Up grading lights to LED

[CT-Rich]

I have a few different lights that I would like to upgrade to LED. I hear people talk about it periodically, but haven't seen anything that tells me directly how to go about it.
One lamp is a vintage Darryl-Allen.
another is Underwater Kinetics C8.

Love to upgrade these lights to LED, but could use some advice.

 

[3D diver]

Cheap Flashlight Diy Tools & Parts Accessories for Sale at Dealextreme - DX

CandlePowerForums

You'll likely get some usefull replys soon, but in the meantime check out those links. (I've been hacking my DRIS lights a bit, but haven't done what you're asking, sorry)

 

[idive2]

Rich, the DIY LED's for some of these can run 25.00 to 35.00 dollars and more so you would need to consider the benefit.
The trend seems to be smaller lights for recreational diving. I recently purchased a UK SL4 LED with 400 lumens and
with only four C batteries it is compact yet has a pretty good burn time with the C batteries. The even smaller
lights using AA batteries throw off some pretty good light but you don't get as long on the smaller batteries.
I carry an SL4 LED as my primary and a small four AA battery princeton light (impact XL) as a back up. I have the C8 LED
also but would only use it if I had a real need for a larger brighter light. I also have an old SL6 that I considered
upgrading to LED but have not decided if it is worth it or not after picking up the SL4 LED.

 

[CT-Rich]

Thanks for the suggestions. I would really like to have the old Darryl-Allen up and running, just because it is a classic lamp (the thing I could never afford back in the day).The C8 will probably be worth it too, just because I already own it. I am more than likely to get one or two of the smaller lamps as back up and for day dives.

 

[3D diver]

Just saw this in another thread:

LED Lenser, Fenix, TerraLUX Maglite LED Torch bulbs, Ansmann - The Torch Site

I've seen other sites with similar products but don't have them bookmarked on this computer.

 

[CT-Rich]

Just saw this in another thread:

LED Lenser, Fenix, TerraLUX Maglite LED Torch bulbs, Ansmann - The Torch Site

I've seen other sites with similar products but don't have them bookmarked on this computer.

I found an American site for a similar bulb. It looks like the upper range for a single bulb is a 180 Lumen with 5500 K color. that is considerably less than the 270 lumen with a conventional bulb. It is probably worth the $15 to see how well it would work. I am not sure, but i think I would have to reverse the polarity of batteries to have it work properly.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/flashlight-bulbs/

 

[3D diver]

Ah, that's the site I was thinking of.

I'd throw $15 at it too, just for fun, but you can do a lot better than 180 to 270 lumens for about $100 these days.

 

[toddster541]

The great advantage to LED's is reduced power consumption - which means you can often get more light from a much smaller package with smaller batteries. Personally, I'd think getting a whole new (smaller) light would be the most attractive upgrade. I guess another advantage would be not having to equalize temperatures before turning it on. My big old UK lantern pops bulbs like crazy if you don't baby it, temperature-wise. But I hardly ever use it any more.

I recently upgraded every light on my boat to LED, and the cost was somewhat astronomical. In some cases, a whole new fixture was cheaper than the "adapter" to replace a bulb. (Although now I can run all night without worrying about batteries.)