I have one of these currently:
It was cheap ($20 after coupon) and for what it is, it’s not awful. But it’s also not good enough for me to enjoy using it unless I’m really desperate.
Here are some pictures of the internals of this light, highjacked from this thread. I will post my own pics tonight.
Issues with this light include:
1. Poor runtime (with included single 1800mAh 18650 battery)
2. Poor beam pattern (narrow “strip” of light, does not illuminate entire engine bay)
3. Ugly blue tint from 5mm LEDs
4. Potentially dangerous charging circuit?
I really want to mod it into something useful. I’ve had a few ideas and I’d like to bounce some of them off of you all.
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Option A:
1. Install a 26650, 32650, or 3Px18650 (about 38mm diameter) battery for increased runtime.
2. Frost the plastic tube housing to diffuse the light
3. Deal with the tint
4. Install TP4056 charging circuit
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Option B:
1. Install 2Sx18650 batteries so I can use this 12V driver :
2. Install six of these 12V COB strips. I would mount them to a strip of aluminum that replaced the stock 120mm LED board.
4. Not sure how to charge this 8.4V configuration - open to input.
I really like Option B, even though it is obviously more work. I like using the LD-51 driver because it gives me 3 modes (1500mA, 375mA, and 30mA) which would be 250mA, 62.5, and 6mA at each COB when wired in parallel. Each COB is rated 12V, 3W, so it seems like that setup would work well. A simpler solution to drive the LEDs would just be a CC/CV DC-DC convertor like this, but then I don’t get modes.
The thing I have not figured out is how I would charge Option B. I want to be able to charge the light by plugging it in. I do not want to disassemble the handle and remove the batteries to charge them outside of the light. (Basically, onboard charging is required.)
Thoughts?
Comments from the peanut gallery?