2D & 3D maglite modding

Well after stumbling across these forums I went out yesterday and purchased a 3D maglite and stuffed 4C's and an XPR103 in it. I must say that it was amazing :rock: . So today on my lunch break I went out to pick up a 2D and tried the same routine with it but it just flashed the bulbs. I went to a 3cell xenon bulb in it for now but that is disappointing to say the least.

Now for my real question.... I would like to mod both of these lights to get as much performance out of them as possible while staying on alkalines(if this is going to be a bottleneck for performance I can go nimh) . I can trade off some brightness for run time. My budget would be $50 for each lite without batteries if I happen to go nimh.

Thanks for the great information here and now a new hobby :buddies: . My wife will not be as happy about it though :thinking: .

Ok i dont know about the 2d but you are going to want to trun your 3D into a Mag85. you will most definietly want to use nimh batteries as alkalines just dont put out the constant power that a superlight needs =) mag85s use sub-C cell batteries to really put alot of current into that light! im not sur the exact battery arangement or how to make that part work but there are lots here that do. what i do know is that there are 3 parts of your light that you will have to change no matter what. Lens, reflector, and bulb.

1: the lense needs to be changed or any powerfull light is going to melt it :rock:
you can get a replacement UCL lense here. you want 52.1mm
http://www.flashlightlens.com/products.htm

2: reflector, a good light is going to melt a standard reflector so you will need to buy an aluminum replacement. LOP MOP and HOP are textured reflectors that even out the beam of your light. they attempt to get rid of the ugly beam pattern of a mirror finish reflector. the reflector you buy depends on what you plan on doing with the light. if you want Throw, buy a LOP (light orange peel) if you want more of a floodlight buy HOP (heavy orange peel) or buy the best of both worlds MOP (medium). these reflectors arent cammed like the stock mag reflector so you will not be able to "focus" your light. rather they are already set to optimum focal point.
http://light-edge.com/products.asp?section=Mag%20Reflectors&cat=42

3: bulb: the heart of you light. for the mag 85 you will want to buy a Welch allyn 1185 potted bulb
http://light-edge.com/proddetail.asp?section=Super Bulbs&prod=WA01185PT


the rest of the light is the batteries and ill let more knowlegeable CPF'ers handle that. good luck and enjoy!

Wow, thanks for the tips. I had already been planning to replace the lense and reflector and will likely go with the LOP for the extra throw. I assume that the 1185 will be overdriven in this setup am I correct? One other question, how is bulb life in this setup? I assume resting the nimh's is required in this setup also.

What bulb did you instaflash in the 2D? If it was an xpr103 then it wasn't even overdriven. The stock mag bulb or any other 2 cell bulb will be 50% overdriven and very likely to flash, compared to your 3D mag with 4C's and and xpr103, which is only 33% overdriven.

I'd build a ROP in the 2D light. Search for KevinL's posts about "Roar of the Pelican" for directions.

yes the 1185 will be overdriven not sure about bulb life though. do a search for mag85 and start looking. a ton of people on this forum have 85s the answers are out there!

i have a Lop in my mag74 and really really like it it has a very bright hotspot and with a light this powerfull the sidespill is acutally very usefull. i think you will be happy with lop, definitely huge improvement over smooth.

I have been doing some reading on the Mag85 and it sounds like an impressive light. The only drawback is the runtime which is exactly why I sold my SF M4. I am really going to have to think about what I want to do with this as at least 90-120 minutes run time is more what I was looking for .

As Yooper said, I am going ROP on the 2D for sure now. I figure that with the low output bulb I can get very good results and decent battery life. When I really need to fire out there, I'll pop in the high output bulb. Now I just need to decide on the 3D .

If you're going for long run time on the 3D I'd go with one of the LED drop ins, like a TLE-6. I'm considering this one as an emergency light - it drops to 60% output after an hour, then stays there for 20 hours of regulated run time! Review here: http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/terralux_tle-6n.htm

would you consider a bigger light? a 6D cell light can be turned into a mag74 wich will have proformance very close to a mag85 for 90 minutes only drawback is size.

I actually have a 6d mag sitting next to me that is no longer used. It needs cleaned up from a leaky battery, but other than that it's ready to roll. I could chuck it up in the lathe and take a couple thousandths off to clean the corrosion up. Right now with the corrosion it is hard to insert and remove D batteries.

A 3D with 9AA, a WA01185 and a FiveMega LOP reflector is my brightest and pretty darn cool light.

A 2D with 7AA, a WA01274 and a FiveMega SMO is darn close.

Neither have great runtime, but that's okay by me.

A 6D just seems too big to even be fun....

How is the beam with the FiveMega SMO? Also, how are you doing 7aa? Is your light bored?

The SMO around the 1274 is a decent spot with a bowtie. The same light with the LOP can be defocused to show bowtie, but focused it is a smooth spot with a corona and always the great spill!

The 1185 with the SMO doesn't show the bowtie as much and has a bright spot with soft edges and the great spill.

7AA are in my light using a Modamag 8AA-2D adapter. Panasonic 1600 were being used, but now Rayovac 1800 are doing the deed! No boring needed with these.

I see, so you are using a dummy cell on the 8aa setup. Nice indeed!! I may just say screw it and do 'em both. I can always buy an extra 3d and stuff 4c's in it with the XPR bulb and have a handy light that gives nice run time.

This is aweful. Just one day and now I am going to mod 2 lights......... This looks like a fun hobby for sure....

Are there any decent rechargeable batteries available at wal-mart? Probably none that will provide the current needed, but I have a nice gift card from Christmas that I don't know what to spend on.:thinking:

The Energizer 2500 mAH rechargeables are decent. Go to the electronics/batteries forum and look through the NiMH shootout thread - LOTS of excellent battery info there. I think there was one version of DuraCells that were pretty nice too.

I may go with the Titanium 2600's. They seem to be a nice battery capable of higher amps... Does anyone else use the battery? If so, how is your battery cycle life and performance?

Greetings NickZ!

Lots of information and recommendations for modding your Maglites eh? I was thinking about trying out that ROP on a 2D Mag too. I have a Mag.11 that has an Aluminum LOP Reflector, Borofloat Lens, and Kiu's High-Temp Socket with a Welch~Allyn U-01111 lamp being driven by 2500mAh DURACELLs. This thing is BRIGHT! Also after etching the bulbs I have a MUCH NICER beam!

Enjoy you're modding with your Maglites!

:huh2:

I have been following this thread and I have a 3d mag light and want to do my first mod as well.


So is the A 3D, a WA01185 and a FiveMega LOP reflector with the Titanium 2600's best deal for a simple mod? Or do I have to make a cradle for the 9AA?. Is there such a thing as a FiveMega MOP? I want to do the same thing as NickZ except I want the MOP reflector.

Arghhh. I am confused. Can someone tell me what to get? I don't want to use a sodering iron (don't own one yet). Just drop in parts to make my 3D better.

I believe that FiveMega has or had a MOP reflector. You will need a 9AA to 3D adapter, that FM did sell, Modamag may have some still, don't know. Still have to try that configuration out yet, since I have a couple of these FM 9AA to 3D adapters lying around. . .