2 quick questions about maglites (solitare)

1. Can you use bulb for the 2AA maglite in a maglite solitaire? They look the same. they both have the 2 pins that pull in and out of the hole. the 2AA bulbs is dim in the solitaire, because the solitaire is only made for 1 AAA battery. I put the bulb into the light for just a few seconds and turned it on, and it worked, but it was dimmer. say you was out of solitaire bulbs and you needed some light. would it hurt anything to use the bulb from the 2 AA in the solitaire light? true the light would be dimer, bu i'm wondering would it do anything to the internal parts that would damage it permanently, like short something out, or say it would short the battery and make it become hot and leak acid or anything.

2. I want to use a rechargeable NIMH battery in my solitaire. the possitive termanial of the battery is covered up on the sides, yet the negative terminal is exposed, cause some of the wrapper is gone. with the AA rechables, both the + and - have wrapping wrapped over the edges, but this one doesn't, so the negative is touching the side walls of the flashlight, and the bottom touches the spring, like its supposed to. I'm just wondering if this may cause a short of the battery cause the - is touching the spring, and the side walls, and make a short that would make the battery get hot and explode/leak. alkalines are covered on the - cause they have wrapping around the ends.

Hello Frijid,

If you can get by with the lower light output there is no problem using the bulb for the 2AA in a 1 AAA application.

The inside of the flashlight is anodized and that will provide some insulation. You may want to put some nail polish on the battery to further insulate it. If it shorts out the light will stay on constantly. If the light goes out there should be no problems.

Tom

Doesn't the Solitaire work based on rotation of the head, not the tail? The negative end being exposed shouldn't pose any issues, as far as I can visualise. The fully tightened head disconnects the lamp assembly from the walls of the light, turning it off.

To the OP, I have no reason to believe either of the questions you have posed are likely to be an issue for you. Use away. It's good to know there are some incandescent users out there still. Just bear in mind that using NiMH may result in a dimmer peak output, but will likely be usable for longer than an alkaline, as well as being environmentally conscious and cost-effective.