First successful DIY light! 2x AA Energizer xml2-U2-1a

I finally made a light better! Successfully! Without direct driving the led!

I I started with a 138 lumen Energizer brand 2x AA flashlight I purchased several years ago. I remember when I thought it was bright lol, I gave $35 for it from Walmart because it was the highest advertised lumens in its size.

I know it's nothing at all compared to what you folks do, but I'm pretty stoked I finally got one right. The stock pill/LED was put in another host but it was so dim it just wasn't worth using. So this is what I did..

I removed the stock pcb and shaved off an outside lip the stock pcb sat in.

http://i57.tinypic.com/qph5ol.jpg

Stuck a dedomed XML2-U2-1A and its' pcb directly on top where the old one sat, it still has some thermal adhesive on both sides so I'm going to call that good enough. I had to remove and reflow the emitter to the pcb because I needed to scratch a bit more copper lead to solder for the positive side, the contact pad was removed on accident(got ripped off.)

http://i60.tinypic.com/r712sj.jpg

And and this is what I'm left with! A perfectly good flashlight that is several times brighter than it ever was! I had to drill out the center of the reflector to accommodate the bigger LED, but it sits in the bottom nice and flush. Honestly don't know how I feel about dedoming LEDs, the tint is of course much warmer but other than that I can't much of any difference in throw. This light is equal to another convoy s6 dedomed 7135*8 in terms of throw and flood. Neither have anything at all on my convoy s4 with an XML2-u3-1a p60 drop in crammed in it.

http://i60.tinypic.com/24fw9ja.jpg

On on a side note, I put 2 18650's in series and hit the stock led, it was way brighter than stock, then I put 3 18650's in series and it was way way brighter than stock, but it let the smoke out Of a wire and started to get dimmer lol... So I found the point of diminishing returns I suppose you'd call it, and learned this driver can handle 2 3.7v batteries in series. Now that it has a brighter emitter, would 2 14500's drive this thing harder and make it bright enough to justify the purchase of said 14500's? Or is there another battery alternative I should be looking at? Run times don't impress me I want bright lights! At the moment I'm using 2 Duracell rechargables. 1.2V 2400mah NiMH.

Here, I fixed your pics for ya.
BTW, Congratulations, good job!


Thanks for that, i need to figure that out next, what's the tags that go around the pic?

The line of squares that starts with the bold “B” — a bit to the right of that is the “sunset” icon (see below, for another copy of it)

That puts in the tags and gives you an “insert image” popup; paste the picture link in, set the magnification if it’s too big, paste the URL for the location if you want it to be clickable to take people to where the picture comes from.

Here is a tutorial on how to post pictures by member JohnnyMac