LED Light Conversion

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udallcustombikes

udallcustombikes

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Cheap and easy LED conversion

Need:
Standard Lamp
LED flashlight
Soldering Iron and solder
Scrap wire
Drill with rasp bit



Starting with a simple battery powered light
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Open it up and remove the reflector and lens by popping the little clips around the edge out.
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Here is the battery holder and original bulb
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Donor flashlight. Got two for $3.99 at Harbor Freight
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Remove the LED array and reflector. Some flashlights are easier than others.
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Grab your drill and rasp bit and grind out the reflector to fit the LED reflector snuggly.
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Scrape the chrome from the outside of the LED reflector. If you didn't grind out too much A little super glue will hold it in place.
****CLEAN THE REFLECTOR BEFORE APPLYING SUPER GLUE!!! If you don't the fumes from the glue will bind with finger prints on the reflector and then you have to deal with that. If your hole is too big then a couple wraps of electrical tape will snug it up.
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Now for the electrical. Pay attention to what was the positive and negative in the flashlight originally. If you reverse polarity you will burn up the LEDs. On mine the positive was in the middle and the Negative on the outside. Solder wires to both terminals. I used the original negative with the inline switch and the positive I soldered from LED array to the positive end of the battery block.
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Insert the LED array into the reflector and secure it with electrical tape to hold it in and to cover the circuit board.
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I will snap some lit up pics after work tonight, Didn't have a single D-cell in the house... :x

Sorry for not having any lit up pics yet. I got the batteries only to find out that my brain was sleeping when I built the light. The LEDs require three AAA batteries wired in series for a total of 4.5v. The battery holder in the light is for two D batteries in series for a total of 3v. Stay tuned and I will remove the original battery holder and install one that holds three batteries. Then I will have a lit up pic!
 
nice... how far do you cut the harbour freight light back. so glad to see this..

thx
 
kinks said:
nice... how far do you cut the harbour freight light back. so glad to see this..

thx
Click to expand...

The cut needs to be about 1/2" from the edge on the lens end for these specific lights. In addition to cutting the head on these lights you also have to "peel" the remaining aluminum off because the reflector is pressed into the housing and cannot be pressed out with out cracking it. Harbor Freight also has a 32 LED light for $5.99 that you just unscrew the lens and the whole reflector and LED array fall out. I used the 32 LED on the last one I did. I am going to pick up another one and replace the 9 LED I put in here next time I get by there. Here is the 32 LED light.

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Thanks a lot for this thread man I have a few lights I wanted to do that with. It is always nice skipping the trial and error by seeing how someone else did it.

Thanks again,
-Riot
 
RAT Motorsports said:
Thanks for the great post and pictures. I am going to attempt this. If I fail, what do you charge to do this?! :D
Click to expand...
wow you took the thought right out my mind...GET OH MY HEAD... :shock: :lol:
 
Boy you guys are a hard sell! many LED's bad I LED better Costco has Three 150 Lumin flashlights for $19.99 they use 3 AAA cells and have 2 power levels and flash mode. They are much brighter than the multi LED light flashlights. Menards has two 180 lumin ones for $19.99 I use these.
 
guys you know they make LED bulbs for converting incandescent bulbs to LED? I have yet to get part number but if anyone knows how well they work and if you've used them in Delta rocket rays or torpeedos I'd be interested in getting part numbers.
 
abe lugo said:
guys you know they make LED bulbs for converting incandescent bulbs to LED? I have yet to get part number but if anyone knows how well they work and if you've used them in Delta rocket rays or torpeedos I'd be interested in getting part numbers.
Click to expand...

Yes this is true but its always good and fun to create something
 
Cyclus Nocturn said:
Thanks a lot for this thread man I have a few lights I wanted to do that with. It is always nice skipping the trial and error by seeing how someone else did it.

Thanks again,
-Riot
Click to expand...
Cool thread, Harbor Freight this weekend!
 
I just cant figure why the fewer LED lights are more expensive than the multi's; around here they go for a couple of bucks, sometimes on sale at .99c!
My cheapie fell apart though, so I dont have to try to dig the LED head out.......have to admit the single LED one we have is way bright and we use it a LOT and the batteries dont seem to be fading. I read online of some using cell phone batteries to power their homebuilts.
Ive wondered about those LED conversion bulbs too. Looking up info they seem to be rated in lumins while the old bulbs are in watts. I made a note on how many lumins/watt and have promptly lost it (it was easily found online, though), seems to me the LED bulb is supposed to be about 3 times the lumins of the old bulb, so even if that is peak marketing hype, Id still settle for only twice as much! Basically screw them in and run off the (often) 2 D cells for a good long time. BTW, they are going to most likely be that nice, bright, efficient one LED.
 
abe lugo said:
guys you know they make LED bulbs for converting incandescent bulbs to LED? I have yet to get part number but if anyone knows how well they work and if you've used them in Delta rocket rays or torpeedos I'd be interested in getting part numbers.
Click to expand...
go to http://www.superbrightleds.com i havnt tryed them yet so dont know how well they work looks good though let us know if ya do
 
OK, for all you elec. nuts, Google up:
How to make a LED Flashlight bulb-for 2, 1.5volt batteries (3volts....)
It is specifically for using a Radio Shack ;Jumbo RED LED for astronomy work, but Im sure they have white also for what we do and it may be way cheaper than the $10-15 Ive seen for one bulb done up.
 
I've used the E10-WHP from that link and it's a really good alternative, wide range of operating voltage 1-9V, have run it with 2-4 D-cells batteries last a pretty long time. The only issue is that the LED sits on top so the deeper the reflector the better.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-...Page&category=LIGHTS&Page2Disp=/pt/bulbs.html

jalopyjimmy13 said:
abe lugo said:
guys you know they make LED bulbs for converting incandescent bulbs to LED? I have yet to get part number but if anyone knows how well they work and if you've used them in Delta rocket rays or torpeedos I'd be interested in getting part numbers.
Click to expand...
go to http://www.superbrightleds.com i havnt tryed them yet so dont know how well they work looks good though let us know if ya do
Click to expand...
 
I did this conversion and it works great. I used silicone rubber to hold the light holder in place and I replaced the 2 c-cell holder with a 3 AA holder and I wired it through the top switch. This was a great idea, thank you.
 

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