Good work and write-up, WarHawk is right :bigsmile:
No the shots I posted are all I have for now…
may crack into another pill soon though… If I do, I will post better pics…
Thanks for the write up. It’s a shame the components are not potted from the factory…
YES, I thought they were in my review… It would be easy enough to fix for either the manufacturer or the user… A couple of small holes in the outside of the pill and a little RTV or silicone, bingo…
Even cutting them apart like I did for the fix would make it not too difficult to bulletproof the light… It survived quite a bit of nonchalant torture before giving up though… so by no means weak out of the gate…
great info!
that shows once again the light is very good value for the low price…
since the NiMh Cells (Eneloop) do not deliver as much brightness as Alkaleaks….
is there a way to “push” the driver a bit? 
Good to know that its easy/simple to repair and nothing fancy when it comes to electronics, thanks for sharing ;)!
It looks like a Joule Thief circuit of some sort. I would imagine changing the size of the inductor may help… I have some of the “resistor” looking ones on the way… I knocked the inductor off of the next one I opened to fill with silicone… 
I will let you know how that goes… The run time is significantly shorter on the RayoVac NiMH rechargeable AAA’s I purchased. I put it on one night and went to bed. Got up seven hours later and it was off…
Ordered some of THESE 270uh inductors from the ’bay and rebuilt another pill with one…
First off, barely fit… No silicone for now, just put the halves together and as the inductor is a higher impedance one than the stock, it is dimmer. Perhaps half to two thirds the output of stock. Still plenty in a really dark place, but not so good for hunting behind a desk in a well lit room…
Components shot #1, the open pads to the left are where the previous inductor was, cant find it now… I have re-tinned the pads for the inductor already, barely any solder there originally…
A PCB Joule thief, though I am not sure about the diode, except for reverse current protection…
Two Views of the first lead soldered down…
How I bent and soldered the other leg, but had to slip some shrink wrap over it to keep the inductor leg from grounding on the LED - lead
IT FITS!!! more pics later… I want to do some runtime tests and brightness shots.
The hardest part, soldering the spring back on…
EDIT: Run time increased, made it all night on the NiMh AAA that it could not do before…
UPDATE 20 hours and still running, about3-5 lumen level at least…. This is on a WalMart RayOVac NiMh. Shows 1.264V on the battery still…
Got over 7 DAYS run time from this mod… Updated in OP
Well, thats epic :D!
How come no one will make such light by default, why they release light that can run for around days or 24, but not 7 days, like yours does after mod?!
Is that so hard, are those inductors so expensive IN BULK or is it too much of hassle?
No, they are not that expensive. HERE are some 220uh (50 pcs) and HERE are some 270uh (100 pcs)
EDIT: These are 3mmX7mm inductors above, the ones in the pics are 4mmX10mm, so the ones above should be easier to fit…
I would think that there is a limited market for these kind of lights anyway, that would be the reason that no manufacturer makes one. They are not bright, but the 18(?) lumen stock one is not bright compared to other lights we all have anyway. The draw to these is the fact that with one AAA you can have a bit of light for a long time. I have been without electricity for some periods of time in my life, both camping and in other situations, including natural disasters. The thing is, a bit of light (4-8 lumen) is enough for doing a bunch of the “normal” things you need to do in the dark. IF it is really dark, you do not need a lot of light.
Perhaps a group buy could be organized for these modded from the factory?
I would be up for running one if there was enough interest, the only thing besides the larger inductor I would request is that there are two holes in the side of the aluminum pill. This way we could fill them with RTV or JB Weld or whatever and pot them ourselves…
I would buy a few of the modded ones!
Group buy sounds great, if they potted them, even better!
I’d applaud that — and if they’re done well and reliable, they’d become a recommended item for including in every disaster/earthquake/emergency kit.
A little light for a long, long time can be a lifesaver.
Mhanlen received the modded light today. He is reporting about 1.3 lumen on it. It did seem to dim after I put RTV into the pill, during the initial test it was simply pressed together.
Anyone have an idea why RTV would produce a dimmer beam?
What lumen level would be minimum for a light like this?
Would a five day run time off of a single AAA be sufficient?
Let me know here…
I’ll upload this before I get to bed for the night. Here’s a quick visual comparison between the ReManG’ed Manker Boney in the center. All lights are set to their lowest mode. From Left, Sunwayman D40A NW, Olight S1, Manker Boney, A6 BLF Edition 5A tint, Fenix LD15 (7 lumen mode). You can see the Fenix is probably the brightest of the bunch, followed by The Manker and the D40A on it’s moonlight mode. The tints on the Manker and the Sunwayman are pretty similar.
1.3 is pretty low. I’d still buy at least a couple for emergencies but that’s dim for a 1 mode light.
Yeah, I am kinda bummed about it being so low… The thing is, during the initial test, I just closed the pill and put it back in the head to run it. It did seem brighter during that week long run, especially initially.
I got done with it and modded another as I was happy with the results, then just filled them with the low odor black RTV and let them cure. I tried the one out the day before I was to mail it out to Mhanlen and it seemed significantly dimmer… well, nuts… The other one was roughly matching the first mod… Grrrrrr, was it this dim initially???
I do have lower uH inductors on the way to try as well, this should make them brighter. I have enough of these lights that I will try the 180, 220 and the original 270 uH side by side. The problem is I have no way to measure actual lumen on them…
I am still having fun, even with this set back…
Take your time, guys ;)!
And thanks for making these tests!