Maglite mod

Rhys261

Newly Enlightened
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Jun 19, 2020
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I apologise right off the bat as I know this will have been done to death but I couldn't I'm still confused and get lost in all the jargon.

My 3D maglite switch broke a while back so I decided to have a crack at bringing it into the 21st century. I purchased a drop in Led and a glass lense. Will the drop in work with a standard replacement switch or do I need to do some sort of modifications?

Also what would the recommended batteries be?

Dumb questions for most of you but I'm not the brightest when it comes to this stuff.
1m5Unqh
 
The drop-in should work fine with the new switch, assuming that it is compatible with a 3 cell Mag.

I'm not sure what are the best batteries are, but I am sure they are not alkalines. You can run a 3D Mag on AA Eneloops or similar NiMHs in 3 AA to D cell parallel (NOT series) adapters. Another option full size/full capacity NiMH D cells, such as soshines, these are heavier, cost more and require a smart charger capable of handling D cells but you get more run time. Lately I have been running my 3D ML300 on a single 26650 lithium ion cell in an 3D printed adapter, not as much capacity as 3 Soshine D's but much lighter weight and there is only one cell to recharge.
 
I apologise right off the bat as I know this will have been done to death but I couldn't I'm still confused and get lost in all the jargon.

My 3D maglite switch broke a while back so I decided to have a crack at bringing it into the 21st century. I purchased a drop in Led and a glass lense. Will the drop in work with a standard replacement switch or do I need to do some sort of modifications?

Also what would the recommended batteries be?

Dumb questions for most of you but I'm not the brightest when it comes to this stuff.
1m5Unqh

Depending on the drop in, alkalines will do just fine. Keep a check to make sure they don't leak.

The new drop ins don't use as much power and will be ok with plain batteries. Higher power ones... will require rechargeable cells.
 
Cheers for the replies.

Is there benefit to running AA's in a series over D cells?
 
Cheers for the replies.

Is there benefit to running AA's in a series over D cells?


Series raises the Voltage. A 3 AA to D adapter would put out 4.5V and 3 adapter together 13.5V - too much for most drop-ins.

Parallel adapter keep the Voltage of each adapter at 1.5V or what ever the AA cells are.
 
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