I’ve must bought a cheap 3aaa 1w alu body led light from lidl ( Lidl LivarnoLux LED Torch 1W 3 AAA (2015) Details? ) something to start my introduction to modding before I start getting into these things properly. It seems like a reasonablly built host.
My intention is to turn it into a moonlight house light for reading to my kids with, or as they get older, for then to use when needed at night.
Therefore, im looking for a single mode moonlight driver - does such a thing exist? I’ll like to change the reflector to a larger flood and led to a warmer white, possibly high CRI as well, so think the driver will take more space, so less available for reflector, which works well.
You need to find a page where someone describes what’s inside the flashlight, or open it up yourself and take a few pictures and measurements.
Does it have a driver now? What diameter? What holds the driver in place, how much room is around that?
Correct, just a resistor in series with led and batteries, 3xAAA in series will give you 4.5V, during drainage that will drop to under 3V, still enough to light up almost any led. Start with 150 Ohm, see what it does, adjust from there :-)
Or you could get a single chip 7135 driver with the mcu flashed for moon only. That would give consistent, regulated light down to ~.9 v per cell. A resistor mod will dim from start to finish. Have the voltage divider and reverse polarity diode removed to minimize parasitic drain and voltage drop and heat sink the 7135.
I was looking for a driver rather than a resistor on the basis of efficiency, givne the need to go for a low moonlight means a resistor might get over hot, and given my oldest’s ability to go to sleep with the torch on is something I want to reduce the effect off. Equally I understand that using NiMH batteries, a driver is generally a better balance.
It doesn’t currently have a driver board, but there is a ton of space around the switch assembly for something to be fabricated up, and there is currently a good copper heatsink for the led that could be repurposed for the driver board, as the led won’t need so much cooling.
Re photos and meausrements, I’m currently trying to find my verniers to get accurate measurements.
