Multitool.org Forum
Tool Talk => Swiss Army Knights Forum => Topic started by: armi101 on February 12, 2018, 04:49:14 AM
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As promised in another post. I decided to show my spartan lite upgrade.
I've read far too many of the modder posts and decided it was my turn. Personally I find the spartan lite almost perfect. In really want a climber lite and I will make one some day but for now...
. In one of the old posts I found a few people complaining that the lite is poor on the Sak. And I agree. It seems weak. But I figured it couldn't be hard to upgrade. So I went and ordered a 3mm 18000 mcd (Mili candle) led. Then carefully disassembled the spartan and took apart the lite portion.
I was pretty simple and the results are great. I didnt take modding pics. But I have posted the comparison pics. The difference between stock led and upgrade is substantial.
I suggest if you are into modding. This was a good upgrade. I actually acts as a small flashlight now. Not crazy, but good enough.
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Sorry. Had to resize the pics.
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Wow, that is great! Now the light is usable! I never cared for the stock one. How much did the light upgrade cost?
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does it use the same battery?
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It uses the same battery.
I already had the pin stock so i dont know that cost, and i had replacement scales.
If i recall is was $.10 canadian for 10 led. 1cent per led, free shipping.
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Fantastic! I had an old and very weak Spartan Lite which I sold - something I immediately regretted. My only "Lite" is the one on my Mountaineer Lite - it's not bad, now that it has fresh batteries. Better than no torch at all!
But this upgrade is great.
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Only downside is that the battery will not last nearly as long. :whistle:
Nice mod! :cheers:
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Nice mod... Any problems with heat from long period use?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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None whatsoever...
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No heat issues.
It will use the batter faster, but I never found it useful before because the lite was so weak.
I expect it will get used much more like this.
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Love the Spartan Lite! As you can probably tell, the Spartan is one of my favorite patterns! :D :like:
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I am a fan of the spartan. But i find that typicaly my edc is either a climber, explorer, or pioneer x. However depending on what im doing that day sometimes i need a flashlight so the spartan lite fills a needed gap.
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Sorry to drag up an old thread but do you know the model of led you used please? The leds I've found for doing this run at about 3.6v but the spartan lite uses 2x 3v batteries = 6v.
Or is there something I'm missing? ???
Thanks
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Gotta find a beater "lite" model (preferably a Huntsman Lite) and try this. I have a Master Gardener, which being an older model has the old dim LED. Even dimmer than my ca. 2012 Wenger Microlight Esquire. But it's too uncommon to mess with.
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The leds have a voltage bias typicaly between 2.9-3.6v. The will still work fine with a 3v battery. The batteries are in parallel not in series like most flashlights. Eg. Two batteries will still provide only 3v.
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The leds have a voltage bias typicaly between 2.9-3.6v. The will still work fine with a 3v battery. The batteries are in parallel not in series like most flashlights. Eg. Two batteries will still provide only 3v.
Ahh I see :tu:
Just waiting for my spartan lite to arrive then I can begin tinkering >:D
Is the original led round topped or flat top?
I've managed to find and 18000mcd cool white leds so thinking I might try one of them.
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The leds have a voltage bias typicaly between 2.9-3.6v. The will still work fine with a 3v battery. The batteries are in parallel not in series like most flashlights. Eg. Two batteries will still provide only 3v.
That doesn't sound right...pretty sure they are in series.
I'll have to try the mod regardless. It seems like there are different levels of brightness even with the original Lites. I think they're generally much brighter starting in '12 when the housing was changed. The newest clear ones are all brighter. I've noticed the same in the 58mm scale lights.
Ahh I see :tu:
Just waiting for my spartan lite to arrive then I can begin tinkering >:D
Is the original led round topped or flat top?
I've managed to find and 18000mcd cool white leds so thinking I might try one of them.
They all look round to me. In both the 91mm and 58mm knives.
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Opened the battery door. They are in series. My mistake.
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Are there any other components in there, eg resistors? Or is it just 2 batteries, a switch and an led?
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Are there any other components in there, eg resistors? Or is it just 2 batteries, a switch and an led?
Just the batteries/switch/led and simple conductors. :tu:
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Just the batteries/switch/led and simple conductors. :tu:
I wonder if it needs a resistor in that case? Surely 6V to a 2.9-3.6V LED wouldn't do it much good without one?
Or try and re-wire the batteries to parallel? Maybe easier said than done though :dunno:
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I would just make a dummy battery(to put in the place of the battery not contacted by the switch) to reduce the voltage to 3V.
If you wanted to be creative, you could move the contacts to bypass the secondary batter place(the one the switch doesn't contact to). That way you have a backup battery on board.
All that said, why not just carry a real flashlight and have the dim Lite as an emergency backup?
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If you wanted to be creative, you could move the contacts to bypass the secondary batter place(the one the switch doesn't contact to). That way you have a backup battery on board.
I like that idea! :tu:
All that said, why not just carry a real flashlight and have the dim Lite as an emergency backup?
Because that's the easy option :D :whistle:
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Fair enough. :cheers:
The Spartan Lite is one of the SAKs I've carried off and on before. Great toolset for simple electrical/electronic related work. :)
And yes, I did use the Lite feature many times when I misplaced my dedicated light.. :)
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1 battery mod is easy enough. Just bend the negative contact from the LED to touch the door contact. I have one that's bypassed like that for extra dim light.
Bend it over the battery (or side) if you want to keep one as spare.
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1 battery mod is easy enough. Just bend the negative contact from the LED to touch the door contact. I have one that's bypassed like that for extra dim light.
Bend it over the battery (or side) if you want to keep one as spare.
Could you post a pic, as I'm trying to figure out the best way to bend it?
Thanks
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Look like I modded it again after to use the other cell, but moved the switch side positive contact instead (outside of the red switch 'channel':
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7866/32381996347_436debd7f5_m.jpg)
This way it works with 1 battery in either location. A spare can be carried, but MUST face the same direction (+ side up) or it will short when the switch is turned on.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7802/47271409212_82a7f40d7c_m.jpg)
Bend the negative tip up to touch the door contact. Make it go over the battery IF you want to store a spare batt there. I did not do that, just bent the neg contact up to touch the lid contact and could only use the outer battery location like that.
If you don't want to make it permanent, just stick a small ball of foil in there to make the contact. Just means you can't carry a spare.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7918/33448026498_716d30c213_m.jpg)
Both lites are ON:
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7823/47323933891_6effe04161_m.jpg)
Light from my monitor about 2' away overpowers the light about 1' away from the wall.
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Glad it worked. Such a simple mod and it makes the tool soo much more usable. I feel like the light is very overlooked.
I put one in an explorer instead of the mag. It might be my favorite toolset.
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It is pretty common to run "3V" LEDs on 2 x 3V button cells in series, look at any "Fauxton" as an example. When in use not many 3V button cells will supply a full 3V for very long, and over-driving the LED does give a lot more light.
Most reasonable quality LEDS will survive being over-driven for short(ish) periods. They might not last the usual 40-50,000 hours, but that isn't a serious problem for most people.
If you want an LED that will work OK on one 3V battery look at yellow or red LEDs, these seem to work better on lower voltages than white LEDs.
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Glad it worked. Such a simple mod and it makes the tool soo much more usable. I feel like the light is very overlooked.
I put one in an explorer instead of the mag. It might be my favorite toolset.
I haven't modded the LED just yet! I gotta order some for future builds...
And I agree with you on the Lite modules...I'd like to put one in almost every mod. I have lots of Spartan Lites for donors. One with the new clear case, a few with the newer '12+ gray case and several with the original '04 type.
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I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but to use one battery you don't need to change anything apart from have both batteries facing positive upwards! No wire bending required.
:facepalm:
The conductor on the door effectively uses the metal of the second battery as a conductor so only the battery nearest the led is actually used. The one furthest away isn't used as the negative is not connected to anything so that's the spare one.
Bingo, 3v instead of 6v. :2tu:
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I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but to use one battery you don't need to change anything apart from have both batteries facing positive upwards! No wire bending required.
:facepalm:
The conductor on the door effectively uses the metal of the second battery as a conductor so only the battery nearest the led is actually used. The one furthest away isn't used as the negative is not connected to anything so that's the spare one.
Bingo, 3v instead of 6v. :2tu:
:D
Always nice when the light comes on!
:tu: :tu:
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And just for those interested in the dates and history, The new case shows up in '12 , but the newer brighter LED shows up in '13 and the clear one I have is dated '17.
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I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but to use one battery you don't need to change anything apart from have both batteries facing positive upwards! No wire bending required.
:facepalm:
The conductor on the door effectively uses the metal of the second battery as a conductor so only the battery nearest the led is actually used. The one furthest away isn't used as the negative is not connected to anything so that's the spare one.
Bingo, 3v instead of 6v. :2tu:
Awesome! :like:
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I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but to use one battery you don't need to change anything apart from have both batteries facing positive upwards! No wire bending required.
:facepalm:
The conductor on the door effectively uses the metal of the second battery as a conductor so only the battery nearest the led is actually used. The one furthest away isn't used as the negative is not connected to anything so that's the spare one.
Bingo, 3v instead of 6v. :2tu:
Hi fellas,
So I have a Spartan Lite that I would like to mod as well. I have plenty of 3.6v LED's to work with. My question is more how to get the whole thing apart. Do I have disassemble the entire knife to get at the LED bulb? I've never taken apart a SAK before and it seems daunting. Also, if I understand correctly I pretty much just have to flip the rear battery around and now the LED is running off just one battery and now there is a spare? Thanks for any and all clarifications!
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You have to take it apart to change the led.
One thing ive been thinking about. I wonder why victorinox hasn't done this themselves. Really they could keep eveything the same and change the led to a higer mcd and it improves the utility of the flashlight. The tool set doest have to change.
From what i have read of reviews of the spartan lite most complaints are weak light, and expensive batteries. I wonder if the batteries would seem so expensive if the light worked better..
Id like to see.
Climber lite
Compact lite (this was a mod I did)
Explorer lite
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You have to take it apart to change the led.
One thing ive been thinking about. I wonder why victorinox hasn't done this themselves. Really they could keep eveything the same and change the led to a higer mcd and it improves the utility of the flashlight. The tool set doest have to change.
From what i have read of reviews of the spartan lite most complaints are weak light, and expensive batteries. I wonder if the batteries would seem so expensive if the light worked better..
Id like to see.
Climber lite
Compact lite (this was a mod I did)
Explorer lite
The newer Lites starting sometime in '13 *are* brighter! I posted about that earlier. Not super bright, but definitely brighter than earlier models.
I agree with your suggestion for more models with the lite module. There is sort-of a Climber lite with the late model Traveller (and older Voyager), but it also comes with electronic scales. I love mine and do use them on trips.
I have a tendency to want Lites on larger models too. I modded a Troubleshooter with a Lite and think they should make a Champion and Champ Lite too. I like my CT lite, but it's missing both saws and I think a CT41 Lite would be too big. I'm working on another mod now that will be pretty big and include a lite.
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So I did the led mod a few days ago to fit in to a sak mod I've just finished (more on that in a few days >:D ) and the results are astounding!
The 2 pics below were taken in an otherwise pitch black room. I forgot to take 'before' pics, but needless to say the original led was like a p***hole in the snow.
Also the new led runs on 1x 3v battery so I can carry a spare within the lite module now :woohoo:
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So I did the led mod a few days ago to fit in to a sak mod I've just finished (more on that in a few days >:D ) and the results are astounding!
The 2 pics below were taken in an otherwise pitch black room. I forgot to take 'before' pics, but needless to say the original led was like a p***hole in the snow.
Also the new led runs on 1x 3v battery so I can carry a spare within the lite module now :woohoo:
Wow, that is phenomenal! So I really want to do this mod on my spartan lite. I have plenty of LED's (I work on circuit boards used in music equipment) but I have never taken apart a SAK before. Do I need parts to reassemble the knife? From the little research I've done it seems I will need to drill out the brass pins. Thanks in advance for the help!
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Wow, that is phenomenal! So I really want to do this mod on my spartan lite. I have plenty of LED's (I work on circuit boards used in music equipment) but I have never taken apart a SAK before. Do I need parts to reassemble the knife? From the little research I've done it seems I will need to drill out the brass pins. Thanks in advance for the help!
Nope, you don't have to disassemble it. I think every part of the LED light can be accessed by removing just the battery cover.
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Unfortunately I think this incorrect (at least on my model). You cannot remove the led without taking apart the housing as the led lip is secured by the housing...ie. you need to remove the pins to seperate the housing to change the led.
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I agree, there appears to be no way to get the LED bulb out without taking the knife apart.
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Let's bring this topic alive with one question.
Does anyone have a link to a source for the LED?
I'm quite capable of doing the mod, just not sure about which LED to use...
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No
Let's bring this topic alive with one question.
Does anyone have a link to a source for the LED?
I'm quite capable of doing the mod, just not sure about which LED to use...
Pm'd you as not sure if I'm allowed to post the link.
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NoPm'd you as not sure if I'm allowed to post the link.
Thanks! Replied.
Sent from my Redmi Note 5
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And just for those interested in the dates and history, The new case shows up in '12 , but the newer brighter LED shows up in '13 and the clear one I have is dated '17.
i just bought a spartan lite from amazon.com and i got the grey case. How do I get one with the clear case? do I have to order it from swissarmy.com because the only picture I could find on the internet of the clear case is the pic from swissarmy.com zoomed in real close.
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i just bought a spartan lite from amazon.com and i got the grey case. How do I get one with the clear case? do I have to order it from swissarmy.com because the only picture I could find on the internet of the clear case is the pic from swissarmy.com zoomed in real close.
Urf. That’s disappointing. I would like to think old stock would be cleared out by now. I’d hope ordering direct would work or a higher volume shop? Like SKS?