Maglite 2D Incandescent Mod

Hello, I am new here. I've had an interest in flashlights for a while now, and have become curious about the idea of modifying them or even building my own from scratch. I have an older 2D maglite that I would like to start with a fairly simple and affordable, but hopefully impressive, upgrade. I've read a little about the "Roar of the Pelican" and other ways of stepping up the battery voltage and using a higher powered bulb. This basic concept seems appealing to me, but I don't want to spend a lot of money on my first project.

I what I'm looking for is suggestions on some affordable (maybe less than $50 if possible) modifications I could do with only basic knowledge that would really make an impressive difference in the output of the flashlight. I'm totally new at all of this so If this is in the wrong place or I've violated any ethics or etiquette expectations please feel free to let me know.

Welcome to CPF! What battery source would you prefer to use for your first mod?
Lithium rechargeable or nimh? If you are going to do something like an ROP mod, the amperage draw is too much for alkaline cells.

I'm not too picky on on batteries. I have one 18650 that I use in an edc light. Basically I have no major investment that would cause me to lean toward a particular type of batteries. The ROP, or something like it, really does appeal to me. I would like to do something like a budget version if possible. I was wondering if 2x 18650 would be feasible to run the pelican bulb with. I have confirmed that I can make 4x cr123 work in my 2d maglite by inserting a spacer and running a standard 6D bulb. This would make me think the two 18650 would be easy to adapt, but are they going to operate the pelican bulb with good results? Runtime is not a huge concern for me. I'm mainly doing this as a starter project, and if I use it it will be to keep in my truck for when I need to shed a lot of light on something to check it out for a minute or two. From what I understand AA size in D adapters is a common battery setup, but this seems expensive to me.

Since you mentioned 18650 batteries, I assume you understand safe usage of lithium rechargeable batteries. If your charger is compatible with 26650 batteries, I would purchase 2x keeppower protected 26650 5200mah batteries from illuminationsupply, as well a camless bi-focal reflector and set of 3854 ROP bulbs from FiveMega. This will likely cost you about $65 total. Since the reflector is camless, you will need to cut a notch into the bulb tower of your maglite, towards the bottom of the tower (so that the bulb can be "locked" into a lower position). This will replicate the bulb placement when used with a cammed reflector. If you need photos or more information let me know. And of course, if someone out there is more knowledgeable than I am (as I'm sure they are), I hope they will chime in.

EDIT: Yes, it is feasible to run the ROP-hi bulb with 18650s. I have not had the best of luck with IMR 18650s though. If you want to use protected 18650s for the HI bulb, I would recommend protected cells, but ones with a high protection circuit.

EDIT #2: Crapballs. Call my responses exuberance for getting another person started with modding lights If you're going to be leaving the light in the truck (where it gets really hot), Lithium chemistry may not be your best option. This is definitely something I'd have other people weigh in on as I never leave any Lithium chemistry in my car.

I have noticed when searching for the 3854 bulbs I only get results for 3853. The voltage and wattage match up and they say they are for the big d rechargeable. Is this simply a replacement part number, or is this a different set of bulbs?

You can find a lot of useful bulb information in the incandescent forum. Look at the destructive Incan bulb thread.
the 3853 is for the big D but using a different battery chemistry, so the bulbs are slightly different. It will still work as a ROP mod, but will not be quite as bright.
you can also get a decent and bright beam by using a magnumstar 5 cell bulb and two 18650 bulbs, although it won't be nearly as bright.
do some reading about the ROP mod before you do it, it requires more than just a bulb and batteries.

I have read several guides and discussions on doing it, but everyone seems to have their own variation on it. What is the advantage of the camless reflector? I saw an aluminum reflector for about $10 on kaidomain.com with a removable cam. Is there any reason that one wouldn't work? I know I'm probably asking a lot of ignorant and repetitive questions. I'm just trying to find the cheapest "right" way to do this. As far as getting these parts from the guy you mentioned, does he need to be contacted about it through this forum, or is there a website? I appreciate you taking the time to help me with this very much.

I have also seen some D sized (or close to it) lithium batteries for sale. Both rechargeable and primary. I haven't found much information on them. I don't know that there is really an advantage, especially the primaries due to cost, but I would like to know out of curiosity if they would work well for something like this.

The KD reflector will work, although a Fivemega is better quality if you can find one. You will also,need a glass lens, preferably borosilicate. Don't bother with the d sized batteries, most all of them are of questionable quality. 26650 cells will do, but if you want to keep the costs down, just use 18650s. The other route would be Nimh AA batteries in a 6s configuration. You would need to source a 2D to 6AA adapter to do this.

If you get the KD reflector, be sure that it's for incandescent and not led. Also, try to get a small bulb opening (9mm I believe). Skip the lithium primary D batteries. 18650s will work too. The 3854 low bulb looks phenomenal on IMRs, but the 3854 hi bulb gets pushed a little too hard. Mine often blackened quickly, hence my suggestion for protected 26650s. You will also get more run time. Flashlightlens.com sells great replacement lenses for a good price. If possible, I would definitely get the fivemega reflector.

I would be interested in getting the correct reflector and bulbs, but so far I have not been able to find them anywhere. This is the only bulb set I can find

http://www.westsidewholesale.com/pe...UXpB86IIuqJ_q6WpRpBR_duwWBL_b6dHQ3T8rqjXw_wcB

I don't know what IMR means, sorry.

Actually it appears that the bulb set can be ordered from the Pelican website if all else fails. One final question please. The bulb is rated at 7.2 volts. If I understand correctly two lithium cells should produce an average voltage of 7.4. Is this optimum, or should it be overdriven a little more to get the optimum balance between brightness and bulb life?

The bulb set you are looking at is the 3853. You want the 3854 set which are 6.0 volt bulbs. Before ordering anything, I would do some research about lithium battery safety and usage, as well as the various chemistries. IMR batteries are LiMn cells, which is considered a"safe" chemistry, but also must be treated differently than standard LiCo cells

I read through the thread about lithium battery safety. I'm still just working through everything and figuring out different terminology. I greatly appreciate all the advice and explanation.

These are the ones on the pelican sight.

http://www.pelicanproducts.us/p.Pelican.BigD.Xenon.Lamp.SLA.3854.HTML

Alright. You need links.

Build how to:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?259443-Hotwire-How-To-The-ROP-and-the-Mag-11

Bulbs:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?382324-Custom-amp-Modified-Super-Bulbs

Reflectors:
Best performance for $$, available cammed, but with limited colour options. I recommend the VLOP:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?239973-Ver2-Deep-M*g-Reflector-by-Fivemega

Standard Camless and US made:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-By-Fivemega&p=4397151&highlight=#post4397151

For batteries. Hit up ebay and score some 26650 MNKE IMR's which is what I recommend.

There is no real advantage of camless over cammed, just it's what's avaliable.
I'm recall running a ROP 4 Hi bulb of IMR's before with no issues. But then I did use a softstart most of the time.
They did not poof with McClickies.

The ROP 3 Hi bulbs run pretty balls out off 26650 IMR's if you are willing to drop a few lumens for piece of mind.

If it becomes a regular user, you might find yourself using the Low bulbs most of the time anyway.

And all the Incan Data is here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...lb-Tests-Updated-8-27-2010-(Newer-Info-Added)

Thanks Conte for setting up all of those links! I'm doing everything from Tapatalk lately

IMR is a Lithium Manganese cell, which is higher output and more durable then the typical Lithium Cobalt cell that you'd end up with in 18650.
They have the same voltage output but with slightly less capacity, but it's a moot point in the 26650 size.
They can crank out more current then standard LiCo. They are safer as they can take more abuse.
You can run them down to a slightly lower voltage removing the need to run protection circuits as you will be able to tell when they are exhausted by noticing the light running slightly dimmer compared to the lico where once it starts to dim, you've already started to go too far.

I recommend them to beginners.

Super bulbs like these place a heavy load on the batteries, unless you get some high capacity 18650's like 3000+ mah you will be running them hard. This is fine provided they are rated for it, but you'll notice they'll get rather warm. They will voltage sag more so you won't get at much output. This is one of the reasons why most people prefer the Rop 4 bulbs cause they better compliment the voltage sag. If you run 26650 IMR's you'll push the 3 series bulbs into their sweet spot. IMR cells can crank out all the current the bulb desires without breaking a sweat.

26650 IMR's were available years ago when people started rocking the ROP's. Everyone had to use 18650's for the most part.

darkknightlight said:

Thanks Conte for setting up all of those links! I'm doing everything from Tapatalk lately

Click to expand...

I hear ya'. I read this thread hours ago on my tablet with TapaTalk and wanted to say something but screw that.

At the top of the page on all those links it says "attention: all my sell threads are closed now" Does this mean something else, or are none of these items actually available?

Thats'strange. Yeah that's new, I wonder what's up with Mr. Mega.