Mods for Old 6 Volt Rectangular Base Flashlight

[ryles]

A good friend of mine just gave me an old 6 volt flashlight that belonged to his Grandparents. This light takes the 6 volt rectangular battery with the screw top posts. It has a round 4" or so primary light that takes a normal maglite type bulb. It also has a red light on the tail end that takes a screw in type bulb.

My question is what can I do to this light to keep it relatively stock but make it much brighter. The lens is glass and the reflector is aluminum.

I am trying to source an alkaline 6volt battery and I just purchased a 4D cell xenon bulb. I think this should help.

I'd really like to soup it up a bit so when we go camping next I can bring it out and give him a little wow. The light has sentimental value as it means a lot that he gave this light to me so I don't want to change the stock look at all.

Has anyone ever "hollowed" out one of these 6 volt rectangulars and stuffed it with NiMh? Maybe then I could build a ROP type light out of it? What about one of the ROP bulbs with just the normal 6v alkaline?

Thanks,

Ryles

 

[lctorana]

Are the reflector and bulbholder metal or plastic?

 

[ryles]

The reflector is aluminum. The lens is glass. The bulb holder is a plastic "nut" that screws into the aluminum reflector.

I swapped out the old p12 bulb for a 4d mag lite xenon bulb (4.8v) and it is much better. Of course if I can make it brighter still......

 

[lightseeker2009]

Don't know how big is the insides but if you can put in a 7.2V Nimh battery pack driving a 6volt Phillips HPR71 bulp. Its really a very bright upgrade

 

[Conte]

I've hollowed out and rigged the batteries before.

I did it using a plastic Rayovac, I cut the top off and wired some blade connectors so I could drop in a small 6v 4ah SLA battery. After I would use some electrical tape to seal the top back on in such a way I could take it apart again if I had too.

If you installed a pair of life-po4 cells in there, you'd get a good useable voltage for jsut about any 6 volt light.

What I ended up doing in the end, was just duct taping the top screw plate to the top of a large 6v 20ah SLA battery.

I have an old Metal "Big Jim" that uses Par36 bulbs. I dropped a 25w hex flood bulb in there. I usually keep it in the back of my SUV during the summer and use it when loading my quad or bike onto my trailer in the dark.

 

[Kestrel]

I am trying to source an alkaline 6volt battery and I just purchased a 4D cell xenon bulb. I think this should help.
[...]
What about one of the ROP bulbs with just the normal 6v alkaline?

I swapped out the old p12 bulb for a 4d mag lite xenon bulb (4.8v) and it is much better. Of course if I can make it brighter still......

I think that the highest-output bulb option without changing the voltage (and staying with the drop-in PR-base bulb format) is to use the Pelican 3753-H Xenon, it's something like ~1.8A / 4.8V compared to your current upgrade bulb, the 4-cell Mag Xenon (~0.8A / ~4.8V). This discharge rate is very demanding on alkaline chemistry and your cells won't last long. If you go up-voltage to 7.2v and go for NiMH rechargeable (which have much better performance under high drains than alkalines), then you're talking ROP for some serious output (500-1000 lumens or so), however that is a pretty fundamental change to your light. No big deal if that's what you want - and I do love ROP's BTW (I've put together two lights for friends using ROP-L's and a few more using 3753-H's as well.)

Check out this thread I did with the Pelican 3753-H @ 4.8v.
(I'm guessing ~250 lumens or so, perhaps ?twice? the output of your current 4-cell Mag Xenon bulb?)

Here are some beamshots I did a while back, comparing the standard (Krypton) 4-cell Mag bulb to the Pelican 3753-H:
Stock Mag 4D bulb__________________Pelican 3753-H

The Mag Xenon should be somewhat better than the Mag Krypton, but the 3753-H should be another step up from there.

There are a few more beamshots in my thread that I've referenced.
Hope this helps,
K

 

[Kestrel]

The bulb holder is a plastic "nut" that screws into the aluminum reflector.

I think I know what this looks like - I have a few cheapie lights on my work desk right now that use the exact same configuration.

There is a good chance that an ROP-low (Pelican 3854-L) could melt/deform your plastic bulb holder. I ran the 3753-H (~half the output of the ROP-L) in a plastic bulb receptacle (a bicycle headlight) for one hour and got very slight deformation in the plastic, although there was substantial spring pressure involved with that configuration which made the situation worse.

IMO the 3753-H is the maximum that this particular part might be able to take.

 

[lctorana]

Basically, I agree with Kestrel.

The alkaline battery should cope with a 1.8A drain (after all it has 2 massive F cells in parallel) but it's a pretty expensive battery to drain that quickly.

Here's another idea, picking up earlier poster's thoughts.

Empty the cells out of a dead lantern battery, and replace them with a 7.2V NiMH RC pack, or six NiMH cells (6 x AA, Sub-C, C, D or even F will fit), and replace the globe with a:

• Philips HPR71 if you are in Australia or Europe
• Pelican 3854L if you are in North America
• Reflectalite GH44 if you are in the UK

All three will give an identical result, and will be an astonishing increase over ther 4-cell Mag Xenon.

I wouldn't go any angrier than that, these represent about as far as you can go with a plastic collar.

 

[Radiophile]

I saw a rechargeable lantern battery at Walmart this past hunting season. The box was open so I took a look at it, and it looked just like a regular spring terminal lantern battery. It was SLA and I would have bought it if I had a decent flashlight that took that kind of battery.

 

[C.F.Burgess Battery]

We have a plastic "battery box" that attaches to our Radar Lite available ... you can then use what ever configuration you'd like to use ...

What manufacturer is the lantern ?

The Burgess lanterns came with either a 6v Sealed beam (TW3) or with a 6v reflrctor/bulb (TW5) ...

Our current Lanterns have Sealed beam or Krypton bulb our a LED unit light ...

 

[ryles]

So my first choice would be to pick up a SLA 6 volt rectangular battery if I can find one. I already have a couple of the smaller square 6 volt SLA's and charger. Does the SLA handle the high current drain better than Alkaline?

Cost of Alkalines is not a major issue as I don't see myself using this light all the time. I have many other lights that I would grab before this one. Of course if I get it bright enough that might change.

Another good choice would be to obtain a battery box and stuff it with alternative batteries.

Third choice would be to hollow out existing batter as I would need to come up with a way to reseal it that didn't look ugly but would allow me access into it for charging.

Sounds like the 3853 bulbs are the way to go. Are these 4.8 volt or 7.2 volt bulbs? I've seen both quoted.

 

[Kestrel]

So my first choice would be to pick up a SLA 6 volt rectangular battery if I can find one. I already have a couple of the smaller square 6 volt SLA's and charger. Does the SLA handle the high current drain better than Alkaline?
[...]
Sounds like the 3853 bulbs are the way to go. Are these 4.8 volt or 7.2 volt bulbs? I've seen both quoted.

That SLA rechargeable sounds interesting - I'm guessing it will hold up better than alkalines (most modern chemistries do), but someone else here will know more. Does anybody know the voltage under load of a 6V SLA? This could change the equation, perhaps the 3854 might be a better choice than the 3753 if a 6V SLA suffers less voltage drop under a heavy load compared to a 6V alkaline, requiring the higher voltage bulb.

BTW in your post, you wrote '3853', that's not correct & it's easy to mix the numbers up:

1. 3753 (comes in the Pelican '3754' pack), 4.8V 1.8A bulb
2. 3854 (~6 V Pelican bulb set) - most common ROP bulb, great with 6x NiMH @ ~7 to ~7.2V
3. 3853 (~7 V Pelican bulb set) - less common ROP bulb, good with 2x IMR @ ~7.5V

#1 is what I was recommending for a minimal mod prior to more extensive modifications.

 

[lctorana]

Don't get too excited - SLA batteries are not made in the size you want.

 

[ryles]

Thanks to everyone on this thread. Based on Kestrel's previous threads I have ordered a set of the 3754 bulbs (to get the 3753). You are right, I had the numbers confused. I've been doing a ton of reading on Pelican bulbs, amps, 6v power drops, etc. So I'm going to try the 3753 bulb with a regular 6 volt rectangular battery. I will persue hollowing out the old dead battery as well. Perhaps I can get a couple of clips that I can rivet on that would clamp it back together. But if the alkaline holds up reasonably well I might just stop there and start thinking about a ROP. Once I get the 3753 I will post pictures and beamshots if I can figure out how to shoot those affectively.

Ryles

 

[Howecollc]

We have a plastic "battery box" that attaches to our Radar Lite available ... you can then use what ever configuration you'd like to use ...

I assume this is the battery box you were referring to:

I have a Burgess Radar Lamp Copper Hanging Lantern that would look great on top of this box with an SLA battery inside.
What are the interior dimensions of the box?
Do the posts of a 918 alkaline battery pass thru holes in the lid of the box (it seems they would be a little short), or are there permanent posts in the lid which connect via wires to the posts of the battery inside?
I took a look at your website; where can I get this box, and for how much?

 

[C.F.Burgess Battery]

The posts are a fixture to the lid of the box ...

The inside of the box has 2 compartments designed to hold either 2x 6v springtops , 1x 6v springtop and some "emergengy" whatnots ...
We also have a 4x D cell holder to fit in the case ...

The website is under construction and my son is currently in Chicago Childrens Hospital ... give us a few days and we'll get the info up ...

Thanks !
dave

 

[Howecollc]

Thank you for the information, I'm in no rush.

 

[ryles]

This is exactly the box I need. How much is it? How do I order one?

 

[lctorana]

I'd be in for a few - hotwiring PAR36 lanterns is my main interest.

 

[Howecollc]

For anyone not familiar with the spring top 6 volt SLA rechargeable battery, it is exactly the same size as the traditional 6 volt heavy duty/alkaline battery which is used in many lanterns.

Whereas the 6 volt alkaline batteries actually only put out around 4.8 volts when placed under load, the SLA batteries put out a full 6 volts when under load. You would, therefore, have to choose bulbs accordingly.

All the various manufacturers of spring top SLAs seem to offer them in the same 5.0Ah capacity. A look at the specs for the PowerSonic 650LS shows a maximum discharge current of 15 amps, and a runtime of 1 hour with a 3.0 amp load. You can use two of these batteries in parallel in the Burgess battery box mentioned above, which would yield 10Ah of capacity.

Runtime and current handling capability wouldn't be the issue with ryles light; there's only the question of how much heat the bulb socket can take. You could easily push a 3854 High, but for how long? For quick bursts, you could probably get away with it.