Helped a friend, discovered new hotwire set up.

[alpg88]

About a week ago friend of mine, knowing my flashoholism, asked me to borrow a light for his small adventure in the woods.
he asked the light to be bright, and not too heavy, rugged,simple on-off, and not too fancy, so loss wont be big deal.
so i thought it would be the best to give him a halogen light, how to combine ruggedness, simplicity performance and low cost, made me think, and try several combinations entire evening.
so what i came up with, impressed even me.
what is more rugged, cheap, and simple than a maglight???? not many things in the world. however performance wise it is a fail.

so i came up with 4d maglight, 20w spot mr16, 2 glass lenses, 4x18650 cells, and one ceramic bipin socket.
overdriven mr16 did great, very bright, the one that i bought, was some no name bulb, spot, with right combo of throw and flood,(there was a ring or two in the beam, on the flood portion of the beam. but nothing ugly. cost me $5, each.
ceramic socket $5.
the most expensive part of that light was, glotoob flashcap. i bought those things for almost all d mags i have, they are awesome for halogens, leds you can dim, for the most part, but halogens you can't, to be useful that is.
cells i didn't have to buy, i have some, from laptops,
i tried same set up before with FM 12aa holder, and 12 eneloops, it worked great as well, but was a but dimmer, and a lot heavier.
i could've put in 35w or even 50w bulb, but after testing 20w, i thought brightness\runtime ratio of 20w was right. plus my unprotected cells are not brand new best quality cells, they might not like much 3-5 amp draw. with 1,9 apms they worked great.
it turned out to be a great set up, very bright (very close to mag 85).
even thou it is bulky, it is very light, only a bit heavier than empty 4d.
and very cheap, simple to build.
he came back, and said he loved the light, each set of cells lasted him entire evening, i gave him 16 cells, (i told him not to drain cells to much, so he changed them every night, even thou cells from night before were still working fine).

anyone looking for a cheap, bright, simple, hotwire should try this set up.

 

[Swagg]

So you took the spring out of the glotoob? What did you do to the base to make sure the batts made proper contact?

 

[jaundice]

That's a great setup!

It's not clear from your post, but what sort of ceramic bi-pin socket did you use for the MR16 lamp? How did you mount it in the mag switch?

Thanks,

-John

 

[Chrontius]

Seems rather like the old Polaris builds, using MR style lamp assemblies. Can you tell us the rated voltage and make of that lamp, while you're at it?

I'd also love a $5 ceramic socket... but I thought Kai was sold out of them?

Fun hotwire, and I'm glad it worked for your friend.

 

[kramer5150]

:thumbsup:
I love simple, inexpensive mods like these.

I can't tell you how many times I walked past that lighting isle at Home depot and Frys!! Never thought to put one of those in a mag.

:thumbsup:

 

[fivemega]

That's a great setup!

It's not clear from your post, but what sort of ceramic bi-pin socket did you use for the MR16 lamp? How did you mount it in the mag switch?

Thanks,

-John

If it's drop-in, then could be used one of these.
Some long life 12 volt MR16 bulbs work great with 5 IMR cells.
I have a 50 watt spot MR16 in 5C M*g+16mm extension powered by 5 AW's protected "C" cells.

 

[alpg88]

Seems rather like the old Polaris builds, using MR style lamp assemblies. Can you tell us the rated voltage and make of that lamp, while you're at it?

I'd also love a $5 ceramic socket... but I thought Kai was sold out of them?

Fun hotwire, and I'm glad it worked for your friend.

12v 20w, no name bulb, came in a white green box,

kai may be sold out but my local hardware store isn't.
it looks like this http://www.bulbamerica.com/image-website-product--Accessories--P-ELC.jpg
i cut tower off , and soldered the wires to the switch. it doesnt have to be solid centered post. with mr16 you don't need that

 

[alpg88]

So you took the spring out of the glotoob? What did you do to the base to make sure the batts made proper contact?

that circle is the negative contact from cheap d cell(4 for 99C cells are good for something, their contacts are easy removable, and work great for building packs, and in my case it was just luck that the end of the cells is right where spring base is, that circle works like a flat spring with indentations for a good contacts.

 

[kramer5150]

12v 20w, no name bulb, came in a white green box,

kai may be sold out but my local hardware store isn't.
it looks like this http://www.bulbamerica.com/image-website-product--Accessories--P-ELC.jpg
i cut tower off , and soldered the wires to the switch. it doesnt have to be solid centered post. with mr16 you don't need that

Without the a solid center post, how is the mr16 lamp/reflector assembly held in place? Its held in place by the mag bezel?

thanks

 

[alpg88]

Without the a solid center post, how is the mr16 lamp/reflector assembly held in place? Its held in place by the mag bezel?

thanks

yep, by that and also the wire that came with the socket is a thick wire, covered by heat resistant insulation over regular insulation, i coiled it up like a spring, and it does have enough force to push the mr16 against the glass, also since reflector is out, i had to use 2 pieces of glass.
all holds up fine. it doesn't rattle if i shake it.

sure solid center post would be great, especially FM socket, with that you can keep the switch unmolested, turn mr16 mag into mag 85 or rop...ect, in the matter of minutes, but my goal was simplicity, and low cost.

 

[kramer5150]

Why do those MR16 reflectors always have a blue color to them? Does it shift the color tint of the light?

thanks... yet again😉

 

[alpg88]

that i have no idea, some have blue, some yellow, some don't have any, all depends on brand of the bulb, maybe they try to alter color of the beam, like you said, may be not, idk.
1 thing i love about mr16 reflectors, you can wipe\wash\touch them as much as you want, you will never sratch or damage it.