Replace 3 'D' Cell batteries with Ultra Capacitor

Hi All,

I’m wondering if this is even possible. I would like very much to do this myself. I have some experience soldering circuit boards but I lack the electrical engineering skill needed for the larger portion of this project. What I have is a 12” Mag Lite that requires (3) ‘D’ Cell Batteries. My Wish list is to replace the filament bulb with a 12 volt 50 Watt Cree LED AND replace the batteries with quick recharging Ultra Capacitors. I would like to leverage the existing hardware of my flashlight and just add the upgrades if possible.

I know this sounds ambitious but is this even possible.

I have done some research and I think I need the following…

A high power LED. I’m thinking of using this one I found on Ebay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/251862592407?_t … EBIDX%3AIT)

A Driver for the LED.

2 or 3 Ultra Capacitors

A circuit board to regulate and recharge the Ultra Capacitors

Some redesigning of the flashlight tube to accepts the recharging female adapter

So… Is what I’m contemplating even possible?

Thanks in advance to all,

-NJ

How much energy would those ultra capacitors carry? With a 50 Watt it will probably only light up for a slight or even split second. They put D-cell in it for a reason: Amp-hours

I think 50 watts is unreasonable - this would be brighter than an automotive headlight - way overpowered!

I have a 1 watt flashlight that is hugely bright! 3 watts would be super bright.

Remember that 50 watts is the power draw for the LED - you can’t compare that to a 50 watt light bulb at all.

It’s the lumen output that determines how much light output the LED has.

50 watts at 12 VDC = 4.17 amps - pretty big load!

do some more research …

Valen:
How much energy would those ultra capacitors carry? With a 50 Watt it will probably only light up for a slight or even split second. They put D-cell in it for a reason: Amp-hours

I have done some more research and your are correct - Ultra Caps would not do the job.

Thanks

-NJ

DanV:
I think 50 watts is unreasonable - this would be brighter than an automotive headlight - way overpowered!

I have a 1 watt flashlight that is hugely bright! 3 watts would be super bright.

Remember that 50 watts is the power draw for the LED - you can’t compare that to a 50 watt light bulb at all.

It’s the lumen output that determines how much light output the LED has.

50 watts at 12 VDC = 4.17 amps - pretty big load!

do some more research …

Actually, it is an Automotive headlight I’m wanting to put into a Maglite. I’m wondering if I could use (8) 1.5v batteries in series to generate the 12v needed to power the LED. Would something like that be possible?

Apparently The Ultra Caps wont work. What I would like to do is see about completing the second part of my project. I have an old 1,000,000 candle power spotlight that is very big and bulky and does not even hold a charge anymore. I was hoping I could get away with an update to my sleek looking maglite.

Is is possible to get that kind of illumination out of a maglite with some elbow grease and solder?

-NJ

Actually, it is an Automotive headlight I’m wanting to put into a Maglite. I’m wondering if I could use (8) 1.5v batteries in series to generate the 12v needed to power the LED. Would something like that be possible?

I think you need to do more research on the basics of electricity. Especially Amp hours… There is a reason why high powered lights have huge batteries.

codlink:

Actually, it is an Automotive headlight I’m wanting to put into a Maglite. I’m wondering if I could use (8) 1.5v batteries in series to generate the 12v needed to power the LED. Would something like that be possible?

I think you need to do more research on the basics of electricity. Especially Amp hours… There is a reason why high powered lights have huge batteries.

Thanks for reality check guys. I'm guessing my ambitions exceed science.

If I may make a request (and the forum would be amicable), would anyone suggest a conversion setup that would max out the lumens and still give me close to an hour of use time?

I really want to make at least a go at this if nothing else but to learn a few things.

Thanks,

-NJ

At the very bottom of this comparison chart shows 25 watt LED equivalent (roughly) to a 150 watt incandescent lamp.

So, your 100 watt LED is roughly = 600 watt incandescent.

Maybe if you scaled back to 10 watt LED you’d have better luck with your project.

I received a 1 watt LED flashlight (Dorcy) a few years back and it was magnificently bright.