Mini-Maglite: Genuine xenon replacements

[Cman219]

Has your Xenon bulb burnt out yet Phaserburn? I used the Nizn batteries in a stock MiniMag and each bulb burned out in only about an hour's worth of use. I would imagine the Xenon's would have less runtime since they're driven harder. Where did you get the bulbs by the way? I could not find them anywhere... only place i haven't looked is Home Depot. Oh yea... one more thing, does anybody's MiniMag AA's head wobble a tiny bit when turned on?

 

[Black Rose]

Oh yea... one more thing, does anybody's MiniMag AA's head wobble a tiny bit when turned on?

All of mine wobble a lot.

 

[Cman219]

Oh okay, just thought mine was defective. So is there a fix for this? I was thinking of putting some tape along the inside of the head but then i realized that it wobbles because the top part of the main body (threads) is too narrow so i don't think tape would work. Kinda annoying as its hard to get a consistent beam. Anyway.... eagerly waiting on Phaserburn's response

 

[american lockpicker]

Has your Xenon bulb burnt out yet Phaserburn? I used the Nizn batteries in a stock MiniMag and each bulb burned out in only about an hour's worth of use. I would imagine the Xenon's would have less runtime since they're driven harder. Where did you get the bulbs by the way? I could not find them anywhere... only place i haven't looked is Home Depot. Oh yea... one more thing, does anybody's MiniMag AA's head wobble a tiny bit when turned on?

My older ones don't but the newer ones do.

 

[Phaserburn]

Picked up a couple packs of these last night. I can see a brightness and definitely a whiteness boost. I loaded up some nizn AA cells to see if I'd get overdrive or poof. My results using fully charged cells (but not fresh off the charger):

Nimh AAs: 370ma
Nizn AAs: 430ma

the bulb is ok so far. I used it for around 20 mins or more last night, and turned it on an off many times repeatedly. So far, so good. The extra voltage of the nizn cells is providing a nice little overdrive.

Having said that, I think it's important for us to remember that this isn't a hotwire. On nimh, its: 2.4V x .37A = .9W vs. 3.2V x .43A = 1.4W on nizn. So, the incan MM has improved, and to me, is now useable. I actually like it; something very old is new again!

Also, the mission of this light isn't a thrower or total output vehicle. Its a small, 2AA incan with a total lumen output of... 15-20 lumens or so. Nice. Because of this, I am using mine with a UCL-LCF lens to make the beam perfect smooth and floodier with no artifacts. Now, it fits into a niche in my incan arsenal of short range flooder at low power but with respectable whiteness.

Ok, the nizn cells blew out my Xenon bulb. Total life was around an hour.



I got my bulbs at Lowe's.

 

[Phaserburn]

I may try overdriving the krypton bulb with nizn cells to see if it's any more resistant to the extra current. Krypton bulbs often are in comparison with xenon.

 

[Cman219]

Nah don't do it, i got about 1hr of runtime with the Krypton bulbs too while running on the Nizns.

 

[apete2]

You can use the streamlight twin-task 1L bulb with Nimh to get the same or a little better brightness and no flash risk. Its 2.4v, 1A.

 

[Phaserburn]

You can use the streamlight twin-task 1L bulb with Nimh to get the same or a little better brightness and no flash risk. Its 2.4v, 1A.

Does the 1L bulb fit the MM reflector, and will the higher wattage melt the reflector? I would think that this would be quite noticeably brighter drawing 1A vs 400ma.

 

[apete2]

You have to enlarge the hole. The bulb is physically too big for the 2AAA minimag, it will push against the lens. I have a glass lens for the 2AA and there is no deformation of the reflector after a 5 minute burn time.

 

[Bachac88]

On the reverse side of things I have a StreamLight Twin Task L1 with a blackened Xenon bulb. In my part of the world there are no replacement bulbs for this but there is a plethora of MAGLITES. I put the 2 AA MiniMag Xenon bulb in the TTL1 with a SureFire 123A. Have used the light now on and off for about 2 hours and it is still going strong. Quite bright if you ask me, even brighter than the original TTL1 Xenon bulb if you ask me. Quite happy with it anyway. I'd like to but a Red Led in place of the Xenon bulb but somehow I don't think it would be bright enough.

 

[Robin24k]

A red LED probably will be dimmer, but you can run a 3mm one directly off of two slightly drained AA's (full 1.5V from each will be too much).

 

[Alex K.]

I just bought some of these xenon bulbs from Ace last week. They cost me roughly $2.50, and they are a bit brighter than the ones that came with my Mini.

 

[ebow86]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of getting a set of these lamps for my 2AA tomorrow, I was wondering if anyone had any experience running the energizer lithium primaries with the new xenon lamps. I'm hoping someone can comment because I don't want to blow the money on a pack of xenon lamps and another $10 on energizer lithiums just to see my lamp or burn up and blacken after a few minutes use.

 

[elseis66]

I do not think energizer lithium primaries would overdrive a xenon lamp enough to make it much brighter at all. I am REALLY wanting to figure out a more powerful minimag mayself but do not want to use rechargeable lithiums either. Is there a better reflector/glass lense option that will significantly improve the beam enough to make a stock xenon/2 lithium primary set up seem alot better? I am also wondering if I could get someone at a local machine shop to make me some 1 AA extentionsto run 3 X AAs and overdrive a stock xenon. I guess I will have to break down and spend the hundred or so and build and ROP.

 

[ebow86]

I do not think energizer lithium primaries would overdrive a xenon lamp enough to make it much brighter at all. I am REALLY wanting to figure out a more powerful minimag mayself but do not want to use rechargeable lithiums either. Is there a better reflector/glass lense option that will significantly improve the beam enough to make a stock xenon/2 lithium primary set up seem alot better? I am also wondering if I could get someone at a local machine shop to make me some 1 AA extentionsto run 3 X AAs and overdrive a stock xenon. I guess I will have to break down and spend the hundred or so and build and ROP.

I have always noticed an increase in brightness and whiteness, regardless of the flashlight, when using lithium primaries over normal alkalines.

 

[prof student]

Has anyone compared the Maglite's Xenon lightbulb to the Brinkman's Nexstar Xenon 2AA bulbs?

 

[B.R.D.]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of getting a set of these lamps for my 2AA tomorrow, I was wondering if anyone had any experience running the energizer lithium primaries with the new xenon lamps. I'm hoping someone can comment because I don't want to blow the money on a pack of xenon lamps and another $10 on energizer lithiums just to see my lamp or burn up and blacken after a few minutes use.

I used mine in the same configuration for about 1 hour or so of actual use with no ill effects. I just purchased an e2d and an mn02 instead.

 

[ebow86]

I just bought a pack of maglite xenon lamps tonight at Lowes for $1.95. I don't know why others have said they see no difference over the stock krypton, I can see a clear difference in whiteness over the stock krypton lamps. It's a small improvement, but diffently a noticeable one.

 

[prof student]

I just bought a pack of maglite xenon lamps tonight at Lowes for $1.95. I don't know why others have said they see no difference over the stock krypton, I can see a clear difference in whiteness over the stock krypton lamps. It's a small improvement, but diffently a noticeable one.

What kind of run time before it gets too look like the krypton bulb?