EscapeVelocity
Enlightened
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2009
- Messages
- 343
My plastic MagLite reflector melted! This from about 3 minutes of continuous use with the Pelican Hi bulb in there. WooT!
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Thanks. I think the Centura C cells are 4000mah. The Pelican 3584 Lo bulb is 2 amp draw. It isnt as impressive but better than a stock Maglite 6 cell xenon. I just put a MagLite 5 cell Xenon in the 6C Mag (with the Centuras) and it is pretty good, about on the level with the Pelican 3584 Lo bulb. I wonder what the draw is on that.
Awesome! Where did you end up finding info about the over driven 5 cell mag bulb?
I found a thread here which had some info I had seen elsewhere, but it's just MagLite bulb specs. With the 6 NiMH batteries Ill be at 7.2v or possibly up to 8.4v but with resistance loss in the spring and elsewhere in the flashlight of about 1.2v or so, brings it back down within bulb spec. Not so much overdriving the bulb, as driving the bulb to spec....whereas normal design by MagLite is to underdrive the bulbs for longevity. At least that is what my reading has led me to believe.
I might return the ebay special reverse polarity 6v-3.2v LED PR bulb. I reversed the batteries in the 3D MagLite and inserted the bulb, but nothing. Any suggestions?
Did you alter the tail spring and switch positive contact point at all? If I am understanding you correctly, the led pr bulb is designed to be run with the batteries backwards in the light? If so, there is a good chance that the positive end of the battery is not making contact with the tailspring and the negative end of the battery not making contact with bottom metal contact of the maglite switch.
My 4 MOP and 1 SMO Aluminum (screw on cammed) reflectors arrived finally! They do improve the beam quality on the LEDs, but on the Xenon bulb in the 5D it is kind of spikey.
I got one SMO for throw purposes with the Xenons and ROP bulbs that Im playing with in the 5D (currently running 6 LSD NiMH Tenergy Centuras in a 1" PVC pipe).
I also have a TerraLUX TLE-310M-EX on the way.
Hopefully I will have time to do a big test with beamshots for everyone next Monday or Tuesday.
know what a great replacement for bottled graphite is?
lead/graphite from a carpenters pencil
I've been using the graphite that you can get from a bottle, never again! its far too fine and bunches up then falls out of the thread.
The carpenters pencil graphite works great on torch threads for making the thread either a bit smoother or a lot smoother, even thicker.
Own a Maglite C and twisted the tailcap on only to have your ears bleed from the high pitched squeal? Put a little graphite on it!
It also makes the mini mag twisting action the same way, slightly thick like 15w-40 or thick like 20w50 or molasses, so you can fine tune a lot easier and prevent any premature turn-ons in your pocket.
I just got my carpenters pencil and scraped some of it off into the thread, running perpendicular to the thread groove, then put the tailcap or head back on and gauge how much more I need.
For a mini mag at least it makes it feel like a million dollars, even though it already is, a 1980s mini, built the way they used to make them.
Only use as much as you need though, graphite is conductive!.
Is there a noticeable difference in the graphite lubricity between different hardness pencils? I'm not familiar with carpenter pencils but presumably they would readily substitute with a softer pencil from a drawing set.
I would guess that the softer pencils, lacking as high a clay content, therefore being "purer" graphite, would be better among them. Personally, I use bottled graphite powder (remember not to inhale!).