Looking for a Red LED upgrade for my Mini Maglite - Need help

[AuroraLite]

Hi, InfidelCastro. :wave:

There are already a few good suggestions out there, and here are my 2 cents worth:

--A lux I RY0J MM lite sandwich from shoppe + red filter
This you will have the best of both worlds, nice bright white and red light if you need it. This particular sammie will be regulated for 3 hours.

--A custom sammie with Red lux
The good thing about this is depending on your needs, you could custom build a sammie with the type of regulation/brightness you will need. For more, please kindly refer to my humble Dummy Reference Guide to Minimag Mod

--MJ led with red filter
Same idea as 1, but MJ is simple plug and play. And I think the output is rather decent for a 5mm.

--5 Red leds mod in Minimag
As featured in my guide, there is a section details the build of a 5 led mod for a Minimag, all one has to do is to switch the white leds with red ones. And viola, a wall of red flood light within probably 10-15 dollars.

Anyway, good luck with your mod! :thumbsup:

 

[cratz2]

I ordered about 100 various LEDs from an eBay vendor last year including some 5mm red LEDs that I would consider quite bright. I also bougt 4 sets (of three) of MiniMag knockoffs from ****'s Sporting Goods that have tail clickies. I have a red one with a red LED and a blue one with a blue LED (also pretty high powered) and I run both of them off normal alk cells. On a very overcast night, either will illuminate a good section of my backyard - not as well as an incand bulb in the same body, but better than I expected. Or with adapted night vision, either the red or the blue will very, very easily light up a 14x17 living room. It's very subjective, but these are much brighter than typical sincle AA or AAA lights running a single LED and after sputtering the reflectors, the beams border on very decent.

These are 5mm LEDs and can be used in a MiniMag as simply as cutting the LED leads to proper length and drilling out the hole in the reflector. VERY simple if you have confidence and take your time.

I also have some 8 and 10mm LEDs that are bright (esp a blue one) that can be used even more easily except you have to remove the reflector entirely which leads to what many might consider unacceptable beam patterns. In real world use, you'll hardly notice, but if you like to compare beams on a wall from 6 inches or a foot, they may let you down.

 

[Sigman]

--MJ led with red filter...MJ is simple plug and play. And I think the output is rather decent for a 5mm.

EXCELLENT & EASY suggestion!!

 

[Carbonium]

I'm looking for a red LED upgrade for my Mini Maglite, but I'm not having much luck finding one. I saw one a year or so ago on here, but I can't seem to find it now. I'm aware of the filters, but I'd rather have the red LED. If someone could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it!

Stick a 190 lumen Red Lux III in it and direct drive it. It will be under driven a little but it will still be extremely bright compared to any other red led. You'll start off with about 110 lumens with alkaline AA's and 150 Lumens with Lithiums. You might need to put the battery's in reverse so the frame is positive as the Lux III red's a have a hot + and it's hard to heatsink them without shorting to ground.


Or better yet as this is a 15 minute mod:

I did this to a 2AA $8 Costco Luxeon. I pulled the puck and ran a direct drive, stuck in the Red lux III with the + shorting to ground, then reversed the batteries. It draws 1000-1100ma with lithiums. It has a good spot and it's too bright at about 150 lumens of RED. Just don't shine it while driving as people will pull off the road.


LXHL-LH3C
http://www.lumiledsfuture.com/products/family.cfm?familyId=8

 

[Shirley]

Any chance you'd be willing to do this for someone who has 10 left thumbs when it comes to electronics? I really would like to get a nice, bright red LED light for field use that uses AA batteries and has a clicky switch.

If so, how much would you charge?

John

 

[InfidelCastro]

There's a Maglite accessory package that includes a clicky tailswitch. Maybe you can buy an array of 2 or 4 bright red LED's from one of the retailers in the forum. I had no luck so gave up. I currently have a nightize dropin in my MiniMag 2AA and use it as a maplight in my gear bag.

 

[dehnehsu]

Nite Ize now has LED conversion kits in 3 colors!

 

[Lit Up]

Nite Ize now has LED conversion kits in 3 colors!

I may try this route as I'm looking for a decently bright red flashlight.
I have a black MiniMag floating around here somewhere anyways and I'm definitely less than impressed with the Infinity Ultra Red on anything past, say, a foot or so. It's like an oversized Photon with the nod actually going to a Photon.

 

[InfidelCastro]

Nite Ize now has LED conversion kits in 3 colors!

OMG!!!! Sweet!!!

 

[IsaacHayes]

cool, now in colors! Only $5 for the white at wallmart. Hopefully the others will be the same.

 

[InfidelCastro]

I'm gonna get the red one as a maplight for my gearbag to replace the standard white NightIze.

 

[da_guy2]

I emailed them. Looks like they wont be available until march or april. OH WELL

 

[Ledean]

I have a few red led's that I don't use. Not too bright but it can happily run off two AA batteries. You can have it for free .