mag 2c with magcharger bulb and slug

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milkshake

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hello, i was wondering if anybody has any information about this setup. i put a magcharger bi pin slug and bulb in a mag 2c with 3 cr123a batteries and was wondering if this was a good setup or not. i also put the magcharger lens in as well. it's bright but i just dont know how well it will run on the cr123 batteries. thanks!
 
Did you set this up already ? Or are you asking if you should before you try it ?

I would think that 3 Cr123s would overvolt the bulb and :poof:

Otherwise if it works, then it works. You'll likely get less then an hour runtime tho. Also, overvolting a bulb will reduce its life. So if you were actually using this for something important, bring a spare bulb and plenty of batteries.

If the magcharger bulb works in a 3xCR123 configuration, I'd be tempted to try it in a 2x18650 Li-Ion configuration.


If you HAVEN'T tried this yet . . . I would not recommend it.
 
When I got into hotwires, one combination I tried was a Magcharger bulb in a 3C body with an AW softstart switch and 2 x AW 18650s. On high it was brighter than a ROP low bulb, but the bulb lasted less than 10 mins.
 
Hah, yeah, that's what I was thinking. Bet without the softstart . . . :poof:

The saving grace of his idea is that a CR123 primary might sag more under load then an 18650 lion cell.

Either way, I'm thinking he's not getting much life out his bulb.
 
thanks for the input everyone! i already put the slug and bulb in the mag 2c and it is very bright. the bulb has yet to blow but i figured it would have a short life. i was hoping it wouldnt be too short though. i'm more worried about the stress on the batteries and their runtime though. i'm guessing their runtime will be short enough that its probably not worth it. i also thought about putting the bi pin in a mag 2d or 3d that i have and trying something with those instead. i just really liked the size of the 2c setup. thanks again!
 
Well, I favorite setup of mine with the mag 2C is the Mag 11.

Put a WA1111 bulb in there, and you can fit 2x18650 Lion cells in there with an easy mod.

Problem is, you get less then an hour runtime.

I want to scale down this hotwire, but I need a special bulb to do it.
WA makes a 1110 bulb that has identical specs to the 1111 but at half the wattage. So it should give you a good balance of runtime and output. It should be similar to what you are running now.

I need to find a way to get me some more different bulbs.
 
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Hi,

I have an old Mag 2C with a 4-cell Mag LED bulb that is running off of 6 alkaline AAA batteries with a new stock reflector and UCL glass lenses and it is bright with a very nice beam pattern. I have left it on for 30 minutes before and it didn't get hot or lose too much brightness. Is this a bad combination of parts or is there anything I should worry about? Granted, the 6 alkalines are not full 1.5 volts. Most are around 1.2-1.3. Thanks

Richard
 
Hmm, that's a neat setup. First I've heard of cramming 6-AAA's in a 2C.

Once again if it works it works. If you can run it for a half hour without any problems you should be fine. Heck, I'm not even sure you need a UCL lens for that, but I'm sure it'll be more scratch resistant improving the quality of output.

The MagLED should be able to take the mild overdrive, and alkaline batteries aren't known to be dangerous. Just don't leave them in the light if you don't plan using it for a long period of time.

Sounds like your good to go, but if you upgrade it in the future with a much higher end led system, you'd likely need a different power source.

I bet the 4-cell MagLed could handle running off a pair of 18650 cells.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. The battery holders came out of those cheap, clicky switch, 9-LED type lights that sells for about $3 at HF. I substituted a smaller, fatter spring in the tail cap and it worked out to be the perfect length. If I'm not mistaken, I think the bulb may actually be one of the older Mag 2-cell C or D bulbs. I want to put 6 brand new AAAs' in it but I don't want to take a chance of blowing the bulb. Even with the old alkalines it is brighter and whiter than my brand new A1 EOS which is rated at 190lm on high.
 
Well, what do you know. Hah, I'm to busy trying to cram li-ion cells into everything to pay attention to what I can to with some stock parts.

I have 2 of those cheapy flashlights. I just tried. One holder is longer then the other, so it doesn't quite work for me. But if I had to of the smaller ones I could see how that works. Interesting.

I have a 2-cell magled, I'll run it witha li-ion cell @3.7-4.2v and it does not :poof: If yours is a 2 cell you could be running the regulator pretty hard.

If it's a 4-cell it should be fine. They have a part number on them.
Mine says: 2R1G06. Check yours part number. I bet the 3 and 4 cells ones will be 3Rxxxx and 4Rxxxx.

If its a 2R and you like the rig, I'd think about picking up a 4cell version.
Also, have you considered using rechargables ?Mag C/D High Temp Socket kits‏
 
The number on the bulb is 3R1H06, so I guess it must be for a 3-cell. I also have 2 other mag bulbs. The number on 1 is 2R1C07. I have "bad" written on it because I think it blew after about a week of running 4 brand new "C" cells in my 3-D. The number on the other 1 is 4R2H06. I'm not sure where I got it but it appears to be bad also.

Do you think it would blow the bulb if I put 6 brand new AAAs' in it?

I haven't ever considered a high temp socket before. What would that allow me to do?

Also, I wanted to note that the 2 battery carriers I am using do not have a spring on either end of them. They are just flat.
 
Damn, you're really hard on the things aren't you ?

Have you tried the 4R ?

Sometimes the driver is just blown and if you can figure out how to dismantle the little capsule you can remove the driver board, bypass it, and just run the LED straight up. But then you have to be extra sure you run it with the correct voltage. Its most likely 3.7 volts.

Might be something interesting to try with the dead units.

This happend to me, I was running a newer 3D LED Maglite of a single Lifepo4 cell, and I :poof:ed the driver. So I just removed and bypassed it works great now running off a lifepo4 cell, but when I try to run it off a li-ion if looked like it wants to :poof:. Eitherway, you're going to fry the driver before you fry the LED, so you probably have some perfectly good LED emitters to play with if you can figure out how to power them.

Honestly, if I were you, I'd invest in some 18650 Li-ion cells.
Get a couple the 26's off AW and you can power that Magled for a fair amount to time. Probably close to 3 hours each battery. Hell, unless you use it for more then 3 hours between charges. Even one battery will do you good. Use those techniques for building battery adapters in my other thread.

Yeah, one of my battery carriers have no spring, the other does.

"Mag C/D High Temp Socket kits‏ " ?
I was researching them around the same time I was writing up that last post. It seems I accidentally hit copy (I have hot buttons on my mouse) before I hit send. :crackup:
They are upgrades for running high output Incan bulbs. Like if you wanted to build the 100 watt Mag623.
 
This is very interesting to me. I haven't taken the plunge so to speak as far as any emitter swapping goes, but it's only because I didn't think I had any bare emitters or ordered any. I read all I can every day, but it's so much information here, it's hard to keep it all organized in my head. But to give you some details, I had put the Mag bulb that is working in a friends 3D. His grandson dropped it and it went out so he replaced it with a regular incan. He gave the LED back to me and I stuck it in my pocket. When I got home and pulled it out, the very top of the bulb had seperated from the module? and I was able to pull the "emitter"..I guess?? up off the module. It had 2 tiny prongs on each side of it. I could see the board? driver? down in the module. I just stuck the emitter back on as far as I could until it was flush and it fired up! Hang with me as I'm new to this, I don't know what kind of compound that was between emitter and top of module. It was hard and crusty and I scraped it off. I have some "silicone based" heat sink compound but I'm not sure if that goes between the 2 or not. I have a lot to learn!

The 4-cell LED is dead, for now.....BUT, I can pull the emitter off of it as well. Now, if I could find some instructions on how to bypass the driver board I might be back in business.:)

I plan on ordering some 18650s' and a charger tomorrow when I order some RCR123s' and a charger for my new A1 EOS.
 
Yeah, I find the Incan info easy to follow, but the LED info gets to me sometimes. Not sure where to start, but I'm piecing it together.
I'm not a fan of LED's anyway, so I dont' play with them much.
I recently ordered a SSC P4 emitter in attempts to try and upgrade one of my magleds.

The Magled units will have all the same emitters. The diff is, the 2C will have a booster regulator, the 4C will have a buck regulator, and the 3C will have more a neutral regulator. (c as in cell)

Dont' quote me on this, I don't know for sure. Just my best guess based on how I understand drivers operation. Ether way, both are innately design to make sure only the right amount of voltage and current hits the emitter.

Any heatsink compound would work, problem is, some are glues, some aren't, I lost the emitter one of my magleds, playing around with snap on opticals. I used some computer heatsink compound and then epoxies in on around the edges. And yes, a "non electrically conductive" heatsink compound goes under the emitter between in and its little capsule, that double as a heatsink. And yes, that little PC board you saw is the driver.

To bypass the driver, you need to pull apart the capsule. the black plastic piece on the other end should pop off somehow. once off, there will be a little PC board, the driver. It designed to pop apart so everything inside should just unplug, you can just pull the driver out.
Then its a case of taking a little piece of metal and wedging it in there in such a way that it will bridge the gap between the positive contact on the inside of the black plastic cap, and the emitters positive terminal.

Now, I've only done this mod with a newer rebel led capsule from the newer led maglites. I can't explain in any more detail then that how to do it at this point.

Once you've bypassed it, you have to feed it a specific voltage.
So no more 6 AA mods :P But a single 18650 will be gravy.
 
Hey, thanks for the advice. This will give me something to play around with today. I may have to invest in some heat sink compound though. In your post you stated it should be non-conductive heat sink between emitter and heatsink and mine says "increases thermal conductivity." I'll have to do a little research to find out which I need. I did order some 18650s' this morning and a charger, so I'm anxious to get started. Good thing is, I have 3 Mag LED bulbs to experiment with!
 
Non "Electrically" conductive.

Which means you dont' want to use some . . . aluminum based compound that can conduct electricity. I've used Arctic Silver 5 before.
You do want something that "increases thermal conductivity." That's the point of heatsink goo.

Hah, once you fire up those 18650's, you aren't going to be playing with AA's anymore, that's for sure :twothumbs
 
Sorry for my lack of understanding about this compound stuff, but I'm having trouble grasping this concept. I have 2 tubes in my hand. One is Rat Shak silicone based heat sink compound, and the other is Acme Products conductive grease. So if you could be so kind as to tell me again which one of these I should use between the emitter and the metal underneath , I would be most appreciative. Or, if niether one of these, do I need to order some Arctic Silver? Thanks for your patience.
 
Oh, Don't sweat it, bro.

You ever notice how much colder it is in wet clothes ?
Like a rainy day at camp ?

Well, heatsink goo works the same way. Get its wet so its cooler.

Technically how it works is, at a microscopic level, neither the surface of the heaksink nor the surface of the LED are perfectly flat. The goo fills in the gaps to eliminate any microscopic air barriers that would otherwise act as an insulator. Not sure if I'm explaining it well.

My gut says you should be good with the Rat Shak Silicone, simply cause silicone it like rubber and could not possibly conduct electricity.
Heck, maybe it's even one of those adhesive goos and will serve to glue the led back onto the capsule.
 
Conte,

Thanks for clearing that up for me. You explained it in a way that I can comprehend. I used some of the Rat Shak silicone based heat sink compound and stuck the emitter back on and it's working fine. Thanks again!
 
Wicked. Which one did it repair ?

As I recall you had a 2h, 3h and 4h. The 2 and 4 were "dead" and the 3 is the one you've been using.
 

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