Help With Flashlight Bulb Change

[Capt Charlie]

A couple of months ago, I was wandering through Cabella's bargain cave and spotted a neat little flashlight. It's a Cabella's Alaskan Guide that appears to be a Surefire wannabe, and has 3 red LED's and a 6V Xenon bulb. The price was right so I bought it on a whim. It actually turned out to be a decent little flashlight.

Well, CR123A batteries are so darned expensive that I bought a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger. It turns out the batteries are too hot (3.7V each) and they blew the bulb.

No problem, I have spare bulbs, so I set about replacing the bulb, and... what the heck? Darned if I can get the old bulb out! :o

So, rather than ruin this thing, I thought it better to check with TFL's flashlight gurus :D.

Here's some pictures of the assembly. It appears that it may seperate just above the red band, but I figure there must be leads going from the lower section to the LED's in the upper section, and I don't want to break those.

So, any ideas?


http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=39396&stc=1&d=1229107478

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=39397&stc=1&d=1229107609

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=39398&stc=1&d=1229107718

[armsmaster270]

Your pics didn't come through a lot of those small lights have the bulb & reflector as a single unit Also check the surefire web site or a police supply store you can get a dozen 123 batteries for 18-20 bucks

[fisherman66]

Try the candlepower forum. Those the the geekiest engineers ever. It they can't solve your problem, then it can't be solved.

[Capt Charlie]

Your pics didn't come through...

Thanks, fixed.

[ZeSpectre]

Cabela's Alaskan Guide Flashlights (http://tinyurl.com/6dayhw)

The 2-in-1 prefocus aluminum reflector intensifies the brightness of the light beam creating more useful light at longer distances.
In flashlight speak, "Pre-Focused" usually means "permanently mounted".

Looks like the entire assembly can be ordered here (http://tinyurl.com/6xu362) for $20

[armsmaster270]

Yep that is one assembly you gotta replace the whole thing it even looks like a surefire bulb with cabellas name on it and I lied the 12 pack of batteries is 21 bucks at http://www.surefire.com/12-Pack-Batteries

[Capt Charlie]

Thanks guys! :) Without you, I probably would've done major surgery and killed the patient :D.

I ordered both the assembly and the batteries.

Yep that is one assembly you gotta replace the whole thing

That's probably why it was in the bargain cave ;).

[bedlamite]

Batteries are a buck a piece here (http://www.batteryjunction.com/crba.html), less if you buy in bulk

[revance]

You might check dealextreme for a replacement drop-in. That looks like the standard "surefire knock off" drop-in. You have several options; you can look for one just like that, replace it with a regular multi-output single LED, or see if you are lucky enough for them to make the same thing with an LED instead of xenon. The advantage of the LED primary is that most have a voltage range that allow the use of RCR123s like you tried. They also use less power.