Mag Solitaire bulbs to run on Li-Ion 10440?

[BigusLightus]

Heat was a major problem when I tried something similar in the past.

I think heat will melt the entire plastic socket. I've tried the soli with three or four lamps and everything including the overdriven mag lamp melted some part of the lens and reflector. A 10440 is just pumping out too much power to the tiny lamps. Rayovac makes a 3AA lamp that fits. Even though it is rated for 3.6 Volts it produces more heat than the soli can dissipate. And, I must add, there was a lot of light briefly (poof) but the beams were almost unusable. Some 2AA Mag lamps lasted for thirty seconds and some lasted almost two minutes.

I hope y'all have better luck than I did.

 

[mitch79]

I found a way to get a 2AA Minimag bulb to fit in a Solitaire properly.

Take the head off your Solitaire and remove the bulb.
Now carefully prise out the plastic insert in the centre with a pin. It's retained by two plastic pins. The rest of the switch will fall out when you remove the insert.
Now you need to drill out the centre of the insert with a 1/8" drill bit so the bulb can pass right through. Try not to hold the insert by the pins when you do this or you risk breaking them off.
When done reassemble your Solitare with a Minimag bulb.

Here's a picture of the mod with the bulb removed;



The 2AA Minimag bulb now seats deep enough that it clears the lens with the head screwed down and doesn't need to be screwed all the way off to achieve proper focus.

Enjoy your Solitaire hotwire

 

[RobertM]

I found a way to get a 2AA Minimag bulb to fit in a Solitaire properly.

Take the head off your Solitaire and remove the bulb.
Now carefully prise out the plastic insert in the centre with a pin. It's retained by two plastic pins. The rest of the switch will fall out when you remove the insert.
Now you need to drill out the centre of the insert with a 1/8" drill bit so the bulb can pass right through. Try not to hold the insert by the pins when you do this or you risk breaking them off.
When done reassemble your Solitare with a Minimag bulb.

Here's a picture of the mod with the bulb removed;



The 2AA Minimag bulb now seats deep enough that it clears the lens with the head screwed down and doesn't need to be screwed all the way off to achieve proper focus.

Enjoy your Solitaire hotwire

I was about to give up on this idea until you posted :laughing:
I take it that the 2AA bulb ran without a problem on the 3.7v 10440? I thought I read in another thread on here in my searches that the 2AA bulb is actually okay up to 4.5v?

Can you elaborate a little more as to how you pull the switch out?

Thanks!
Robert

 

[mitch79]

My charger only charges my 10440 to 4.08V.
Maybe that's a good thing, I haven't flashed a bulb....yet.
My usage has been limited to short bursts of up to 30secs. I haven't experiences any melting problems.

To remove the centre insert put a AAA in the tube to support the switch.
Use a pin, fine tipped hobby knife or small jewellers screwdriver prise out the insert, working around the circumference evenly.

 

[Robocop]

This thread is interesting and got me thinking.....I was shopping at the local bass pro shop and naturally found myself in the lighting section as always. I noticed they had two very small bi-pin bulbs that did look as if they may work. I do not know anything about the current draw of these with the 10440 however size wise they look to be small enough. One says it is designed for the 3-C cell while the other says it uses a 3-AAA set up. It should be fine as far as actual voltage goes at least......think these may work??

http://www.testproducts.com/product_info.php?products_id=457


http://www.testproducts.com/product_info.php?products_id=459

 

[turbosteve]

I was about to give up on this idea until you posted :laughing:
I take it that the 2AA bulb ran without a problem on the 3.7v 10440? I thought I read in another thread on here in my searches that the 2AA bulb is actually okay up to 4.5v?

A little extra info here albeit probably not much use though, before reading this thread I was doing a 5mm LED mod to my solitaire last weekend and popped in what I thought was the original bi-pin bulb (turned out to be from my 2xAAA minimag) while powered with a 12v A23 battery. Lo and behold the light worked quite OK and it was pretty bright too. I cycled it several times to have some fun and on the 4th or 5th time it insta-'d. I was VERY surprised it handled the voltage from the battery at all. I know they are a low amperage battery that's why thier so great for the LED mods but I was quite impressed it handled the battery.

Steve

 

[BigusLightus]

This is the Soli I souped up last year or so. Lots of light. Lots of heat. Ugly beam. This lamp is the only model that did not .

 

[RobertM]

This is the Soli I souped up last year or so. Lots of light. Lots of heat. Ugly beam. This lamp is the only model that did not .

Will the head of the Solitaire screw down all the way without the bulb hitting the lens with these Rayovac lamps? Any beamshots?

Thanks,
Robert

 

[hank]

I did something like this by removing the flat plastic lens and replacing it with a little bubble of plastic I found somewhere that cleared the bulb.

No recollection at all what I used, something from the scrap or trash.

Worked fine.

 

[zs&tas]

anyone getting anywhere with these ? or can show us some comparison shots outa interest ?
i just bought a terralux tre 20 1/2 watt led for my 2xaaa mag think that will work quite nice