had a yellow waterproof dorcy cool blue lying around so i put a 4 cell (6 volt) magnum star bulb in it and man! that little bugger is bright. ultra tight beam and at least twice as bright at a reg mag light. all for about 13 bucks. not bad at all. it'll make a great emergency spot for backpacking. anyone else try this?
cheap mini-blaster
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revolvergeek
Flashlight Enthusiast
Yep, did that a month or so ago and posted about it and nobody cared! lol
Add some writeright on the lens and replace one of the AA bats with 2 N-cells and it will keep up with an E2!!
Add some writeright on the lens and replace one of the AA bats with 2 N-cells and it will keep up with an E2!!
A 4D Mag with a single white LED? Talk about long runtime. You'll need to measure it in months, not hours.
The long runtime of such a light is a fun concept, but obviously there's no real practicality. LED's enable us to get decent runtime in a small package. That's where they shine (excuse the pun). If I'm gonna bother carrying all that size and weight of a 4D light, I want it to be bright.
The long runtime of such a light is a fun concept, but obviously there's no real practicality. LED's enable us to get decent runtime in a small package. That's where they shine (excuse the pun). If I'm gonna bother carrying all that size and weight of a 4D light, I want it to be bright.
signals
Newly Enlightened
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by revolvergeek:
Yep, did that a month or so ago and posted about it and nobody cared! lol
Add some writeright on the lens and replace one of the AA bats with 2 N-cells and it will keep up with an E2!!
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Is it safe to use N cells with AA cells? I've always heard it's a bad idea to mix battery types. I think it even says on one of the battery packages I bought recently not to mix chemistries, or even to mix new and half-dead batteries.
If so, I think I'll have to go get a cool blue
-Kevin
Yep, did that a month or so ago and posted about it and nobody cared! lol
Add some writeright on the lens and replace one of the AA bats with 2 N-cells and it will keep up with an E2!!
Is it safe to use N cells with AA cells? I've always heard it's a bad idea to mix battery types. I think it even says on one of the battery packages I bought recently not to mix chemistries, or even to mix new and half-dead batteries.
If so, I think I'll have to go get a cool blue
-Kevin
revolvergeek
Flashlight Enthusiast
Well, I think that is safe. I have done this for a few months now with a MiniMag converted to use a white LED and run on 2 N cells and 1 AAA. Works like a champ.
My hot rodded cool blue has given me no problems with the battery mixture with a months' intermitent use. It provides very bright, smooth light (finally ended up with a 1 inch disc of writeright over the bulb and then another sheet over that covering the entire lens). Out to 60 feet or so I am very hard pressed to tell it from the beam of my E2, and it is only slightly dimmer than my 6P.
As far as the LED on a big 4 cell light, I put the Dorcy bulk in a 4C Maglite and found that I could not warm up the the narrow, not so bright beam. My trip to walmart I found a Everready 4D waterproof lantern that looked promising. I put the Dorcy LED bulb in it, put a sheet of writeright over the center of the lens, and like it quite well. The bigger reflector seems to make better use of the LED light, and provides a broader main beam (maybe 5 or 6 inch 'hotspot') with a lot of falloff around it and much more range than I am used to from most LED lights. I keep it in my truck for emergencies. Only cost $8, and I suspect that I could have used the bulb from the lantern in the Cool Blue in the first place, so for around $20 - 25 dollars you could end up with a smallish, very bright waterproof light and a large, runs forever, fairly bright waterproof emergency lantern.
My hot rodded cool blue has given me no problems with the battery mixture with a months' intermitent use. It provides very bright, smooth light (finally ended up with a 1 inch disc of writeright over the bulb and then another sheet over that covering the entire lens). Out to 60 feet or so I am very hard pressed to tell it from the beam of my E2, and it is only slightly dimmer than my 6P.
As far as the LED on a big 4 cell light, I put the Dorcy bulk in a 4C Maglite and found that I could not warm up the the narrow, not so bright beam. My trip to walmart I found a Everready 4D waterproof lantern that looked promising. I put the Dorcy LED bulb in it, put a sheet of writeright over the center of the lens, and like it quite well. The bigger reflector seems to make better use of the LED light, and provides a broader main beam (maybe 5 or 6 inch 'hotspot') with a lot of falloff around it and much more range than I am used to from most LED lights. I keep it in my truck for emergencies. Only cost $8, and I suspect that I could have used the bulb from the lantern in the Cool Blue in the first place, so for around $20 - 25 dollars you could end up with a smallish, very bright waterproof light and a large, runs forever, fairly bright waterproof emergency lantern.
I put a Radio Shack 6V halogen bulb in a Dorcy Cool Blue and powered it up with 4 lithium AA's, and it has an INTENSE beam with an awesome throw
...for more of an area light, I put the same type of bulb in a Dorcy Boss w/4 lithium AA's (the Boss has a very nice faceted reflector). It puts out a nice wide beam that is VERY smooth, and incredibly bright. The Boss is the same type of body as the Cool Blue, but is all black, and fully rubber coated...
PJD
...there is nothing in the world more frustrating than a lousy beam...
PJD
...there is nothing in the world more frustrating than a lousy beam...
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by RonM:
A 4D Mag with a single white LED? Talk about long runtime. You'll need to measure it in months, not hours.
The long runtime of such a light is a fun concept, but obviously there's no real practicality. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
You know, I kind of felt that way at first but mostly did it just for fun... Then I found out that I could get the LED beam to focus incredibly tight and throw light a LONG ways. In fact way farther that I can get a Luxeon to throw!! It doesn't have hardly anything in the way of area light tho, but it turned out to be far more practicle than I anticipated.
I even decided to leave the LED in there and carry the halagen bulb in the tailcap to switch back and forth - depending on my need.
Sometimes these things work out BETTER than you hope for!
A 4D Mag with a single white LED? Talk about long runtime. You'll need to measure it in months, not hours.
The long runtime of such a light is a fun concept, but obviously there's no real practicality. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
You know, I kind of felt that way at first but mostly did it just for fun... Then I found out that I could get the LED beam to focus incredibly tight and throw light a LONG ways. In fact way farther that I can get a Luxeon to throw!! It doesn't have hardly anything in the way of area light tho, but it turned out to be far more practicle than I anticipated.
I even decided to leave the LED in there and carry the halagen bulb in the tailcap to switch back and forth - depending on my need.
Sometimes these things work out BETTER than you hope for!
brightnorm
Flashaholic
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2001
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- 7,161
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PJD:
I put a Radio Shack 6V halogen bulb in a Dorcy Cool Blue and powered it up with 4 lithium AA's, and it has an INTENSE beam with an awesome throw....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Have you had a chance to do any runtime tests with it?
Brightnorm
I put a Radio Shack 6V halogen bulb in a Dorcy Cool Blue and powered it up with 4 lithium AA's, and it has an INTENSE beam with an awesome throw....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Have you had a chance to do any runtime tests with it?
Brightnorm
Brightnorm...I haven't done any run-time tests because I'm EXTREMELY conservative when it comes to my lithium batteries! But I have used the light at least a couple times a week for short periods over the last couple months, and the batteries are holding up great. Someday soon I'll spring for a set of batteries to use exclusively for a run-time test, and I'll post the results
...
PJD
...there is nothing in the world more frustrating than a lousy beam...
PJD
...there is nothing in the world more frustrating than a lousy beam...
