Modded Stranger Things torch, AKA the Demogorgon Deleter 9000

saltyboi6704 · 2023-11-10T12:05:56.413Z

I posted this on Reddit a few days ago and was told I should show it off here. This project was inspired by a Reddit post of someone taking measurements of the LED and I thought, why not.

I purchased it for way too much on Amazon and immediately tore it apart after receiving it. The first to go was the cheap PC lens - it wasn’t very optically clear anyways so all I used was a pinvise to make a small hole in it and stick some pliers through it to wrench it out. Unfortunately as it was designed so that the plastic lens would sit under a lip in the head, a glass lens of the same size would not fit. Only a lens larger or smaller than the stock one could be used and it would have to be glued on if it were to look nice. The body is made of thin walled aluminium tube with the head area drawn out before milling (the insides weren’t deburred and it took a blood sacrifice during further disassembly). The dinky 1W LED it came with was mounted on a strip of FR4 and screwed in to the back of the plastic reflector, so those couldn’t be used either. in fact, everything apart from the metal tube and tailcap was discarded, as it turned out the reaction force of the lip was the only thing preventing the battery spring from sending the insides of the light out the front.

There wasn’t much thought as to what LED I was going to put in it, I happened to have a couple spare XHP70.3 already on an MCPCB so I decided it would probably work if I gave it enough thermal mass. This resulted in a bit of researching materials before I settled on some 38mm brass round stock which a chunk of would fit in the head in the area joining the battery tube area (the tube was 32mm in diameter for D cells so the brass pill/shelf would have to be machined down)

It took a whole afternoon of elbow grease to cut off the correct sized chunk with a junior hacksaw (it was raining outside so I wasn't able to use my dremel to remove some material)1920×2560 208 KB

To fit the pill in the tube part of it had to be machined down to 32mm diameter, and I chose to use a 3mm cylindrical carbide burr but with a knockoff dremel because I didn’t have access to a lathe:

Part of the pill was machined down using a knockoff dremel and a rotary burr1920×2560 83.6 KB

A spacer made of metal epoxy was also produced, but it was not electrically conductive and I did not consider how I was meant to ground the driver yet, causing some interesting design choices down the line. Holes were also drilled in the pill, 2 for wires and aother 2 which were tapped with an M3 thread to screw down the MCPCB. I found out the hard way that freehand tapping isn’t the easiest thing in brass and resulted in a self-stripping tap for half the depth of the hole:

A test fit of the pill in the host was done, and some holes for the wires were made1920×1440 141 KB

A dummy MCPCB was mounted to check whether the holes actually lined up1920×1440 74.2 KB

Next was a test fit with the driver - this is when I realised that I needed a hole in the side of the spacer for the e-switch. The driver used was the Convoy 6V8A L6 buck driver:

Hole made in driver spacer for switch wires to go through1920×1440 97.6 KB

Now for the optic - I prety much just looked for one that just about fit the weird internal dimensions of the head which resulted in me choosing the LEDiL Carmen 50. It needed to be modified to focus the beam correctly but that could be done with some crude additive mnufacturing using UV epoxy and a file:

Aligning the optic by eye1920×1440 80.1 KB

Large blob of UV resin which is filed down to the correct dimensions.1920×1440 76.2 KB

Once I got everything to fit, some metal epoxy was applied around the pill for it to be permnently mounted to the host and prevent the battery spring from sending everything out the front. Some more cursed design choices were made, such as simply soldering a thick wire between the driver and tailswitch to ground it, and a janky frame made of cardboard and UV resin to keep the 26650s aligned in the tube and allow space for said ground wire. I also decided to use the original switch retaining ring which was moulded to fit that hole exactly to make it look closer to original, so some metal epoxy was used as an adapter.

Completed torch pics:

Some red gel was VHB taped over the switch to give it some water/dust resistance, almost all the holes were plugged with UV resin1920×1440 57.5 KB

The glued on 58mm AR lens didn't look that bad either1920×1440 71.1 KB

And added a bit of glow powder mixed with the UV resin under the TIR because why the hell not.

"We have aux at home"1920×1440 96.8 KB

Edit: Fixed image dimensions because I’m bad at maths

G0OSE · 2023-11-10T12:38:23.271Z

Nice job, why not enter it in the OL compo?

Henk4U2 · 2023-11-10T12:49:47.802Z

Maybe it’s not my place to say this, but this reminds me a bit of OL.

@G0OSE I’ve never seen an episode of Stranger Things.

saltyboi6704 · 2023-11-10T13:19:34.429Z

Great suggestion, only just learned about this competition and I feel like I haven’t documented enough so I might need to take it apart for more pictures first lol.

NeutralFan · 2023-11-11T03:17:52.496Z

Nice modding Ray!

I think the Duffers would be proud to have it in 1 of their episodes, although it would need to be 2700K to be period correct.

Hoop · 2023-11-11T03:33:50.235Z

Nice going. Thanks for sharing.

Is there a driver in the switch housing or is this light direct drive? I’ve got one of these with the front parts removed but I am not sure how to go about removing the switch housing without breaking it. I may leave the switch as-is and just glue some components into the head to mod it.

saltyboi6704 · 2023-11-12T13:27:09.131Z

Yes, I’m using the Convoy 6V8A buck driver with 2 26650s in series. I don’t think the XHP70.3 would appreciate 8.4V across it or survive for very long xd.

Hoop · 2023-11-12T14:48:52.048Z

Does the stock light have any driver at all?

saltyboi6704 · 2023-11-12T14:52:03.190Z

Nope, just a reverse clicky mounted to a chunk of plastic with a tab connecting to the battery and LED PCB, and uses the internal resistance of the cells as well as the contact resistance to regulate current…

xevious · 2024-05-06T22:59:00.191Z

Really great work, Salty!

A shame that they didn’t make the head a screw-in component. Looks like this is never meant to be serviced. I don’t have the talent to do what you did, so I think I’m just going to glue a filter on the front to make the beam warmer…

G0OSE · 2024-05-08T18:01:36.808Z

Fantastic work
The reason I think this light has proved so popular is because it’s different (disregarding your mods). Personally I think it’s nice to have something different, why the flashlight world has gone down the road of basically the same shape over and over I have no idea. I mean there are a few choices of course, but most single cell lights are largely the same black boring tube over and over - a bit like cell phones are. Of course in that field they are also getting nostalgic with many wanting to step away from that slab back to older flip phones etc, not just for the shape, but they are fed up with their whole life being tracked by big companies.
Nokia (although not the old Nokia) in this country has quite the following again with their new range. Maybe flashlights could step back too, I have more than enough black tubes with leds in the end.

blwilli · 2024-05-08T20:01:06.349Z

What a brilliant mod! I had been side eyeing that light for a while but knew it would be a very difficult job and I lacked the courage to try. Congrats on the super cool light!

saltyboi6704 · 2024-05-08T20:54:53.031Z

I have a feeling it might be more of the hype from the Stranger Things show it was themed off, the light is just a reproduction Eveready Union Carbide Chrome 2D. (Yes, that was what it was called way back then)

G0OSE · 2024-05-08T22:33:08.789Z

For some for sure, not for me though never seen it lol! I just like the design of the light overall.

Henk4U2 · 2024-05-09T09:28:31.082Z

Of course it is. Like the communicator or the tricorder.

Jehmin · 2024-07-17T13:39:15.842Z

Hello I have a question. I also have this light. I thought it was a good idea to change my existing 2D Cells into a single 18650 with a spacer. Everything seemed to work. About 5 or 10 minutes of run time and the led looks ok but the light doesnt turn on anymore.
Assuming I didnt want to do what you just did as I am not about to machine some brass. I think its super cool. I just cant see myself doing that at this point in time. How you think I c an fix this light while retaining all the original components as possible? I would prefer not to destroy the plastic lens. Do you think there is another way to get in there? Such as removing the button assembly and sliding the entire unit back? does the button assembly pop strait out or is there anything holding it in place?
Thanks for any ideas

Hoop · 2024-07-17T17:04:45.740Z

The LED in your light is likely dead. It is reflowed onto a plain PCB, there is no heatsink, and there is also no driver, the LED is wired in “direct drive” so it cannot handle much power. Using a lifepo4 cell may have worked ok though, such as Vapcell G65.

Removing the window probably cannot be done in a non destructive way. It is press fit into a groove in the side wall of the head and it is in there tight. I removed it by heating up a screw and melting it into the window to get the screw hole started, then heating up the entire window with a torch until it was soft, then prying on the screw with a large pair of pliers. I was not able to remove the window without first heating it up to soften it.

The way to get the switch assembly out is by pressing on the little white tabs which are visible from the inside of the light. These tabs need to be pushed on with a pick or similar tool, then they will unlatch. The switch boot and white retainer can then be removed. Finally there are two small screws to remove, which retain the switch cover. After removing those, the switch housing slides out as a single piece. I don’t know if you would be able to perform the necessary tasks without accessing the various parts from the front of the light after removing the front window.

energizer_stranger_things_light_internals1682×1297 332 KB

Henk4U2 · 2024-07-17T17:08:35.655Z

Wow, some things seem to be designed not to be separated by mankind.

Jehmin · 2024-07-17T18:56:03.771Z

Thank you for the through explanation

saltyboi6704 · 2024-07-18T04:38:39.903Z

Yep, the polycarb lens was likely pressed in with a special die so removal without destroying it is likely impossible. I ended up just gluing a glass lens over the original bezel to fix that issue.