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Ah-HAH! Dick Cappels has been holding back Info!

Last Dec. over the holidays I was thinking that all these LED V boost circuits that I see are three terminal black boxes. It would sure be a lot easier to put one in a flashlight if it was a two terminal box. That way, no common or ground would have to be used, and the LED would just drop in place of the lamp. I toyed around mentally with the idea, but I never came up with some circuit design ideas.

But now I found it. Dick Cappels did this one last month, and it's essentially what I was thinking about. The only diff is that I had intended for everything to be in the lamp itself, not in the second battery. But either way, it's what makes retrofitting a regular 'torch' or flashlight easy because it's a drop-in replacement.

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If that doesn't work, google for LED V boost circuit, it's the third one down. I like that: Flying Inductor! Like.. ^L^

Reply to
Watson A.Name "Watt Sun - the
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I suppose MAG lites use those drop in lamps on the small units, right? (2 pin)

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Myron Samila
Toronto, ON Canada
Samila Racing
http://204.101.251.229/myronx19
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Myron Samila

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Technology Associates

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has a white LED drop-in (MagmaLED to replace the bi-pin bulb in the 2 AA MagLite. It's $16US (free shipping in the US) and the electronics are sandwiched in a tiny round board that's about the thickness of a paper match and the diameter of the MagLite barrel. It uses a VERY bright bluish-white LED (they list it as half the light output of the original bulb) and the MagLite retains its focus capability.

More info on the MagmaLED here (including a picture of the circuit board and surface mount components):

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My only connection with the company is as a satisfied customer - my MagLite now can run continuously for hours.

More about me:

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VB3/VB6/C/PowerBasic source code:
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Freeware for the Palm with NS Basic source code:
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Drivers for Pablo graphics tablet and JamCam cameras:
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johnecarter at@at mindspring dot.dot com. Fix the obvious to reply by email.

Reply to
the Wiz

boost

be a

would

idea,

'torch'

one

(2 pin)

Actually I made a misteak. There are drop-in replacements already available for the Mini-Mag, one of them being the one I have, the Opalec New-Beam. There's another that uses a single LED, and doesn't need to have the reflector removed.

What I should have said is that the LEDs would drop in where the lamp is, and the V boost circuit would go in between the negative terminal of the battery and the spring of the battery holder. No changes have to be made to the light itself, just drop in the parts and go. And if in the future you want to go back to the original bulb, no problem, just put them back in.

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

boost

be a

would

idea,

'torch'

third one

right? (2 pin)

(MagmaLED to

Yeah, that's the one I was trying to think of in my other followup. But I don't believe this is anywhere near as bright as an Opalec NewBeam. Opalec says their NewBeam puts out 41,000 mCd, see URL

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for more info. I wish this company would give a beam intensity in their specs. They say, "TA Peak Light Output Rating : 15" but what's that mean? I don't know how to compare that with 1000's of mCds or Cds.

For kicks, I ordered a couple. I'll try them out with my Opalecs, side-by-side. My guess is the Opalec will be brighter.

[snip]

MagLite now

email.

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

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