2 aa mini maglielte revisited

[ironhorse]

I had a number of mini mags back in the days before led lights were readily available. I converted them to led from various suppliers.

Over the weekend I retrieved my box with all the lights and parts, and switched 2 of them back to incandescent.

The tint was great, but the beam profile is pretty bad compared to what I am used to.

I was very disappointed to discover that Eneloop's do not fit. The only batteries that would fit were alkaleaks.

 

[letschat7]

Do they not fit early 90s or before MiniMagLites because the tube has less room?

 

[tech25]

I put DC-fix on an incandescent mini mag and the beam is so much better.

 

[ironhorse]

I don't know if there was different size internal tube diameters.

I have some DC fix. Never gave that a thought.

 

[TurkishCoffee]

Weird, I have one from circa 2008 and it fits Eneloops fine. I gave up on incandescent bulbs for it a long time ago though because they were either too dim to be useful, or if I ran it on 1.8v lithiums they burned out in 15 minutes.

 

[alpg88]

Yea, it is pretty strange, every AA battery i used in minim mag AA fit there fine, there was plenty of room.
However i did notice eneloops would fit, but not go in as easy into FM 6AA holder, there is some resistance, unlike other cells. but i would think mag tube had enough slack to fit eneloops.

 

[sween1911]

I had trouble fitting Eneloops in my old Minimag just because it had gotten banged around eons ago and some slight dents affected the already-tight fit. Just a suggestion but check for any impacts or dings that are hanging the batts up.

 

[ironhorse]

It's not banged up.
Upon further testing, some of the genuine Eneloops will fit, barely. None of the "off brand" Eneloops will fit.
Big thumbs up on the DC fix. It worked great.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Modern battery diameter is problematic with some of the much older flashlights, as well; I have an old Eveready of 1920 vintage that refuses to accept most "C" cells. There are manufacturing standards and tolerances for common batteries, wonder if they're being followed by some makers.

 

[bykfixer]

Modern battery diameter is problematic with some of the much older flashlights, as well; I have an old Eveready of 1920 vintage that refuses to accept most "C" cells. There are manufacturing standards and tolerances for common batteries, wonder if they're being followed by some makers.

In the old days battery OD's were smaller. Try carbon zinc like yellow Rayovacs. Their OD is same as those older batteries were.

It was Charles F Burgess who devised the standard size back then. He banged a zinc case over a shovel handle to get what was later called a D size and a rake handle to achieve the C size.

Later on when alkalines were introduced the casing OD was larger.

 

[cave dave]

The size issue hasn't gotten any better lately with 18650, 14500, 18350, etc. Plus now some have button tops and some don't and some flashlights demand one and not the another.

 

[Dr. Jones]

In the old days battery OD's were smaller. Try carbon zinc like yellow Rayovacs. Their OD is same as those older batteries were.

It was Charles F Burgess who devised the standard size back then. He banged a zinc case over a shovel handle to get what was later called a D size and a rake handle to achieve the C size.

Later on when alkalines were introduced the casing OD was larger.

That is fantastic! The serendipity of shovel and rake handles determining the size of batteries that are now common worldwide; the mind reels.

Many thanks for the tip on the yellow Rayovac line, I will search them out and get hold of some. I've a couple of boxes of old dollar-store Fuji carbon-zinc batteries in C and D and they fit fine, but at over twenty years old most of them have long since retired. I know they're that old as I recall purchasing them during the summer preceding the 9/11 events for a trip I had planned but never went on. Frankly, I'm amazed that any of them work at this late date.

Oh, and I did a little write-up yesterday on battery standard sizes that I posted on the flashlight collecting forum, if anyone's interested:

New batteries no longer fitting old flashlights

I was doing a little digging (metaphorically speaking) on the standards for dry cell battery sizes, as it's been my experience that a lot of the older vintage flashlights, particularly those from the 1930s and earlier, have clearance issues with some of the modern batteries. Went to the...

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