Just more stuff to suck up power. The thing is too bright now so try just running it off the battery directly.
this is not rocket science kenn, if you have to boost the voltage so you can then reduce/waist it I'd say you are going about things in a fashion that would not be very efficient or inexpensive.
I put LED courticy lights on my boat and I just used the supply voltage (max seen)/Vf or 14.4/2.3ish=6.2 which would be rounded up to 7 LEDs in series. Using 6 gives you a VERY bright LED for about 5 seconds when I cranked the voltage up to max 14.4.
The whole problem is you guys are trying to buy something out of home depot and don't have the component information (Vf, If.....) so you have to go test stuff yada yada yada.... lots of confusion and the buying of extra parts to test stuff with.....
For the record a small flash light illuminates the top of the mast and my windex quite nicely. I find that duct tape (yep) ing it to my bimini bail works nicely too