I’ve got my first mod. It’s not very exciting compared to what you Guys and Gals do but I’ve got to start somewhere!
Years ago I bought one of the first LED torches to come out. It’s got a Luxeon 1 emitter running at 330mA and it’s powered by three 4/5 C Panasonic 1200mAH NiCads in a stick in shrink wrap so it’s running at about a 1 Watt. I bought a couple of spare sticks at the time.
They’re getting a bit tired now and it’s time to give them a well-deserved retirement and replace them with a single Li-Ion cell which will give at least double the run time when compared with new Nicads, and a lot cheaper than making up new NiCad or NiMH sticks. I’ll probably replace the emitter and driver at some time but I need to make a tool to remove the clamp ring that holds the whole lot together in the front. It’s got a big hexagonal hole in the centre with the LED peeping through.
I measured the battery tube but it’s only 24mm so a 26650, which was my first choice, is a no-no so I’ll use the 18650 pulls from laptop batteries. I’ll have to make a sleeve and spacer. Time to fire up Dad’s old Myford lathe! I’ll take pics and post them when I’m done.
Good luck on the first mod. Actually sounds quite involved for a first mod. Even though it may not be very exciting for us, I'm sure you'll be quite enthused! Everyone always remembers their first time, right?
Welcome to the world of madness. If you have access to a lathe is there not enough material left if you bored out the battery tube? I aim for 26.6mm for 26650 batteries.
