Kestrel
Flashaholic
Edit: A new update at post #15, using the Pelican 3753-H in a Mag 4D, with comparison beamshots.
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A beginners hotwire, including pictures.
A friend of mine (who has a few nicer lights such as a SureFire G2L and a Pelican M6) had an old Mag 3D with half-dead (at least) cells sitting in a closet, so I offered to 'improve' it for him. My goal was to keep costs to a minimum while using bulbs at their rated voltage (no overdrive) – high reliability being a consideration.
The subject:
The bulbs:
Left: old Mag 3 cell Krypton bulb, 3.6v??, approximate amperage 0.8 A, = ~3 watts.
Center: The new 'low', a generic 4.8v Xenon, 0.375 A, = ~1.8 watts.
Right: The new 'high', a 4.8v Xenon Pelican 3753-H, ~1.8 A, = ~8.5 watts.
The cell configurations:
Left: 3 half-dead Duracell D's with expirations of March 2004 and 2005.
Right: 4 new alkaline C's.
Total amp-hours (comparing new cells) goes from 3x12ah= 36 amp-hrs to 4x8ah= 32 amp-hrs in the new configuration (only estimations using (low-drain-rate) numbers from Wikipedia). Edit: I know this isn't the technically correct way to add up the total energy content of this cell stack (that would be in watt-hours), but voltages from alkaline cells under low & high loads can vary quite a bit, creating quite a few caveats with that calculation. I just wanted to illustrate that 4xC could at least be comparable to 3xD in total energy content.
As you can see, I have used a modified tailcap spring instead of the stock Mag 'battery crusher' spring, as the new cell configuration adds an additional 1.5 cm of length. Upon assembly, the spring becomes inverted into the tailcap. Diameter issues were handled with a simple roll of cardboard.
Beamshots: (distance for both lights and camera are 6 feet)
A ~240 lumen Malkoff M60 that I always use as a benchmark:
Before:
Information from Mag gives ~75 lumens (initial, from new cells, not these half-dead expired alkalines) for a runtime of approximately 6 hours (runtime taken from Duracell OEM spec sheet, not Mag's rather more optimistic number of 9-10 hrs). Note the horrible beam artifacts, much of which is coming from the pointed bulb.
The new (generic) 'low' bulb, a very rough estimate of ~50 lumens (initial) for a runtime of approximately 18 hours:
The new 'high' Pelican bulb, a very rough estimate of ~250 lumens (initial) for a runtime of approximately 1 hour:
(Note the very nice beam shape resulting from the linear filament in the Pelican 3753-H.)
(All Mag beamshots were taken with the reflector set to the tightest focus.)
After this very simple upgrade (it doesn't get any simpler than this), I'm hoping my friend will find his Mag a lot more useful now.
----------
A beginners hotwire, including pictures.
A friend of mine (who has a few nicer lights such as a SureFire G2L and a Pelican M6) had an old Mag 3D with half-dead (at least) cells sitting in a closet, so I offered to 'improve' it for him. My goal was to keep costs to a minimum while using bulbs at their rated voltage (no overdrive) – high reliability being a consideration.
The subject:
The bulbs:
Left: old Mag 3 cell Krypton bulb, 3.6v??, approximate amperage 0.8 A, = ~3 watts.
Center: The new 'low', a generic 4.8v Xenon, 0.375 A, = ~1.8 watts.
Right: The new 'high', a 4.8v Xenon Pelican 3753-H, ~1.8 A, = ~8.5 watts.
The cell configurations:
Left: 3 half-dead Duracell D's with expirations of March 2004 and 2005.
Right: 4 new alkaline C's.
Total amp-hours (comparing new cells) goes from 3x12ah= 36 amp-hrs to 4x8ah= 32 amp-hrs in the new configuration (only estimations using (low-drain-rate) numbers from Wikipedia). Edit: I know this isn't the technically correct way to add up the total energy content of this cell stack (that would be in watt-hours), but voltages from alkaline cells under low & high loads can vary quite a bit, creating quite a few caveats with that calculation. I just wanted to illustrate that 4xC could at least be comparable to 3xD in total energy content.
As you can see, I have used a modified tailcap spring instead of the stock Mag 'battery crusher' spring, as the new cell configuration adds an additional 1.5 cm of length. Upon assembly, the spring becomes inverted into the tailcap. Diameter issues were handled with a simple roll of cardboard.
Beamshots: (distance for both lights and camera are 6 feet)
A ~240 lumen Malkoff M60 that I always use as a benchmark:
Before:
Information from Mag gives ~75 lumens (initial, from new cells, not these half-dead expired alkalines) for a runtime of approximately 6 hours (runtime taken from Duracell OEM spec sheet, not Mag's rather more optimistic number of 9-10 hrs). Note the horrible beam artifacts, much of which is coming from the pointed bulb.
The new (generic) 'low' bulb, a very rough estimate of ~50 lumens (initial) for a runtime of approximately 18 hours:
The new 'high' Pelican bulb, a very rough estimate of ~250 lumens (initial) for a runtime of approximately 1 hour:
(Note the very nice beam shape resulting from the linear filament in the Pelican 3753-H.)
(All Mag beamshots were taken with the reflector set to the tightest focus.)
After this very simple upgrade (it doesn't get any simpler than this), I'm hoping my friend will find his Mag a lot more useful now.
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