Oh no your 3x AA minimag bulb blew, Now what?

So what do you guys out there do when your 3x AA minimag bulb blows? I can't find any for sale, do you just overdrive the 2x AA bulb? If you do how well does it work?

I didn't know Mag ever made a 3xAA Incandescent light.

you can overdrive a standard bulb to 4.5v. i have tried, it is pretty bright, just dont go any over 4.5v because it will more than likley flash.

there should be one spare bulb in the tailcap. just pull the spring in the tailcap and usually the spare bulb is inside a red plastic cover.


Giandi

momonbubu said:

there should be one spare bulb in the tailcap. just pull the spring in the tailcap and usually the spare bulb is inside a red plastic cover.


Giandi

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I have gotten many free maglites from people who didn't know of the spare bulb in the tail cap "so they gave it to me":devil:. Ok you have the spare bulb, that's nice and all but you only get 5 hours before that one blows to then your out. I was just wondering if there is any places that still have a large stock pile of them that hasn't ran out.

Umm, the only 3xAA MiniMag is LED, not incan. There is no bulb to blow or replace.

you could try 4 2/3 AA nimh cells and a 6v bulb?

Juggernaut said:

Ok you have the spare bulb, that's nice and all but you only get 5 hours before that one blows ...

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Really?

5 hours?

Marduke said:

Umm, the only 3xAA MiniMag is LED, not incan. There is no bulb to blow or replace.

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That got me too.

Wait, aren't the only 3 AA Minimags LEDs(Luxeon IIIs to be exact)?

IIRC the LEDs are held on by friction and aren't heatsinked well. So it could have either overheated or the LED could have lost contact.

No No,, Guys the older Incan version. That's the problem they stopped making them so there is no more replacement bulbs:shakehead. Obviously not the new LED one! And Lynx_Arc what 6 volt minimag bi pin bulb do you know of? "that would be cool to get my hands on:thumbsup:", as for five hour burn time, normal PR base bulbs normally are rated for 15 hours while the little tiny bi pin bulbs normally run about 7hr. long "at least that's how long the 2x AA ones last for me and my dad, 2 to 3 sets of batteries in the 2x AAA will more or less blow the on average for me, while my dad gets about 2 sets thought his work mag "2x AA" before it blows "some times during the second refill" So I guess I get about 6 hours and my dad gets 8-12 hr. So five is a little short but still not very long if you had a bulb you couldn't replaceoo:. But if what SilentK is true, then just over driving them will be the best bet I have I guess.

I don't know where to get them.... I do know I have several optronics 3AAA krypton headlamps that may have bulbs close to that size.... I wonder where you could get such bulbs from they may be slightly larger in diameter but I think they could plug into a mini mag base

just tracked this down here.... hope it helps.
BULB

Yeah if i were you, i would go to walmart, in the flashlight section and look for standard AA minimag bulbs for like $2 for a pack of two. if you dont mind dishing out two bucks to give it a shot then go for it. if i remember correctly i ran one on 3 C batterys. But that could be just one lucky bulb. i know that most maglite bulbs can be over driven by 200% if not more. i currently have a 3d cell bulb running off of 2 cr123a and 1 c cell at the same time. Bright as s**t too. {running in a cheap wal-mart energizer quick switch body.}

I mas just going through my battery stash the other day and I saw a package (Two bulbs I think) of Brinkman 3-AA bulbs. These were made for the Brinkman 3-AA minimag clone. I bought them for a 3-AA head lamp and never used them.

If you want them send me a PM and they are yours.

wwglen

I'm confused . . . .


Just like the fellows said in Posts # 6 and # 9,

i am totally un-aware of Mag Instrument ever producing

a 3 x AA cell Mini-Maglite (incand.) version.



Please tell me more.

What year did you folks purchase these ? ? ?

and Where ? ? ? (is this just a regional thing ?)



Pardon my ignorance, but are you sure it's a real Mag product ?

(sorry, not intending to offend. I'm just puzzled)



Hey, is this a One-Piece barrel (battery tube) ?

Or is it a screw-on-adapter, to add an extra cell ?



Hey Mini-Maglite fans -- ever encounter one of these ? ? ?



Thank you for any light you can shed on this subject.

:candle:
_

It sounds like many of us are surprised to learn a 3xAA incandescent MiniMag ever existed.

Assuming that is what you have, have you considered just calling Mag Instruments to see if they will give or sell you a replacement bulb?

P.S. - You should post some pictures of that bad boy.

Brownstone said:

You should post some pictures of that bad boy.

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+1 :thinking:

Yeah it sounds like a great hotwire host! I can see it now. A 300 lumen monsta! What year did you buyor recive this beast of a mag? I am going to google this and look into it some more. I dont see why you cant find bulbs for it. I know you can still find bulbs for the old surefire 12b.

I'm pretty certain Mag has never made 3 AA incan Minimags.

At least not for the public.
Possibly there are a handful of prototypes made just out of curiosity, but got cancelled for the 2 AA version - which was a winner then, btw.


PS: I second those "5 hours" for any MM bulb, thats what they lasted all the years
(thats about 1 and a 1/2 set of Ni-Mhs, then blown)

Yeah it may be a prototype worth hundreds of dollars Spal it on ebay with a starting bid of $50, of if it is a real maglite, then i will buy it for $34.99
Sorry man i cant find anything online. So naturaly with out pictures we all must think it is a hoax. Or that some dude took a standard 3 AA minimag LED and replaced it with an incan socket. So at this point i think very few of us belive that this is a real mag. "I" still belive there is a possibility, but am otherwise not convinced.

-Kyle