New Guy with some Mags

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bigpurpleseaturtle

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Messages
35
Location
Manteca
Ok,

so I'm new here I have been reading the threads on this site for a while. I have some basic questions that I'd like to ask about high powered led's and some modding question. I'm not new to small electronics or lithium Ion I raced electric rc cars for a while... anyways.

I wanted to know.. where I can get optics for LED's like in this thread; http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=226934

I know those would be better flood lights, but the optics is my main question.

Second, Aspheric lenses where does everyone get these, I looked on quite a few sites and could not find any (is there a specific spheric angle that is best?)

Ok now on to the maglite questions, I've got a few around the house (2 2xAA incans, 1 2xAAA incan, 1 2xAA LED, 1 3xAA LED, 1 4xD incan, and a solitaire)
I carry the 2xAAA with me all day every day, I am in the EMS field and I love this light, however I do not like the output and the orange-ish glow it gives that and I can tell when the batteries are slowly beginning to dump out on me. I would like to modify this light as I use it on a daily basis, I have looked for forums on modding this light and have not come up with much. I know that a TLE-20 fits in it...but that is only 30lumens at best, I would like to do a drop in, but I know they aren't readily available for this light. would a TLE-5 or 5ex fit in this I know that they are basically a drop in for the 2xAA, I don't mind modifying :D. If not what would be a good starting mod for this light (2xAAA) I know that the 2xAA has more room, but again I love the feel of this light and would like to modify it to some extent. I'd like to spend around 30bux modding it maybe a little more or less if anybody can think of any nice outputting mods; I'm all ears and would love any ideas that come across.

Thanks,
Chris
 
Welcome to CPF, Mr. Turtle!

Monday is usually a quieter day than most, but I'm sure you'll be getting some responses soon. There are huge numbers of possibilities for modding your Mags, and you'll be spoilt for choice.
 
Welcome to the Forums,Your first ? re your link that led is not very popular so expect few responces, you can find various reflectors and aspheric lens at sites like Kaidomain.com and dealextreme.
There are lots of lights out now that simply blow the maglites away, Check in the led forums and flashlite reviews,hope this is some help.
 
Thank you all for the welcome lol. I didn't expect such a response so fast :D . I know that there are many lights out there that are better than my little mag, that's not the point though, I want to modify this guy...it's kinda like a little herbie, but a flash light if you can smell what I'm steppin in. I really like how thin it is and that it is a 2xAAA, i know that there is not a whole lot of room, but surely there is enough room to improve it.

Now I don't know much about LED's or drivers, I would love to dive into it though, like I said I used to deal with rc cars, and did have some college in basic Electronics (not super educated in it). So when it comes to soldering and basic calculations on resistors and crud like that, i'm not too shy.
 
I've read that solitaire threat a number of times.. The only thing that would keep me from that is the soli isn't my favorite. Maybe I could do some type of variation on that mod for my 2xAAA.
 
Not to rain on your parade, but the 2xAAA Minimag does not have a lot of options for it. The Terralux module, seems to be one of the only ones for this light. Beyond that you would have to figure something out on your own.

You might be able to make a heatsink of your own, similar to the copper one that is being sold in B/S/T, but I don't believe there are any drivers that are small enough to go in that tube, unless you again make your own driver.

I also have one of these Minimags, and did get the Terralux module, it is a bit underwhelming to say the least, but it's still better than the bulb.

The one thing I had been thinking about was possibly making some sort of heatsink, with an XP-E and direct driving with Lithium Ion cell with a dummy cell. Similar to the Solitaire mods that you have probably already looked at. The problem is the voltage from 2AAA isn't enough to effectively run a highpower LED, and I haven't been able to find any premade boost drivers, so I think DD on L-I is the only option here. Even then, it probably wouldn't be practical because there isn't any premade tailswitches either, and duplicating the twisting head switch would be very problematic IMO.

You really are better off modding the 2AA lights, those have a lot of other options. The one other option you have is not modding at all, and just buying another light, which would fit into your budget, and your specifications. The KD buckle light comes to mind, it's 1AA but much higher output than either stock minimags. There are lots of other ones as well. Don't get me wrong, I have a bunch of modded Minimags as well, but I guess it all depends on what you want to spend, what you want to do, and how much you want to mod your existing lights.
 
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Funny, I was just looking at my 2xAAA and thinking to myself, do the XPE like in the solitaire, with some sort of dummy. So I guess my next question would be... what other 2xAAA lights are there that are similarly shaped.. I know that there is the led lenser p4, but anything else that is sort of pen shaped?

And what are some good output mods for my mini mag 2xAA that I can do for 35bux or so? oo and I just got an extra MiniMag LED head today, gotta little bit more room now ;)

also is there somewhere, where I can read how all this goes together, like drivers to LED, and what features to look for in drivers and boards. Also, I know what a heatsink does as far as sinking heat, but when the term Themal Conductivity comes into play, is it in reference to the ability to transfer heat or the ability to transfer heat and electricity? I guess just some newbie question.
 
bigpurpleseaturtle said:
Funny, I was just looking at my 2xAAA and thinking to myself, do the XPE like in the solitaire, with some sort of dummy. So I guess my next question would be... what other 2xAAA lights are there that are similarly shaped.. I know that there is the led lenser p4, but anything else that is sort of pen shaped?

And what are some good output mods for my mini mag 2xAA that I can do for 35bux or so? oo and I just got an extra MiniMag LED head today, gotta little bit more room now ;)

also is there somewhere, where I can read how all this goes together, like drivers to LED, and what features to look for in drivers and boards. Also, I know what a heatsink does as far as sinking heat, but when the term Themal Conductivity comes into play, is it in reference to the ability to transfer heat or the ability to transfer heat and electricity? I guess just some newbie question.
Click to expand...

Well, I guess you could try to get a uber low Vf LED and run it off 2xAAA L91s, something like a C bin Rebel. Good luck getting one though.
 
I put a rebel in last night..if a rebel is what's in the mag led's, poor output. I want somethin close to 100lumens I want a clicky too so i've decided 2xAA is my route.
 
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