# Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60



## angelofwar

*Beamshots are up...go to end of thread...*

Ok, I mentioned this in one of the threads I posted on, and recieved a PM about it...so, here it is, and how you do it. Were basically going to install a 3 volt 5mm LED in a blown P60 LA. I make no claims that this is a bad-arse mod, or is bright, etc...it's just a way to justify saving all your "dead" 123's, and getting a chance to use them, as well as a simple mod for begginers. Most of on CPF know that you should only run down single CR123's, to prevent the risk of them going  Hope you enjoy.

What's needed (minimal)
-P60 Lamp Assembly
-Needle Nose pliers (or the like)
- 3 volt (~) 5mm LED
-CR123 Spacer (for 2 cell lights)

1. Start by removing the leads from the xenon lamp module to both of the springs at the base...makes it easier to remove the lamp.
2. Remove both springs from the bottom of the LA
3. Using needle-nose pliers, etc., point the LA away from you, and break the top part, giving you access to the solid glass bottom of the fixtre. Once the lamp is broken, grab the base of the lamp, and "wiggle" it out from the ballast...it won't come right out, but with a few twist and turns, it shouldn't be a problem)
4. Insert your choice of 5mm LED through the slot where the xenon lamp use to be, and bend the leads over , holding it in place. 
5. Ensure you have already verified which lead is positive and which is the negative. On mine, the longer lead was the negative one.

Picture 1. Here you can see the leads from the LED bent over the springs. Soldering is recommened, but not necessary, if you need it in a pinch.






6. While inserting the positive (smaller/inner spring) spring, wrap the postive lead from the LED over the last/bottom spring, bend it over, solder (if needed), and remove any excess lead.

7. Repeat step 6 for the negative lead using the negative (outer/bigger) spring.

8. Apply some thermal glue/paste to hold the LED if needed. Mine was a pretty snug fit, so i just let it sit in there, and it seems to be holding thus far.

Once again, this isn't really an "upgrade". I was reading some the post on the bi-pin towers, etc., and got bored. This is a great mod for extended power outages, and using up your "dead" primaries (~2.6 volts), and you can loan this to people for meaningless tasks (reading/comfort light/going through a back pack/etc.), and save your primaries (that you may be limited on) for the more important tasks. 

Hope you all enjoy, and would like to see what a few of you can come up with. I'll be stopping at Radio Shack in the next few days to see if they have any higher voltage 5mm's. 

Here's a few pic's of it being tested and final assy. (I used a yellow LED, as my red one's all got fried in prior "experiments"

Picture 2.





Picture 3.







Picture 4.


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## DimeRazorback

Nice idea!

If i get some spare parts i might make a blue one or UV


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## Snow

Very cool idea. I'll have to try this.


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## metlarules

Excellent mod. I might try one with a red led for a long runtime camping light.


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## RyanA

A mini mag is great for red led mods. Since the red's have a low vf. there's a 10mm red at radio shack that works real nice. You can use a range of different resistors depending on what batteries you run, but 33 ohms will cover most bases (nimh-L91) and it runs fricken FOREVER.:thumbsup:


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## [email protected]

Interesting mod thanks for sharing! :thumbsup:


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## angelofwar

Well, we can thank Kestrel for getting me to post it...show us your mods' when yer done, and how well they work.


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## Kestrel

This is a really good idea, I can't wait to try this, I just need to acquire:

A blown P60 LA
5mm LED's
CR123 spacer or 1xCR123 body
depleted CR123
LOL, talking about starting from nothing... :huh: 

Two questions to start off with,
What is the brightness compared with another low-level LED light, i.e. do you think you get more lumens per milliwatt than other configurations - would it be more or less efficient than a purpose-built low-level light?
Can you actually use a new CR123 without harming your led? I wonder what the runtime might be - I know that most other 'battery vampires' use some circuitry - the Milky candle being one example.
I like the economy and simplicity for what is basically an E01 in a bomb-proof 6P/Z41 package. I want this for a middle-of-the-night light since pretty much all of my lights don't have a low enough low.

Thanks for posting, :thumbsup:


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## Outdoors Fanatic

Do you need a bezel with Pyrex or the lexan on the stock G2 can handle this upgrade?


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## Sgt. LED

:laughing: Good one!


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## arjay

nice mod! can we get some beamshots?


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## Illum

With the E series the best you can use is a single LED, I'm pretty sure with the P60 you can achieve the KL2 style of driving with 5mms...


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## angelofwar

Kestrel said:


> This is a really good idea, I can't wait to try this, I just need to acquire:
> 
> A blown P60 LA
> 5mm LED's
> CR123 spacer or 1xCR123 body
> depleted CR123
> LOL, talking about starting from nothing... :huh:
> 
> 
> 
> Two questions to start off with,
> What is the brightness compared with another low-level LED light, i.e. do you think you get more lumens per milliwatt than other configurations - would it be more or less efficient than a purpose-built low-level light?
> Can you actually use a new CR123 without harming your led? I wonder what the runtime might be - I know that most other 'battery vampires' use some circuitry - the Milky candle being one example.
> I like the economy and simplicity for what is basically an E01 in a bomb-proof 6P/Z41 package. I want this for a middle-of-the-night light since pretty much all of my lights don't have a low enough low.
> 
> Thanks for posting, :thumbsup:


 
Thanks for all the reply's. Kestrel, to answer your questions:

1. This is about as low as I've seen them get...I really want to try this with one of my white LED's, but I've already used them up. I don't think it's very effecient, but what else can you use to get light from a CR123 that only has 2.5 volts??? Used with a red LED, this would make the perfect "walk around the house at night with-out waking up your wife light", and you'd be getting rid of all those "dead" cells you have laying around.
2. Depends on the LED...they do make some that can handle 6 "AA Volts", but you could probably get a 4.5 volt one, and run it pretty good off a fresh RCR123/CR123. The 5mm will fry pretty easily if over charged, but I will try one with a fresh (3.25volt) CR123 and let ya know what happens. 

I still have some kinks to work to make it better/more effcient, but the intial divide has been forged . I'm gonna try taking the LED out and get some better pictures of actually routing, and frosting the LED to get a more pleasant beam, as the 5mm led's are pretty blotchy.


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## angelofwar

arjay said:


> nice mod! can we get some beamshots?


 
Lemme frost the bulb first, and then I'll get a beam shot up...the beam is pretty crappy stock...that's what ya get for 5 LED's for $1.50 from Radio Shack :shakehead


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## KDOG3

Suhweet. I have 2 P60s' that are brand new that no one wanted when I tried to sell them. I may have to sacrifice one to try this..... now when need to find an ultra cheap host like a piece of PVC pipe we can screw a cap down on to make contact or something. Now do you think I could use the 5mm LEDs' out of one of those cheapie keychain lights that are being run on 6v?


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## bullfrog

Very cool mod - thanks for sharing!!!











Have a good source for cheap yet bright 3v 5mm LEDs? The ones from Radio Shack are VERY dim...


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## kosPap

well your this mod is so good I tried it myslf with a twist....

I used some Ultrafire P60 bulbs with 2 5mm LEDs pulled from DX fauxtons. A 22000 mcd white one and a flashing one...

Now the se Chinese bulbs have a different construction…the bulb pins are soldered on a PCB which in turn is soldered on a brass pill, which in turn screws in the reflector….that PCB Has solder pads for the springs on the other end..My mod assembly was like that only I added some thermal glue on the pin ends to avoid any shorts…here are the pics














ETA: I forgot to mention that you do not really have to seperate the pill from the board..You can insert the LED pins from the front all right...

angleofwar thanks so much for the idea...


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## angelofwar

bullfrog said:


> Very cool mod - thanks for sharing!!!
> 
> Have a good source for cheap yet bright 3v 5mm LEDs? The ones from Radio Shack are VERY dim...


 
Nice Light, Bull Frog. My newborn just got out of the hospital the other day (4 Days old now!!!), so I haven't had a chance to get up to radio shack for some new white one's yet. last time I went, I believe they carried some Nichia's. I'm still working on tweeking it, but with all you CPF'ers tryin' this, we should get some useful input! Thanks again to everyone who tried this. 

not sure where to get more premium 5mm's...I'm sure some-one on here has a decent source?


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## MarNav1

Great idea! Good thinking sir!


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## M.S

I'll have to try this with Nichia GS and one of those chinese bulbs...


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## angelofwar

Well, finally made it up to Radio Shack...the winner appears to be the "5mm-High Brightness LED's" (P/N 276-0017). Rated at 7000MCD, with a voltage range of 3.3V and 3.6 (max). 

I'm doing a pseudo-runtime now using a RCR 123 that read 3.38volts at start...it's been going for 1h48m with no signs of loss in lumens. It's about as bright as my older Inova X1 (5-7 lumens by my guesstimate), and is plenty for finding my way around the garage.

Once again, this isn't supposed to be a pocket rocket...just a way to safely get rid of your old cells, and for extended power-outages, and save your pocket-rockets for when things get busy. It can also double as a back-up bulb if your incan (or even led) goes down, and will let more people get use out of their 3P's. Speaking, I might have to get one, if they weren't so expensive...

Nice lights so far...I might have to break one of my crappy P60's to get a new green 5mm I got...those appear to have a higher voltage and be more useable than the yellow's/red's. Plus, they're close in tint to the LED's on the A2-YG. I also grabbed a 10mm high-white...gonna try plugging those into a PR based buld, and see if I can make my own nite-ize drop-ins :naughty:


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## bullfrog

Hi Angelofwar - thank you and *CONGRATULATIONS* on your child!!!!!


The next generation of flashaholics 

I was two seconds away from buying that same 5mm high brightness LED from radioshack but the only one they had was opened and missing one of the two LEDs - who steals LEDs :shrug:

Good to know its a winner!

I think I'm going to hunt for a higher brightness green as well - the green I have in now is maybe half a lumen... still enough for a totally dark room but not the best...


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## angelofwar

Oh, the High-Brightness White's (5mm) I mentioned appear to draw 25mA...so this thing may run forever??? Off 1 Primary123 or a RCR123, you have the perfect long run-time emergency light....


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## angelofwar

3h40m running, single RCR123 is still sitting at 3.27volts (down .11 volts)...no detectable drop in brightness...I'm gonna leave it on over night and see how she fares...


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## Chrontius

You know, I'll ship you guys (with working P60s to be sacrificed) blown lamp assemblies if you'll ship me your sacrificial, but working P60s. I'll pay for shipping both ways.

Edit: I only have, IIRC, two blown modules.


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## angelofwar

Shoot me a PM Chronitus...


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## [email protected]

Hmmm... this calls for a Solarforce L2M project! 


* looks into wallet * :sweat:


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## angelofwar

Good Morning...12h01m...Not much drop in brightness...still about 5 lumens bright..maybe 4...cell is sitting at 3.20volts (.18 drop over 12hrs...and plenty to go...). I can still use it to navigate my garage easily...will update at about the 20 hour mk...

Maelstrom, what's the solarforce L2M project???


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## Kestrel

bullfrog said:


> Very cool mod - thanks for sharing!!!


Hey Bullfrog, is that your FM 3P-type body you were trying to sell a while back? After you parted that light out for me back then, I'm guessing that body isn't for sale after this thread, right?


angelofwar said:


> Well, finally made it up to Radio Shack...the winner appears to be the "5mm-High Brightness LED's" (P/N 276-0017). Rated at 7000MCD, with a voltage range of 3.3V and 3.6 (max).
> [...]
> Oh, the High-Brightness White's (5mm) I mentioned appear to draw 25mA...so this thing may run forever??? Off 1 Primary123 or a RCR123, you have the perfect long run-time emergency light....


So to make sure I have things straight, you can't run a fully charged LiIon on this without frying the LED, right, too much voltage (4.2v -> 3.7v under a 'normal' load, but this particular application is pretty much zero load I'm guessing)? Otherwise I'd love to give this little guy a fresh AW18650 and let'r rip...


[email protected] said:


> Hmmm... this calls for a Solarforce L2M project!


+1, I've now been perusing Jake25's site...


angelofwar said:


> Good Morning...12h01m...Not much drop in brightness...still about 5 lumens bright..maybe 4...cell is sitting at 3.20volts (.18 drop over 12hrs...and plenty to go...). I can still use it to navigate my garage easily...will update at about the 20 hour mk...


One thought, such a low current draw should defeat the low-voltage protection circuit on RCR's such as AW's. Theoretically, doing a deep-discharge might damage your cell (albeit after a week of runtime or something...).:shrug:


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## angelofwar

Outdoors Fanatic said:


> Do you need a bezel with Pyrex or the lexan on the stock G2 can handle this upgrade?


 
LMAO!!! I recommend a sapphire lens...my lexan vaporised as soon as I hit the T/C, and then the body of my 6P started melting...


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## angelofwar

Thanks for the inputs and replies every one...well, after 21h34m, it was down to about 3 lumens...still enough to read, and use the pisser (trust me...nuff said). The cell read 2.62volts, so it may have stayed at 3 lumens for another 20 hours, and then down to 2 lumens...either way, for a 1 cell light, that cost $.75 for the lamp, this is a good bulb to keep around to replace your high powered noraml P60's if you needed, and will work off those other dead cells...

Kestrel, yes, the LED will fry..they have a few 12V 5mm LED's, but I was short on cash...I'll have to pick up a few more my next trip up there. And, if left on for a week, it probably would bypass the protector circuit, but with primaries, you should be fine (used primaries preferrably).


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## BigMHoff

Great motivational thread! I even bought a soldering iron and learned how to use it! (not well).

First tried a 5mm red led. Useless. Way dim. Then re did it with a High-Brightness White (5mm). Pretty good. The High-Brightness leds from ratshack are the only way to go. Dont waste time with the regular kind.


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## [email protected]

angelofwar said:


> Maelstrom, what's the solarforce L2M project???



A Solarforce reinterpretation of the Surefire 3P, essentially a single cell **123 host with a plethora of add on custom parts, simply perfect for your battery vampire project 

An example can be seen here @ Lighthound.com OR Solarforce Lights :thumbsup:


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## angelofwar

BigMHoff said:


> Great motivational thread! I even bought a soldering iron and learned how to use it! (not well).
> 
> First tried a 5mm red led. Useless. Way dim. Then re did it with a High-Brightness White (5mm). Pretty good. The High-Brightness leds from ratshack are the only way to go. Dont waste time with the regular kind.


 
Glad it worked out for ya! I did manage to get a 6 volt high brightness red LED with long enough leads though :devil:. Got it off a key-chain light I got in the desert for $1.99!!! Well, it's pretty bright, and will run off a fully charged RC123 or too semi-weak (~2.9 volt) primaries. I didn't want to try running it off two new one's with the risk of frying it though, since it's my only one. I believe it to be the first G2L-BK-RD  But I'm still waiting on a another dead P60 to put the high brightness white one that you had mentioned, cause it's pretty good for a "snoop around the house at without waking up the whole family" light, and with a diffuser, put's out a nice beam.


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## angelofwar

DimeRazorback said:


> Nice idea!
> 
> If i get some spare parts i might make a blue one or UV


 
I saw a slot for the UV led's at RS and got excited...until I realized it was empty.... hopefully they'll get some more in, in the next 6 months...


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## angelofwar

arjay said:


> nice mod! can we get some beamshots?


 
Yeah, sorry it took so long...Just wanted to make sure I had what I absolutely wanted.

The garage door is about 10ft away, and don't have camera settings, but there was no flash.

Here's the 6volt High Brightness Red, w/ a diffused lens.






And a "lighted" beam shot. Nice, dark red (Not that "orange" crap you get from cheap filters)






OK, this shot is of a E1L w/ F04 for comparision (~45 lumens)






And the "G2LL-BK" ...






Not bad, considering you get this for level of light for ~20hours (and this is before dropping in out-put...probalby 70hours declining down to 1 lumen???) for $.75 (the High Output White LED from RS), and a burnt-out P60. Hope to see a few more of these built. 

What I really like about this mod, is that most of us on CPF can do it, with little to no experience in modding, and we can do it in a few minutes with-out having to order a bunch of parts online. And it exemplifies the K.I.S.S. principle...keep 'em coming!


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## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Few questions. 

I've got a G3 with a P90. Would this work in this module also? With two dummy cells obviously.

The red LED. Is that an actual red LED, or do you have a red diffuser.

I've never looked at LEDs at Radio Shack so I'm curious as to what they have. I've been looking for a cheap red light. 

If I can do this mod with what I've posted above, I'll save tons of money on batteries.


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## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> Few questions.
> 
> I've got a G3 with a P90. Would this work in this module also? With two dummy cells obviously.
> 
> The red LED. Is that an actual red LED, or do you have a red diffuser.
> 
> I've never looked at LEDs at Radio Shack so I'm curious as to what they have. I've been looking for a cheap red light.
> 
> If I can do this mod with what I've posted above, I'll save tons of money on batteries.


 

1) Yes, with two spacers, but it would be cheaper/easier to use with a 2 (or 1) cell light. 
2) The red LED is an actual LED, with no filter, but the bezel is diffused. Don't think they have a red one that's this bright at RS...not at these voltages anyway. I got the LED off of a cheap keylight I got when I was in Iraq for $1.99. But, I replaced it with the YG one from radio-shack!!!
3) As far as getting a decent LED, look at the above post and I have a part number for the high-white 5mm that fits into this voltage range.

Glad you're getting into it, and hope you can find what you're looking for. I'd trade ya a G2, but I already have 5 3 cell lights...but, if this guy doesn't buy my 6P, I might be able to do the trade with ya. Post some pic's when ya get a mod done!


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## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> 1)
> 
> Glad you're getting into it, and hope you can find what you're looking for. I'd trade ya a G2, but I already have 5 3 cell lights...but, if this guy doesn't buy my 6P, I might be able to do the trade with ya. Post some pic's when ya get a mod done!



I put up a thread in B/S/T, specifically trade, offering a mint G3 for a 6P or G2 working or with a blown bulb.

So a mint light for a broken one  Hopefully someone will offer.

I found THIS website selling very bright LEDs. 

I'm going to let that thread sit for a while to see if anyone will want a good light for a bad one. If no one does, I'll order up two dummy cells and one of those bright LEDs.

This is a perfect way to save money. Even my girlfriend was interested. Which was almost better than a new light.

Edit: Had an offer, so if all goes well I'll have a 6P soon enough to start my vampire. I found high brightness red 5mm LEDs on that above site. All is going to be well


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## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

On THIS website they have pretty high rated red LEDs. It's a CPF special. You get free extra LEDs.

That seems like a great deal. These are brighter than the ones you guys have been posting.

However, before I bought some I noticed it said:



> CAUTION: All LEDs require current limiting. Click here to calculate the correct resistor value for your application


You can click the blue to go to the "calculator". I'm not sure what to type to get the brightest red LED that will work with this setup.

Any help? BTW: Here is the site if any of you want to get some that I "think" are brighter than Radio Shacks.


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## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Thanks for the links Search...I'm gonna have to look into that LED calculator more...always wanted to get into electronics big, but never have. I'm gonna try a brighter white if possible...I want to stick with the 5mm's as to not have to worry about boards and circuitry...yet...and keep it simple. But some of the 5mm white's look nice...

I did notice that the 12v red I got at RS did have a built in resistor...maybe they have soem more like that?


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## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Thanks for the links Search...I'm gonna have to look into that LED calculator more...always wanted to get into electronics big, but never have. I'm gonna try a brighter white if possible...I want to stick with the 5mm's as to not have to worry about boards and circuitry...yet...and keep it simple. But some of the 5mm white's look nice...
> 
> I did notice that the 12v red I got at RS did have a built in resistor...maybe they have soem more like that?



I've got a G2 on the way and a couple of P60s to play with. 

Cheapest thermal paste is 2.94 unless I find it locally. 10 bucks at Radio Shack is a bit too much.

Now, when you frosted the LED, did that mean you used sand paper to give it a more diffused look? Which I also plan to do. What grit worked well?

I'll just run to RS and get some various LEDs until you figure out about the ones on that site. They are very bright, but I have absolutely no idea on the resistors or any of that.

In a few days I'll got 1 broken P90 and 2 good P60s to try this. If I ruin all three I should just stop 

The internet is no good for ordering 5mm LEDs as you need a minimum amount or total price on all I've found. One was 25 dollars, uh no. Got an 8000 mcd green and 16000 mcd bright white. I'll test these out. The 16000 seems nice  If it works.


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## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> I've got a G2 on the way and a couple of P60s to play with.
> 
> Cheapest thermal paste is 2.94 unless I find it locally. 10 bucks at Radio Shack is a bit too much.
> 
> Now, when you frosted the LED, did that mean you used sand paper to give it a more diffused look? Which I also plan to do. What grit worked well?
> 
> I'll just run to RS and get some various LEDs until you figure out about the ones on that site. They are very bright, but I have absolutely no idea on the resistors or any of that.
> 
> In a few days I'll got 1 broken P90 and 2 good P60s to try this. If I ruin all three I should just stop
> 
> The internet is no good for ordering 5mm LEDs as you need a minimum amount or total price on all I've found. One was 25 dollars, uh no. Got an 8000 mcd green and 16000 mcd bright white. I'll test these out. The 16000 seems nice  If it works.


 
Yeah, that's why I bought them from radio shack...no place is going to sell 3 led's for $1.50 and charge $4 in shipping...but, I didn't even have to use thermal paste, as it would be for a more permanent set-up. The high white one's I mentioned are the one's i did the runtime on, and were rated at 4.0V max, with 11000 mcd, so I'd be interested in a beamshot of the 16000 mcd one. I'll be stopping back up there next week hopefully, and try to get a different selection. They have so many, it's hard to remember which one's you've already tried, etc.


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## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Yeah, that's why I bought them from radio shack...no place is going to sell 3 led's for $1.50 and charge $4 in shipping...but, I didn't even have to use thermal paste, as it would be for a more permanent set-up. The high white one's I mentioned are the one's i did the runtime on, and were rated at 4.0V max, with 11000 mcd, so I'd be interested in a beamshot of the 16000 mcd one. I'll be stopping back up there next week hopefully, and try to get a different selection. They have so many, it's hard to remember which one's you've already tried, etc.



Go to DX for some 5mms. I never thought I would but I got a green (8000 mcd) and a white (16000) mcd for $2.xx. I forgot how much change. They have free shipping.

I do want to find a really bright red though. That's the main thing I'm looking for.

I assume you overlooked it in my last post, but is frosting the LED just using sandpaper? If so, what grit would you recommend?


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## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> I assume you overlooked it in my last post, but is frosting the LED just using sandpaper? If so, what grit would you recommend?


 
Whoops...No, I just used some "Frosted Glass" spray paint.


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## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Well, I finally started to put this together by ordering a SolarForce L2m (1xCR123). So after spending $26 on a one-cell host, how much money am I actually saving by being able to use 'dead' CR123's now?:thinking: LOL


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## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Kestrel said:


> Well, I finally started to put this together by ordering a SolarForce L2m (1xCR123). So after spending $26 on a one-cell host, how much money am I actually saving by being able to use 'dead' CR123's now?:thinking: LOL


 
You shouldn't have asked...

Well, at $1.75 per cell (from SF/lowes), and a cell starting at 3.25 volts, You only use 20% of the voltage of the light ($.35), and the other $1.40 goes in the trash...I consider them dead at about 2.6 volts. This isn't only good for dead cells, but is also good for "stretching" your good cells out if needed. I mean who would use an M6 all the time for a week long power-outage??? 

Let's see some more pic's/beamshots!!! I have another dead P60 coming in from Dafabricata, so I'll have a high-red and a high white module to drop into my lights...I need to get a good runtime done on the red led though...

Oh, the 5mm High Brights from Radio-Shack are the best so far (at least that are available locally to most of us in the states)

Oh, thanks for bringing this one back up for me Kestrel...I've been meaning to do it, but have had family in town the past few days...


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## Sgt. LED

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

OK so I gave this a shot in an old G&P P60. I unscrewed the reflector and smashed the bulb. 
I soldered the legs of a bright emerald green LED that I got in a trade to the filament posts and it worked. I did not want to remove the threaded part off of the base so I got it as close as I could and sanded the crap out of it. The thing puts out total green flood and I quite like it.
I even tossed a spare trit under the led for kicks and it makes the whole reflector glowy.

I have it in a yellow G2 but I think it may get moved to a 3 cell host and be run off of 2 AA batteries instead of a primary CR123 and 2 spacers. Makes it more emergency friendly don't you think? :thumbsup:

Anyone ever seen diffused 5mm LED's? The plastic is milky and they give perfect flood, even better results than sanding. I have a couple of white ones and I would love to buy more in different colors. Especially orange, red and warm white. oo:


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Got my G2, have a P60 and R60 to mod and got the dummy cell.

Now I'm waiting for my 8000 mcd Green and 16000 mcd White LEDs to come in from DX.

Aside from the 2 and a half weeks I've been waiting, it only cost me a dollar and some odd cents to buy them both and have them shipped. So if the ones from RS aren't cutting it, that's a decent route.


----------



## KDOG3

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Wow I'm really interested in doing this. I would like to find the really good Snow white 5mm LEDs though, I dont' want any blue in mine. 

On another note, I notice that those cheap keychain lights that use the 5mm leds are using 2 3v coin cell batteries. Couldn't you use 2 CR123s with this and enjoy the ridiculously long runtime? Are there any 5mm LEDs that use around 6V? 

What do you think the output is on a fresh CR123?


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Sarge, emrald green LEd's? You have a link? I like the one's from RS, as they're actually quite close (if not exact in color) to the YG leds used in the aviator...I just can't picture RS calling the "Yellow Green Led's", as the term to describe the color is not widely known. The 2AA in a 3cell body does sound more emregency friendly, too. I haven't tried sanding any LED's yet, but I use a diffuser or just spray the LED with a light coat of glass frosting.

Search, I got my second dead P60 today, so now I have a white and red one (I was swapping them out for awhile there). My next dead one, I'm definitely going to get one that's a little more powerful from those web-sites you linked in your previous post's.

KDOG, That's exactly how I got a decent one for my Red one, I took it out of a cheap LED keychain light I had laying around. You just have to double check, cause one of them had two 3-Volt batteries, and one had one 3-Volt battery (bigger/lower voltage), and they were the same make of light's, but the LED's were different voltages. My red one came from the one with the two 3-Volts, but they're not as high as the CR123's are, so it may fry it. (The two together put out like 6.05 volts, where as two CR123's put out about 6.5), but if it's with-in tolerance, It should make for a REALLY long runtime light.

Glad you guys are enjoying it as much as I am...

Hope to see some pic's/beam shot's soon!!!


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I'm just waiting. I'm going to do something drastic so tell me if this might kill my 5mms.

My fiance has some clear nail polish. I'm going to experiment with that but if I don't like the result, does anyone think acetone or nail polish remover would hurt the LED. I plan to do a little at a time so there isn't any liquid going too far down.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> I'm just waiting. I'm going to do something drastic so tell me if this might kill my 5mms.
> 
> My fiance has some clear nail polish. I'm going to experiment with that but if I don't like the result, does anyone think acetone or nail polish remover would hurt the LED. I plan to do a little at a time so there isn't any liquid going too far down.


 
Hmmm...it should work..I would try just putting some scothtape over the lens first though...The clear polish should get out the obvious ring, but the acetone would probably pit it a bit...not to mention leaving a gooey mess...I'd try the scotch tape, and if that don't work, the clear polish would be a one-time gig.


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Hmmm...it should work..I would try just putting some scothtape over the lens first though...The clear polish should get out the obvious ring, but the acetone would probably pit it a bit...not to mention leaving a gooey mess...I'd try the scotch tape, and if that don't work, the clear polish would be a one-time gig.



It was either clear polish or light sanding. Whichever let more light through and less rings.

I did all of this to realize I could just kill my cells off in my E1B. However, I am looking forward to have a low level red light for night time


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> However, I am looking forward to have a low level red light for night time


 
Especially in a easy to carry G-Series light...no more trying to fiddle with those little red penlights/keychain lights...now you can use somehing you're comfortable with!


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Especially in a easy to carry G-Series light...no more trying to fiddle with those little red penlights/keychain lights...now you can use somehing you're comfortable with!



For real. The closest I've had was a red filter on my old TK10. It was more orange than red.

I was relieved when you, I think, said the red 5mm LEDs were red and not orange.


----------



## Sgt. LED

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I got some of those 3mm LED's you linked to. Actually I got 6 of each color of 3mm he had except UV and white. Was only 10 bucks total.

I am testing out the Onion ring and I think I like the beam from the 3mm better than the 5mm in the A2. So thank you for the link! :thumbsup:


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Warning: R60 module will not work with this mod. It doesn't have a raised base like the P60.

I destroyed my R60 to realize I wasted it. P60s are good to go.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> Warning: R60 module will not work with this mod. It doesn't have a raised base like the P60.




I'm not following you, a raised base? do you mean behind the reflectored section? :thinking:

kosPap modified a G60 lamp assembly (post 17) I wouldn't image any similarly sized module would be beyond modification (including an emitter riser fabrication) :thumbsup:

Any chance of uploading some pictures?


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



[email protected] said:


> I'm not following you, a raised base? do you mean behind the reflectored section? :thinking:
> 
> kosPap modified a G60 lamp assembly (post 17) I wouldn't image any similarly sized module would be beyond modification (including an emitter riser fabrication) :thumbsup:
> 
> Any chance of uploading some pictures?



I will tomorrow. I've got an interview at 6:45 am and need to be sleeping.

Basically, the directions said that when you bust the bulb, grab the base of the bulb to pull it out.

With the R60 module, the base of the bulb is too far past the bottom of the reflector to grab it with needle nose pliers.

I'm sure something could be done, but it seems like a lot of trouble trying to get it out.


----------



## Superdave

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Nice!

i made my own, used a Cree 15 degree 5mm and a 1K resistor with a old dead P60. Works like a champ.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> I will tomorrow. I've got an interview at 6:45 am and need to be sleeping.
> 
> Basically, the directions said that when you bust the bulb, grab the base of the bulb to pull it out.
> 
> With the R60 module, the base of the bulb is too far past the bottom of the reflector to grab it with needle nose pliers.




Ah... okay, might be more cost effective to get generic P60 style modules and 'hack' them, IIRC KD's got some for $3.73 USD (shipped)

BTW good luck with that interview! :thumbsup:




Superdave said:


> i made my own, used a Cree 15 degree 5mm and a 1K resistor with a old dead P60. Works like a champ.



Sounds nice... beamshots?


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I've got the job. Interview is to make it official. So I just have to wake up early 

I broke the bulb and turn the module upside down (facing table) and put an allen wrench down against the back of the bulb. Then I just took a pair of pliers and hammered down until the bulb popped out the front.

It's possible.

Now I've just got to figure out this negative and positive business.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> I've got the job. Interview is to make it official. So I just have to wake up early
> 
> I broke the bulb and turn the module upside down (facing table) and put an allen wrench down against the back of the bulb. Then I just took a pair of pliers and hammered down until the bulb popped out the front.
> 
> It's possible.
> 
> Now I've just got to figure out this negative and positive business.


 
Nice sig..."The only 4 that still work...and wait...what's this...they're all surefire's!!!"...Sorry, couldn't resist :devil:. 

As far as Pos and Neg, I bought some alligator clips, and hooked them up to some spare wire I had laying around, and used those to test for which lead was positive and which was negitive...but, the positive terminal SHOULD be the longer lead. 

Still no UV LEDs at the shack though...I did manage to solder my Red LED into place on my P60 thoguh, making it a little more durable.

Keep 'em coming...good luck with the job search...no more ordnance???


----------



## csshih

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Sgt. LED said:


> I soldered the legs of a bright emerald green LED that I got in a trade to the filament posts and it worked. I did not want to remove the threaded part off of the base so I got it as close as I could and sanded the crap out of it. The thing puts out total green flood and I quite like it.
> I even tossed a spare trit under the led for kicks and it makes the whole reflector glowy.
> Anyone ever seen diffused 5mm LED's? The plastic is milky and they give perfect flood, even better results than sanding. I have a couple of white ones and I would love to buy more in different colors. Especially orange, red and warm white. oo:


sounds familiar 
wow, trits! those leds have never come close to one of those at all!
all the LEDs in the pinkish antistatic bags are nichias! to save space, I tossed some together , but the stickers tell you what part number.. I labeled the colors/diffused. 

I believe you can buy them directly from nichia. I have a contact number in cali, if you need/want it.

ps: my side of the trade should be arriving tmrw!!! I'm excited!



KDOG3 said:


> On another note, I notice that those cheap keychain lights that use the 5mm leds are using 2 3v coin cell batteries. Couldn't you use 2 CR123s with this and enjoy the ridiculously long runtime? Are there any 5mm LEDs that use around 6V?



I don't think the keychain light LEDs will let you use 2xCR123A.. the voltage on the coin cells drop dramatically under load.. and then they dont provide much current... wheras, on a 123A.... they dont drop much under low loads...


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Nice sig..."The only 4 that still work...and wait...what's this...they're all surefire's!!!"...Sorry, couldn't resist :devil:.
> 
> As far as Pos and Neg, I bought some alligator clips, and hooked them up to some spare wire I had laying around, and used those to test for which lead was positive and which was negitive...but, the positive terminal SHOULD be the longer lead.
> 
> Still no UV LEDs at the shack though...I did manage to solder my Red LED into place on my P60 thoguh, making it a little more durable.
> 
> Keep 'em coming...good luck with the job search...no more ordnance???



LoL I'm just waiting for the hate mail.

Does the pos attach to the big or small spring? Obviously the neg would be the opposite.

That's all my modules (I've got one working on I'm going to keep) and I'm waiting for the two 5mms to come in from China. I'm going to wait until the guys at the PD blow a few bulbs and I'll just collect a couple more. I want a UV to charge up my GITD some times.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Superdave said:


> Nice!
> 
> i made my own, used a Cree 15 degree 5mm and a 1K resistor with a old dead P60. Works like a champ.


 
How'd ya get a resistor in there? And where'd you get the LED?


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Got the job! I now work almost all day. 4 hours between off work to time to go to bed. At least it's 44 hours working 4 days a week  

With the negative lead being the long one, that would mean the long or negative lead would be soldered onto the larger spring. With the shorter and positive lead being soldered to the small spring.

I'm guessing this because the battery touches the small spring and the large spring touches the body. Right?


----------



## Superdave

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> How'd ya get a resistor in there? And where'd you get the LED?




I cut the lead of the LED off pretty short and the same with the resistor and lap-soldered them together. It fit pretty much perfect. 

The LED's came from digi-key: http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=C503B-WAN-CCACB151-ND

Those are the same ones i put in my A2, at the right drive current they are fairly bright. 


[email protected]; Maybe, i still need to swap out the resistor to get a little more out of it. I measured 1 lumen in my sphere today at work on 2 fresh cr123's. :naughty:


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> With the negative lead being the long one, that would mean the long or negative lead would be soldered onto the larger spring. With the shorter and positive lead being soldered to the small spring.
> 
> I'm guessing this because the battery touches the small spring and the large spring touches the body. Right?




The +ve anode/leg needs to contact to the top button of the cell :thumbsup:










Superdave said:


> [email protected]; Maybe, i still need to swap out the resistor to get a little more out of it. I measured 1 lumen in my sphere today at work on 2 fresh cr123's. :naughty:



Perhaps how high a value did you use? how much voltage is reaching the LED? :thinking:


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



[email protected] said:


> The +ve anode/leg needs to contact to the top button of the cell :thumbsup:



Thanks! Without knowing what most of what you just said means, I do think the thumbs up meant I was right? lol


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

The socket that Koala is using will be great.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/199366

It means also that you can use the LED's with 2 CR123a's since you can replace the LEDs as fast as they wear out at a cost far lower than P60s. Exploding cells might be a issue though.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> Thanks! Without knowing what most of what you just said means, I do think the thumbs up meant I was right? lol



LOL yeah that's why I added the picture to my answer


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I did a 16000 mcd White and an 8000 mcd Green and I want to throw it out there that neither are bright enough to do most things.

There are a good bit of useful tasks one can do with these, but for me they will never be done with this light.

Until me and my fiance move in together, I don't think I'll even use it because it's easier to use the low mode on my E1B.

At the right I've used it, I'll have over 100 dead batteries for it before I use the first one I put in.

Hopefully something changes and I find more uses for it


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> I did a 16000 mcd White and an 8000 mcd Green and I want to throw it out there that neither are bright enough to do most things.
> 
> There are a good bit of useful tasks one can do with these, but for me they will never be done with this light.
> Until me and my fiance move in together, I don't think I'll even use it because it's easier to use the low mode on my E1B.
> At the right I've used it, I'll have over 100 dead batteries for it before I use the first one I put in.
> Hopefully something changes and I find more uses for it


Sorry to hear that, different folks do have different preferences for an ultra-low level. Out of curiosity, what 'normal' lights do you like for low-level work? (For example, I usually found the low on my LD01 and my SF L1 (Cree) to be too high, and preferred the ~1 lumen low of my SF L1 (Luxeon).) I would definitely understand if you found a ~10 lumen low to work best for you, for example.


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Kestrel said:


> Sorry to hear that, different folks do have different preferences for an ultra-low level. Out of curiosity, what 'normal' lights do you like for low-level work? (For example, I usually found the low on my LD01 and my SF L1 (Cree) to be too high, and preferred the ~1 lumen low of my SF L1 (Luxeon).) I would definitely understand if you found a ~10 lumen low to work best for you, for example.



I realized what I had been doing wrong.

I had been using two batteries in my TK10 (before I traded). Once the voltage was too low to use high mode, I had been using them in low mode for a few days.

Well, I popped a battery out of my E2DL and threw it in the G2 and it was considerably brighter. I just had to use one with a higher voltage.

Another way was that I might have been using a dead battery from my E1B, which would have also been too low to use in the G2 or battery vampire.

So I just have to wait for a higher voltage, dead battery 

BTW, I consider the rated 5 lumens of the E1B to be pretty good.

Although I have ran into one or two situations where lower would have been better.

When we have this baby and move out though I'm sure I'll have plenty of reasons to not wake anyone up hehe.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Yeah, it's definitely limited in it's use's, but then again, that's what it was intended for...I think it'll be more suited for people who spend alot of there time in VERY dark places...where that little bit of light is actually alot. Thanks for the feedback guys!


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I lied.

This is one of the best decisions I've ever made.

I've used it extensively throughout the night. Once I centered the bulb and re-did the wires it seems a little brighter now. Either way, I'm glad I did this now.


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> I lied.
> This is one of the best decisions I've ever made.
> I've used it extensively throughout the night. Once I centered the bulb and re-did the wires it seems a little brighter now. Either way, I'm glad I did this now.


 Cool. I just got my L2mini & a shot SF lamp assembly. Now I just need a 5mm LED...


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Sorry guys I went the other route, I got offered an MTE mini (CR123a) light for the cost of postage (thanks eric242 :thumbsup that had some issues and decided to gut that for my 8,000mcd Super-bright blue LED, what makes this a great little host is the 2 stage tail cap switch which I retrofitted with a 150 Ohm resistor giving me another lower low 

Running a depleted CR123a @ 2.92v (no load) high is juiced @ 2.83v, low sips @ 2.65v which is pretty good considering this LED supposedly has a Vf range of 3.1~3.5v 


Here is the Blue LED MTE on low-low beside the Jet-III M @ 2Lm, one thing I did notice was the LED emiter had a broader beam profile especially compared to the Jet-III M's deep reflectored throw and subsequent hotspot 







Now the compulsory white wall shot with the MTE on low-low (Jet-III M still @ 2Lm) followed by the MTE on high.












I'm pretty happy with the results now I have a sub 2Lm flashlight/torch to knock around with, I may just go for a 2K Ohm in the tailcap and see how low I can get the emitter, anyway here's the last bit of eye candy! 







Now I really should get stuck into the Angelhead restoration project eh?


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I've got a little LED I pulled from a fan in my computer. It's brighter than the 8000 mcd green but is much smaller than a 5mm.

It works good, but doesn't sit in the module, it just flops over. I haven't found a decent solution to this yet


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> I've got a little LED I pulled from a fan in my computer. It's brighter than the 8000 mcd green but is much smaller than a 5mm.
> 
> It works good, but doesn't sit in the module, it just flops over. I haven't found a decent solution to this yet


 
Search, that green looks nice! Have you tried any of that thermal glue/compound to hold that smaller LED in? I know they sell it at RS, but they should also have it at home repair stores, automotive shops, etc. 

Kestrel, do you have an RS nearby? If not, let me know, and I'll send you one of the high-output whites. Just PM me your addy, and I'll throw it in an envelope. 

Nice one, [email protected]! Have you tried a diffuser on that blue one? I frosted just about all my 5mm led's, cause those rings annoy the heck outta me! And yes, still waiting to see yer finished sngle head...I wanna see that orange one as well!!! I'm still not brave enough to start soldering resistors and stuff in...not quite up to par on that, but I'd like to learn.

I just realized, that my High out-put white on an RCR is brighter than the lowest low on my U2...so, while not alot, it is very useable! And staying at that level for 20+ hours on an RCR is what makes it really attractive!


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> And yes, still waiting to see yer finished sngle head...I wanna see that orange one as well!!!



Well once I've finshed this run of night duty & there's time left from the duties for the 'minister of finance' I'll get stuck into it :thumbsup:




angelofwar said:


> I'm still not brave enough to start soldering resistors and stuff in...not quite up to par on that, but I'd like to learn.



Ah... it's easy just remember the golden rule...

*#1 Don't burn yourself!*




angelofwar said:


> I just realized, that my High out-put white on an RCR is brighter than the lowest low on my U2...so, while not alot, it is very useable! And staying at that level for 20+ hours on an RCR is what makes it really attractive!



Yeah they've got ultra bright white LEDs at our local hobbyist store too but I figured I liked blue better cause I've already got a tonne of white LED lights, I asked for 16,000mcd but I'm sure they gave me a 8,000mcd as it came loose without specs, the 16,000mcd 2.1v red LEDs look promising too!


----------



## NE450No2

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I am new here on CPF, so bear with me...

As I under stand it a "Battery Vampire" is a flashlight that will "suck" the last little bit of "elecricity" our of a battery, in this case a 123.

This is a great idea, and I have kinda discovered it a little for my self.

ie, I recently bought a P60 LED bulb.

I knew form using my SF [email protected] Aviator, that after the batteries would not light up the incandescent, they would still light up the LEDs.

Also a buddy gave me a single 123 light with an incandescent and LED's and the same thing happens, ie the LED's burn long after the incad. bulb will not light.

So My question is How many lumens should a "Battery Vampire" produce.

I have found that the 3 lumens of the SF A2, with the white LED's is more than enough to;
Get up in the night and go to the bathroom.
Look in your pack for stuff.
Walk around a known area.
Read a map, book, etc.

If I wanted to do more general stuff I would want a few more lumens.

While I AM a Flashaholic, I am not a High Tech One.

So I would suggest this, since the P60 series type bulb lights are so prevelant, some Company should make a P60 LED "Vampire Bulb" at X amount of lumens [to be determined by you techies, but I would guess from 3 to 15 lumens], so we could get a little extra from our spent 123's and help save the environment.

I know I would get a dedicated SF G2 or 2 to use.

One for the house, and to take on trips for the motel, and one for the car to read maps.

Or maybe a drop in for the E series SF lights.

Then I could save the batteries on my A2 for "serious stuff". 

These "spent" batteries would probably light up the low settings on the current E1L and L1. You guys with those lights let us know.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

A Nichia GS should produce around 10Lm, in a revamped (pun intended) P60 module it would produce a slightly better beam (due to larger reflector) than a Fenix EO1 :thumbsup:

As these are too easy to 'whip together' I couldn't imagine anyone actually wanting to pay for one? good environmental/economic thinking though 


BTW you're correct the used batteries from my 6P incan' were still sufficient to power up my old gen L1 on both high and low... that light is a bit of a battery vampire itself


----------



## jchoo

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I've got a Nichia GS in a P60 LA running direct drive off of an 18650... boy, talk about a great power outage light!


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



jchoo said:


> I've got a Nichia GS in a P60 LA running direct drive off of an 18650... boy, talk about a great power outage light!



Sweet! 


So any pictures, beamshots?


----------



## Sgt. LED

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Keep track of your ON time. 
If the low voltage circuit doesn't kick in it'll kill your cell won't it?


----------



## jchoo

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I'm not using this cell for actual usage, just testing. I measured the current draw at just about 45ma, but that is without soldering the leads of the LED to the spring. I will have to go through the stash of resistors I've got to try to find one that I can use to run this light off of 2 fresh CR123s (I don't need it as a vampire, but I want a looooong running power failure/emergency light). I guess I'm looking for something around 20-33 ohm, maybe 1/4 watt. I've got a couple hundred resistors hanging around in a box in the shop, I just need to dig around for what I want.


----------



## Illum

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Sgt. LED said:


> Keep track of your ON time.
> If the low voltage circuit doesn't kick in it'll kill your cell won't it?



chances are the cell protection won't kick in if your drawing like 20ma, sensors are not that sensitive to such low current draw in particular if it was designed to allow transient current flow

There has been ruined batteries in the past from uber low current draws spread over a fat load of time.

Why would you use a battery drainer on a rechargeable is a complete mystery to me


----------



## jchoo

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Illum said:


> chances are the cell protection won't kick in if your drawing like 20ma, sensors are not that sensitive to such low current draw in particular if it was designed to allow transient current flow
> 
> There has been ruined batteries in the past from uber low current draws spread over a fat load of time.
> 
> Why would you use a battery drainer on a rechargeable is a complete mystery to me



If you read my other post, you would see that I am only using the 18650 for building and testing purposes.

Here is a comparison of four lights - I hope it is useful. I've got:

Nitecore D10 GDP on Energizer P91, on lowest setting
Inova X1 (2nd gen) on Energizer P91
Nichia GS modded P60, direct driven from an 18650
BatteryJunction clicky fauxton (6v, 2 coin cells)







And here is the module itself, as well as a shot of the scene with my D10 on max - sorry for the lack of exposure control, it's a cheap little Sony point and shoot.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Is that 18650 hot off the charger OR been lying around for a bit before use (and measured prior to use)? :thinking:





Illum said:


> Why would you use a battery drainer on a rechargeable is a complete mystery to me



Perhaps the intention of the device is not actually a battery drainer but as a low output long runtime flashlight? OR as was the OPs original intent, a means to extract further use out of what would otherwise be considered expended lithium primaries


----------



## jchoo

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

18650 is sitting at around 3.7v with no load on it, it is far from fresh off the charger. I was just using it because a) it was what I had in that light already and b) vf of these leds is 3.2 to 3.5 and I wanted to see how angry it got at the higher voltage (result: not that angry at all). My intent for this is indeed a long running emergency light, not a vampire - although it could certainly be pressed into service as such.



[email protected] said:


> Is that 18650 hot off the charger OR been lying around for a bit before use (and measured prior to use)? :thinking:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Perhaps the intention of the device is not actually a battery drainer but as a low output long runtime flashlight? OR as was the OPs original intent, a means to extract further use out of what would otherwise be considered expended lithium primaries


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Kestrel, do you have an RS nearby? If not, let me know, and I'll send you one of the high-output whites. Just PM me your addy, and I'll throw it in an envelope.


LOL, a month after your thread comes out, I finally get around to going to my local Radio Shack to pick up two LED's, and one hour later you post offering me one! Thanks for the offer though. :wave:

I'm finally getting close to putting this together, I just have to unsolder the old bulb from this semi-dead P91 LA I have and I'll be good to go.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Kestrel said:


> I'm finally getting close to putting this together, I just have to unsolder the old bulb from this semi-dead P91 LA I have and I'll be good to go.




Looking forward to seeing the final result... any teasers as to which colour you choose?


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



[email protected] said:


> Looking forward to seeing the final result... any teasers as to which colour you choose?


Sorry, just 7000mcd white over here, not that exciting I'm afraid. It's going in a Solarforce L2m for a sorta-3P, but I'll be ditching the stock clickie tailcap for a SureFire Z41 twistie no matter how difficult that turns out to be...:tinfoil:

I'm just so darn tired of the low on my SF L1 (Cree) being too high, the low on my SF L2 being too high, the low on my Fx LD01 being too high, etc etc...


----------



## Sgt. LED

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Try a 3mm! :devil:


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Thanks for beamshots, JCHOO! Those are really helpful!




[email protected] said:


> Perhaps the intention of the device is not actually a battery drainer but as a low output long runtime flashlight? OR as was the OPs original intent, a means to extract further use out of what would otherwise be considered expended lithium primaries


 
Yes maelstrom, the original intent was to make a "safe" battery vampire...and the first part you mentioned, of a long time runtime/low output light, kind of goes hand in hand with 5mm's. I knew it would be one when I built it, but I was "thinking" of a battery vampire when I built it...and then SF had to go and steal the name . Maybe I'll get a free SF Vampire as compensation for emotional distress??? :naughty:


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Kestrel said:


> I'm just so darn tired of the low on my SF L1 (Cree) being too high, the low on my SF L2 being too high, the low on my Fx LD01 being too high, etc etc...


 
Ditto...I didn't have a low enough low until I built one of these...and then I finally got a U2, but those don't come in red...


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



NE450No2 said:


> I have found that the 3 lumens of the SF A2, with the white LED's is more than enough to;
> Get up in the night and go to the bathroom.
> Look in your pack for stuff.
> Walk around a known area.
> Read a map, book, etc.


 
Yep, these are the kind of tasks I had in mind for this light!


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Yes maelstrom, the original intent was to make a "safe" battery vampire...and the first part you mentioned, of a long time runtime/low output light, kind of goes hand in hand with 5mm's.




Kinda' like a Gerber Infinity/Fenix EO1 but in a P60 capable host, definitely makes a great format even MORE flexible IMHO, the environmental impact reduction is a definite bonus also! :thumbsup:


Good luck taking on the Legal department at SF to extract something for your emotional distress!


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

OK, we’re getting there. After unsoldering the two wire connections, removing the springs, and ‘popping’ the bulb inside of a Ziploc baggie, I drilled out the potting compound from the rear of the lamp assembly. I found that a 5/32” bit worked well for going completely through the lamp assembly, during which the adhesive holding the plastic lamp base to the aluminum reflector parted. This was good, because I was able to then use a *1/4”* bit to gently remove the rest of the potting compound from the aluminum reflector component by hand, i.e. holding the drill bit with my fingers and slowly reaming out the remainder of the potting compound, leaving the hole in the aluminum reflector completely undamaged. So now all of the potting compound is removed from all of the necessary component parts without damaging any actual lamp assembly part.

Two questions,

The long wire and the short wire on the Radio Shack LED, which one was positive again?
My first focusing attempt will be merely seating the LED on the pedestal of the plastic bulb holder, neither removing material from the holder (to seat the LED more deeply) nor elevating the LED further toward the front of the lamp assembly. Is this a good place to start for best focus or should I be further in either direction?
Thanks,
K


----------



## jchoo

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Wow, I didn't realize you guys were treating this as such an undertaking. I just pulled the springs off of the back of my P60 and pushed the bulb out through the back with the blunt end of a round bamboo chopstick. It came right out, and I trimmed the skirt off of a Nichia GS and put it in from the back. I put power to the emitter, and gently started nudging it forward a mm at a time or so until I was happy with the beam. I actually wound up breaking the whiteish plastic base of the P60 - half of it came apart, exactly opposite of the cut where the negative spring keys in - but I just superglued it back in place.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Kestrel said:


> The long wire and the short wire on the Radio Shack LED, which one was positive again?









Go get 'em killer! :thumbsup:


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

















The LED is seated to reference off the plastic riser, without further elevation modifications. I tried adding a washer between the aluminum reflector and the plastic bulb holder (to seat the LED 'deeper' into the reflector), but the only visible change was a slight donut. I also added a single layer of paper to better center the plastic bulb holder inside the hole in the aluminum reflector.

I am happy with the beam quality, it is virtually perfect to my eyes. 

Regarding tint, it is slightly warmer than most of my LED lights when doing side-to-side comparisons. 
Edit: I updated the beamshot photo as I was able to better represent the actual tint in a subsequent photograph.

This will be a great bedside light.


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## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Kestrel said:


> The LED is seated to reference off the plastic riser, without further elevation modifications. I tried adding a washer between the aluminum reflector and the plastic bulb holder (to seat the LED 'deeper' into the reflector), but the only visible change was a slight donut. I also added a single layer of paper to better center the plastic bulb holder inside the hole in the aluminum reflector.
> 
> I am happy with the beam quality, it is virtually perfect to my eyes.
> 
> Regarding tint, it is slightly warmer than most of my LED lights when doing side-to-side comparisons.
> (The above photo (from my point&shoot camera) makes it look a little bluish compared to its actual appearance.)
> 
> This will be a great bedside light.


 
Wow kestrel! This one turned out really nice! Now you'veinspired me to go back a re-seat mine! Did you frost the bulb at all?

I'm glad more of these are getting done and you guys are getting your stories posted...others are beginning to "see the light"...

You all can thank Kestrel for getting me to post this! Thanks again, and keep-em comin' guys! I'll get some more pic's up once I "kestrel-cize" sick2them...:twothumbs


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



jchoo said:


> Wow, I didn't realize you guys were treating this as such an undertaking. I just pulled the springs off of the back of my P60 and pushed the bulb out through the back with the blunt end of a round bamboo chopstick. It came right out, and I trimmed the skirt off of a Nichia GS and put it in from the back. I put power to the emitter, and gently started nudging it forward a mm at a time or so until I was happy with the beam. I actually wound up breaking the whiteish plastic base of the P60 - half of it came apart, exactly opposite of the cut where the negative spring keys in - but I just superglued it back in place.


 
Yeah, my first few build's were kinda "violent"...I just turned the LA away from me and "popped" the lamp with some needle nose pliers, and proceeded to literally "rip it out"...but after seeing the nice beam on kestrel's, I'm gonna re-accomplish them with more care, and actually try to make them more permanent, and try to center the bulb to get the best beam at about 3'-4'. 

Kesterl, how far away is the beam in that beam shot you took?


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Wow kestrel! This one turned out really nice! Now you've inspired me to go back and re-seat mine! Did you frost the bulb at all?


Nope, I didn't do anything with the LED, just the good ol' SF orange-peel reflector doing its thing. Yeah, I couldn't believe how good the beam quality was, better than any light I own outside of my SF KT-2 w/ SSC P4.


angelofwar said:


> Kestrel, how far away is the beam in that beam shot you took?


About a foot.


I used this for a 'covert mission' last night and it was nearly perfect, slightly toward the higher end of the range for an optimum ultra-low for me.

The LED seems nice & warm to me, I saw that one reviewer on the Radio Shack LED page had noted the same thing. Sometime I'll try to get a better photo posted. I particularly noticed better color rendition than my P7 on low (~10lm) or my LD01 on low. I'll also be comparing it to my warmish M60/120ohm and my neutral L1 Cree on low, but I'm pretty sure it will compare very well indeed.

This will certainly be one of my four most-used lights from now on. :thumbsup:


----------



## gallonoffuel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Just so I'm clear here... no one is using a resistor for this? Literally direct drive right from the battery? I purchased a pair of red 5mm LEDs from RS and mechanically bound the leads to the spring terminals on a (now) dead P60 but before I solder them up I just want to clarify.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



gallonoffuel said:


> Just so I'm clear here... no one is using a resistor for this? Literally direct drive right from the battery? I purchased a pair of red 5mm LEDs from RS and mechanically bound the leads to the spring terminals on a (now) dead P60 but before I solder them up I just want to clarify.




I use a 130Ω resistor to create an ultra low-low mode in my 5mm LED host but generally yes, keep in mind these use what were previously considered as expended **123a cells as they would no longer power up a conventional flashlights (with the exception of a low mode on the likes of a SF L1) 

Were you to be creating this as a primary Ultra low output flashlight then you may need a resistor dependent on the Vf of the LED chosen & power source selected, because of the host opted for by Kestrel he's now got one of the sweetest looking Ultra low lights about :thumbsup:


----------



## gallonoffuel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Roger that. I used a Ratshack 276-017 and it definitely lights up on a 'depleted' primary, and is actually quite pleasant on a new primary. I couldn't find the data sheet on this particular part so I wasn't sure of the I/V curve but if I blew up a $1 LED i wouldnt have been too upset. I accidentally soldered the leads backwards so I need to fix that but otherwise its a very cool mod. I need to find my other P60 and make another, maybe in red.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



gallonoffuel said:


> I need to find my other P60 and make another, maybe in red.




Yeah red's the go... I'm going to swap out the SB blue in my MTE for an UB red, another thing you need to check is the LED's radiated angle :thumbsup:


----------



## jchoo

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Quick update... I've been running my Nichia GS off of two fresh CR123s, with no resistor. No , no angry blue (well, any worse than the Nichia GS' already are!), and it is a great deal brighter than it was on 3v or 3.7v. Current draw at the tailcap is 160ma on fresh cells.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



[email protected] said:


> Yeah red's the go... I'm going to swap out the SB blue in my MTE for an UB red, another thing you need to check is the LED's radiated angle :thumbsup:


 
The red's are definitely nice...and definitely alot "stealthier"


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



jchoo said:


> Quick update... I've been running my Nichia GS off of two fresh CR123s, with no resistor. No , no angry blue (well, any worse than the Nichia GS' already are!), and it is a great deal brighter than it was on 3v or 3.7v. Current draw at the tailcap is 160ma on fresh cells.


 
I'll be PM'ing you with questions once I get enough time to put one of these together...not real "up to snuff" on putting resistors on, etc., but I definitely want to make a "BV-Deuce"!


----------



## NE450No2

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Yep, these are the kind of tasks I had in mind for this light!


 

Just a couple of nights ago I was in the woods, heavy pine trees, and the A2 white led's on low was plenty bright to walk amoung the trees, even when I was not on a trail.

Just now I tested my G2L with 2 different sets of batteries that will not light up a 60 bulb. They are quite a bit brighter than the 3 lumen led's of the A2. And have quite a bit better throw.

I also have the advantage of dropping new fresh batteries in the G2L if I need it to be brighter.

However I have a question. Will "driving the 60L with "spent" batteries shorten the life of the bulb?


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> The red's are definitely nice...and definitely alot "stealthier"



Only downside of the Ultra Bright red LED is it's 6 degree radiation pattern, the SB blue I've used has a much wider 20 degree pattern whilst the Super Bright 10,000mcd white's put out a glorious 43 degrees of luminescence :thumbsup:





NE450No2 said:


> However I have a question. Will "driving the 60L with "spent" batteries shorten the life of the bulb?



No your not overdriving it at all... I would NOT use mismatched lithiums in it though ONLY cells that have existed as a pair in another light, no point tempting fate using varied voltage cells together :duck:


----------



## NE450No2

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

[email protected]

Thanks for the info, I will keep the batteries in pairs.

I think I will start using my Vampire around the house and save the batteries in the A2 for more serious stuff.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> The red's are definitely nice...and definitely alot "stealthier"




After this undue pressure from angelofwar, I've given the Super Bright blue LED the flick and upgraded to an Ultra Bright Red 5mm LED supposedly rated as 2.1v @ 17,000mcd (638nm) with a 6 degree optic range :thumbsup:


Emitter in "ultra low" mode @ 2ft from w/shop wall





Same emitter in "turbo" mode @ 2ft from w/shop wall





My revamped 2 stage red LED CR123a battery vampire (ultra low mode) 






Just for comparisons sake here's the MTE up against the Jet3M's 2 Lm output underexposed to help display the difference


----------



## gallonoffuel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

How are you driving @2.1V or are you overdriving these LEDs? I'd like to make a 2-cell vampire module but getting a resistor in there looks nearly impossible. 6V supply with a 20mA drive current @ 3.2Vf yields a 150ohm resistor. Not sure how long it will run on that though.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



gallonoffuel said:


> How are you driving @2.1V or are you overdriving these LEDs?


You are correct I'm over-supplying them with "the juice" from a depleted SF123a currently measuring 2.91v @ rest, the "turbo" mode measures 2.22v @ the emitter whilst the low-low mode weighs in at about 1.7v (thanks to a 150Ω resistor in the 2 stage tail cap) :thumbsup:




gallonoffuel said:


> I'd like to make a 2-cell vampire module but getting a resistor in there looks nearly impossible. 6V supply with a 20mA drive current @ 3.2Vf yields a 150ohm resistor.


Replace the positive LED's "leg" with the cut down resistor like Superdave mentions in post #69, if you use a G60 lamp module like kosPap in post #17 you could also opt for a SMD (surface mount resistor) I suppose :thinking:



gallonoffuel said:


> Not sure how long it will run on that though.


A good while, I was running a 3.1v rated SB blue 5mm LED at 2.83v & 2.65v respectively with good results, there's further relevant details in post #80 of that particular arrangement, also seeing as these emitters are sipping 20mA+ from the capacity of a half depleted cell rated @ 1200mAh+ I'd expect some *serious* runtime! 



EDIT: I getting the feeling I really could justify the purchase of a light meter at this stage (perhaps along with a higher A range DMM)


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

+1 on the light meter! Maybe when I win the lottery...I can't really justify a light meter over $100, casue I don't have every 1 of every Surefire model...Yet...It's really neat to see you guys really building on the initial idea, and making little improvements. It helps to show the simpleness (just through a 5mm in there), and the versatility (adding resistors, etc.) to make it brighter or even run longer.


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I'm fixing to sell my mint older style G2 and all of my P60 modules with all of the LEDs I bought.

I really liked the idea, but it wasn't enough light for me.

Plus, I'm fixing to go rechargeable and after using up the last few batteries would be stuck :thinking:


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## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> +1 on the light meter! Maybe when I win the lottery...I can't really justify a light meter over $100



I was actually going to opt for one of the sub $100 units, like this one HERE I also I believe DX have something suitable in the $24 ~ $30 USD range 





Search said:


> I really liked the idea, but it wasn't enough light for me.
> 
> Plus, I'm fixing to go rechargeable and after using up the last few batteries would be stuck :thinking:



How much is sufficient for your needs? surely an UB white LED would come close to a useable output? :thinking:



Moving ahead with the runtime query posted by gallonoffuel, I found THIS battery runtime calculator created by CPF's penquissciguy, working with the assumption that a fresh CR123a is 3.2v then 2.9v is a 10% depletion transposing that to potential capacity left from 1200mAh we have ***900-1000mAh, hence we should enjoy 50+ hours of runtime off these depleted cells in our battery vampires (single cell application) and 40+ hours for the 2 cell application (lower 85% efficiency factored in for resistored LED drive) 

*** If somebody who's great with formulas wants to rework my lazy/rough approach please post your more accurate findings :thumbsup:


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> I really liked the idea,* but it wasn't enough light for me*.
> 
> QUOTE]
> 
> Then it worked...LOL! I use mine for going into our closet, etc. before bed, or in the morning, getting ready for work. Just enough to see what yer doing...


----------



## Search

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

After I posted that I did some more thinking and found a way around it.

My planning was to sell it for a little profit to add towards my non-existent flashlight budget.

Luckily I don't think I'm going to need the extra money so when we move out and have the baby I think I'll probably find way more uses for it. Well, I know I will 

The biggest problem now is I'm using a dead battery from my E1B. It drained the voltage so low that it's barely the amount of light it could be.

When the batteries go out in my 6P or E2DL I will get a higher voltage battery to use in the vampire. 

It did work, but for what I've found myself doing since I did the mod, it hasn't had any use but to check how centered the 5mm is


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Here's two more beamshots from mine, a re-do of a previous shot to better represent the (very nice) tint, and a second one showing the beam profile. 
This has become THE light I use for covert nighttime or early morning missions. I'd guess it's doing about 3 lumens or so. :huh:


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Search said:


> Luckily I don't think I'm going to need the extra money so when we move out and have the baby I think I'll probably find way more uses for it. Well, I know I will



For sure you will... speaking as a fellow parent, I can tell you something low output is absolutely perfect for those "quick cot checks" you'll find both you & your partner conducting (even more so for your first born) 

BTW congrat's on the impending family addition! :thumbsup:



Have you got the specifications for that particular 5mm LED Kestral? it's 8,000mcd perhaps? :thinking:


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



[email protected] said:


> Have you got the specifications for that particular 5mm LED Kestrel? it's 8,000mcd perhaps? :thinking:


7000 mcd, viewing angle 30 deg, forward current 25mA, voltage 3.3v (typical), 3.6 (max). It's Radio Shack p/n 276-0017. The best $2 (for a 2-pack) that I've spent for quite a while. I notice that RS has reviews on their website, and a previous purchaser had commented favorably on the warm tint. I guess that a person can get a 13000 mcd 5mm from online sellers, but this is the brightest 5mm that RS stocks.

BTW (if anybody is unsure) no resistor is needed, as I'm certain this could happily handle a new CR123 (I'm currently running a 'used' cell with an unknown previous amount of use). With regards to wanting a dimmer light, this is on the upper end of comfortable for my night-adapted eyes, but I'm happily drawing down this CR123 and maybe a year later it will be ~2 lumens or so.


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## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Thanks Kestral, I'd imagine these LEDs could handle more than their maximum rated Vf as the 2.1v rated LED I just installed is accepting current happily from a 2.9v cell, but much over a fresh cell might be too much IMHO :thumbsup:



According to this site HERE 7000mcd @ 30 degrees equals about 1.5Lm


----------



## gallonoffuel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

In the spirit of the Vampire and seeing how the RS 276-017 LEDs perform on depleted cells and 2xAA in a minimag, I decided to convert an MN01 lamp from my E1D into a small EDC vampire. Too about 10 minutes and most of that was letting the soldering iron heat up. Beam profile is solid, no hotspot to speak of and a nice circle of even light, and with the acceptable tint that these parts produce. Tada!


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Nice! I bet you get a better beam with the smaller reflector? Did the 5mm fit right in the slot, or did you have to bore it out any? I'm waiting for one of my MN0X's to bite the dust so I can give this a try. Was it pretty simple to put together? Or does it become evident once you get it apart? Nice set-up! Glad to see the "Vampire Project" expanding!


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Kestrel said:


> BTW (if anybody is unsure) no resistor is needed, as I'm certain this could happily handle a new CR123 (I'm currently running a 'used' cell with an unknown previous amount of use). With regards to wanting a dimmer light, this is on the upper end of comfortable for my night-adapted eyes, but I'm happily drawing down this CR123 and maybe a year later it will be ~2 lumens or so.


 
Hmmm...I know the red one's had small resitors built in (according to the package)...I was afraid to try these on a fresh cell due to the voltage limitations posted on the packaging, but I guess it would drop some under load (even a small one such as this)...but if you say they work, I think I'm gonna give it a try. What would you say the out-put is on a fresh cell? Is it noticeably brighter? Thanks Kestrel! Glad to see soo many people enjoying this thread...never thought it would make it to 5 pages...


----------



## gallonoffuel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Nice! I bet you get a better beam with the smaller reflector? Did the 5mm fit right in the slot, or did you have to bore it out any? I'm waiting for one of my MN0X's to bite the dust so I can give this a try. Was it pretty simple to put together? Or does it become evident once you get it apart? Nice set-up! Glad to see the "Vampire Project" expanding!



The 5mm pokes out as you see it without boring the plastic MN0X housing. I don't know if any of the beam pattern is being obstructed by the plastic, but I didn't really care in this case. It works fine without any drilling. 

The small cathode button at the bottom of the lamp pops out and the leg of the stock lamp is soldered on, which needs to be broken off. The negative leg is also soldered to the outside metal ring, but this came off easier. There is a ton of white chalky potting compound keeping the bulb in and it took me a while to get through it. Once you have 3 pieces in your hand (plastic housing, metal anode ring, metal cathode button) just bend the - leg of the LED 90 degrees so when you snap the anode ring on, it sort of holds the LED in. Solder that in. Then figure out how to cut the + leg and solder that to the button. I cut mine and bent it so it rested on the inside of the metal button, and got my soldering iron good and hot and flowed solder into it from the outside. 

It's fairly simple, the hardest part is getting the original bulb of out the LA.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



gallonoffuel said:


>



Sweet... now we have "Surefire royalty" being adapted for the 5mm battery vampire approach, really nice work there gallonoffuel could we trouble you for some beamshots? :thumbsup:


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



[email protected] said:


> Sweet... now we have "Surefire royalty" being adapted for the 5mm battery vampire approach, really nice work there gallonoffuel could we trouble you for some beamshots? :thumbsup:


 
Yes! Beamshots, please! I'd like to comapre it to the other 5mm beamshots, and then be able to better determine the need to frost it or not.


----------



## gallonoffuel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

This shot was taken at a distance of 3 feet. The beam diameter is roughly 24". There is no hotspot to speak of, just a smooth beam of warmish white. I don't know what my camera setting are or how to really set it up. I don't think any dome frosting is necessary. 

EDIT: The light was at a slight angle when photographing, hence the smearing of the beam at the top. This doesn't happen if the light is level.


----------



## kramer5150

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Great mod!!
I am smiling ear to ear... I did the entire build using scrap parts from my junk bin!!

Heres what I started with.. some spent primaries, old coin cell keychain light, a blown DX Xenon LA fresh out of the junk pile. Total cost = $0.00





At first I soldered the LED too far out. My thinking was that if I placed the emitter die at the same location as the Xenon filament, I'd get the best performance.... WRONG. I just got a big white wall doughnut hole





So I pushed the LED back in a little at a time to this point... The result is a nice floody beam, with a very slight doughnut hole thats only visible white wall hunting. Overall brightness is a little brighter than my Fenix E0, about 7-8 Lumens.

















T.O.P. host.





In keeping with the Lenser direct drive tradition, this one is up next...


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Blue is a great colour (my favourite) but the red 5mm LEDs have a lower Vf allowing for overdriving & longer runtimes on "spent" Lithium primaries 

BTW I really wouldn't be "mixing" depleted Lithium cells even for a battery vampire project


----------



## kosPap

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Guys today I started a rutime test of my blikig module just cause....

it uses a blinking white LED from a Dx fauxton...it bliked 148 times in 100 secs...now it is powered by an AW RCR...

time wil tell....


----------



## Badger_Girl

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I loved this idea and tried it myself. Used some old 5mm LED's I had for some coin cell lights. They were intended for use in a 2x coin cell light, but I learned that 2x CR123's will fry the emitter. One depleted CR123 works great.

I think the LED's are Nichia of some type. I had one type with a narrow beam pattern and one type with a wider pattern. I ended up using the wider ones because the beam was much nicer in the P60 reflector. I could not be happier. Here are some beam shots. It is not nearly as blueish as it looks in these pics.

Battery Vampire alone.




Compared to a P1D on low.


----------



## eshishlo

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I put a 5mm led form RS into an E1E and went for a walk around my house. When I turned off the light, the led continued to glow. It seems that there is a small trickle of current that is going through the tailcap at all times. I wonder if it make as noticeable difference in the runtime or the health of the cells. 
Even when locking out the tail cap, the led glowed.

Has anyone noticed this?:candle:
My build looks just like what gallonoffuel made...


----------



## gallonoffuel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



eshishlo said:


> I put a 5mm led form RS into an E1E and went for a walk around my house. When I turned off the light, the led continued to glow. It seems that there is a small trickle of current that is going through the tailcap at all times. I wonder if it make as noticeable difference in the runtime or the health of the cells.
> Even when locking out the tail cap, the led glowed.
> 
> Has anyone noticed this?:candle:
> My build looks just like what gallonoffuel made...



That is odd. It doesn't still glow when you remove the tailcap does it? How much does it glow compared to when the switch is turned on? Does it ever stop glowing after you let it rest for a while?


----------



## nzgunnie

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Well this has inspired me to have a go. I've got a generic G60 lamp that came with an old ultrafire, it's the type with the reflector that unscrews and the brass threaded section with the bulb in it. This should be a simple matter of desoldering the existing bulb and soldering in an LED out of one of my many keychain lights.

I might see if I can get an L2M host to house it all in.

Might finally have a use for all those battery station 2005 dated cells that wont light up much at all.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Wow...Well, I just got a hold of some UV Leds from "The Shack" (about time I coukd get some...they sale out so fast...)...while it's not too bright on a depleted (or even new) 1X123, it works excellent with a B65 battery...now I have a G2R-BK (UV)!!! I'll try to get some pic's up soon...nice to see this has become such a popular mod! Oh, and I built a flashlight from scratch with their 2nd to smallest project box, 2xAAA batt holder, SPST Switch, and high white LED. Now I can say I manufacture flashlights :devil:


----------



## mvyrmnd

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Inspired by this thread, I've built the ultimate battery miser light...(maybe)

I drilled out a P60 XP-G reflector, so that my 25,000mcd 5mm led fits perfectly. I insulated both leads so that I could put a 68Ohm resistor between the -'ve and the spring. I padded the whole thing out with blu-tack (the hack's best insulator friend  ) and the +'ve lead from the LED makes direct contact with the battery terminal.

Assuming a vF of 3V, a 68Ohm resistor should make the LED use 20mA from a 4.2V source.

The module is now in a Romisen RC-M4 18650 host. The calculator mentioned in the thread before offers a runtime of 155 Hours or so from the 2200mAh battery.

I haven't taken any photos, mainly due to embarrassment of my manufacturing abilities (functional, but ugly).

After some more digging through this thread, I've lightly sanded the LED... Now I have a perfectly diffuse, zero hotspot, incredibly long-life, incredibly low-output light. Yay!


----------



## mvyrmnd

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Since I'm not willing to post pics of the insides, at least I could show the finished product 







and switched on:






I measured the draw at the tailcap as 13.5mA. Not bad, but my Jetbeam Jet III-M on minimum draws only 3.2mA from the same 18650... This, however, is much nicer to use - it just casts a nice dim glow, where the Jetbeam is still very focused and you get one bright dot and nothing else.

I have about 80 5mm LED's sitting in a box. I wonder of anyone would buy once of these as a drop-in for $10 (minus the blu-tack, of course!)


----------



## Illum

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I have an idea with draining 3V cells to death but I'm hesitant with the hazards of the result. 

Zetex ZXSC380 + 100uH epoxy conformal inductor + 3x5mm white LED = useful flashlight that has around 90% efficiency at 3V input and 70% efficiency at 1.5V input before dropping out completely at 0.9V.

I can cram everything onto an 5mm LED's legs, I currently use this to drain CR2016s

ZXSC380s are cute, but soldering them on perf boards instead of cooper planes are proving difficult



I have since found small inductors, this is a proof of concept using a 47uH inductor


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I like the "tone" of your mod, mvyrmnd! Has a nice glow to it...Yeah, illum, my next step is to sodder a resistor to it like maelstrom did, to see if I can drag the life out a little bit more.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Got a few PM's on this, so figured I'd bump it to the top so they can find it easier and browse through it. Got a P90 that blew on me the other day...now I just need to find a 5mm LED...


----------



## red02

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Does it make any difference if the resistor is soldered to the tailcap or the LED?


----------



## Sgt. LED

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Nope. :thumbsup:


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Bump for hokum.


----------



## Illum

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



red02 said:


> Does it make any difference if the resistor is soldered to the tailcap or the LED?



if you measure your LED in the ohm setting, you will find that LEDs themselves are resistors. So where you put another resistor is up to you, before, after, in between...

1 + 2 = 3
2 + 1 = 3


----------



## red02

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Cool, I finally have an excuse to get a P60 Surefire incan. Now the question is which one...


----------



## Illum

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



red02 said:


> Cool, I finally have an excuse to get a P60 Surefire incan. Now the question is which one...



6P, its a classic


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



red02 said:


> Cool, I finally have an excuse to get a P60 Surefire incan. Now the question is which one...


I think going for a *1*xCR123 host is the way to go for these - no cell spacer hassles as with a *2*xCR123 body.

I purchased a 1xCR123 SolarForce L2m for my setup in this thread, but if I was doing it again I would have gotten the FiveMega 1xCR123 version of the SF 3P - overall it's a substantially nicer host than the SolarForce IMO.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Kestrel said:


> I think going for a *1*xCR123 host is the way to go for these - no cell spacer hassles as with a *2*xCR123 body.




OR alternatively go the 6P/17670 Li-Ion route, but you have to admit the L2M is kinda cool :thumbsup:


----------



## Casper507

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



[email protected] said:


> OR alternatively go the 6P/17670 Li-Ion route, but you have to admit the L2M is kinda cool :thumbsup:


Wait a minute.  The idea of a battery vampire is to suck all the power out of a primary cell. Thus a 17670 Li-Ion route a route without a desirable destination because if you suck all the possible power out of one you will be at a point where the cell is destroyed.


----------



## Illum

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Casper507 said:


> Wait a minute.  The idea of a battery vampire is to suck all the power out of a primary cell. Thus a 17670 Li-Ion route a route without a desirable destination because if you suck all the possible power out of one you will be at a point where the cell is destroyed.



I think hes referring to the alternatives of the battery vampire when the light is not used as such. unless you hope your new light to perform only one function for the rest of its life its probably wiser to consider its abilities down the long run.

3P is harder to find than an E1e + E2C + C head...or you could consider a body from Valiant or Malkoff


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Illum said:


> I think hes referring to the alternatives of the battery vampire when the light is not used as such.



Bang on Illum... Bang on! 

Earlier in this thread I had asked the very same question myself of a RCR123/Solarforce L2M combo, but if simple "no fuss" low light is what you want to kit up for then why not make an compact flashlight with awesome runtime :thumbsup:

For the record I never recommend (nor use myself) non-protected Li-Ions


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



[email protected] said:


> Bang on Illum... Bang on!
> 
> Earlier in this thread I had asked the very same question myself of a RCR123/Solarforce L2M combo, but if simple "no fuss" low light is what you want to kit up for then why not make an compact flashlight with awesome runtime :thumbsup:
> 
> For the record I never recommend (nor use myself) non-protected Li-Ions


 
Yep! I built one yesterday out of a blown P90 (which SF replaced for free :twothumbs). Used a Green 7.2 volt (?) LED from a 6 volt key chain light, and can run it perfectly fine off of a RCR123 or 2 primaries, or a primary and a dummy cell, or 2 AA's! And MFG'ed lows, THIS LOW, are hard to find.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> MFG'ed lows, THIS LOW, are hard to find.



Especially when you consider the battery options & P60 host format, so when are you going to open your own sales thread?


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Just a mini update, I was messing around with my 5mm / P60 and while it's nice and bright (4-5 lumens or so) on 1xCR123 and 2xAA alkalines, it is maybe ~1/10th as bright when on 2xAA NiMH (Duraloops). Apparently that small difference in voltage makes a huge difference in output.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

1 CR123a would run close to the upper operating voltage specification of many 5mm LEDs (whilst over-driving others) :thumbsup:


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



[email protected] said:


> Especially when you consider the battery options & P60 host format, so when are you going to open your own sales thread?


 
I need about $20k to get intitial supplies and stuff...figure $100 a pop with a lifetime warranty??? :naughty:


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Kestrel said:


> Just a mini update, I was messing around with my 5mm / P60 and while it's nice and bright (4-5 lumens or so) on 1xCR123 and 2xAA alkalines, it is maybe ~1/10th as bright when on 2xAA NiMH (Duraloops). Apparently that small difference in voltage makes a huge difference in output.


 
Yeah, these 5mm's can act strange...


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

And a little more parts swapping - 3x Alkalines are too much for these - I started to get severe tint shift after 5-10 seconds and quickly turned it off. Not really a surprise when I think about it.

Looks like if you really want long non-lithium runtimes for these modules you're limited to 2x alkalines or (maybe) 3x NiMH's. 'C'-sized cells work nicely. :devil:


----------



## Illum

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Yeah, these 5mm's can act strange...



with white LEDs having much higher foward voltages than 3V that will become apparent, but amber LEDs or what not with a foward voltage near or below 3V you'll notice slight to no difference:huh:


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

very cool, I want to try building one too.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Illum said:


> with white LEDs having much higher foward voltages than 3V that will become apparent, but amber LEDs or what not with a foward voltage near or below 3V you'll notice slight to no difference:huh:


 
Hmmm...


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



jchoo said:


> Nichia GS modded P60, direct driven from an 18650





jchoo said:


> Quick update... I've been running my Nichia GS off of two fresh CR123s, with no resistor. No , no angry blue (well, any worse than the Nichia GS' already are!), and it is a great deal brighter than it was on 3v or 3.7v. Current draw at the tailcap is 160ma on fresh cells.




I got one of your P60 mods with Nichia GS, maybe this very one you talked about above. (The one off marketplace a week ago)

Question, is it safe to run it off 1x18650, fully charged? I tried for a few seconds with no bizarre effects, no color shifting. Will it harm it by using 18650s on a constant basis? You state you tried 2x123 with no ill effects.


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I ran the P60 Mod with Nichia GS all night on fully charged 18650 cell. After 8 hours, it barely registered on the cell. I will repeat the test over 24 hours but it appears to withstand 4V just fine. I wonder if the overall lifetime is reduced somewhat.
You could navigate at night, in the woods, just fine with that setup.

Now the lumens were slightly higher than Gerber Infinity Ultra. The tint was much better.

I also tried a depleted CR123A cell. At 2.9V. It rather quickly went down to 2.6V. The lumens were a fraction of full brightness on 18650, I would say 1/4 as bright. Still marginally usable, if discretion was desired. However I would say navigating outside in the woods would be more difficult than with a fully charged 18650.

I think the perfect host for this P60 mod is a 1x123 P60 host instead of 6P on 1x18650. Would make a very nice EDC backup lite. You could put in a fresh 123 cell and run it forever, well into the depletion.

In any case, I think this setup obsoletes Gerber Infinity Ultra. More lumens, probably better runtime and better tint for sure.


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I re-ran the test. I used 1x18650 AW cell, in FiveMega host. Ran it 9PM-9AM. The cell went from 4.2V - 4.0V or to 50% of the capacity in 12 hours. I would guesstimate that it would go for another 12 hours, meaning the total runtime should be 24 hours.

Keeping in mind my AW 18650 2600 mAh cell is about a year old and probably lost 20% of its capacity as I always store it fully charged.

This runtime is good, but not great. Malkoff M60LL can go almost as much on 1x18650 (15-20 hours) but it is several times brighter, about 50 lumens. I suppose the real reason for the 5mm 'battery vampire' is that it can run below 3.7V down to 2.5V or below. So if willing to discharge the cell down to 2.5V, it can go well beyond 24 hours of runtime, maybe twice as much? I did test it with a CR123A at 2.8V and it did light up but it was awfully dim. Still, usable and a lot better than nothing considering most people throw away depleted CR123A cells.

This proves to me that: There is nothing wrong with the module but something really wrong with the salvaged 18650 cells I have. It's a 2350 mAh cell. It appears to have just a fraction of its intended capacity, maybe as low as 1/4 to 1/3.

I think I will build a Surefire 3P type host, from FiveMega, using this P60 5mm module. It will have long runtime, be reasonably bright and very compact. Like Gerber Infinity Ultra but on CR123A cell.


----------



## CarpentryHero

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

This is way cooler than when I electrical taped LED's to the coin shaped watch batteries. A Moonlight mode Surefire  
Awesome!


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

What's the best host for this module?

Trying to decide between FiveMega 3P clone which is C/C body versus an E-series with E2C adapter.

VME head is not possible as it's only for Malkoff drop-ins.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



etc said:


> What's the best host for this module?



The SolarForce L2m seems to be a "hot" favourite at the moment for the single CR123a format! :thumbsup:


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

This is Nichia P60 mod versus Gerber Infinity.

I tested the runtime on a AW 2600 mAh cell, it's at least 24 hours down to 3.7V and possibly more as the cell is aging and likely lost some capacity. That doesn't of course include discharge lower than 3.7V, say on a CR123A cell.

A 6P type host with 1x18650 is temping, it seems to handle 4.2V without issues, but I think I will get a 3P clone and run it on 1x123 cell. In the battery vampire mode, as the 123 cell dropped well below 3V, it's much dimmer than at full blast on 1x18650. 

An interesting observation is that it fired right up on 3xAA configuration in a FiveMega body. Another interesting TSHTF lite potential.


----------



## red02

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



Kestrel said:


> I think going for a *1*xCR123 host is the way to go for these - no cell spacer hassles as with a *2*xCR123 body.
> 
> I purchased a 1xCR123 SolarForce L2m for my setup in this thread, but if I was doing it again I would have gotten the FiveMega 1xCR123 version of the SF 3P - overall it's a substantially nicer host than the SolarForce IMO.



Same here, just wish someone would have told me that the P60 spring doesn't make contact with the L2m host natively. Almost had me thinking that I blew out the LED. Luckily I had some Cu tape lying around... Finally got my P60s and it took about 5 minutes to make once I had all the parts. Don't have a camera, so pics will have to wait. Getting the lamp out of the P60 was much easier once I realized that I didn't have to break it. Just pushing it out from behind is enough.

The light is really floody, much more than the Photon Freedom which has the same LED. 

Outstanding light, thanks for the great idea.


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I got the FiveMega 3P clone host, will run some tests tonight.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Neat to see when yer "invention" takes ona life of it's own, and slowly changes, molds itself into somethnig else...and it's still the same in "your mind" as when you came up with the idea. Neat stuff going on here guys! Like to see those runtimes Etc!


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Neat to see when yer "invention" takes ona life of it's own, and slowly changes, molds itself into somethnig else...and it's still the same in "your mind" as when you came up with the idea. Neat stuff going on here guys! [...]


Remember when you first mentioned that you had done this in some post way back when, and I thought it was such a good idea that I encouraged you to do a thread on it? And now, 182 posts and 10,000+ thread views later. :thumbsup:


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Here it is in the 3P clone body. I tried to get the runtime but am sorry to say I lost track of it and now not entirely sure what it is, other than it's pretty long. I ran it 3 times, each time overnight, so it's around 15-20 hours on 1x123. And not even done.
It's bright for 1 hour and then it quickly drops to 3V and 1/2 of the initial brightness and stays there seemingly forever. Meaning that it drops from being twice as bright as Infinity to about the same level. The lumens are completely comparable to Gerber Infinity Ultra, except the tint is much better. I suspect the runtime is pretty similar.
Nice TSHTF lite. I don't really 'get' the 'battery vampire' feature but pop in a fresh cell and you got days of usage out of it, ranging from circa 15-5 lumens without even hitting the vampire mode. In the 'battery vampire' mode I am not sure I care for it, as it's pretty dim, but the benefit is that it's still (very marginally useful) and doesn't cut out on you. All these "I can use 0.2 lumens" people will love this mod... I do too but it will not replace my EDC lite, 6P clone.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



etc said:


> I don't really 'get' the 'battery vampire' feature




TBH there's nothing to "get" as it were, think of it as a means to use up what energy is left in a Lithium primary cell that cannot sufficiently power a "regular" flashlight/torch anymore :thumbsup:


Tree hugging flash-a-holics :nana:


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Yes, that is true - theoretically. In reality the lumens that it gives are so low that they are only useful for some super stealth mode.
I suppose a little better than nothing but in reality not much better than nothing. 

The lite really shines on a fresh CR123A cell with enormous runtime. I also want to test it on that new 2900 mAh 18650 cell but don't want to overload with 4.2V that it's not rated for as I think it might shorten its life. But it's much brighter on the 18650 cell.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Your mileage (runtime/output) will vary depending of the choice of LED r/t Vf characteristics, this is why personally I eventually opted for a red emitter 

If i need a low 2Lm of white light my Jet3M can provide it with a minimum of fuss


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Ditto Maelstrom. Red LED's can get more juice outta them. I didn't really have "EDC" in mind when the concept came up, just a "sneak around the house" at night light or a hurricane/extended power outage light to use all those useless CR123's we flashaholics tend to gather, instead of chucking them.


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Had it running over night yet another time, maybe 3rd or 4th one and it still keeps going. The output seems to be half that of Gerber Infinity at this point but still good enough to read a map or navigate around the house.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



etc said:


> Had it running over night yet another time, maybe 3rd or 4th one and it still keeps going. The output seems to be half that of Gerber Infinity at this point but still good enough to read a map or navigate around the house.


 
Sounds awesome etc.!


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I got the runtime figure: Forever. 
Looked at it tonight and it hasn't changed in lumens to any real degree since yesterday. Good emergency lite.


----------



## red02

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I started using an exhausted cell out the SF Minimus just about as soon as I completed the mod. Between leaving it on over night and the frequent usage, I'd guesstimate about 50+ hours with no noticeable dimming.

The really great thing about this light is that there are 0 converter loses. No need to boost the voltage like the GUI. With the lower 1.7v of a red led this thing really will run forever.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Ditto Maelstrom. Red LED's can get more juice outta them.





red02 said:


> The really great thing about this light is that there are 0 converter loses. No need to boost the voltage like the GUI. With the lower 1.7v of a red led this thing really will run forever.



So considering there's no actual electronic circuit these have an extremely high power efficiency, gotta' love the "improvisation factor" :thumbsup:


----------



## red02

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Just remembered that my white LRI Freedom is using 2x3v 2016. Are they seriously overdriving the LED or is it alright to use 2xcr123s?


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



red02 said:


> Just remembered that my white LRI Freedom is using 2x3v 2016. Are they seriously overdriving the LED or is it alright to use 2xcr123s?




Not familiar with the freedom does it have a DD or buck drive? as for 2 CR123a I wouldn't recommend it without some type of step down/resistored configuration... the highest I'd push these LED's is a fresh Li-Ion cell @ 4.15v :thumbsup:


----------



## red02

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Its just a circuit board with a control chip. Direct drive all the way, since there absolutely no regulation I doubt there is any type of converter or resistor.


----------



## baterija

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



red02 said:


> Are they seriously overdriving the LED or is it alright to use 2xcr123s?



C. None of the above. :naughty:

Those little coins can't sustain a high current. Under load the voltage is sagging way down. In effect the batteries themselves are limiting the max current enough to prevent serious overdrive. CR123's can handle much higher currents without the same voltage droop.


----------



## red02

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



baterija said:


> C. None of the above. :naughty:
> 
> Those little coins can't sustain a high current. Under load the voltage is sagging way down. In effect the batteries themselves are limiting the max current enough to prevent serious overdrive. CR123's can handle much higher currents without the same voltage droop.


You just saved me a few bucks, thanks for the heads up.


----------



## KevinL

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Watch out for flying glass. The P60 I decided to cannibalize took its revenge on me by sending glass flying EVERYWHERE, even though I'd taken pains to use an envelope to prevent that from flying. 

The bad news is the reflector has two small scratches, the good news is that after vacuuming all the glass up, I have an empty P60 shell 

I can't find my emerald green LEDs though...


----------



## red02

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

You can remove the lamp by pushing it out from behind once the springs are removed. No glass, no mess.

Pretty sure that the lamp I removed still works...


----------



## KevinL

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



red02 said:


> You can remove the lamp by pushing it out from behind once the springs are removed. No glass, no mess.
> 
> Pretty sure that the lamp I removed still works...



Depends how generous Surefire was with the epoxy. They must have given me half the tube for my P60


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I ran it again overnight and again the lumens are not diminished with that CR123A cell. I think this is the 5th night but really I lost track of runtime. I don't think I have hit the 'vampire mode' yet, as I started with the a fresh cell, which to make makes most sense anyway.


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Since I have a large pile of used CR123's (price was right i.e. free), they first run in my SF T1A, then when the cells can't sustain max output in that, they go to this. So 100% vampire mode over here.


----------



## etc

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I hit 2.8V on this 123 cell and it's pretty dim now, somewhere between 1-5 lumens, way dimmer than Gerber Infinity. I think it's in the 'vampire' mode now.

Since it's so floody, it's essentially useless for navigation outdoors but somewhat useful if you want to read a map or go around the house.

To reiterate, this lite shines on a fresh 123 with enormous runtime before it even gets to the 'battery vampire' stage, but I wouldn't count on the latter, it's just a bonus. 
Great TSHTF lite basically.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Not wanting to "reinvent the wheel" but I chanced upon a P60-5mm LED conversion guide circa 2006 (thanks to an unrelated google search) and figured I'd post it here for posterities sake and as an additional reference source :thumbsup:

Lemonade from Lemons


----------



## archimedes

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I realize this is bumping an old (though awesome) thread, but didn't see mention of anyone else using a *fivemega *bi-pin adapter for this mod - Rather over-engineered for this purpose, admittedly, but a FM G4/D26-Sunlight adapter works _great _!

I got a bunch of different LEDs, in various flavors and colors, and swapping them is super-easy with this adapter (since the leads just slide into the bi-pin holes). To focus, just loosen the side "set screw" and adjust as needed.

Right now, I am running a 3.0Vf (20mA) diffused yellow (585nm) 55mcd/40deg LED in a SureFire 3P host ....


----------



## DM51

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

AoW, I'm not seeing your photos in post #1. Did you move them or delete them?


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



DM51 said:


> AoW, I'm not seeing your photos in post #1. Did you move them or delete them?



I'm guessing they got moved in photo-bucket when I was loading my stuff for the SF manuals thread I did up DM. I'll re-post them here sometime this week-end. It's kind of hard to do the mod with-out 'em...LOL!


----------



## fyrstormer

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Nowadays it would be better to buy an empty P60 LED drop-in kit from Illumination Supply and install a Cree XP-G and a Joule Thief driver in it. Alternately, a smaller and pre-assembled solution would be to buy a Peak Logan, which will basically run until the CR123 is completely dead.


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

The whole point of this thread is to use parts that many here already have on hand: a dead P60 LA (i.e. free) and a 5mm LED ($1 or less).
What would be the cost estimate for your suggested alternate configuration?


----------



## fyrstormer

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Illumination Supply sells empty P60 kits for $4.00 apiece, not including shipping of course. It also has a removable reflector, which makes it easier to assemble everything without leaving a fingerprint on the reflector surface, which may matter for some people. Nowadays I suspect lots of people who have the ability and the inclination to build one of these also have a couple spare surface-mount LEDs laying around. Driver boards vary in price depending on complexity, so that part of the cost is impossible to estimate. There's no reason you couldn't use a 5mm LED and a resistor in it, though, in which case it would cost just a few bucks more for the empty P60 kit. In any event it likely would not cost more to build than it would cost to buy a new P60-compatible incan assembly, so it would still be a net savings and a fun project too.


----------



## nbp

I just recently got a CR123 dummy cell as part of some bonus stuff in a trade...time to bust up a P60 and make one of these and stick it in a G2 with the dummy cell to burn up my depleted primaries. Radio Shack here I come! Whats a nice little clean white 5mm emitter to look for these days? How many options will I have, or is there just one choice there?


----------



## fyrstormer

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

The SMJ 4-die 5mm LEDs from The Sandwich Shoppe are nice. Also, LED-Tech.de sells some half-watt 5mm LEDs that produce the best flood beam I've ever seen in a 5mm LED.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



nbp said:


> I just recently got a CR123 dummy cell as part of some bonus stuff in a trade...time to bust up a P60 and make one of these and stick it in a G2 with the dummy cell to burn up my depleted primaries. Radio Shack here I come! Whats a nice little clean white 5mm emitter to look for these days? How many options will I have, or is there just one choice there?



The one I mention later in the thread is the best they have. Makes for a nice little night stand/find you way through the house at night light.


----------



## nbp

angelofwar said:


> Well, finally made it up to Radio Shack...the winner appears to be the "5mm-High Brightness LED's" (P/N 276-0017). Rated at 7000MCD, with a voltage range of 3.3V and 3.6 (max).
> 
> I'm doing a pseudo-runtime now using a RCR 123 that read 3.38volts at start...it's been going for 1h48m with no signs of loss in lumens. It's about as bright as my older Inova X1 (5-7 lumens by my guesstimate), and is plenty for finding my way around the garage.
> 
> Once again, this isn't supposed to be a pocket rocket...just a way to safely get rid of your old cells, and for extended power-outages, and save your pocket-rockets for when things get busy. It can also double as a back-up bulb if your incan (or even led) goes down, and will let more people get use out of their 3P's. Speaking, I might have to get one, if they weren't so expensive...
> 
> Nice lights so far...I might have to break one of my crappy P60's to get a new green 5mm I got...those appear to have a higher voltage and be more useable than the yellow's/red's. Plus, they're close in tint to the LED's on the A2-YG. I also grabbed a 10mm high-white...gonna try plugging those into a PR based buld, and see if I can make my own nite-ize drop-ins :naughty:




Is this the one AoW?


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



nbp said:


> Is this the one AoW?



That's it NBP


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



nbp said:


> Is this the one AoW?


Yes it is, I just checked my Electron Hut (Radio Shack, lol) packaging and I used the same item for mine.

Edit: AoW beat me to it. This 5mm LED has a considerably nicer tint (i.e. more neutral) than the standard el-cheapo 5mm LED's.
They are a bit more expensive at ~$2 for a two-pack, but still pocket change.


----------



## nbp

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Sweet, thanks boys. I picked up a 2-pack today on my way home and intend to work on one of these this afternoon. (Why go outside in the beautiful weather when I can stay inside and play with flashlights?) I think I may have a dismantled LA from when I wanted to do one of these awhile ago and then never finished...otherwise I can break a new one.  I'll let ya know how it comes together later.


----------



## nbp

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Well...it's together. I learned two things though: 1.) I'm not a modder. 2.) I need a smaller soldering iron...and a fair amount of practice with it. 

In spite of the now smudgy reflector and the crappy soldering job, it does in fact work! I put it in a G2 (alu head for heat dissipation  ) with a dummy cell and an old CR123. Also, I am pretty impressed with the beam quality, especially given the slightly off center emitter and less than perfect reflector. The tint is decent too-on the neutral side of cool. :thinking: Probably 2 or 3 lumens in my estimation. 

Here is what it looks like running. Kinda a neat pic actually, considering I just shot it with my phone real quick. 









AND A BEAMSHOT!!!!!!

That's from about 18 inches, on my closet wall, which is painted plain white. 







Whatcha think, modding gurus?


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Well, no modding guru here but my thought is that the tint looks on, but the donut surprises me. Is the 5mm LED down as much as possible, i.e. touching the plastic cylinder that previously held the 6V bulb?

The reason that I ask is that with mine I noticed that I got that same donut if my 5mm LED was seated deeper, i.e. by using a spacer to increase the distance between the reflector and the plastic bulb 'holder'.



Kestrel said:


> The LED is seated to reference off the plastic riser, without further elevation modifications. I tried adding a washer between the aluminum reflector and the plastic bulb holder (to seat the LED 'deeper' into the reflector), but the only visible change was a slight donut. I also added a single layer of paper to better center the plastic bulb holder inside the hole in the aluminum reflector.
> 
> I am happy with the beam quality, it is virtually perfect to my eyes.
> 
> Regarding tint, it is slightly warmer than most of my LED lights when doing side-to-side comparisons.


----------



## nbp

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

It's a little off kilter, but not terrible. That very well could be the reason for the donut though. I intend to rip it apart after while anyways and redo it when I pick up a soldering iron with a smaller tip and some smaller diameter solder. It's kinda messy now. To be honest though, it's a better beam than I was expecting anyways given previous experience with most 5mm powered lights.


----------



## fyrstormer

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Lightly sanding the emitter before installation might help, as it will behave more like an unfocused light source than it would with an un-modified plastic dome. Gotta remember, 5mm LEDs have their own built-in optics.

A wide-angle LED or a side-emitting LED might also work well.

Radio Shack sells a nice little butane-powered soldering iron and solder with silver in it. I use both for my modding jobs.


----------



## nbp

You know, for a $2 mod, this thing is really growing on me. Sufficient couple lumens of floody light, just perfect for puttering around the house after lights out without turning them back on. Tons of run-time even on an old cell. And the comfy and familiar G2 platform, easy to hold and use, WITH momentary! I have it now by my bedside with my T1A for evening duty. This was a great idea AoW, thanks. :thumbsup:


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



nbp said:


> You know, for a $2 mod, this thing is really growing on me. Sufficient couple lumens of floody light, just perfect for puttering around the house after lights out without turning them back on. Tons of run-time even on an old cell. And the comfy and familiar G2 platform, easy to hold and use, WITH momentary! I have it now by my bedside with my T1A for evening duty. This was a great idea AoW, thanks. :thumbsup:




Thanks nbp! I can tell by all ya'lls post counts, that you have gone through the "brighter isn't always better" stage! Glad ya like! I need to build another...I still have my UV one, but all my white one's have been gifted...LOL!


----------



## nbp

Interestingly, most of the lights I have aren't any brighter than the ones I bought when I joined here over 4 yrs ago. I still only have about 3 lights over 200 lms and I rarely use them. All my EDC lights are between 100-200 lm on high. So a nice little low level dropin in a great host is definitely something I can appreciate.


----------



## nein166

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Just recently found this thread and had the parts on hand (or so I thought) to make one of these. 
I used a 5mm low dome wide angle LED with GlowInc powder on the back side that is rated at 3.2vf
The P60 was already taken apart but I found out it was a different spring set maybe X80.
To get around that I bent the last bit of the ground spring over the outside of itself widening the base of the spring
I used hot glue to set the LED in the Reflector and to adhere some extra glow powder under the LED
Also the hot glue holds the spring base to the reflector






Now the light host will be a SF G2 and I don't have a spare dummy cell so I used a long spring and a HiLiter Cap
I poked a hole in the HiLiter cap off center. Clipped the spring to length and threaded it into the cap hole.
The entire spring is in the cap so it can't get loose and short to the outer spring. The long spring is threaded into the center spring









I put it in the G2 which has a UCL from an old XR-E mod and fed it a rather live CR123, couldn't find any zombies that my L1 hasn't killed again.
Guess I should put it in a normal light till its dead and then let the vampire have a taste.
This is a beamshot of the Preon2 on low and P60 vampire its very throwy with an okay flood

Preon2 <--- ---> P60 Battery Vampire


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Very nice, nein!!! Like the mcgyverness you used to get it working! Now there's no reason to ever throw away another half-spent CR123 again! The $2 a pop price tag per cell doesn't seem so bad once you have one of these!


----------



## nein166

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Very nice, nein!!! Like the mcgyverness you used to get it working! Now there's no reason to ever throw away another half-spent CR123 again! The $2 a pop price tag per cell doesn't seem so bad once you have one of these!


Thanks AOW
$2 a pop! I don't feed my lights those fancy Gourmet batteries. Mine get the USDA quality TitaniumInnovations for $1 each


----------



## nbp

This light is almost too miserly! It's gonna take FOREVER to wear a cell down to an unusable level. I need to go camping for a couple days or something where I can leave it on for hours a night because a few minutes a night of burn on this setup means I am Never going to get through all my partly used cells. What else can I shine this thing on? Haha.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



nbp said:


> This light is almost too miserly! It's gonna take FOREVER to wear a cell down to an unusable level. I need to go camping for a couple days or something where I can leave it on for hours a night because a few minutes a night of burn on this setup means I am Never going to get through all my partly used cells. What else can I shine this thing on? Haha.



Just keep yer spent cells in a plastic case forget about them until you need them (hurricane/long term power outage, etc.). That's how I justify keeping my spent cells. BTW, the ten year shelf life SF gives there batteries is "misleading"...I tested an 11 year old cell, and it read 3.22. I'm guessing there useable shelf life is closer to 15-20 like the other lithium cells, but they underrate them like they do the outputs.


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Just keep yer spent cells in a plastic case forget about them until you need them (hurricane/long term power outage, etc.). That's how I justify keeping my spent cells.


Yeah I do the same, keep them in an old Mentos container


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



[email protected] said:


> Yeah I do the same, keep them in an old Mentos container


The taste is a bit lacking however ...


----------



## cland72

I found my personal perfect use for this setup. 3am my son needs to be fed and the output on this is perfect for getting around the house with dark adapted eyes. I am running it in a brinkman maxfire with one of AW's 123 dummy cells and it works like magic. 

Posted using Tapatalk on my HTC Evo


----------



## greatscoot

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I think I am going to try my first mod. A.O.W. is it possible to repost the pics from first post in the thread?


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



greatscoot said:


> I think I am going to try my first mod. A.O.W. is it possible to repost the pics from first post in the thread?



I will try to repost them for ya soon, scoot.


----------



## greatscoot

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

So I went to "the shack" picked up the LED's, and ordered the reflector assembly from Illumination Supply. I was really set to make this only to find out when I opened the lamp assembly that they are designed for an LED pill (bummer).

Time to hunt down some old P60's somewhere


----------



## nbp

Put a WTB in the MP for burned out incan P60s. Probably you can get some from other members for the cost of shipping, which isn't much.


----------



## angelofwar

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Glad to see this idea still alive and kicking...ok...reposting the pics (4 years later realizing they are not the best "do this" pictures, but , for what it is worth:

(Shown with yellow and red led builds)


----------



## [email protected]

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



angelofwar said:


> Glad to see this idea still alive and kicking...



*+1* :thumbsup:


Still a big fan of the red LED's low VF (consumption economy), expended CR123a cells last ages


----------



## greatscoot

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I was able to pick up a couple of P60's cheap on ebay and I have created my first "Vampire". The beam looks like the one in post #218, so I need to do some tweaking of LED position, but it was cool making this. Time to pick up some colored LED's now. 
Thanks for the original post A.O.W.


----------



## greatscoot

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I have been running a 123 tested at 2.85v for 20 hours now with no noticeable drop in output.


----------



## angelofwar

**Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Awesome scoot! Glad to see this idea still alive and kicking!


----------



## S1LVA

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I just saw this! My soldering iron is MIA right now but I am a modern-day MacGyver 

A little scotch tape and tinfoil along with an LED harvested from a keychain light... 10 mins later and I have a sick little light engine!

I'll make a better quality one someday, but for now this is too cool!

S1LVA


----------



## hopkins

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*


----------



## nbp

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Bump for a great old timey thread. Even I was able to do this mod! So there is hope for all newbies out there. Give it a go.


----------



## RobertMM

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Made one with a LED harvested from a dead blackberry phone(the one used for camera flash). Used a Solarforce lamp assembly, had a horrible beam despite being adjustable for focus so I had to frost the LED dome with 2000grit sandpaper. 
Result: very floody and smooth beam with just a touch of a hotspot. Lights up on a CR123 primary measuring 2.5 volts, about 1 lumen compared to my Quark QTA .25 kumen mode. 
What I like about it is that with a fresh primary over 3.2volts, Its brighter(ceiling bounce) than the 25 lumen mode on the Quark. 
Seems to consume very little power too. I like it way better than my first one with a 5mm led. More versatile this way.


----------



## Kestrel

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

A good thread & bumpworthy. 

A while back I built up a couple more P60's in such a fashion, but instead of using the older-style 5mm LED's, I used the newer 60 degree floody 5mm LED's.

Worked fantastic, great beam quality and a very good hotspot since the P60 reflector is now catching a significant amount of light from those floody 60deg LED's.


----------



## Illum

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



hopkins said:


>



err, why are you draining an eneloop? oo:


----------



## RobertMM

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*





Here's mine. 
Ongoing runtime test with two Sony alkaleaks in a SF G3, after 20 hours output down to 5 lumens compared to my QTA, from initial output of around 25.


----------



## Beacon of Light

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

I would love one of these but my skills at making one are probably less than what is required and the original posts pictures are gone forever. Anyone have one they'd be willing to part with/sell? Would prefer one with an ultra low power consumption red led. Thanks and hope people will relive this thread resurrection.


----------



## Illum

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

A D26 with a low consumption LED like a 5mm? or an SMT type like an XP-E?


----------



## sgt253

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Im going to have to try this...


----------



## firefly99

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*

Sorry, to bump an old thread. Just wondering has anyone try this mod using surface mount LED?


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## nein166

*Re: *Beamshots-Post #36*Build yer own "Battery Vampire" with a P60*



firefly99 said:


> Sorry, to bump an old thread. Just wondering has anyone try this mod using surface mount LED?


Well if you use a low current consuming emitter not a power emitter it could work. I don't think there would be an advantage and doubt it would work with the reflector from an original P60. I thought about doing this with a burnt out P60 LED drop-in with a fried driver but didn't have a low forward voltage mounted LED that would sip the juice.


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## firefly99

nein166 said:


> didn't have a low forward voltage mounted LED that would sip the juice.


Is a forward voltage of 1.8~2 consider low ? I could send you a few smd red led, when I receive the next shipment of 2000 led, if you PM me your address.


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## scout24

The new Yuji 5mm's work nicely for this. I put one in a sacrificial P60 today, and am running it in a stubby "G1" Nitrolon Surefire. Suprisingly nice beam, and I'm sure heat won't be an issue...  I'd post a pic, but Photobucket is Photobucket, and I don't have another host site yet...


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## nein166

Yeah right what's the deal Photobucket you messed up all the threads.
If you have Yuji to spare I'd buy some off you at Kartracer's FSM if your coming


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## scout24

Nein- I'll be sure to bring you a few. I've got 3200k 45° and 60°


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## nein166

Cool, the noise from screws and cogs turning will make it hard to sleep


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## Buck91

Older thread, I know. Making a few with yuji LEDs as cr123 vamps and blackout use. Are we keeping the grey plastic base in place? Seems like my LED leads are a little short- maybe *just* long enough to solder but I certainly can't wrap them.

What is the trick to getting solder to stick to the steel spring? Is my 40w iron just too weak or is there something I don't know?

I plan to use these in an L2M setup for either 1xcr123 and/or in an L2M setup with an extender to run 2xAA. Curious, though, if anybody has used resistors to run them off 2xCR123? Using the above linked calculator it would take 140ohms and they recommend running a 150ohm resistor. Any reason this wouldn't work?


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## peter yetman

Are you using soldering flux?
P


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## Buck91

Yes but maybe there is a better type? I'm using the same tub I got from Radioshack about 10 years ago which I have used on all types of electronics to date.


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## bykfixer

I kept the plastic base. No need to "wrap" the leads, just bend one to touch the smaller spring and the other on the opposite side in a way that it touches the outer spring. 

The smaller spring touches the battery lead at the positive end of the battery. The larger spring touches the body of the light to act as the ground.






One lead touches larger spring





Other lead touches smaller spring
This one is fugly, but another one turned out nice but leads could not be seen by the camera.





Mutt light
Solar Force head, fivemega body, Laser Products tailcap.


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## scout24

Agreed, I've never soldered one. Just bent the legs on the 5mm led, and pushed the SF springs back in place. Makes it easier to replace the LED when you accidentally grab that assembly and drop it into a 6P with two 123's in it. Ask me how I know...  As an aside, the emitter did actually work for a minute as I sat there and wondered what was wrong with it...


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## bykfixer

"Hmmm, wonder why it's smoking like that?" "zzzt". lol

If I recall correct some folks were testing Yuji's to see how much and for how long they could go with various amounts of current, and how bright they got. I turned away from the computer screen as torture makes me squeemish.


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## Buck91

*Build yer own &quot;Battery Vampire&quot; with a P60*

Wow I’m really surprised how well this turned out. Even more surprised that just bending the led leads under the spring seats is working and holding up to multiple drops.

Interestingly the p60 reflector seems to be working very well with my yuji sample. Not 100 percent sure which beam profile this led is but looking at the pattern from the p60 it’s developed a nice tight hotspot with broad, bright spill. And excellent task light and really lights up a room despite its low output running 2AA...


At about 1 foot on a beige wall


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## Buck91

*Build yer own &quot;Battery Vampire&quot; with a P60*

And at about 1 meter. FWIW the beam appears completely uniform to my eye, the rings are somehow a product of my iPhone camera.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## scout24

*Re: Build yer own &quot;Battery Vampire&quot; with a P60*

Buck91- Nice! And it'll run a LONG time...


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