Gentlemen,
Today we'll be looking at a very inexpensive 2D LED maglite-esque torch that I'll affectionately be calling the Woot-lite. This nickname comes from the cheap source for these lights (Woot.Com) and also from the fact that it's real name, i.e. "LED 3-Watt CREE 120Lumen Flashlight" is rather cumbersome. It was originally discussed here, and then again here. While the first link shows the original woot deal, this light can be purchased all day long for ~$10 shipped at the second link.
*** 4 reasons why this light should be on your radar ***
1.) A full size 2D torch makes a great car/house light...and a much better hammer than that itty-bitty p60 host.
2.) At $10 shipped, it's a fraction of the cost of a maglite...Same great taste, but less filling!
3.) Outstanding thrower! Decent spill. Good output and great runtime on cheap alk's.
4.) This light is silly-easy to upgrade!
First a quick overview of the stock torch:
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Bright 3-Watt Cree LED (Q3) |
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Hard Anodized Aluminum Case |
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Up to 120 Lumens (approximate max) |
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Rubberized Push On/Off Button |
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Screw On/Off End Cap for easy battery changes |
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Each unit uses 2 “D” Batteries not included |
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Max output: 120 Lumens |
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Product Dimensions: (each ) 9.5” L x 2” D |
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Product Weight: without batteries – 0.65lbs / with batteries – 1.30lbs |
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Body Color: Matte Black
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Although it bears a slight resemblence to a 2D maglite, it really isn't a clone as none of the main parts are interchangeable. Speaking of parts, let's take a look at the what we have to work with here:
Points of interest that you should be aware of:
- Pill is thick and huge! Only ruined by the manufacturer cutting corners and drilling all the way through.
- Pill will accept 20mm star and 18mm driver.
- All the opaque plastic pieces above make up the switch assembly (reverse clicky switch).
- The reflector is plastic, along with the lens which measures in at 40mm.
Disassembly of the torch was a straight forward affair. Of the three I got, one of the heads was glued on, which added an extra step and a handful of curse-words to the process. Let's take a closer look at that pill:
So... where to start with modding this? This light offers a lot of possibilities, but in the interest of keeping it simple, we'll start off with (hence the part 1) an easy one that's free! Yup, total price is zero, ziltch, nadda...
Let's take a closer look at that driver, since that's where the magic will happen:
Lacking Foy's macro skills, this is the all I can offer (I have noticed that 3 vodka martinis help make the image look almost normal). Thankfully the picture is clear enough to show what needs to be done. Notice the far right resistor (R5)? That's what we'll be modding:
**The only thing we're going to do is jumper it out. Easiest way to do that is via a big solder blob on top of it, effectively taking it out of the circuit. **
And that's it! This is probably the easiest mod I've done to date. Ah, but is it effective you ask? (Go on...ask it!) Barring any EOTWAWKI predictions, numbers don't lie....and here's the numbers:
| Stock | Modified | |
| Lumens | 99.6 | 149.2 |
| Lux@1m | 18,200 | 26,800 |
| Tailcap A | 980ma | 2.1a |
| Emitter A | 470ma | 800ma |
Wow! For a small hit to efficiency we get nearly a 50% increase across the board on lumen and lux output! Considering it's running off of 2D batteries, runtime still won't be an issue. Guys, for a cheap boost driver this is huge. It also maintained those numbers off of 2xAA's as well.
Remember, these numbers are still on the stock Q3 emitter, so a simple swap here to an R2 or XP-G would see even greater gains. For part 2 I have something slightly different in mind though, and here's a couple of teaser pics of the mod I'll be making to the pill:
Summary for Part 1.
Even in stock form, this is a good solid light at a cheap price. Adding 5min worth of soldering time, and it gets even better. Beyond that, there are a lot of future options to explore... As soon as a few little yellow envelopes show up, I'll finish up part 2 below. I'lll also try and get some beamshots up later on this evening. Thanks for reading.
-Match
That's alright - I'm a patient guy - I can wait. 
Thanks in advance.