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marsrover
Gender: Male Total Likes: 0 likes
Exploring is for hipsters!
| | | 6V spotlight, traditional mod. < on 2/3/2011 4:02 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | This one is uber basic. No soldering unless you want to. You need: 6V spotlight, the ones with the heavy and expensive batteries 4AA battery pack, found in junk R/C cars and radio shack wire AA battery's multi tool, (wire stripper, cutter, etc...) Styrofoam =============================================================== Step 1. Chuck that heavy battery in the trash. Open up your flashlight and connect a wire to the base of the light, and a wire to the shiny disk part. Step 2. Hook the wires up to your battery pack and start putting the pack into the flashlight. Step 3. Use the foam to keep the pack from moving around Step 4. seal up the flashlight and test it out ============================================================== Under my testing I found there is about 2 hours of bright light, 4 hours of usable light. This was with some midrange mAH (about 2450mAH) rechargeable battery's. Enjoy people.
| So i'm just pokeing around, are you gona do anything about it. |
| AnAppleSnail
Location: Charlotte, NC Gender: Male Total Likes: 49 likes
ALL the flashlights!
| | | | | Re: 6V spotlight, traditional mod. < Reply # 1 on 2/3/2011 6:53 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Posted by marsrover This one is uber basic. No soldering unless you want to. You need: 6V spotlight, the ones with the heavy and expensive batteries 4AA battery pack, found in junk R/C cars and radio shack wire AA battery's multi tool, (wire stripper, cutter, etc...) Styrofoam =============================================================== Step 1. Chuck that heavy battery in the trash. Open up your flashlight and connect a wire to the base of the light, and a wire to the shiny disk part. Step 2. Hook the wires up to your battery pack and start putting the pack into the flashlight. Step 3. Use the foam to keep the pack from moving around Step 4. seal up the flashlight and test it out ============================================================== Under my testing I found there is about 2 hours of bright light, 4 hours of usable light. This was with some midrange mAH (about 2450mAH) rechargeable battery's. Enjoy people.
| Not a bad mod, with good results for the money. Incandescents are fun to play with. If you were pushing more amps, the wire gauge would help. Do the wires inside the battery pack get warm? I've burned those out before while underdriving a car headlight bulb with an 8-AA pack. You can go further. Get an MR16 bulb and socket from Home Depot and stick that in there, or get a car headlamp bulb and socket on sale at Auto Zone. It wants 12v which would be 10 NiMH AAs in series. You can build that into a 6v 'boat light' type they sell for a buck at Wal Mart with a free crummy lantern battery. The reflector that comes with the MR16 is glass because the 50watt bulb can melt plastic ones. The car bulb might melt the plastic reflector. Mag Lite bulbs are common and pretty stable for overdriving slightly, and their socket is common enough that it's an option also. But if you have a C or D cell mag lite you can put Li-Ions and spacers in there for more voltage to drive hotter (sexier) bulbs. Look up ROP mods (Roar of the Pelican) to see the extreme end where you get 2500 lumens or so.
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| marsrover
Gender: Male Total Likes: 0 likes
Exploring is for hipsters!
| | | Re: 6V spotlight, traditional mod. < Reply # 4 on 2/3/2011 7:17 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Posted by AnAppleSnail
The Rat Shack sells an 8xAA pack with a 9v-style plug on it, but it gets to be a right pain to swap that many of 'em. Also, charging 8 AAs is a bear ;) [light nerding] For free, try shimming the bulb to get the exact throw you want (if the filament is centered you can get a pretty good beam from any parabolic reflector). To check if it's parabolic, hold the reflector at arm's length with a pencil coming through the bulb hole (all this pointed at your eyes). If you can get things so that you only see the tip of the pencil completely reflected in the reflector, you don't have a crap reflector. Then the only trick is to wiggle the bulb and hold its place with metal bits so it's in the right spot. [/light nerding] Does it still float with 4xAA? You could probably get away with 5 AAs in series but that'd kill the bulb sooner.
| Haven't heard about light shimming.. it throws the light a good long way. (to the back of my property about 400ft way) but it's worth a try. Sounds good to me. Have not tested the "floating" property's yet, but that is a good point. Woulden't want it to flood out. EDIT: nope, doesen't float... I think a small rock in the back would fix that. EDIT 2: Ok, took some "C" cell bateries and jammed them in the back. Sealed up every crack, vola waterproof. And, true, 8AA would take a while. I have 2 chargers though. Could charge it completely in about 2 hours.
[last edit 2/4/2011 5:20 PM by marsrover - edited 2 times]
| So i'm just pokeing around, are you gona do anything about it. |
| AnAppleSnail
Location: Charlotte, NC Gender: Male Total Likes: 49 likes
ALL the flashlights!
| | | | | Re: 6V spotlight, traditional mod. < Reply # 7 on 2/4/2011 5:36 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Posted by marsrover Thought I would make a separate post for waterproofing your light. 2 "C" cell batteries fit quite well into the back of the light, just push them in and they stick in there. I took some electrical tape and wrapped the threads at the front of the light to create a tighter seal there. Took some hot glue and sealed the front and back of the lens. It seems to take quite a few splashes now. I even tried to submerge it for a second, there wasn't any water inside the case so I assume I did it right... Also, poor person's hack here. Take a old cd jewel case (the thin ones). trace a circle the size of your lens on the cover. take sharp scissors and cut circle out. vola, replacement lens if you cracked your old one.
| With hot glue, how do you change the batteries? And really, there isn't much inside one of these for mostly-clean water to hurt, as long as you don't let things get rusty. The bulb can crack if tons of cold water hits it, but drips are fine; the wires won't care, the batteries are fine, water isn't very conductive...the only long-term effect would be on the reflector, and it wouldn't be too bad. I'll have to try the CD thing for my rainbowgun filter. I keep melting my packing tape ones.
| Achievement Unlocked |
| marsrover
Gender: Male Total Likes: 0 likes
Exploring is for hipsters!
| | | Re: 6V spotlight, traditional mod. < Reply # 8 on 2/4/2011 5:53 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Posted by AnAppleSnail
With hot glue, how do you change the batteries? And really, there isn't much inside one of these for mostly-clean water to hurt, as long as you don't let things get rusty. The bulb can crack if tons of cold water hits it, but drips are fine; the wires won't care, the batteries are fine, water isn't very conductive...the only long-term effect would be on the reflector, and it wouldn't be too bad. I'll have to try the CD thing for my rainbowgun filter. I keep melting my packing tape ones. http://farm5.stati...3_c8937a7825_b.jpg
| The hot glue only holds the lens in, it does not hold the head to the body. That rainbowgun. EPICK!!!
| So i'm just pokeing around, are you gona do anything about it. |
| marsrover
Gender: Male Total Likes: 0 likes
Exploring is for hipsters!
| | | Re: 6V spotlight, traditional mod. < Reply # 9 on 2/24/2011 4:48 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Update I like rechargable batteries... only they put out 1.2V not 1.5 So I added a extra battery pack to bring the total voltage up to 6.5V The kinda shiny "battery" is a wooden stick that holds the wires in place. I wrapped it in tin foil, then relised that would short it out, so I ripped off a small part of it near the positive terminal. So, pic's describe it all.
[last edit 2/24/2011 5:02 PM by marsrover - edited 1 times]
| So i'm just pokeing around, are you gona do anything about it. |
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