Recently, my daughter had a baby. It was a little girl, our first granddaughter. My wife and I made the pilgrimage across state lines to see this great wonder. The big brothers were not neglected during our visit. My wife took along the “Grandma Basket” filled with clothes and toys and treats for the boys to help them join in the celebration.
Among the toys in the Grandma Basket was a bag of several balloons equipped with LED lights. These particular balloons were labeled as “PartyGlow” balloons, marketed by Unique Industries, Inc. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My wife purchased this gift for a buck at the local dollar store. Similar balloons are marketed under other brand names by other importers at Party City and a host of other vendors.
During the course of our week-long visit, two of the three balloons burst. I salvaged the LEDs from the balloons and examined them. Each was powered by two LR41 batteries. Each LR41 provides about 1.5 volts, so I knew that these bulbs operated effectively at around 3 volts. I wondered if they could tolerate running at 4.5 volts. If so, they might be suitable replacements for the Xenon bulb in my Pelican 2620 HeadsUp Lite.
I have previously tried to modify the Pelican 2620 HeadsUp Lite. I wrote about those experiments in an article that was published on SurvivalBlog on December 5, 2020. To summarize, I was looking for a red LED to replace the Xenon bulb that comes standard in the 2620. A red LED would allow me to use the light to see what is at my feet while allowing my eyes to adjust to ambient light to sense things farther away. At the same time, it would drain the battery less than the Xenon bulb it was replacing. The red LED configurations that I tested for the December article were not fully satisfactory. The LEDs in the balloons seemed brighter than the bulbs I had tried previously. I wondered if the balloon LEDs might be a more suitable replacement.Continue reading“Update: Modifying the Pelican 2620 HeadsUp Lite, by The Novice”
