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DKrider20

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Jul 28, 2013
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My Mini Maglite broke yesterday after trying to put in an led upgrade. HOW DO I FIX IT?????
 
Well I went to put in an led upgrade and it pushed the black piece out that says DO NOT REMOVE. Then when I put it back together and tried the original bulb it didn't work
 
In that black plastic "don't remove" plunger assembly, there's a very tiny, tiny little metal tab that loves to disappear when you pop it out. It's probably missing in action and your flashlight isn't completing the circuit now.

Don't feel alone, I've done exactly the same thing!

Here's an old old thread talking about it. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?135236-Mini-Maglite-DO-NOT-REMOVE

Here's step by step instructions with lots of pictures, scroll to the bottom because the page renders weirdly (for me, at least.)
You are interested in steps #7 and #9, probably.
http://www.zbattery.com/MiniMagliteInstr.html
NOT A SALES LINK.
 
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Maybe bend and "finesse" the tab a bit. It could EASILY have been bent when you pop out the black plastic plunger. If part of the plunger switch doesn't touch metal when you unscrew the head then there is no circuit, no current, and no light.

Troubleshooting reminder: Did you ever SEE this new light drop in work? What if it's defective? Did you know for sure? Try hooking 2 AA batteries directly to the module and make sure you don't get the voltage polarity backwards, it can fry a lot of LED modules. Make sure the dropin works before you pull out any more hair.Even if your switch works now, if the LED is DOA (dead on arrival,) no amount of switch fiddling will fix it.
 
argleargle said:
Maybe bend and "finesse" the tab a bit. It could EASILY have been bent when you pop out the black plastic plunger. If part of the plunger switch doesn't touch metal when you unscrew the head then there is no circuit, no current, and no light.

Troubleshooting reminder: Did you ever SEE this new light drop in work? What if it's defective? Did you know for sure? Try hooking 2 AA batteries directly to the module and make sure you don't get the voltage polarity backwards, it can fry a lot of LED modules. Make sure the dropin works before you pull out any more hair.Even if your switch works now, if the LED is DOA (dead on arrival,) no amount of switch fiddling will fix it.
Click to expand...


I did see it work when I plugged it into a kershaw light gear flashlight. No matter how I put that black plastic piece together the original bulb just won't work. I actually even cut the 2 wires on the upgrade (which is a Niteize led upgrade II) because I thought that was the problem. I really wanna get another one so I can upgrade it because I love that light but unfortunately I'm broke
 
I can get an AAx2 mini maglite incan for $7 USD and change. Yeah, I've broken a few, but then they ended up nicely on the lathe. I don't exactly AGREE with the stock incan minimag plunger switch.

After seeing some of Match's mods, it was a very humbling experience... particularly when I was trying to find out why my minimag mods wouldn't power on in the host, but would do it on the test bed. After reading and thought, I realized that there was simply something that I was screwing up on the black plastic plunger switch. It only took a couple of "ruined lights," which I stupidly threw away! NEVER EVER throw away cheap flashlight parts, especially if you're going to try again with one of the gold standard cheap flashlight mods.

Sometimes, it's cheaper to add to your parts pile and get another host in the name of experimentation. Some of these replacement switches and dropin tools exceed the cost of a new host body. It'll only take you a few to get the hang of it.
 
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Thank you for all of your help everyone. I'm sorry I didn't update you sooner but I finally got the light working again with the spare mini mag bulb
 
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