2D Maglite Conversion from Willie Hunt

dilettante

Newly Enlightened
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Jul 23, 2002
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Pacific Northwest
I found the following HERE:

Today I spent a little time installing some stuff I just bought from Willie Hunt: I got his custom insert system for 2 D cell Mag flashlights. This allows one to convert a 2 D cell Mag flaslight into one powered by eight AA cells (I used lithium batteries myself, tho alkaline may be used) which drive a Willie LVR, that in turn drives a 3.6 volt .8 watt high efficiency xenon bulb (supplied by Willie as part of the kit). The main part of the kit is a clever cylindrical cage which is ruggedly made, and allows one to pop in the eight AA batteries (in the form of two clusters of 4, one above the other). At the top of this cage is a potted area which houses the LVR, and transfers power to the bulb. I was very impressed by this system. It's very cleverly done. Price is high... I believe retail cost on the system to be $40 or more, without the Mag 2 D flashlight included. But I felt it was
worth it to own the state of the art in disposeable battery flashlight technology, in a very rugged package. Using 8 lithium AA cells (which offer roughly 20 watt hours total) I figure this 2.88 watt lamp will shing nice and bright for close to 7 solid hours of continuous use. I'd figure that with Alkaline batteries, the total run time would be about half this, more or less.


I e-mailed Willie Hunt about this kit and an LVR for my Petzl Headlamp but have not yet received a reply. Can anyone tell me more about the 2D conversion?
 
Please correct your link, there are some digits missing.
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I could imagine that it takes a little bit longer for Willie to answer your email since he is quite busy trying to get the digital parts for SF lights working.
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Klaus.
 
I was just thinking of trying something like this. I bought a 8 AA battery holder from Radio Shack, and it seems like it would fit and be easy to wire in with some minor adapting.

What sort of bulb would be reasonable for that? I would not want to melt the reflector or lens!!
 
hello
try 8NiMH AA + Maglite 6 cell white star lamp.
mine is still working so far
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I got the goods a couple days ago. Wilie sent me two conversion sticks and two bulbs for my $40. My Maglite is brighter than it was with two D-Cells and a Krypton bulb from Campmor. That said, the major benefits are constant light (not tested yet) and the ability to use Lithium AAs
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I know he must be busy, but I've sent him a couple questions and he's replied promptly.
 
Why go lithium? You could use Nimh and get the same brightness. And have thousands of hours of runtime. Course you would have to charge them every 3 to 4 hrs of use.
 
Shelf life? This is the household "emergency" light and it goes loooong periods without seeing use. I also thought this might be a good system for the glovebox.

Flashlights aren't my primary interest, though. My understanding of battery technology may be out of date. How long will the Nimh bateries hold a charge sitting in a drawer or on a shelf?
 
Originally posted by dilettante:
Shelf life? This is the household "emergency" light and it goes loooong periods without seeing use. I also thought this might be a good system for the glovebox.

Flashlights aren't my primary interest, though. My understanding of battery technology may be out of date. How long will the Nimh bateries hold a charge sitting in a drawer or on a shelf?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I don't suggest rechargeables for this application. You'll need to change out alkalines every three years or so and lithiums should be changed out probably every eight years or so.

Cheers,

Richard
 
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