Cheap 'lantern zoomie' from dx

Just bought this light from dx, for $6.50, don't need it of course and it is rather big for a AA-light, but it is a 'lantern' too, and it seems to have the ledlenser optics. If it is nice it might be a nice project :-)

I got one of those a while ago - gifted it as it had a terrible beam profile but it might be worth modding.

Do these “lantern” heads perform better at dispersing light than the typical cone diffuser?

pity about the beam profile, I actually hoped that it was quute good with this optic. Perhaps If I squeeze in a XML the profile smoothes out a bit.

I have one of the originals, known as the sipik SK51. Not great for much, but a good lantern for in the tent. Mine supports 14500, has a forward clicky, and pretty low PWM.

Thanks for the link, I did not know it was around for so long already. Those cheap lights seem always old designs. But it sounds like a fun project, if it is not completely crap at least it gets a Nichia 219b :-)

No problem, that’s the one benefit I bring from being around here for as long and reading as much as I have. I can’t do cool mods or tests, but I can remember old stuff. I’m excited to see what you do with it :slight_smile:

I will report here :-)

I made some progress on this thing, took it apart, and man, that took all my controlled ultraviolence skills to get that done without totally destroying it. It has got everything: smart threading, superglue, hidden press-fit parts and fragile parts that easily break when force is applied. But I got it done!

The plan is to make the plastic frosted because the light pattern is that comes from the side is horrible, make as much of the light house as reflective as possible with aluminium tape, leaving just the light 'exits' free, put in a cosy led -possibly a 3000K XM-L2-, and make a 15mm FET+7135 driver (=challenge for me).

Count on slow progress on this mod!

Nice dissection work. Controlled ultraviolence sounds like a new, must-see sport.