borland

A dead battery on my lighted key head, gave me a reason for finally doing the conversion to LED.

Opening up the case shows the original parts... 1.5V alkaline battery, incandesent bulb, etc....



Here's another mod I found... http://p-car.com/diy/key/

I used a single 3V lithium battery and white high brightness LED from Radio Shack. It requires the following parts:

1 - CR1025 lithium battery, 3V, $4USD
1 - High brightness LED, Radio Shack Part Number 276-0017, $1.99USD
1 - 3/8" O.D. x 1/8" I.D. x 1/8" LG, nylon spacer, $0.15USD
1- 5/8" O.D. x 3/8" I.D. x 1/8" LG, nylon spacer, $0.20USD

I purchased the nylon spacers at a local hardware store that has an extensive assortment of nuts and bolts (B&B Do It Center).



You’ll need to slightly modify the large nylon spacer. The small nylon spacer should fit inside the larger nylon spacer, but it’s bore is slightly to small to allow the battery to fit inside. So you need to sand or file the inside of the large nylon spacer enough that the new battery fits inside without friction. Then use a razor knife to cut a notch as shown.



You’ll also need to bend and trim the LED so it fits nicely inside. Be careful, you can’t bend the leads more than once without them breaking. The flat edge of the clear LED lense faces up, place it downwards and the LED won’t light.

Here's the partially assembled key head.. The battery goes in as shown, the small washer goes on top of the LED lead and battery. The large nylon spacer keeps the battery from sliding around and the small nylon spacer fits between the external button and the LED lead and battery.



and back together..



And here’s what goes to the local landfill…

pcar928fan

COOL! How about I send you my keys and a $20 for each and you do it for me?!

WallyP

If someone is interested in doing this conversion, here is a better deal...

These LED flashlights include a very bright LED, battery, and squeeze switching parts - and you can buy ten for $4.58 including shipping!

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1100

I have bought thiry of these so far, and given them to my family and friends...

IrishLegend

Ditto!

borland

Not everyone uses the long key with the lighted key head, so Wally has a great find. I wish I could find someone that makes a short key for the lighted key head.

James, It was meant to be a simple DIY, but if you still want... send me a PM.

borland

Wait a minute. I don't want to make this a business. Talk to Carl about a new product offering.

pcar928fan

LOL! Yea, you better be careful if you offer that to me... I could send you a shed load of keys!

davek9

Nice DIY, thanks for posting !

AO

Cool mod. I tried this a number of years back and was less successful. Maybe time for a re-try.

davek9, is a "Fire Extinguisher" really a mod? I mean c'mon... a mod? Really?

sweet928

OB key is different. Anyone do a LED conversion on an OB key? I tried the OP parts and the battery doesn't fit. It's way too big. Also the LED didn't light on my current battery.

sweet928

Bump

borland

You need a 3 volt battery to light the LED. Lithium is about 3 volts, while alkaline is 1.5 volts. So if you use alkaline, then you would need two batteries. But lithium is a much better choice, as it has much more capacity and longer shelf life than alkaline.

sweet928

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. Do you know the name/model of the Lithium battery that fits my key? My OEM battery is a button type and the actual button cups the shape of the top of the battery.

a4sfed928

I have done this mod on an early key. I used a larger battery than the original post because I wanted more life out of the battery. You can use a CR1225 but this chemistry is at it's end of life according to Energizer. The BR1225 will be a substitute and it has slightly lower mAh output than the CR. I can send you some photos if you like.

sweet928

Yes, Please send me some pictures. I'll PM you my email.