Mag bulb questions

Mr Floppy · Mar 12, 2015

I have an old multifunction led, xenon, cold cathode fluoro torch. It uses 4xAA and I've turned the xenon into a hot wire. It has been hard to find bulbs for it so I figured I might as well use the spare Mag bulbs in the tailcap of my 4D and 3D. I've converted both of those to LED so the bulbs aren't doing much. The strange thing was the 3D bulb actually said "Maglite 2 cell". Bit unexpected but cool, I'll use it in 4xAA with NiMH.

So, anyone know that the specs are for a Mag 2 cell bulb? It has be krypton, and I imagine it is 1A? 2.4V?

broadgage · Mar 12, 2015

About 2.4 volts as you suggested, but only about 800ma not one amp.
Mag used to publish the voltage and current rating of the bulbs, and may still do so, but the retail packaging merely states for how many cells they are intended.
A 2 cell bulb might survive 3 cells, but don't count on it. 4 cells will instaflash a 2 cell bulb :poof:

Mr Floppy · Mar 12, 2015

broadgage said:
4 cells will instaflash a 2 cell bulb

Just been using 4xAA. Not the brightest but not bad for what it is. Not the best set of NiMH in there but didn't go pop either.

fivemega · Mar 12, 2015

Mr Floppy said:
Just been using 4xAA. Not the brightest but not bad for what it is. Not the best set of NiMH in there but didn't go pop either.

2 cell bulb running on 4 NiMH batteries?
This is not normal and definitely some major problem with batteries, switch or connectors.
Is that possible the bulb is for 3 cell and printing is not clear to read?

Mr Floppy · Mar 13, 2015

fivemega said:
This is not normal and definitely some major problem with batteries, switch or connectors.

I would say all three. With a 4D, it is dim. It could be the printing on the bulb as the bulb came out of a 3D, and I imagine Mag wouldn't have given me a 2D bulb in a 3D. I'll take a picture.

Mr Floppy · Mar 17, 2015

Here's the bulb

in one of these

with 4 of these oldish Sanyo 2700, on the verge of being rejected by the C9000 NiMH for high IR

gives a hot spot like this

Conte · Mar 22, 2015

Mr Floppy said:
with 4 of these oldish Sanyo 2700, on the verge of being rejected by the C9000 NiMH for high IR

Well, that's your explanation right there.
High IR, they are probably voltage sagging pretty hard down to a safe voltage level for that bulb.
Put some healthy cells in there and it'd likely pop.

Batteries will do that when they get old. They might seem to charge proper, but really, they jsut can't crank the amps anymore and as soon as they load down, they sag hard.

StarHalo · Mar 22, 2015

Mr Floppy said:
It has be krypton, and I imagine it is 1A? 2.4V?

Krypton is the older model, superseded by xenon which is slightly brighter. A 4-cell xenon bulb with fresh NiMHs would be the most sensible configuration.

Mr Floppy · Mar 25, 2015

Conte said:
Put some healthy cells in there and it'd likely pop.

I just popped in some Eneloops and it didn't pop. It was noticeably brighter though. Even the CCFL was brighter.

I think there must have been a misprint on the bulb. I know Xenon's aren't as forgiving when over driven but using a 2.4V Everready branded xenon for a dolphin torch, that popped quite quickly. Nice and bright though.

Conte · Mar 25, 2015

Hmm, well, The brighter the bulb is rated, the less you can over drive it.

Lot's of the old hotwire bulbs that are famous around this forum were high hour bulbs.
What they do is just underrate the bulb for a very long life.

Also, one thing that I've noticed, is that lot to lot the bulb might be a bit diff'.
YOu might have just scored a fluke winner. Maybe they just are that robust.

I might also chock a bit of it up to the fact that the flashlight has a lot of resistance on the switch.

Even a good maglite has switch resistance. It lets you get away with things you normally cannot.
I ran bulbs like the WA1111 for years in a mag with 2xlions or IMR's using the stock switch and an adapter.
As soon as I did a FET mod to the switch . . . :poof:

Seems the switch took just enough edge off.
Now, a cheaper flashlight is going to be even worse.

snakebite · Mar 29, 2015

those old mag 2 cell bulbs withstand a fresh 18650 for 1 cycle.but its a rather impressive 2 hour cycle.it darkens at the end and will flash on a fresh cell.
mag botched up the color code on pr bulbs.2 cell is normally blue.green is 3

Conte said:
Hmm, well, The brighter the bulb is rated, the less you can over drive it.

Lot's of the old hotwire bulbs that are famous around this forum were high hour bulbs.
What they do is just underrate the bulb for a very long life.

Also, one thing that I've noticed, is that lot to lot the bulb might be a bit diff'.
YOu might have just scored a fluke winner. Maybe they just are that robust.

I might also chock a bit of it up to the fact that the flashlight has a lot of resistance on the switch.

Even a good maglite has switch resistance. It lets you get away with things you normally cannot.
I ran bulbs like the WA1111 for years in a mag with 2xlions or IMR's using the stock switch and an adapter.
As soon as I did a FET mod to the switch . . .

Seems the switch took just enough edge off.
Now, a cheaper flashlight is going to be even worse.

Mr Floppy · Mar 30, 2015

snakebite said:
mag botched up the color code on pr bulbs.2 cell is normally blue.green is 3

I think you got it. Green is 3, and they misprinted the side of the bulb in this case. The colour codes must help with the assembly process as it is a quick visual thing rather than look at the tiny writing on the side.

snakebite · Apr 2, 2015

no they have been doing their own color code a long time.green has always been 2 cell for mag.
silly if you ask me.
i have some 3 cell xenon bulbs that were mag prototypes.they have blue beads too.

Mr Floppy said:
I think you got it. Green is 3, and they misprinted the side of the bulb in this case. The colour codes must help with the assembly process as it is a quick visual thing rather than look at the tiny writing on the side.

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