$1 to Repair Your Flashlight and Get a Bonus FM Radio Receiver.

by Taotaoba

11K1019

Intro: $1 to Repair Your Flashlight and Get a Bonus FM Radio Receiver.

My favorite flashlight fell off the scaffold and broke its bulb. This kind of bulb is nowhere to find. In this instructable, I'll show you how I repaired my flashlight and get a bonus FM radio receiver. Hah hah...

Tools you may need.

STEP 1: Go Get the Bulb!

Go to a one dollar shop like DOLLARAMA, buy a FM radio receiver with $1(taxes extra, of course). It has a bulb (3V) which doesn't have much use with the radio.

STEP 2: Take Out the Bulb.

Use a precision screwdriver to open the back cover of the radio. Find the bulb and use your iron take it off the PCB.

STEP 3: Prepare the New Bulb.

1. Unscrew the flashlight and take the broken bulb out. Carefully unloose the glass part from it's base. I was lucky because the bulb was loose already due to the shock when it fell. If you have problem do that, probably you have to drop you flashlights several times. :-)

2. Use your iron seperate them and make a hole on bottom tip of the bulb base. Keep the bulb base.

3. Rip a 1/2" long insulation from a small gauge wire (22AWG?) and put it on the longer leg of the bulb.

4. Assemble them together.

You're almost done.

STEP 4: Your Flashlight Is Back! and Enjoy the FM Music!!!

Put the bulb back into your flashlight. You may need to adjust the focus position of the bulb to get the best result.

Now you're done! Your flashlight is back to life and you, enjoy the FM music!!!

19 Comments

Orkekum 11 years ago

Neatly done, probably lasts longer than a old style light :D

sendoh277 12 years ago

hmm wat's the point of this project.......

Orkekum 12 years ago

to change from a normal bulb into a LED bulb

-max- 12 years ago

i find those types of bulbs EVERYWHERE even a few LED versions

northernmagnet 14 years ago

 why not add the radio in to the circuit its self? or take a thumb drive mp3 player cut a hole to view with and power it on the same battery i mean come on leds dont take that much power?

maurifix 15 years ago

I think that LEDs make the batteries last longer than bulbs, for me a good reason! Less chemicals in the world.

mas9779 15 years ago

instead of buying a bulb or pack of bulbs at the dollar store, you buy a radio that will brake and a take the led that if it was made for a circuit board probably wont last as long as you would think.

GorillazMiko 16 years ago

did that little kid make this instructable haha

Taotaoba 16 years ago

He was the little helper. :-)

GorillazMiko 16 years ago

I think they have those bulbs at RadioShack..

Taotaoba 17 years ago

Thanks for all the information. The problem is the Shipping & Handling fee may cost you over $5.

ironsmiter 17 years ago

Nice idea... and cheap/free to boot! Led's lend themselves to this pretty well too... can rip the led outa any old led device (even the remote, if you want a infrared flashlight). just use an inline resistor(of the appropriate value, so it doesn't pop on you) Sadly, this doesn't work well on single cell flashlights ;-(

Taotaoba 17 years ago

Yeah, LED is great because it is shock-proof. I may make one when the current bulb burns out. The regular LEDs is too dim to be practical. I need high power LED.

Sgt.Waffles 17 years ago

Pretty sure those bulbs are $1.37 for a three pack at walmart.

DWinker 17 years ago

you could replace the bulb with an led and buy an FM radio

acaz93 17 years ago

actually you can find those bulbs @ radioshack