Nowadays, more and more equipment uses lithium-ion batteries as batteries. They do not have a “memory effect”, unlike Ni-Cd. They can deliver high current.
I decided to convert two old flashlights to use 18650 lithium-ion batteries, since I have a large number of them. And it’s not difficult to get them from repair companies that repair laptops.
For the conversion we will need a number of components:
- actual flashlights;
- ;
- ;
- plexiglass;
- a piece of thin plastic;
- ;
- wires, hot glue, tools.
The flashlights are a convenient size for installing two 18650 batteries. In principle, we can describe the modification of one flashlight.
My charge controller boards are different. On one Mini-USB, on the second Micro-USB.
These boards can be purchased in China for 15-20 rubles per unit. They are also sold in radio stores and radio markets. I have boards without protection (BMS), but we can handle it.
We disassemble the flashlights and take out all of them, except for the switches and LEDs.
Now we take thin plastic, I have ABS from an old battery. It turned out that it was black, but it’s not scary, it will also look great on a blue flashlight.
We cut the windows so that they fit tightly into the place where the charging plug used to extend.
We cut out the required size for the window and holes for the connectors of our charge boards. It is not necessary to glue them, they should fit tightly and I will strengthen them later.
Since our boards do not have discharge protection, boards made from mobile phone batteries are used in this situation. You can buy one with protection, but I don’t have those in stock right now. Therefore, I resort to a slightly labor-intensive solution.
We solder the wires from our BMS to the batteries. We put the charge controller boards in place and support them. I used pieces of wine cork as spacers. We strengthen everything with hot glue, but you can do it without it.
We solder the switches, my switches break the plus. The black flashlight has a circuit board with an LED. The switch has two on positions, one of which I set to a single LED, and the second position turns on the main LEDs. The blue flashlight has one switch position.
We assemble the flashlights and solder the reflectors and move on to the next stage.
The next step is to cut out two records from transparent plastic, for me it is plastic from a CD box. We sand it with sandpaper until the surface is matte, this makes the light from the LED more pleasant.
We glue it to the place where the slide used to pull out the power plug used to be. You need to glue it on one half of the flashlight. Suddenly you will need to disassemble the flashlight.
The idea of how to convert a headlamp into a battery-powered one arose a long time ago, this is especially true for fishing and when. Since it is not profitable to constantly buy batteries in our age of mobile phones. So, after thinking about it and ordering the necessary spare parts, which I will describe below, I began to modify the headlamp for batteries with my own hands, using a Chinese circuit with charging. This makes it possible to charge the battery both in the car and from a regular micro USB of a modern phone. I usually order from Aliexpress, although it is possible to find it in stores, but it’s 2 times more expensive.
A very bright and functional headlamp, for such a price, but for some reason I haven’t found one on sale now 
I tried to remake this model as well, but it was a little inconvenient to install the button and the diode plate got hot, so I had to isolate it from the battery with a piece of plastic. But in the end the flashlight works properly
The flashlight was delivered to the post office in 20 days, which made me happy :) .
The idea is very simple and anyone can do it; all you need is a small battery from an old cell phone, it contains a Li-Ion battery with protection. The voltage parameters are ideal, the LED flashlight has a voltage range from 4.5 - 2V, and the 3.7V battery in a charged state of 4.2V has a decent capacity, which can be increased by adding another battery in parallel. You just need to correctly identify the contacts (most have plus and minus indicated), all that remains is to carefully solder the contacts so as not to melt and avoid a short circuit.
The problem with charging via a regular micro USB can be easily solved by ordering a small board costing about 20 rubles. Micro USB plays a very important role in controlling the charging and turning off the ice lamp when the battery is low.
The board has LED indicators that indicate in color when the converted LED flashlight is charging. Thus, the modification of the Chinese headlamp comes down to soldering the wires to the terminals.
Using this board, converting any flashlight to lithium is quite simple, it is only important to know how many volts the battery produces.
Charging board, purchased in an online store with free delivery Perhaps I ordered 10 pieces for myself at once because it is universal and can be used in children's toys.
Battery Connection Diagram 
In fact, this is a separate board that is used in a power bank, and if you buy an additional USB output, you can charge your phone 
Exploded view of the lantern and the first stage of assembly Now, about the conversion of the flashlight itself to use a battery instead of batteries, most flashlights use 3 AA 1.5 V in size, comparable to a mobile battery, and fits quite well in the main body, you just have to expand the seat. After simple manipulations, having unscrewed or cut out all the excess, we mount all the parts in place using hot-melt adhesive.
LED flashlight conversion diagram 
Solder all the parts in place using a heat gun 
If necessary, you can increase the capacity by connecting 2 batteries 
We get a modernized headlamp with a mini USB input In conclusion: the LED flashlight worked actively for 3 nights on old telephone batteries without recharging. Perhaps it would have been enough for more, I didn’t test it before the cutoff. Lithium batteries do not like to be completely discharged. Overall, very pleased at the cost of 140 rubles. The only thing is that it is very bright, which is not always necessary. I was pleased with the presence of charge indicators on the board. When charging via USB, it glows red when the battery is charged blue.
Almost any flashlight can be converted in this way, the only question is the size of the battery. For example, iPhone batteries are not very practical, and if you tear off the contacts from the connection board carelessly, they will not be soldered.
Do not use lithium batteries if they are swollen - it is unsafe!
It happens that the protection on the board is triggered, and you need to revive it, in this case, apply voltage from the power supply or power bank. If the phone batteries are very old, then the protection of the headlamp will naturally work faster and it will go out. Although the batteries from the old Nokia (more than 4 years old) work properly.
Greetings to all mysku readers! Today I want to talk about how I redid the headlamp. All modifications are quite universal and can be applied to other flashlights.
Since the idea to present everything in the form of a review came to me after I picked up a file and a soldering iron, some original photographs will no longer be possible to take. However, the site has similar reviews without alterations, you can read or.
So, what the Chinese sent: in a nice, neat box there are two chargers, one from the mains, one for the car, and the flashlight itself. 
First about charging. The network one has a standard minimum of parts, so there’s not much to say about reliability and quality. Its actual characteristics: no-load voltage 4.17 volts, load current approximately 0.4A (short circuit 0.48A). 
As for the automobile, then things are even worse! Two resistors, one limits the LED current, the other, according to the Chinese, is a complex current/voltage stabilizer, in accordance with the current-voltage charge characteristic of a lithium battery (sarcasm). All jokes aside, I advise you to either throw this charge away immediately or put it away from casual use. 
Now the forehead piece. Structurally, it consists of the flashlight itself and a separate battery compartment. The compartment is designed for two 18650 batteries connected in parallel; they are also suitable for protection, but not with a flat positive contact (more on this below, in further development). In the same compartment there is a driver and a socket for connecting charging. The driver has 2 brightness modes, 1.3A and 0.27A on the diode, and a strobe. The type of operation is selected by sequentially searching through all modes plus turning off. 
At first glance, the flashlight looks high quality. The lens moves with sufficient force, there is no backlash. There is vertical adjustment with fixed positions. Now about the world. It is, in my opinion, quite cold, a little blue.
This was objective control data, now about something that clearly does not suit me. Firstly, the temperature of the light. It feels like the original diode shines at 7000K, I will replace it with . It's a neutral white, somewhere between warm and cool. I can’t take a normal photo for comparison, the colors are not the same, but I’ll still post what happened.
Two diodes under a white sheet.
On the right is the one that was there, on the left is the replacement.
I solved this problem with the help of an aluminum disk, the size of the inner diameter of a pill, which I screwed to the LED star (the photo of the assembly will be below). 
Each stabilizer is designed for a current of 350mA, and since they are connected in parallel, the total current is 2.8A. The brightness is adjusted using PWM. Initially, the microcontroller firmware contains several sets of operating modes. You can select the appropriate set of modes by soldering the desired star to the common contact. A description of all modes can usually be obtained from the driver seller. I went a little further. It was decided to slightly modify the driver and change the firmware with modes. A detailed revision methodology can be read on the website and on. I'll tell you briefly. The main goal is to increase efficiency, remove unnecessary strobes, change brightness modes. We cut two tracks and solder two jumpers. 
Next, we program the microcontroller, for this we need either a programmer via USB, or a small device for a COM port. I didn’t really want to order and wait a month for a ready-made programmer, especially since it was necessary for one time, so I decided to solder a fixture for COM. It's best not to watch for the faint of heart!
Scheme 
Adaptation 
I make all my one-time crafts by hanging installation. Just a habit
I miss the soldering details, the programming process, this is a rather large topic, it is better to arrange it separately, you can read about it in detail at the links above, I can only say that I did this procedure for the first time and I didn’t have any questions, all the nuances are painted on the same flashlight. So, what happened in the end: a driver with one set of 5 brightness modes
2.8A
1.05A
0.35A
0.16A PWM
0.01A PWM
The mode is selected by briefly turning off the power. There is a memory of the last state.
Ask why do I need 5 brightness modes ?? This is a philosophical question, I am not yet ready to answer it. Those who do not need such a set can choose any other firmware to suit their needs. By the way, the current in maximum mode can be reduced by cutting the track to the control terminal of the current stabilizer. According to the principle, one disabled stabilizer is minus 350 mA from the maximum brightness mode.
I decided to write the new driver together with the LED in one pill, since there is room. Assembled view. 
The wire connecting the flashlight to the battery compartment was also replaced. True, I didn’t have anything good at hand, so I made it myself. I took 2 MGTF wires and placed them in heat shrink. 
If anyone doubts the advisability of such a replacement, I will give an example: with the same length, with a current of 3A, the voltage drop on the original wire is 0.8 volts, on my homemade one - 0.16V. In practice, this threatens the flashlight switching to a lower brightness mode early.
Battery compartment.
In order to charge the batteries directly in the compartment, I decided to use a special one. 
The thing is very cheap and at the same time convenient. Among the features: it has a charge indication, the ability to set the charge current using a selection resistor, as well as a mini USB connector for external storage. The resistor value was immediately set to 1.2k corresponding to a current of 1A. By changing this rating from 10k to 1.2k, you can change the charging current from 0.13A to 1A, respectively. This may be relevant if you use a laptop USB port or low-power network charger as a storage device.
Pickup resistor
After the tests, the following data was obtained: the Sanyo 2600 battery was charged from the initial 3.1V to 4.21V in about 3 hours.
Next is the power button.
Here the biggest problem arose - the lack of space inside the compartment. I wanted to put something similar like in regular flashlights, but the sizes of such switches are too large, and smaller options do not provide operating current (let me remind you, I have 2.8A). Therefore, it was decided to use not a button, but a mini switch. A USB hub with 7 ports was used for donor organs; small switches are used there, one for each port. A recent review of such a hub is below. This couldn't have happened without a file.
Returning to the positive terminal of the battery holder. It is recessed quite deeply and because of this the battery with a flat plus does not reach the contact. Everything is simple here, I cut the spring from the driver into two halves (it is no longer needed there anyway) and soldered it to the positive contacts of the holder.
General view of the compartment after completion. 
Instead of two LEDs on the module board, I put one two-color LED on the case. True, the patch came out again, I needed an LED with a common anode, but in the household I only found one with a common cathode. I had to do this: instead of the original LEDs, I installed jumpers, soldered two anodes (green, red) of my two-color diode directly to the terminals of the microcircuit, and connected the common cathode to the negative contact. Everything is working!
Ready assembled lantern. 
Beamshots can't be done, so sorry.
Let's summarize. After all the changes, it turned out approximately what I wanted. The only drawback is the insufficient surface area to cool the LED and nothing can be done about it. The driver itself is quite efficient, although it gets hot, it does not require additional cooling. You cannot keep it at maximum brightness for a long time. I would not recommend this model to those who just want to buy and use it, and on the contrary, I would advise those who like to disassemble, finish, or improve something. When choosing this flashlight model, I expected in advance that I would customize it myself to suit my needs. For me it's like a hobby. This is where I will end my story. I look forward to constructive criticism.
For safety and the ability to continue active activities in the dark, a person needs artificial lighting. Primitive people pushed back the darkness by setting fire to tree branches, then they came up with a torch and a kerosene stove. And only after the invention of the prototype of a modern battery by the French inventor Georges Leclanche in 1866, and the incandescent lamp in 1879 by Thomson Edison, did David Mizell have the opportunity to patent the first electric flashlight in 1896.
Since then, nothing has changed in the electrical circuit of new flashlight samples, until in 1923, Russian scientist Oleg Vladimirovich Losev found a connection between luminescence in silicon carbide and the p-n junction, and in 1990, scientists managed to create an LED with greater luminous efficiency, allowing them to replace a light bulb incandescent The use of LEDs instead of incandescent lamps, due to the low energy consumption of LEDs, has made it possible to repeatedly increase the operating time of flashlights with the same capacity of batteries and accumulators, increase the reliability of flashlights and practically remove all restrictions on the area of their use.
The LED rechargeable flashlight that you see in the photograph came to me for repair with a complaint that the Chinese Lentel GL01 flashlight I bought the other day for $3 does not light, although the battery charge indicator is on.
The external inspection of the lantern made a positive impression. High-quality casting of the case, comfortable handle and switch. The plug rods for connecting to a household network for charging the battery are made retractable, eliminating the need to store the power cord.
Attention! When disassembling and repairing the flashlight, if it is connected to the network, you should be careful. Touching unprotected parts of your body to uninsulated wires and parts may result in electric shock.
Although the flashlight was subject to warranty repair, remembering my experiences during the warranty repair of a faulty electric kettle (the kettle was expensive and the heating element in it burned out, so it was not possible to repair it with my own hands), I decided to do the repair myself.
It was easy to disassemble the lantern. It is enough to turn the ring that secures the protective glass a small angle counterclockwise and pull it off, then unscrew several screws. It turned out that the ring is fixed to the body using a bayonet connection.
After removing one of the halves of the flashlight body, access to all its components appeared. On the left in the photo you can see a printed circuit board with LEDs, to which a reflector (light reflector) is attached using three screws. In the center there is a black battery with unknown parameters; there is only a marking of the polarity of the terminals. To the right of the battery there is a printed circuit board for the charger and indication. On the right is a power plug with retractable rods.
Upon closer examination of the LEDs, it turned out that there were black spots or dots on the emitting surfaces of the crystals of all LEDs. It became clear even without checking the LEDs with a multimeter that the flashlight did not light due to their burnout.
There were also blackened areas on the crystals of two LEDs installed as backlight on the battery charging indication board. In LED lamps and strips, one LED usually fails, and acting as a fuse, it protects the others from burning out. And all nine LEDs in the flashlight failed at the same time. The voltage on the battery could not increase to a value that could damage the LEDs. To find out the reason, I had to draw an electrical circuit diagram.
The electrical circuit of the lantern consists of two functionally completed parts. The part of the circuit located to the left of switch SA1 acts as a charger. And the part of the circuit, shown to the right of the switch, provides a glow.
The charger works as follows. The voltage from the 220 V household network is supplied to the current-limiting capacitor C1, then to a bridge rectifier assembled on diodes VD1-VD4. The rectifier supplies voltage to the battery terminals. Resistor R1 serves to discharge the capacitor after removing the flashlight plug from the network. This prevents electric shock from capacitor discharge in the event of your hand accidentally touching two pins of the plug at the same time.
LED HL1, connected in series with current-limiting resistor R2 in the opposite direction with the upper right diode of the bridge, as it turns out, always lights up when the plug is inserted into the network, even if the battery is faulty or disconnected from the circuit.
The operating mode switch SA1 is used to connect separate groups of LEDs to the battery. As you can see from the diagram, it turns out that if the flashlight is connected to the network for charging and the switch slide is in position 3 or 4, then the voltage from the battery charger also goes to the LEDs.
If a person turns on the flashlight and discovers that it does not work, and, not knowing that the switch slide must be set to the “off” position, about which nothing is said in the flashlight’s operating instructions, connects the flashlight to the network for charging, then at the expense If there is a voltage surge at the output of the charger, the LEDs will receive a voltage significantly higher than the calculated one. More current will flow through the LEDs and they will burn out. As an acid battery ages due to sulfation of the lead plates, the battery charge voltage increases, which also leads to LED burnout.
Another circuit design that surprised me is the parallel connection of seven LEDs, which is unacceptable, since the current-voltage characteristics of even LEDs of the same type are different and therefore the current passing through the LEDs will also not be the same. For this reason, when choosing the value of the resistor R4 based on the maximum allowable current flowing through the LEDs, one of them can be overloaded and fail, and this will lead to an overcurrent of the LEDs connected in parallel, and they will also burn out.
It became obvious that the breakdown of the lantern was due to mistakes made by the developers of its electrical circuit diagram. To repair the lamp and prevent its re-breakdown, it is necessary to redo it by replacing the LEDs and make minor changes to the electrical circuit.
In order for the battery charge indicator to actually signal its charging, the HL1 LED must be turned on in series with the battery. A few milliamps of current is needed to light up the LED, and the current output by the charger should be about 100 mA.
To ensure these conditions, it is enough to disconnect the HL1-R2 circuit from the circuit in the places indicated by red crosses and install an additional resistor Rd with a nominal value of 47 ohms with a power of at least 0.5 W in parallel with it. The charge current flowing through Rd will create a voltage drop of about 3 V on it, which will provide the necessary current for the HL1 indicator to glow. At the same time, the connection point of HL1 and Rd must be connected to terminal 1 of the SA1 switch. In such a simple way, the possibility of supplying voltage from the charger to the EL1-EL10 LEDs during battery charging will be excluded.
To equalize the magnitude of the currents flowing through the EL3-EL10 LEDs, it is necessary to exclude the R4 resistor from the circuit and connect a separate 47-56 Ohm resistor in series with each LED.
Minor changes made to the circuit increased the information content of the charge indicator of an inexpensive Chinese LED flashlight and greatly increased its reliability. I hope that LED flashlight manufacturers will make changes to the electrical circuits of their products after reading this article.
After modernization, the electrical circuit diagram took the form as in the drawing above. If you need to illuminate the flashlight for a long time and do not require high brightness of its glow, you can additionally install a current-limiting resistor R5, thanks to which the operating time of the flashlight without recharging will double.
After disassembly, the first thing you need to do is restore the functionality of the flashlight, and then start upgrading it.
Checking the LEDs with a multimeter confirmed that they were faulty. Therefore, all the LEDs had to be desoldered and the holes freed from solder to install new diodes.
Judging by its appearance, the board was equipped with tube LEDs from the HL-508H series with a diameter of 5 mm. LEDs of type HK5H4U from a linear LED lamp with similar technical characteristics were available. They came in handy for repairing the lantern. When soldering LEDs to the board, you must remember to observe polarity; the anode must be connected to the positive terminal of the battery or battery.
After replacing the LEDs, the PCB was connected to the circuit. The brightness of some LEDs was slightly different from others due to the common current-limiting resistor. To eliminate this drawback, it is necessary to remove resistor R4 and replace it with seven resistors, connected in series with each LED.
To select a resistor that ensures optimal operation of the LED, the dependence of the current flowing through the LED on the value of the series-connected resistance was measured at a voltage of 3.6 V, equal to the voltage of the flashlight battery.
Based on the conditions for using the flashlight (in case of interruptions in the power supply to the apartment), high brightness and illumination range were not required, so the resistor was chosen with a nominal value of 56 Ohms. With such a current-limiting resistor, the LED will operate in light mode, and energy consumption will be economical. If you need to squeeze out maximum brightness from the flashlight, then you should use a resistor, as can be seen from the table, with a nominal value of 33 Ohms and make two modes of operation of the flashlight by turning on another common current-limiting resistor (in the diagram R5) with a nominal value of 5.6 Ohms.
To connect a resistor in series with each LED, you must first prepare the printed circuit board. To do this, you need to cut any one current-carrying path on it, suitable for each LED, and make additional contact pads. The current-carrying paths on the board are protected by a layer of varnish, which must be scraped off with a knife blade to the copper, as in the photograph. Then tin the bare contact pads with solder.
It is better and more convenient to prepare a printed circuit board for mounting resistors and soldering them if the board is mounted on a standard reflector. In this case, the surface of the LED lenses will not be scratched, and it will be more convenient to work.
Connecting the diode board after repair and modernization to the flashlight battery showed that the brightness of all LEDs was sufficient for illumination and the same brightness.
Before I had time to repair the previous lamp, a second one was repaired, with the same fault. I didn’t find any information about the manufacturer or technical specifications on the flashlight body, but judging by the manufacturing style and the cause of the breakdown, the manufacturer is the same, Chinese Lentel.
Based on the date on the flashlight body and on the battery, it was possible to establish that the flashlight was already four years old and, according to its owner, the flashlight worked flawlessly. It is obvious that the flashlight lasted a long time thanks to the warning sign “Do not turn on while charging!” on a hinged lid covering a compartment in which a plug is hidden for connecting the flashlight to the mains for charging the battery.
In this flashlight model, the LEDs are included in the circuit according to the rules; a 33 Ohm resistor is installed in series with each one. The resistor value can be easily recognized by color coding using an online calculator. A check with a multimeter showed that all the LEDs were faulty, and the resistors were also broken.
An analysis of the cause of the failure of the LEDs showed that due to sulfation of the acid battery plates, its internal resistance increased and, as a result, its charging voltage increased several times. During charging, the flashlight was turned on, the current through the LEDs and resistors exceeded the limit, which led to their failure. I had to replace not only the LEDs, but also all the resistors. Based on the above-mentioned operating conditions of the flashlight, resistors with a nominal value of 47 Ohms were chosen for replacement. The resistor value for any type of LED can be calculated using an online calculator.
The flashlight has been repaired, and you can begin making changes to the battery charging indication circuit. To do this, it is necessary to cut the track on the printed circuit board of the charger and indication in such a way that the HL1-R2 chain on the LED side is disconnected from the circuit.
The lead-acid AGM battery was deeply discharged, and an attempt to charge it with a standard charger was unsuccessful. I had to charge the battery using a stationary power supply with a load current limiting function. A voltage of 30 V was applied to the battery, while at the first moment it consumed only a few mA of current. Over time, the current began to increase and after a few hours increased to 100 mA. After fully charging, the battery was installed in the flashlight.
Charging deeply discharged lead-acid AGM batteries with increased voltage as a result of long-term storage allows you to restore their functionality. I have tested the method on AGM batteries more than a dozen times. New batteries that do not want to be charged from standard chargers are restored to almost their original capacity when charged from a constant source at a voltage of 30 V.
The battery was discharged several times by turning on the flashlight in operating mode and charged using a standard charger. The measured charge current was 123 mA, with a voltage at the battery terminals of 6.9 V. Unfortunately, the battery was worn out and was enough to operate the flashlight for 2 hours. That is, the battery capacity was about 0.2 Ah and for long-term operation of the flashlight it is necessary to replace it.
The HL1-R2 chain on the printed circuit board was successfully placed, and it was necessary to cut only one current-carrying path at an angle, as in the photograph. The cutting width must be at least 1 mm. Calculation of the resistor value and testing in practice showed that for stable operation of the battery charging indicator, a 47 Ohm resistor with a power of at least 0.5 W is required.
The photo shows a printed circuit board with a soldered current-limiting resistor. After this modification, the battery charge indicator lights up only if the battery is actually charging.
To complete the repair and modernization of the lights, it is necessary to resolder the wires at the switch terminals.
In models of flashlights being repaired, a four-position slide-type switch is used to turn on. The middle pin in the photo shown is general. When the switch slide is in the extreme left position, the common terminal is connected to the left terminal of the switch. When moving the switch slide from the extreme left position to one position to the right, its common pin is connected to the second pin and, with further movement of the slide, sequentially to pins 4 and 5.
To the middle common terminal (see photo above) you need to solder a wire coming from the positive terminal of the battery. Thus, it will be possible to connect the battery to a charger or LEDs. To the first pin you can solder the wire coming from the main board with LEDs, to the second you can solder a current-limiting resistor R5 of 5.6 Ohms to be able to switch the flashlight to an energy-saving operating mode. Solder the conductor coming from the charger to the rightmost pin. This will prevent you from turning on the flashlight while the battery is charging.
I received another copy of a series of Chinese-made LED flashlights called the Photon PB-0303 LED spotlight for repair. The flashlight did not respond when the power button was pressed; an attempt to charge the flashlight battery using a charger was unsuccessful.
The flashlight is powerful, expensive, costs about $20. According to the manufacturer, the luminous flux of the flashlight reaches 200 meters, the body is made of impact-resistant ABS plastic, and the kit includes a separate charger and a shoulder strap.
The Photon LED flashlight has good maintainability. To gain access to the electrical circuit, simply unscrew the plastic ring holding the protective glass, rotating the ring counterclockwise when looking at the LEDs.
When repairing any electrical appliances, troubleshooting always starts with the power source. Therefore, the first step was to measure the voltage at the terminals of the acid battery using a multimeter turned on in mode. It was 2.3 V, instead of the required 4.4 V. The battery was completely discharged.
When connecting the charger, the voltage at the battery terminals did not change, it became obvious that the charger was not working. The flashlight was used until the battery was completely discharged, and then it was not used for a long time, which led to a deep discharge of the battery.
It remains to check the serviceability of the LEDs and other elements. To do this, the reflector was removed, for which six screws were unscrewed. On the printed circuit board there were only three LEDs, a chip (chip) in the form of a droplet, a transistor and a diode.
Five wires went from the board and battery into the handle. In order to understand their connection, it was necessary to disassemble it. To do this, use a Phillips screwdriver to unscrew the two screws inside the flashlight, which were located next to the hole into which the wires went.
To detach the flashlight handle from its body, it must be moved away from the mounting screws. This must be done carefully so as not to tear the wires off the board.
As it turned out, there were no radio-electronic elements in the pen. Two white wires were soldered to the terminals of the flashlight on/off button, and the rest to the connector for connecting the charger. A red wire was soldered to pin 1 of the connector (the numbering is conditional), the other end of which was soldered to the positive input of the printed circuit board. A blue-white conductor was soldered to the second contact, the other end of which was soldered to the negative pad of the printed circuit board. A green wire was soldered to pin 3, the second end of which was soldered to the negative terminal of the battery.
Having dealt with the wires hidden in the handle, you can draw an electrical circuit diagram of the Photon flashlight.
From the negative terminal of the battery GB1, voltage is supplied to pin 3 of connector X1 and then from its pin 2 through a blue-white conductor it is supplied to the printed circuit board.
Connector X1 is designed in such a way that when the charger plug is not inserted into it, pins 2 and 3 are connected to each other. When the plug is inserted, pins 2 and 3 are disconnected. This ensures automatic disconnection of the electronic part of the circuit from the charger, eliminating the possibility of accidentally turning on the flashlight while charging the battery.
From the positive terminal of battery GB1, voltage is supplied to D1 (microcircuit-chip) and the emitter of a bipolar transistor type S8550. The CHIP performs only the function of a trigger, allowing a button to turn on or off the glow of EL LEDs (⌀8 mm, glow color - white, power 0.5 W, current consumption 100 mA, voltage drop 3 V.). When you first press the S1 button from the D1 chip, a positive voltage is applied to the base of the transistor Q1, it opens and the supply voltage is supplied to the LEDs EL1-EL3, the flashlight turns on. When you press button S1 again, the transistor closes and the flashlight turns off.
From a technical point of view, such a circuit solution is illiterate, since it increases the cost of the flashlight, reduces its reliability, and in addition, due to the voltage drop at the junction of transistor Q1, up to 20% of the battery capacity is lost. Such a circuit solution is justified if it is possible to adjust the brightness of the light beam. In this model, instead of a button, it was enough to install a mechanical switch.
It was surprising that in the circuit, LEDs EL1-EL3 are connected in parallel to the battery like incandescent light bulbs, without current-limiting elements. As a result, when turned on, a current passes through the LEDs, the magnitude of which is limited only by the internal resistance of the battery and when it is fully charged, the current may exceed the permissible value for the LEDs, which will lead to their failure.
To check the serviceability of the microcircuit, transistor and LEDs, a 4.4 V DC voltage was applied from an external power source with a current limiting function, maintaining polarity, directly to the power pins of the printed circuit board. The current limit value was set to 0.5 A.
After pressing the power button, the LEDs lit up. After pressing again, they went out. The LEDs and the microcircuit with the transistor turned out to be serviceable. All that remains is to figure out the battery and charger.
Since the 1.7 A acid battery was completely discharged, and the standard charger was faulty, I decided to charge it from a stationary power supply. When connecting the battery for charging to a power supply with a set voltage of 9 V, the charging current was less than 1 mA. The voltage was increased to 30 V - the current increased to 5 mA, and after an hour at this voltage it was already 44 mA. Next, the voltage was reduced to 12 V, the current dropped to 7 mA. After 12 hours of charging the battery at a voltage of 12 V, the current rose to 100 mA, and the battery was charged with this current for 15 hours.
The temperature of the battery case was within normal limits, which indicated that the charging current was not used to generate heat, but to accumulate energy. After charging the battery and finalizing the circuit, which will be discussed below, tests were carried out. The flashlight with a restored battery illuminated continuously for 16 hours, after which the brightness of the beam began to decrease and therefore it was turned off.
Using the method described above, I had to repeatedly restore the functionality of deeply discharged small-sized acid batteries. As practice has shown, only serviceable batteries that have been forgotten for some time can be restored. Acid batteries that have exhausted their service life cannot be restored.
Measuring the voltage value with a multimeter at the contacts of the output connector of the charger showed its absence.
Judging by the sticker pasted on the adapter body, it was a power supply that outputs an unstabilized DC voltage of 12 V with a maximum load current of 0.5 A. There were no elements in the electrical circuit that limited the amount of charging current, so the question arose, why in quality charger, did you use a regular power supply?
When the adapter was opened, a characteristic smell of burnt electrical wiring appeared, which indicated that the transformer winding had burned out.
A continuity test of the primary winding of the transformer showed that it was broken. After cutting the first layer of tape insulating the primary winding of the transformer, a thermal fuse was discovered, designed for an operating temperature of 130°C. Testing showed that both the primary winding and the thermal fuse were faulty.
Repairing the adapter was not economically feasible, since it was necessary to rewind the primary winding of the transformer and install a new thermal fuse. I replaced it with a similar one that was on hand, with a DC voltage of 9 V. The flexible cord with a connector had to be resoldered from a burnt adapter.
The photo shows a drawing of the electrical circuit of a burnt-out power supply (adapter) of the Photon LED flashlight. The replacement adapter was assembled according to the same scheme, only with an output voltage of 9 V. This voltage is quite sufficient to provide the required battery charging current with a voltage of 4.4 V.
Just for fun, I connected the flashlight to a new power supply and measured the charging current. Its value was 620 mA, and this was at a voltage of 9 V. At a voltage of 12 V, the current was about 900 mA, significantly exceeding the load capacity of the adapter and the recommended battery charging current. For this reason, the primary winding of the transformer burned out due to overheating.
To eliminate circuit violations in order to ensure reliable and long-term operation, changes were made to the flashlight circuit and the printed circuit board was modified.
The photo shows the electrical circuit diagram of the converted Photon LED flashlight. Additional installed radio elements are shown in blue. Resistor R2 limits the battery charging current to 120 mA. To increase the charging current, you need to reduce the resistor value. Resistors R3-R5 limit and equalize the current flowing through the LEDs EL1-EL3 when the flashlight is illuminated. The EL4 LED with a series-connected current-limiting resistor R1 is installed to indicate the battery charging process, since the developers of the flashlight did not take care of this.
To install current-limiting resistors on the board, the printed traces were cut, as shown in the photo. The charge current-limiting resistor R2 was soldered at one end to the contact pad, to which the positive wire coming from the charger had previously been soldered, and the soldered wire was soldered to the second terminal of the resistor. An additional wire (yellow in the photo) was soldered to the same contact pad, intended to connect the battery charging indicator.
Resistor R1 and indicator LED EL4 were placed in the flashlight handle, next to the connector for connecting the charger X1. The LED anode pin was soldered to pin 1 of connector X1, and a current-limiting resistor R1 was soldered to the second pin, the cathode of the LED. A wire (yellow in the photo) was soldered to the second terminal of the resistor, connecting it to the terminal of resistor R2, soldered to the printed circuit board. Resistor R2, for ease of installation, could have been placed in the flashlight handle, but since it heats up when charging, I decided to place it in a freer space.
When finalizing the circuit, MLT type resistors with a power of 0.25 W were used, except for R2, which is designed for 0.5 W. The EL4 LED is suitable for any type and color of light.
This photo shows the charging indicator while the battery is charging. Installing an indicator made it possible not only to monitor the battery charging process, but also to monitor the presence of voltage in the network, the health of the power supply and the reliability of its connection.
If suddenly a CHIP - a specialized unmarked microcircuit in a Photon LED flashlight, or a similar one assembled according to a similar circuit - fails, then to restore the flashlight's functionality it can be successfully replaced with a mechanical switch.
To do this, you need to remove the D1 chip from the board, and instead of the Q1 transistor switch, connect an ordinary mechanical switch, as shown in the above electrical diagram. The switch on the flashlight body can be installed instead of the S1 button or in any other suitable place.
The Smartbuy Colorado LED flashlight stopped turning on, although three new AAA batteries were installed.
The waterproof body was made of anodized aluminum alloy and had a length of 12 cm. The flashlight looked stylish and was easy to use.
Repair of any electrical appliance begins with checking the power source, therefore, despite the fact that new batteries were installed in the flashlight, repairs should begin with checking them. In the Smartbuy flashlight, the batteries are installed in a special container, in which they are connected in series with the help of jumpers. In order to gain access to the batteries of the flashlight, you need to disassemble it by turning the back cover counterclockwise.
Batteries must be installed in the container, observing the polarity indicated on it. The polarity is also indicated on the container, so it must be inserted into the flashlight body with the side on which the “+” sign is marked.
First of all, it is necessary to visually check all contacts of the container. If there are traces of oxides on them, then the contacts must be cleaned to a shine using sandpaper or the oxide must be scraped off with a knife blade. To prevent re-oxidation of the contacts, they can be lubricated with a thin layer of any machine oil.
Next you need to check the suitability of the batteries. To do this, touching the probes of a multimeter turned on in DC voltage measurement mode, you need to measure the voltage at the contacts of the container. Three batteries are connected in series and each of them should produce a voltage of 1.5 V, therefore the voltage at the terminals of the container should be 4.5 V.
If the voltage is less than specified, then it is necessary to check the correct polarity of the batteries in the container and measure the voltage of each of them individually. Perhaps only one of them sat down.
If everything is in order with the batteries, then you need to insert the container into the flashlight body, observing the polarity, screw on the cap and check its functionality. In this case, you need to pay attention to the spring in the cover, through which the supply voltage is transmitted to the flashlight body and from it directly to the LEDs. There should be no traces of corrosion on its end.
If the batteries are good and the contacts are clean, but the LEDs do not light, then you need to check the switch.
The Smartbuy Colorado flashlight has a sealed push-button switch with two fixed positions, closing the wire coming from the positive terminal of the battery container. When you press the switch button for the first time, its contacts close, and when you press it again, they open.
Since the flashlight contains batteries, you can also check the switch using a multimeter turned on in voltmeter mode. To do this, you need to rotate it counterclockwise, if you look at the LEDs, unscrew its front part and put it aside. Next, touch the body of the flashlight with one multimeter probe, and with the second touch the contact, which is located deep in the center of the plastic part shown in the photo.
The voltmeter should show a voltage of 4.5 V. If there is no voltage, press the switch button. If it is working properly, then voltage will appear. Otherwise, the switch needs to be repaired.
If the previous search steps failed to detect a fault, then at the next stage you need to check the reliability of the contacts supplying the supply voltage to the board with LEDs, the reliability of their soldering and serviceability.
A printed circuit board with LEDs sealed into it is fixed in the head of the flashlight using a steel spring-loaded ring, through which the supply voltage from the negative terminal of the battery container is simultaneously supplied to the LEDs along the flashlight body. The photo shows the ring from the side it presses against the printed circuit board.
The retaining ring is fixed quite tightly, and it was only possible to remove it using the device shown in the photo. Such a hook can be bent from a steel strip with your own hands.
After removing the retaining ring, the printed circuit board with LEDs, which is shown in the photo, was easily removed from the head of the flashlight. The absence of current-limiting resistors immediately caught my eye; all 14 LEDs were connected in parallel and directly to the batteries via a switch. Connecting LEDs directly to a battery is unacceptable, since the amount of current flowing through the LEDs is limited only by the internal resistance of the batteries and can damage the LEDs. At best, it will greatly reduce their lifespan.
Since all the LEDs in the flashlight were connected in parallel, it was not possible to check them with a multimeter turned on in resistance measurement mode. Therefore, the printed circuit board was supplied with a DC supply voltage from an external source of 4.5 V with a current limit of 200 mA. All LEDs lit up. It became obvious that the problem with the flashlight was poor contact between the printed circuit board and the retaining ring.
For fun, I measured the current consumption of LEDs from batteries when they were turned on without a current-limiting resistor.
The current was more than 627 mA. The flashlight is equipped with LEDs of type HL-508H, the operating current of which should not exceed 20 mA. 14 LEDs are connected in parallel, therefore, the total current consumption should not exceed 280 mA. Thus, the current flowing through the LEDs more than doubled the rated current.
Such a forced mode of LED operation is unacceptable, as it leads to overheating of the crystal, and as a result, premature failure of the LEDs. An additional disadvantage is that the batteries drain quickly. They will be enough, if the LEDs do not burn out first, for no more than an hour of operation.
The design of the flashlight did not allow soldering current-limiting resistors in series with each LED, so we had to install one common one for all LEDs. The resistor value had to be determined experimentally. To do this, the flashlight was powered by pants batteries and an ammeter was connected to the gap in the positive wire in series with a 5.1 Ohm resistor. The current was about 200 mA. When installing an 8.2 Ohm resistor, the current consumption was 160 mA, which, as tests showed, is quite sufficient for good lighting at a distance of at least 5 meters. The resistor did not get hot to the touch, so any power will do.
After the study, it became obvious that for reliable and durable operation of the flashlight, it is necessary to additionally install a current-limiting resistor and duplicate the connection of the printed circuit board with the LEDs and the fixing ring with an additional conductor.
If previously it was necessary for the negative bus of the printed circuit board to touch the body of the flashlight, then due to the installation of the resistor, it was necessary to eliminate the contact. To do this, a corner was ground off from the printed circuit board along its entire circumference, from the side of the current-carrying paths, using a needle file.
To prevent the clamping ring from touching the current-carrying tracks when fixing the printed circuit board, four rubber insulators about two millimeters thick were glued onto it with Moment glue, as shown in the photograph. Insulators can be made from any dielectric material, such as plastic or thick cardboard.
The resistor was pre-soldered to the clamping ring, and a piece of wire was soldered to the outermost track of the printed circuit board. An insulating tube was placed over the conductor, and then the wire was soldered to the second terminal of the resistor.
After simply upgrading the flashlight with your own hands, it began to turn on stably and the light beam illuminated objects well at a distance of more than eight meters. Additionally, the battery life has more than tripled, and the reliability of the LEDs has increased many times over.
An analysis of the causes of failure of repaired Chinese LED lights showed that they all failed due to poorly designed electrical circuits. It remains only to find out whether this was done intentionally in order to save on components and shorten the life of the flashlights (so that more people would buy new ones), or as a result of the illiteracy of the developers. I am inclined to the first assumption.
A flashlight with a built-in acid battery from the Chinese manufacturer RED brand was repaired. The flashlight had two emitters: one with a beam in the form of a narrow beam and one emitting diffused light.
The photo shows the appearance of the RED 110 flashlight. I immediately liked the flashlight. Convenient body shape, two operating modes, a loop for hanging around the neck, a retractable plug for connecting to the mains for charging. In the flashlight, the diffused light LED section was shining, but the narrow beam was not.
To make the repair, we first unscrewed the black ring securing the reflector, and then unscrewed one self-tapping screw in the hinge area. The case easily separated into two halves. All parts were secured with self-tapping screws and were easily removed.
The charger circuit was made according to the classical scheme. From the network, through a current-limiting capacitor with a capacity of 1 μF, voltage was supplied to a rectifier bridge of four diodes and then to the battery terminals. The voltage from the battery to the narrow beam LED was supplied through a 460 Ohm current-limiting resistor.
All parts were mounted on a single-sided printed circuit board. The wires were soldered directly to the contact pads. The appearance of the printed circuit board is shown in the photograph.
10 side light LEDs were connected in parallel. The supply voltage was supplied to them through a common current-limiting resistor 3R3 (3.3 Ohms), although according to the rules, a separate resistor must be installed for each LED.
During an external inspection of the narrow beam LED, no defects were found. When power was supplied through the flashlight switch from the battery, voltage was present at the LED terminals, and it heated up. It became obvious that the crystal was broken, and this was confirmed by a continuity test with a multimeter. The resistance was 46 ohms for any connection of the probes to the LED terminals. The LED was faulty and needed to be replaced.
For ease of operation, the wires were unsoldered from the LED board. After freeing the LED leads from the solder, it turned out that the LED was tightly held by the entire plane of the reverse side on the printed circuit board. To separate it, we had to fix the board in the desktop temples. Next, place the sharp end of the knife at the junction of the LED and the board and lightly hit the knife handle with a hammer. The LED bounced off.
As usual, there were no markings on the LED housing. Therefore, it was necessary to determine its parameters and select a suitable replacement. Based on the overall dimensions of the LED, the battery voltage and the size of the current-limiting resistor, it was determined that a 1 W LED (current 350 mA, voltage drop 3 V) would be suitable for replacement. From the “Reference Table of Parameters of Popular SMD LEDs,” a white LED6000Am1W-A120 LED was selected for repair.
The printed circuit board on which the LED is installed is made of aluminum and at the same time serves to remove heat from the LED. Therefore, when installing it, it is necessary to ensure good thermal contact due to the tight fit of the rear plane of the LED to the printed circuit board. To do this, before sealing, thermal paste was applied to the contact areas of the surfaces, which is used when installing a radiator on a computer processor.
In order to ensure a tight fit of the LED plane to the board, you must first place it on the plane and slightly bend the leads upward so that they deviate from the plane by 0.5 mm. Next, tin the terminals with solder, apply thermal paste and install the LED on the board. Next, press it to the board (it’s convenient to do this with a screwdriver with the bit removed) and warm up the leads with a soldering iron. Next, remove the screwdriver, press it with a knife at the bend of the lead to the board and heat it with a soldering iron. After the solder has hardened, remove the knife. Due to the spring properties of the leads, the LED will be pressed tightly to the board.
When installing the LED, polarity must be observed. True, in this case, if a mistake is made, it will be possible to swap the voltage supply wires. The LED is soldered and you can check its operation and measure the current consumption and voltage drop.
The current flowing through the LED was 250 mA, the voltage drop was 3.2 V. Hence the power consumption (you need to multiply the current by the voltage) was 0.8 W. It was possible to increase the operating current of the LED by decreasing the resistance to 460 Ohms, but I did not do this, since the brightness of the glow was sufficient. But the LED will operate in a lighter mode, heat up less, and the flashlight’s operating time on a single charge will increase.
Checking the heating of the LED after operating for an hour showed effective heat dissipation. It heated up to a temperature of no more than 45°C. Sea trials showed a sufficient illumination range in the dark, more than 30 meters.
A failed acid battery in an LED flashlight can be replaced with either a similar acid battery or a lithium-ion (Li-ion) or nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) AA or AAA battery.
The Chinese lanterns being repaired were equipped with lead-acid AGM batteries of various sizes without markings with a voltage of 3.6 V. According to calculations, the capacity of these batteries ranges from 1.2 to 2 A×hours.
On sale you can find a similar acid battery from a Russian manufacturer for the 4V 1Ah Delta DT 401 UPS, which has an output voltage of 4 V with a capacity of 1 Ah, costing a couple of dollars. To replace it, simply re-solder the two wires, observing the polarity.
Many people have various Chinese lanterns that run on a single battery. Something like this:
Unfortunately, they are very short-lived. I will tell you further about how to bring a flashlight back to life and about some simple modifications that can improve such flashlights.
The weakest point of such flashlights is the button. Its contacts oxidize, as a result of which the flashlight begins to shine dimly, and then may stop turning on altogether.
The first sign is that a flashlight with a normal battery shines dimly, but if you click the button several times, the brightness increases.
The easiest way to make such a lantern shine is to do the following: 
1. Take a thin stranded wire and cut off one strand.
2. We wind the wires onto the spring.
3. We bend the wire so that the battery does not break it. The wire should protrude slightly
above the twisting part of the flashlight.
4. Twist tightly. We break off (tear off) the excess wire.
As a result, the wire provides good contact with the negative part of the battery and the flashlight
will shine with proper brightness. Of course, the button is no longer available for such repairs, so
Turning the flashlight on and off is done by turning the head part.
My Chinese guy worked like this for a couple of months. If you need to change the battery, the back of the flashlight
should not be touched. We turn our heads away.
RESTORING THE OPERATION OF THE BUTTON.
Today I decided to bring the button back to life. The button is located in a plastic case, which
It's just pressed into the back of the light. In principle, it can be pushed back, but I did it a little differently: 
1. Use a 2 mm drill to make a couple of holes to a depth of 2-3 mm.
2. Now you can use tweezers to unscrew the housing with the button.
3. Remove the button.
4. The button is assembled without glue or latches, so it can be easily disassembled with a stationery knife.
The photo shows that the moving contact has oxidized (a round thing in the center that looks like a button).
You can clean it with an eraser or fine sandpaper and put the button back together, but I decided to additionally tin both this part and the fixed contacts. 
1. Clean with fine sandpaper.
2. Apply a thin layer to the areas marked in red. We wipe off the flux with alcohol,
assembling the button.
3. To increase reliability, I soldered a spring to the bottom contact of the button.
4. Putting everything back together.
After repair, the button works perfectly. Of course, tin also oxidizes, but since tin is a fairly soft metal, I hope that the oxide film will be
easy to break down. It’s not for nothing that the central contact on light bulbs is made of tin.
IMPROVING FOCUS.
My Chinese friend had a very vague idea of what a “hotspot” was, so I decided to enlighten him.
Unscrew the head part. 
1. There is a small hole in the board (arrow). Use an awl to twist out the filling.
At the same time, lightly press your finger on the glass from the outside. This makes it easier to unscrew.
2. Remove the reflector.
3. Take ordinary office paper and punch 6-8 holes with an office hole punch.
The diameter of the holes in the hole punch matches perfectly with the diameter of the LED.
Cut out 6-8 paper washers.
4. Place the washers on the LED and press it with the reflector.
Here you will have to experiment with the number of washers. I improved the focusing of a couple of flashlights in this way; the number of washers was in the range of 4-6. The current patient required 6 of them.
What happened in the end: 
On the left is our Chinese, on the right is Fenix LD 10 (at minimum).
The result is quite pleasant. The hotspot became pronounced and uniform.
INCREASE THE BRIGHTNESS (for those who know a little about electronics).
The Chinese save on everything. A couple of extra details will increase the cost, so they don’t install it. 
The main part of the circuit (marked in green) can be different. On one or two transistors or on a specialized microcircuit (I have a circuit of two parts:
choke and a 3-leg microcircuit similar to a transistor). But on the part marked in red - they save. I added a capacitor and a couple of 1n4148 diodes in parallel (I didn't have any shots). The brightness of the LED increased by 10-15 percent.
1. This is what the LED looks like in similar Chinese ones. From the side you can see that there are thick and thin legs inside. The thin leg is a plus. You need to be guided by this sign, because the colors of the wires can be completely unpredictable.
2. This is what the board looks like with the LED soldered to it (on the back side). Green color indicates foil. The wires coming from the driver are soldered to the legs of the LED.
3. Using a sharp knife or a triangular file, cut the foil on the positive side of the LED.
We sand the entire board to remove the varnish.
4. Solder the diodes and capacitor. I took the diodes from a broken computer power supply, and soldered the tantalum capacitor from some burnt-out hard drive.
The positive wire now needs to be soldered to the pad with the diodes.
As a result, the flashlight produces (by eye) 10-12 lumens (see photo with hotspots),
judging by the Phoenix, which produces 9 lumens in minimum mode.
And the last thing: the advantage of the Chinese over the branded flashlight (yes, don’t laugh)
Branded flashlights are designed to use batteries, so
With the battery discharged to 1 volt, my Fenix LD 10 simply does not turn on. At all.
I took a dead alkaline battery that had expired in the computer mouse. The multimeter showed that it had dropped to 1.12v. The mouse no longer worked on it, Fenix, as I said, did not start. But the Chinese one works! 
On the left is the Chinese, on the right is the Fenix LD 10 at minimum (9 lumens). Unfortunately, the white balance is off.
The phoenix has a temperature of 4200K. The Chinese is blue, but not as bad as in the photo.
Just for fun, I tried to finish off the battery. At this brightness level (5-6 lumens by eye), the flashlight worked for about 3 hours. The brightness is quite enough to illuminate your feet in a dark entrance/forest/basement. Then for another 2 hours the brightness decreased to the “firefly” level. Agree, 3-4 hours with acceptable light can solve a lot.
For this, let me take my leave.
Stari4ok.
ZY The article is not a copy-paste. Made in I, especially for “NOT PROPAD”!
