My Mag85 sucks, am I an idiot????

[dyyys1]

use a Fivemega 9AA-3D ataptor adn CBP1650s and you'll be grinning ear to ear.

warning: let the batts cool for at least half an hour before you use them. the 1650s are so potent they will blow the lamp when freshly charged.

I blew a bulb once, and IIRC it was well over half an hour after I took them off the charger. I don't know if it's necessary, but I wait at least 6 hours before I put the batts in my mag85. Sorry, I'm not trying to hijack the thread, I just thought I'd interject that.

 

[JRS7]

This pic is the probes completing the circuit turning on the light......

And the meter, does it look right? Or does this meter even check Amp draw?

Am I doing it right?

 

[Timson]

You're definitely doing it right.....the contacts are right and the leads are plugged into the correct ports and the meter is set to the correct range.

It does seem strange that you're getting much the same reading from everything you've tested....It does seem to point to a fault with the meter.


Tim.

 

[missionaryman]

JRS7 just from looking at your pics I think those are parallel holders not series. That means they are turning your three sets of AA's into 1.2v with 3x the capacity rather than 3.6v. They are supplying your light a total of 3.6v which kind of gels with the amp readings you're getting.
Load your batteries into the carriers do a voltage test and see what you come up with. You should be getting somewhere in the range of 3.4 - 4.2 volts from each loaded carrier. I think you'll find about 1.2 - 1.4v from yours.

Everyone has been slamming the old plastic carriers but in my experience unless you get a faulty one they aren't that bad. I had 3 x plastic carriers in my mag85 and went to an FM one piece carrier with little difference. My carriers were pro golded at every possible point.
You get most of the resistance in the switch, tailcap and PR set up all of which can be resolved with a KIU and bi pin bulb and some wire for the tail cap but before doing any of that I'd check the voltage of the carriers.

 

[Aaron1100us]

Yeah, I agree on that battery holder, looks like the batteries are parallel and not in series. What voltage do you get per single battery holder? Should br roughly 4.8 volts. What voltage do you get with all three battery holders put together (outside the mag body)?

 

[JRS7]

JRS7 just from looking at your pics I think those are parallel holders not series. That means they are turning your three sets of AA's into 1.2v with 3x the capacity rather than 3.6v. They are supplying your light a total of 3.6v which kind of gels with the amp readings you're getting.

No, they're wired right, all together they get about 12.4 volts......

 

[Aaron1100us]

Then you must have some major resistance somewhere. Have you tried a different bulb? What bulb base do you have? What type of bulb holder do you have? Have you put Pro Gold on all Contacts and did the mag resistance fixes? It should be brighter than the headlights on a car, I know mine sure is. I can light up the top of a large antenna located on top of a 10 story building while standing about 100 feet away from the building.

 

[Aaron1100us]

If there isn't much resistance in the mag switch, I wonder if there is any resistance between the switch set screw (ground) and the body? have you taken the switch out and checked resistance there?

 

[JRS7]

It was my brother's piece of junk meter! Tried it exactly the same with someone elses meter this morning, and it pops up with 2.94 amps.

I'm going to try to borrow it from the guy tonight to test everything separate. I'm assuming I'm getting resistance from the light, the holders, and probably lousy batteries. I going to test it with just the battery holders and a bulb (Out of the flashlight body) and see how many amps it draws then. And then I'm going to check it with the 9 batteries lined up across the table out of the holders. I'm sure each step will read higher amp draw......

Anyone know about how many amps I should be drawing on healthy batteries with just the batteries and the bulb with no resistance at all? (I just line the batteries across the table touching each other, touch one prong of the bulb to the top battery, and insert the meter to complete the circuit.) How many amps should the 1185 draw off of this?

 

[Timson]

I'd say about 3.4A.

Be really careful with powering these lamps out of the mag head....They are high pressure lamps which are being over driven !
Especially if you've got some grease from your fingers on it. If they blow (Literally) you can end up with some nasty injuries....I don't really recommend that you do this at all !!!



Tim.

 

[blake711]

Ok anyone have a link to the tail cap and switch mod? I have seen it mention multiple times in this thread but no info about it. As always pictures are much appricated.

 

[JRS7]

http://homepage.mac.com/rouses/circuits/PhotoAlbum289.html

This is pics of the switch mod, just look at the top of the page for pics of the tailcap mod.

 

[Colorado Fatboy]

My M*g85 is drawing around 3.5 amps using the method shown above with Duracell 2650's 8 hours off the charger. With the Rayovac Hybrids it's closer to 3.3 amps.

Also had an instaflash a couple of weeks ago. The batteries were rested for 30mins and the lamp still went

I tend to disagree with those that say the Duracell 2650's aren't up to the task!

I'm running the Kiu socket, tail spring mod, FM battery holder and Progold on EVERYTHING including the batteries. The instaflash happend after I did the Progold. Before that waiting only 30mins after charging the battery pack wasn't a problem.

 

[blake711]

Thanks for the link. Is the switch mod nessacary for a KIU socket? Thats what i have on order waiting for it to show up. Or does the standard installation take care of the switch issues?

 

[not2bright]

Different setup but with six charged and "rested" Rayovac 2100 Hybrids I am getting 3.91A on the ROP 3854 HI in a 2D to 8AA Mod A Mag holder with two dummy cells.

Hot off the charger I am getting 4.06A that slowly declines to 3.9xA and settles in.

I have hit everything with Caig DeoxIT, performed a tail cap spring fix, and PR base spring cap fix.

For reference I am using a Fluke 73 for the measurements.

 

[tebore]

Sounds like your cells are maxed out.

Different setup but with six charged and "rested" Rayovac 2100 Hybrids I am getting 3.91A on the ROP 3854 HI in a 2D to 8AA Mod A Mag holder with two dummy cells.

Hot off the charger I am getting 4.06A that slowly declines to 3.9xA and settles in.

I have hit everything with Caig DeoxIT, performed a tail cap spring fix, and PR base spring cap fix.

For reference I am using a Fluke 73 for the measurements.

 

[JRS7]

Everyone has been slamming the old plastic carriers but in my experience unless you get a faulty one they aren't that bad.

I tend to agree, I wonder how many people have actually tried the 3AA to D holders? I checked the amp draw and voltage several different ways tonight with batteries fresh off the charger, and here's what I found:
(This is a Mag85 using 3 of the 3AA to D battery holders, using 9 Duracell 2650's)
a) First I checked the Amp draw with the batteries and holders in the light, pulled the tailcap and completed the circuit with the meter. The bulb was drawing 3.13 amps, quickly went down to 3.07, and seemed to settle for a little bit at about 3.03.......
b) Then pulled the holders out of the light, laid them out on the table and hooked them to the bulb, used the meter to complete the circuit, bulb was drawing about 3.07 amps........a little bit of resistance from the flashlight body, but not much.....
c) Then pulled the batteries out of the holders, stretched them out on the table, taped the bulb to the end, inserted the meter to complete the circuit, and the bulb was drawing about 3.15 amps.....again, showing that the holders have some resistance, but not too much.....
Then checked voltage with the batteries in the holders, 11.5 volts
Checked voltage with the batteries out of the holders, just lined up on the table, 11.6 volts.
I'm a newbie and not an expert, so maybe the experts can tell me what my tests show....it looks to me like the battery holders are doing a pretty good job and the batteries no so good. My guess would be that new batteries would do be a lot more important for me than a new battery holder.......
What do you guys think?

 

[not2bright]

Sounds like your cells are maxed out.

What current have you measured in a six cell NiMH ROP HI?

 

[tebore]

What current have you measured in a six cell NiMH ROP HI?

I've seen on my friend's ROP ~4.2 on worn CBPs. I haven't seen many cells hold more than 4A drain for more than a few minutes. CBPs hold it for the majourity of their charge.

Worn meaning a few cycles on them, how many I'm not sure.

 

[simonsays]

I tend to agree, I wonder how many people have actually tried the 3AA to D holders? ?

I bought a whole bunch of them. Two battery holders loaded with AA Alkalines dropped into a cheapo 2D cell plastic light with a mag 6 cell bulb in the front end is about as cheap and cheerful as you can get for a hotwire. Never ceases to impress the uninitiated

Simon