time on this light. I needed a driver board too but I didn't want to invest in and the worse, wait a month for a driver to come, so I decided to build my own boost driver. The circuitry was a simple one I found on Internet, using 1 PNP, 1 NPN transistor, an inductor, two capacitors, a resistor and a diode. I changed the components slightly, though.

I tried to do my best to squeeze this circuit on a DIY board and the size was enough small to put into a flashlight. Tried this with another 1W led. The star is 20mm for size comparison.

There came the light.

The current out of the batteries were 420mA but I don't think I could feed the Led with more than 150mA.

It was time to try sku.13286 with the board. I took the contact plate out of the flashlight and soldered the led and board onto this. Isn't the best mechanical connection I know.

I had to make a crappy washer between the led and the board to make an isolation and a better backing for the led. I didn't think the led would need any heatsink at this current.

This time the head lights together.

Rear view. These solder points needs an insulator before making the (+) contact point.

So I cut a 35mm film canister into half and made a hat for the driver.

The final results and a ceiling shot. So this must be the worst spot image ever.

The light is flooder. Light output is on par with other 1W lights, but maybe driven a bit less efficiently. Shot was taken as ISO 800, 1/10 sec, f3.3. Will post some shots of other lights with the same settings if I can.

It took just an hour to do this, while our little one was sleeping midday (the only time we can have for our hobbies). I know it might not be worth the bandwidth eaten but I enjoyed this little hack. I hope my second will be building up a double battery XM-L flashlight with serious parts.

Thanks for watching.

Seckin