Years ago I posted my thought on The BEST LED Flashlights. Unfortunately a few things have happened since publishing that post:
Costco stopped carrying the Luxeon LED flashlights.
A couple of the Costco lights started to have intermittent problems.
I needed something brighter than the Dorcy AAA light, but still wanted to stick with a single or double [...]
The Nifty-Stuff LED Boost Circuit / Joule Thief is a device designed for two purposes:
1) To suck any and all traces of juice from your “dead” batteries.
2) To light an LED, with a voltage requirement of higher than 1.5 volts, off of a single 1.5 volt (or less) battery! For example, run a white [...]
I’ve had a lot of fun making up many different versions / modifications of these tap lights (also called touch lights, push lights, closet lights). Over the months I’ve received requests to make custom modified LED tap lights.
I noticed that on the net there aren’t many options available for LED Tap Lights or an [...]
Led’s are a great solution when replacing incandescent bulbs in many applications. One problem is that LED’s don’t like changes in voltage & current. For example, the voltage from a car battery can fluctuate quite a bit from 11 – 14 volts and this can be a big problem for an LED. If you design [...]
This was actually one of the first LED conversions that I did, but I never posted it because I’ve been wanting to re-do it to make it nice and pretty. The problem is that it works so well that I haven’t been pressed to make any changes. This being the case I’m posting the modification [...]
In addition to the LED tap lights I’ve made, I’ve also received requests for some custom LED lighting applications. I usually use bright white LEDs or the bright blue LEDs for these projects but have many other colors to choose from.
For most of these applications a very special circuit was designed to run the LEDs [...]
There are a TON of LED flashlights out there, but this one is my favorite: The Dorcy AAA LED Flashlight
Here are my criteria in rating this flashlight:
Price
Battery Type
Runtime
Brightness
The price is a major factor to me because I have a habit of either loosing, braking, or giving away flashlights.
Battery type is super important because I [...]
Buy Pre-Made Tap Lights Here
PROBLEM: The Mini Tap Light puts out too little light and drains too much juice!
SOLUTION: Replace the crappy little excuse for a bulb with EIGHT bright LEDs.
MATERIALS:
4 – bright white 3mm LED’s: 3mm, 3.3V, 30mA
4 – bright blue 3mm LED’s: 3mm, 3.3V, 30mA
1 – Mini Tap Light
8- 20 ohm resistor. [...]
I wanted to do a conversion / modification of the flashight I found at the Dollar Tree. I based my mod on this page:
http://lambda10.tripod.com/8led.htm
MATERIALS:
8 – bright White 5mm LEDs:
1 – Dollar Tree 4 – AA Flashlight
8 – 30 ohm resistor.
Misc. wires, solder, etc.
Here is the flashlight prior to the mod.
Here are the [...]
In July 2003 I bought about 120 LEDs and have since been converting everything I can get my hands on. I’m not an electronics buff, but I love to tinker. Below are the very first mods I made:
The LEDs that I work with are the standard bright white or blue LEDs, the specs are:
MCD [...]
Before and After
PROBLEM: The wife needs a night light next to the changing table.
SOLUTION: Convert a fan to a light. (I know, I could have just bought a night light, but this was fun!)
MATERIALS:
6 – bright white 3mm LED’s: 3mm, 3.3V, 30mA
1 – Portable Fan from the dollar store
2 – 10 ohm resistor.
1 [...]
UPDATED 7/14/04: Changes since version II: The major change is the addition of a little circuit that will keep the current to the LEDs constant no matter what the voltage is. I also made the wires more aesthetically pleasing.
PROBLEM: The BS (BackSeat) of my Hyundai Elantra GT is entirely too dark! Since the GT has [...]
Here’s my very first conversion of a regular “PR Bulb” (incandescent) into an LED Bulb that will work in my new Dollar Tree Flashlight.
Here is the flashlight the bulb is going into:
The original bulb is on the right and the shell on the left.
To get the bulb from the casing I put it in [...]
Updates: Check out the newest version of this mod here or check out the first version of the backseat LED Mod here.
PROBLEM: The BS (BackSeat) of my Hyundai Elantra GT is entirely too dark! Since the GT has a moon roof the dome light is positioned toward the front of the car. This makes seeing anything behind [...]
(Click for version I)
*WARNING* This modification may be the cause of a battery drain problem I was having. Use this info at your own risk.
PROBLEM: My Elantra GT has an alarm, but no visual deterrent!
SOLUTION: “Install” a blinking red LED similar to those on other alarm systems.
MATERIALS:
1 – bright red 5mm Blinking LEDs:
1 [...]
Updates: Check out the newest version of this mod here.
PROBLEM: The BS (BackSeat) of my Hyundai Elantra GT is entirely too dark! Since the GT has a moon roof the dome light is positioned toward the front of the car. This makes seeing anything behind the front seats almost impossible as they block the light.
SOLUTION: [...]
PROBLEM: My new car has an alarm, but no visual deterrent!
SOLUTION: “Install” a blinking red LED similar to those on other alarm systems.
MATERIALS:
1 – bright red 5mm Blinking LEDs:
1 – bright white 5mm LED:
1 – C cell battery clip: Radio Shack:
1 – 75ohm resistor.
2 – Cannibalized computer switches. One power button, one reset button.
I [...]
(see version I here)
PROBLEM: The HB (HatchBack) of my Hyundai Elantra GT is entirely too dark! The problem becomes even worse if I have a box or two in there that completely block the stock light which is positiond too low and is too dim.
SOLUTION: Add FOUR bright white LEDs to the HB that will [...]
PROBLEM: The HB (HatchBack) of my Hyundai Elantra GT is entirely too dark! The problem becomes even worse if I have a box or two in there that cover the light source.
SOLUTION: Add two bright white LEDs to the HB that will illuminate from above. They aren’t the brightest solution, but they are small, take [...]