Current Draw of MAG Bulbs?

[dim]

In a recent PM correspondence with a fellow CPFer, we discussed our not so hot-wire MAGs with their not so super bulbs. In other words his MAG 2C 2x18650 with a 5 cell Magnum Star Xenon bulb and my MAG118 2D 8xAA with a KPR118 bulb. We agreed that we like this approach to hot-wires as these flashlights are as practical as they are bright with long runtimes and low maintenance. Mostly, I inquired about prior posts that he had made about using a KPR112 in his 2C MAG, but in our exchange, he said that those flashed on him with his set up and that he has had good success with the 5 cell Magnum Star bulbs. While, at first, I was surprised, he did confirm that it was the 5 cell xenon that he was using, considering that xenon, notoriously, don't take to over-driving as well as krypton bulbs, upon further thought, I wondered if, perhaps, the 5 cell Magnum Star drew more current than the 650ma of RadioShack's KPR112 and thus created just enough sag in the Li-ON cells to keep the Magnum Star from flashing even from the "hot off the charger" 8.4 volts of the 2x18650. MAG does not seem to state the current draw of their bulbs. Does anyone know how much current that, both, their krypton and xenon bulbs draw and if they would be generally brighter and more robust than their KPR and XPR counterparts?

73
dim

 

[litho123]

As Carley Lamps produces the lamps for [email protected], you can look at the data they have for the Carley STAR lamps. Based upon the info, it looks to me like it is a rebranded bulb with a different glass envelope.
http://www.carleylamps.com/star.htm

I've used the Krypton 5-cell bulb with the 3x123 mod. The KPR112 flashed too much for my liking.

 

[cratz2]

I agree that the KPR112 and KPR113 flash more often than ideal but I've probably built 20 lights either in a 2C with 3x123+KPR113 or in a 2D host with 4x123+KPR118 and I've heard literally no complaints about early bulb death. Now maybe they just don't want to make me feel bad or maybe they haven't used them enough, but. Now, I always use Radio Shack bulbs rather than Mag/Carley bulbs but I've only instaflashed one KPR118 on 4 fresh cells and I've never instaflashed a KPR113 though I've probably killed about 10 of them in use.

I've been building these mods for about a year and selling them to LEO/fire fighter/arson squad type folks for off duty use. These guys pretty much all use Surefires and Magchargers on duty but off duty were looking for something larger than the Surefire 6P and smaller than the Magcharger. Most folks that haven't used the 2C host are quite happy with them when they handle them. I recently finally built a Mag74 (I also have tried the 1185 bulb on 8 cells which means it's not over-driven - bright, but yellow-ish) and while they are certainly bright, I'd prefer something that gave closer to an hour of runtime in the 300 lumen range with no risk of instaflashing the bulb. I'm going to try a couple of the lower output WA bulbs. I also plan on getting a TL-3 and running it on 17500 cells which supposedly give about an hour of runtime.

Personally, I've noticed that the Radio Shack bulbs seem to hold up slightly better than the Mag-branded bulbs though someone will probably chime in that they come from the same source... just my experience.