2AA Mini Mag mods?

[aramid]

I've got a nearly-new incan Mini Mag sitting here, looking for a purpose in life. It was in my flight bag with a Nite-Ize 3-LED drop in for a few years, but I've just replaced it with a Fenix E01 and now I've got this fairly obsolete light just sitting around.

I'd like to know what's available for easy, inexpensive incan upgrades to this. I know there used to be plenty, but LEDs seem to have killed that market and I can't tell what's still available. Any suggestions?

Budget is flexible, but this is just for fun so let's keep it sensible.
No LED upgrades. I've already got several bright LED lights with better heatsinking.
Power will come from Eneloops.

Thanks!

 

[aramid]

Really? 112 views and no responses? The market's really that dead? Alternately, is there another subforum where I'd have better luck with the same question?

Thanks again!

 

[NotRegulated]

I don't think there are any reasonable incan upgrades.

Nite Ize 1 watt LED upgrade is probably the best bet.

http://www.niteize.com/collections/flashlights/products/1-watt-l-e-d-upgrade-ii


I have both the 3-LED model and a 1 watt LED model. The 3-LED is best for closer work because it has a nice smooth beam profile that is not focusable. The 1 watt is very much brighter and is focusable. As expected this leaves artifacts in the beam.

 

[PCC]

You said the magic word - "incan". There's almost nothing being done for the Mini-Mag as far as incans are concerned, as far as I know, which isn't saying much.

I guess that you can try fitting a Kiu socket into the end of the battery tube and run a pair of 14500s to power a WA1275 bulb or something. You'd get a very bright incan for about 30 seconds, I suppose.

 

[aramid]

Thanks for the replies. I suppose I might pick up a NiteIze 1 watt, but I doubt it'd ever get used. At the moment, 100% of my flashlights are LED and several are far brighter than a Mini Mag can ever hope to be. Turning it into a mediocre LED light just isn't very appealing. The only reason for modding it at all is the novelty of it, and for some reason incan appeals to that side of me.

 

[aau007]

Why not try to pick up the Mag Mini LED MultiMode on clearance at Radio Shack. It's $13.07 at SoCal here.

 

[aramid]

For the same reason I'm not really interested in putting an LED upgrade in this one. I don't actually like Maglites, and don't need it as an effective, sensible light. I've got half a dozen better LED lights, plus the original LED MiniMag. I have no use whatsoever for an additional light, and was interested in upgrading this extra Mag for entertainment only. Putting a bright(er) LED in it doesn't amuse me, and I see no point putting money into the light to make it slightly less useless if there's no novelty and I'll never use it.

If this can't be done anymore, so be it. No sense burning money on it when I can just leave it in a box somewhere and forget I own it.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

[Justin Case]

If you can find an Auroralite Mini Mag kit or just the ceramic base, you'd be set.

Otherwise, you'll have to make your own substitute high-temp capable bi-pin base. This might be reasonably easily done using a mariposaoyako copper heat sink originally designed for LED AA Mini Mag mods (yazkaz is apparently selling a small supply of these now on B/S/T).

You'd drill two holes of appropriate location and diam for your bi-pin. One leg will be NEG. Hole diam has to be tight enough to grip the bi-pin lamp's leg, but not so tight as to make insertion too difficult. The other hole will be for POS. You'll probably have to drill that hole larger in diam, and fit an insulator in the hole, with a concentric metallic socket inside of the insulator. The insulator could be as simple as using the stripped jacket from some wire, or possibly some shrink tube around the metal socket. The hole that you drill has to be tight enough to grip the insulator securely. Perhaps you can glue it in. You probably can scavenge the metal socket from some computer connector that uses small diam pins. Break open the plastic female connector and pull out one of the metal sockets (or whatever they are called). Keep the wire attached to the socket.

Get a dead driver, de-solder all of the components and use some diagonal cutters to trim the board to ~14mm diam size to fit into the driver cavity of the copper heat sink.

Run the wire from the female socket to a throughole on the driver board that connects to the driver board's BATT+ pad. Put a nice solder bump on that BATT+ pad.

Stick in a Strion bulb, or whatever. Power it with 1x14500 Li-ion and one AA dummy cell.

 

[PCC]

I put an XP-G R5 on a custom-made heatsink driven by a Sandwich Shop Mad Max Plus and got 216 OTF lumens out of it (measured by BC). Cost was like $20 in parts.