Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Thanks BlackJack. That's pretty cool.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Yeah, pretty clever. I wonder how long the battery life would be for that Franken-flashlight?

Does anyone really pay $95 for a tiny flashlight? :confused_ma:

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

I have one of those little yellow flashlights that I have had for years. 10+ years. Without the mod.

It has worked great and never let me down.

These little lights are very popular and are sold everywhere online.
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpag...eitemid=633041

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Look in a cabellas or cheaper than dirt magazine........you would be astounded.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

:applause_:applause_:applause_:applause_:applause_ :applause_

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

You would be shocked how much money I have spent on my flashlight collection.

As us flashaholics like to say, "an addiction is a terrible thing to waste"

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

I hear you. I have about 20 flashlights, didn't pay more than $20 for any of them. Yes, I'm a cheap SOB.:biggrin:

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Hmm... Problem to me seems to be that you're now using expensive lithium batteries instead of cheap AA's or better yet NiMH rechargables.

The batteries are $4 a piece, not $4 total... $12 in batteries that cant be recharged will get expensive quickly..

Probably still better than a $95 'cool' flashlight though.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Do they have rechargeable ones???


T

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

The bulb he shows is 6V and he's driving it with 9 volts. :|

Anyway,,,,, if you look around you can now find Chinese generic flashlights that compare fairly well to Surefires, for much lower prices. Advancemart carries some of the better Chinese stuff, and Brightguy carries Fenix.

-end-

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

If the bulb is a 6v, which is the highest voltage krypton lamp I could find on the radio shack website, that sucker is going to burn out fast. Its a 650mA bulb that hes pushing almost a full amp through. That is not something I would rely on.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

The guy who did this video is Kipkay.
Of the six or seven videos of his I've seen, two of them were simply false.

This one I would call "technically possible, but not that great of an idea".

Kind of like the "how to make a USB phone charger" video--another I just watched--where he advises cutting up a "spare" USB cable (?), and a car cellphone charger, in order to join them, when just buying a USB phone-charging cable would probably end up being cheaper.

People earn money for putting up videos on MetaCafe that draw a lot of traffic. This guy had earned something over $100,000 last time I looked.

-end-

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Try here, this should do it.

http://www.all-battery.com/creexr-e4...batteries.aspx

I ordered and received 24 AA rechargables from these people, no complaints so far; talk about dirt cheap rechargables.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

If you think that is a lot for a light do not spend any time over at Candle Power Forums

Twisted yes you can get rechargeable batteries I run all my lights on them, but I keep a large supply of primary lithiums on hand as the shelf life is 10 years.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Li batts rock. LTS, Temp. Extremes, useful metal in there to if you have a need for it.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Be cautious with the cheap Tenergy batteries that you bought. Don't expect them to work when you need them to. The Tenergy brand self discharges as much as 50% of its charge when sitting unused for a week. They may work OK just after a full charge, but a week or two later they are useless until charged again. :banghead:

All-Battery is a company that I do not recommend doing business with. I bought many of their AA batteries and a few of their chargers a couple of years ago. I didn't need to use them right away, so I just put them aside in their unopened plastic cases. Several months later, I read complaints about malfunctions with some of the Tenergy batteries, so I opened all the cases and tried to charge the batteries. Many of them were very difficult to charge, but they finally did work. However, four of the AA cells were shorted internally, and they would not take any charge. I contacted All-Battery "customer service" (a true oxymoron! :confused_ma:) and offered to buy more stuff from them if they would include free replacements for the four bad cells they sent to me. Their reply essentially said that the original purchase was a little past warranty, and they did not want to hear about problems with those four bad cells. :bawling:

Instead of buying cheap Tenergy cells from All-Battery again, I bought some good quality Eneloop cells (that do hold their charge until you need to use them) from another company. I also bought a "smart" charger that can softly charge the cells at 200ma overnight, and it works great. :tongue_ma: The chargers I previously bought from All-Battery would force 500ma or more into the AA cells, and make them too hot to touch near the end of the charging cycle. :rant: I do not recommend anything that All-Battery sells. :452:

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Hybrids. Goeth ye to the Costco and procureth thyself Eneloops.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

LOL. I'm with you. I think if the good folks on GIM got their hands on an A2 Aviator they would soon realize our obsession. :) Surefire's are worth every penny.

BlackJack616, thanks for this idea. I'm going to make this happen tomorrow. I buy the Surefire CR123'S for $2 a pop.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

The A2 is within arms length every night when I am sleeping. :wink:

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Flashlight freaks...is this a good price and a good light?
Looks like a weapon to me. Blasting a late night prowler in the face would blind him.
Looks great for patroling your property.

http://cgi.ebay.com/TACTICAL-35W-HID...QQcmdZViewItem

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/35%20torch%202.gif

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Nice, pricey, light there. Why would I desire green, blue, or purple LEDs? Seriously, other than for novelty and for novelty I ain't dropping $200. I can understand red.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

discussion of a good $25 flashlight sold at Home Depot I'm waiting to get mine with a discount.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

I'm not familiar with that particular torch, but with 3500 lumens you can't go wrong. Better wear your shades.

:36_1_34:

Different lights (sizes) have different uses and I think you hit the nail on the head on how this light would be put to use.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

I own 2 whites and 1 red.

You can find these brand new for around $130 or less at different locations, but I haven't looked in a couple of years. I actually won all 3 of mine on ebay auctions a few years back and I believe on average I paid about $115 bucks.

Very versatile because of both LED and incandescent bulbs. The A2 is not a light that will make you say wow when you first use it, but it grows on you because of the versatility for everyday use.

It is a little too long to carry in your pants pockets, but can easily be carried in a jacket.

I prefer this little dandy to carry for everyday use in my pocket.

http://yourcornerstore.com/index.php...ducts_id=21839

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

It is meant to be a weapon, on multiple counts. The bright light is the first, but the business end of that light is tapered like that for a reason. There are a few lights that feature that bezel style. Surefire calls them "enhanced self-defense features" on their web site. ;)

http://www.surefire.com/E2D-Executive-Defender

Some lights also have a powerful strobe mode. When it's blasted into an attacker's face it disorients them and gives you time to act.

Here's a great flashlight review site. Unfortunately it's not being updated anymore (Since June, 07) but the reviews are still relevant. In the flashlight biz, great models stick around for years.

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/index1.html

A good news site
http://www.flashlightnews.org/

Flashlight forum:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Who'd a thunk there was this big a flashlight forum?
Check out this thread with beam photos.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...d.php?t=218655
240 yard illumination

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Thanks for the warning Weatherman... now I have some disappointment to look forward to. Think I will get some of those you mentioned "just incase", don't wanna get caught with my **** swinging in the breeze.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

I looked up the flashlight he was trying to copy and saw that it uses a 6volt incandesent bulb and uses 2 of the batteries he recommends using.

http://www.surefire.com/6P-Original

I picked up all of the items at Menards tonight and will make a dummy battery out of aluminium ...this should duplicate the performance of the shurefire ?? No wonder his is brighter with the higher voltage! I think I will try it with the three batteries to see if it works with out burning out right away.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Anyone mount a Surefire to a shotgun with these parts?
Cheap way to go.
http://www.cobraairsoft.com/images/mid/MO-GP017B.JPG $7.00

http://www.airsoftatlanta.com/images/GM-L25-01_jpg.jpg $12.00 - $20.00

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

I mounted mine using a 1" scope ring as seen in this AR15 Link I like it better then a double clamp system.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Cheap way to launch a flashlight, I'd say.
Real guns kick a little bit more than airsoft guns do.

------

I spent some time looking for shotgun lights for the Rem 870 I plan on buying [when my new FOID comes and assuming there are any left to buy then]. All of the good brand-name lights I found were the Surefire (which has a replacement fore-end) or various others costing $100-$200+, that all attached to a picatinny rail (which was not included). This leads me to believe that these are the only two attachment methods that are really effective.

The picatinny setups have more screws to come loose and aren't as compact. As far as I'm concerned, Surefire wins again.

-end-

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

You make a good point. For the price of a nice shotgun you can have a light.
About $330 for the Surefire.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

I used to have a car headlight bulb rigged up to a 12v cordless drill battery. It was bright as hell and actually lasted pretty long (used intermittently.. I was doing electrical work in the basement and needed something bright for a 5-10 minutes at at time when I shut the main breaker off.)

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

I'm gonna make this tonight

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

ok, it worked with some older batteries, then I switched to some new batteries and the bulbs blew. I will try to get some higher voltage bulbs tomorrow

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Which will, as you know, result in reduced lumens thereby mostly defeating this "hack". There are laws at play and blown bulbs are just one of the repercussions. You don't get something for nothing.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

But..... it works perfectly fine, as long as you don't turn it on for more than fifteen seconds at a time!!! :)

-------

I mentioned those two websites for cheap & good flashlights, and had not looked at them for a while. ,,,,And it turns out that Advancemart has given up selling the generic Chinese higher-power flashlights (a few of which were quite good bargains) and mostly sells Fenix now-
http://store.advancedmart.com/luledbu5w3w1.html
... which might tell you something.

I have a Nuwai Q III and it is a very handy little light--has got good reviews for a long time, and is only $40:
http://store.advancedmart.com/nuq3waluposi.html
I don't know what the run-time is, but it is quite bright.

There is also a Nuwai 1/2-watt light for cheap, that got good reviews too.
http://store.advancedmart.com/nu5waposiled.html
It looks like they are blowing them out cheap--so it may be discontinued.

The other place is Brightguy. The Fenixes are good and cost from $10 to $65-
http://www.brightguy.com/manufacturer/fenix.php

-----

I see that Brightguy sells Surefires too--and holy $hit! L1's are $159 now!!! Only three years ago I got one for $135. ... ~5% inflation per year.... The Z2 Xenon I paid $80 for ~2 yrs ago is $96 now... :o

-end-

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

True, thus the high prices for the better lights like Surefire, Fenix, JETBeam etc.

If I were to do this project, it would be purely for fun with very little expectations.

If anyone wants to buy a really good flashlight, doesn't know too much about the hobby and doesn't want to break the bank, I would recommend the Surefire G2. Buy that, take care of it, and it'll last you more than a lifetime and give you incredibly good results.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Cool flashlight hack - thanks for posting. Although I question how long the bulb would last from pushing so much current through (maybe someone could test it?) it's perfectly feasable. Edit: just noticed that Rogold gave it a go - I may give it a try myself just for fun.

As for the "uberflashlight" fetish-istas, I could never understand why people would pay $100+ for a flashlight that probably cost 2 bucks to make. Unless you're a cop or on some kind of search and rescue team, spending more than $20 bucks on a glorified battery case with a lightbulb attachment is a bit retarded IMHO.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Except that a $20 flashlight will last you a couple of years and give you terrible performance and a $100 flashlight will give you incredible performance and you can hand it down to your children. For God's sake, can't people do a bit of research before they go spouting off about things they know nothing about?

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Do a search for coon hunters lights. They need to be tough enough to fall on without breaking, have various features such as flood or beam and different levels of light, headlights plus fittings for gun barrels with a spot, and ability to deliver light for 6 to 8 hours, and be rechargeable.

Expect to pay up to and past $200, but you get quality and life.

Other options are charging from 110 volt or 12 volt auto source, blinking switches, and red covers (game doesn't see red as well).

I have an Ohio Night Light company light; the battery is now at the end of its life after 15 years. My knees won't permit long hikes, but these lights are very useful for other things also.

Carver

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

I'm not a flashlight expert but I am an engineer so I like to think I have at least an elementary understanding of how things work and if they're really worth what they are advertised for. I have flashlights that are over 30 years old that my dad probably paid 2 bucks for that have seen plenty of use and still work fine (with the original bulb). As for "performance," well, if I push the button and the room lights up sufficiently when I need it to, that's enough performance for me. On the off chance that my cheapie flashlight craps out or I forget to change the batteries every 5 years, I have ANOTHER 2 dollar lightstick as a backup, which has also worked flawlessly over several decades of ownership. Best of all, if I lose the darned thing or it breaks I don't have to shell out another fortune to get a replacement or pray that the manufacturer will honor their warranty.

I understand it's a hobby for some people but I can think of a million other things that a couple hundred bucks could be better spent on - to me a $200 flashlight is just a silly vanity item, no different than the expensive purses and shoes that many of our significant others covet.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

To each his own. It's a high probability that if any random individual were to visit your house and take a look around he'd find a few things that he found to be a waste of money.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

I posted this on the survival podcast forum and post 10 is a guy who tried it with pics.

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/...326.0#msg22556

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

OK, update on this

I finally got a bulb that didn't blow and the freaking thing works like a champ! It's super bright and works everytime.

Glad I did it, will do more.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

OK, update on this

I finally got a bulb that didn't blow and the freaking thing works like a champ! It's super bright and works everytime.

Glad I did it, will do more.

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Hey rogold, interesting. I was scanning some bulbs when this post first came out but didn't end up putting this together. Can you give us the specs on the bulb you're using?

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

I'd love to try it myself - can you give us details on the bulb and any other modifications that you made from the video to make it work successfully?

Re: Turn a $5 flashlight into a $95 power light.
 

Some of these flashlight mods become very hot to the touch I believe.

Can anyone confirm?