NEWB HERE! HELLO! Maglite Questions...

[wcbcruzer]

Hey everyone! Just joined this site last night and it's blowing my mind the amount of new information that is available. Just when I thought there wasn't much more to learn about a flashlight... All the model numbers for different equipment on these threads sound like Greek to me. I'm a light fanatic and I guess I found the right place! I did an HID retrofit in our Honda Accord and am in the process of doing one for my 96 Dodge Ram CTD.

Anyway, I found the thread on the Maglite mod list. Just wondering, I'm looking for relatively long battery life and functionality. What would be the best way to increase the power output of a 6D Maglite without having to get bulbs that get so hot that you gotta replace the reflector and lens?

And do the battery holders of D-cell Maglites screw into each other? In other words, can I extend the 6D holder by simply screwing in an additional 2D holder? Not sure if I'll do that but I'm curious.

I'm kinda lost on all the different available flashlights. Are Maglites still considered a good buy? Or are they considered a joke compared to other brands?

Thanks!

 

[ACMarina]

Welcome to CPF!!

First off, you're probably not going to find a lot of posts about maglite in the Spotlight/HID forum.

To answer your questions..

There are a few bulbs that you could drop in a 6D Maglite to make it brighter, but that will be at a cost of runtime. It doesn't sound like you want to change the reflector or anything, so you probably don't want to consider modifying the light to use an LED, although that could bring some brightness with decent runtime.

Maglites are not built in such a way that you could buy several different models and attach them together to make some sort of super-heavy battery eating light. I guess if you had a lathe you could, but most people don't have a real interest in this idea because the light would lose a lot of functionality being that long. Maybe a drop-in replacement LED would be a good idea - you can get them in versions that are as bright or brighter than stock, and they'll generally last longer on batteries too..

For the majority of the folks out there, the Maglite would be the best light they'd consider. It's reasonly bright for most needs, fairly damage resistant, so on and so forth. There are lots of other options out there that may meet your needs better, though - for example, if you wanted to carry a flashlight all the time, a 6D Mag would be a little overkill, and you could get a flashlight that's going to do just as well in a much smaller size.

There is no *perfect* light, although some serve most tasks better than others do. Take any recommendation with a grain of salt, as everybody has favorites. Just keep an eye on your wallet, as these new lights can add up fast

 

[wcbcruzer]

Thanks for the reply! That's some good info. I haven't had any experience with 3-watt LEDs, are they as bright as the krypton bulb?

 

[carrot]

The 3-watt LED's are brighter than the Krypton bulbs they are designed to replace. As in, the 2-cell one will be brighter than the 2-cell Krypton bulb. There's also the xenon Magnum Star bulbs which are better than the Krypton bulbs with higher output and runtime.

You will not find a MagLED replacement bulb for anything larger than a 4-cell. So, for a Mag 6D, I would put a Magnum Star xenon bulb in.

A lot of people here do not like Maglites because Mag Industries is behind on the times and there are many smaller and brighter lights out there. There are plenty of alternatives nowadays that are more expensive but well worth it. Nice "entry-level" flashlights that almost any flashaholic would appreciate owning are the Fenix series of lights, which you might want to check out.

Apologies for not seeing this sooner -- internet outage where I'm at.

 

[wcbcruzer]

The 3-watt LED's are brighter than the Krypton bulbs they are designed to replace. As in, the 2-cell one will be brighter than the 2-cell Krypton bulb. There's also the xenon Magnum Star bulbs which are better than the Krypton bulbs with higher output and runtime.

You will not find a MagLED replacement bulb for anything larger than a 4-cell. So, for a Mag 6D, I would put a Magnum Star xenon bulb in.

A lot of people here do not like Maglites because Mag Industries is behind on the times and there are many smaller and brighter lights out there. There are plenty of alternatives nowadays that are more expensive but well worth it. Nice "entry-level" flashlights that almost any flashaholic would appreciate owning are the Fenix series of lights, which you might want to check out.

Apologies for not seeing this sooner -- internet outage where I'm at.

Cool thanks. Hey you live right down the street from me. I'm in Westwood. Ok guys, so I decided I'm just going to mess with the 2D Maglite I already have. I decided the 6D is too umm, big... Pretty cool, but not practical. I have six brand new 2500 mAh AA batteries and the quick charger with it. SO what I'm going to do is get a couple AA to D adapters and run 4 AA's in the Maglite (2 x 2 in parallel, 2.4 volts total). On top of that I'll get that xenon magnum star bulb (or 3-watt LED) and call it good. What do you think? This should be "bright enough" and yield maximum run time. How much runtime should I expect out of a Magnum Star with 4 2500 AA's? And is that brighter than the LED?

One thing I don't understand, can someone please explain this. While I was checking out some rechargeable NiMH D batteries at Harbor Freight, I noticed the D cell's actually held LESS capacity than the AA's. :shrug: Now I know Harbor Freight is probably not the best place to get high quality rechargeable batteries, but has anyone noticed this elsewhere? Here is the link:

D NiMH, 1500 mAh

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90150

AA NiMH, 2000 mAh

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90148

 

[Cigarman]

Better tell that to the 5W LED living inside my mag6.


http://www.zbattery.com/tle-6k2.html

and for some juicy rechargeables: http://www.zbattery.com/rechargeables.html

 

[robm]

...SO what I'm going to do is get a couple AA to D adapters and run 4 AA's in the Maglite (2 x 2 in parallel, 2.4 volts total). On top of that I'll get that xenon magnum star bulb (or 3-watt LED) and call it good. What do you think? This should be "bright enough" and yield maximum run time. How much runtime should I expect out of a Magnum Star with 4 2500 AA's? And is that brighter than the LED?

Using 4 AAs (2x2) will not give any better output than 2 x D (still 2.4-3v), at this low voltage any incan. lamp is pretty low output (15-20 lumens). Runtime will be much less than with 2 x D alkalines (or high mah NiMH Ds)

The MagLED output is OK on 2 cells (40-50 lumens), and has good runtime.

For brighter output, and/or low end incan. mods I would go for 2 3AA/D serial adapters and run a Terrlaux 6EX (3-6 cells) ~100 lumens, or a 5 cell Magnum Star (~160 lumens) of Mag standard 5 cell bulb ( 90-100 lumens).

The LED options will both give much longer runtime than incan. lamps.

And then let the path to more and more upgrades begin

 

[carrot]

Cigarman is right, there are other options besides the 3W MagLED drop-in. Haven't heard much about 'em lately, though.

 

[wcbcruzer]

Better tell that to the 5W LED living inside my mag6.


http://www.zbattery.com/tle-6k2.html

and for some juicy rechargeables: http://www.zbattery.com/rechargeables.html

I'll check those out.

For brighter output, and/or low end incan. mods I would go for 2 3AA/D serial adapters...

Where can I get some serial adapters? I've never seen those before.

 

[robm]

Cigarman is right, there are other options besides the 3W MagLED drop-in. Haven't heard much about 'em lately, though.

Like for instance a Terralux 6EX :

... run a Terralux 6EX (3-6 cells) ~100 lumens, or a 5 cell Magnum Star (~160 lumens) of Mag standard 5 cell bulb ( 90-100 lumens)....

Better tell that to the 5W LED living inside my mag6.

http://www.zbattery.com/tle-6k2.html

This link now actually points to the Terralux 6EX (SSC version), even though the link name is tle-6k2 ( the older K2 version).


You can get the 3AA to D serial adapters from CPFMarketplace:

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=119033

#16. 3AA to 1D Battery Holder ( series connection ) : 3$ each : unlimited

 

[wcbcruzer]

You can get the 3AA to D serial adapters from CPFMarketplace:

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=119033

#16. 3AA to 1D Battery Holder ( series connection ) : 3$ each : unlimited

Excellent! I emailed him. I'm really leaning towards that Magnum Star bulb. 160 lumens sounds appealing.

...or a 5 cell Magnum Star (~160 lumens) of Mag standard 5 cell bulb ( 90-100 lumens).

Why do you suggest getting the 5 cell bulb instead of the 6 cell?

 

[robm]

5 cell is slightly overdriven, so whiter and brighter output than the 6 cell.

I haven't got a 6 cell Magnum star, but 6 vs 5 stock lamp (w/6 NiMH) is 80 -90 (and more yellow) vs 90-100 lumens.

 

[wcbcruzer]

5 cell is slightly overdriven, so whiter and brighter output than the 6 cell.

I haven't got a 6 cell Magnum star, but 6 vs 5 stock lamp (w/6 NiMH) is 80 -90 (and more yellow) vs 90-100 lumens.

That's what I thought. But didn't you say that the Magnum Star puts out ~160 lumens in your earlier post?

 

[robm]

I did -
With 6AA the Magnum Star (which is an upgraded bulb) 5 cell w/6AA is about 160 lumens, and the stock 5 cell bulb is about 90-100.

 

[wcbcruzer]

Does anyone what the average runtime would be with: 6x 2500 mAh AA batteries in series with 5 cell Magnum Star?

What the lifetime of the 5 cell Magnum star being used with 6 cells?

Are Energizer NiMh rechargeables any good?

 

[wcbcruzer]

Using 4 AAs (2x2) will not give any better output than 2 x D (still 2.4-3v), at this low voltage any incan. lamp is pretty low output (15-20 lumens). Runtime will be much less than with 2 x D alkalines (or high mah NiMH Ds)

Are you sure the runtime with 4 2500 mAh AA's in parallel (2x2) won't be better than 2 D alkalines? With the 4 AA's, that's like having 2x 5000 mAh batteries in there.

 

[CLHC]

Welcome!

If I remember correctly, you can purchase two (2) of Maglite rechargeable batteries and then upgrade your bulb/lamp to the Welch~Allyn 01160(?) that'll produce a brighter light output than the stock. Someone remember the configuration?

Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy!

 

[robm]

Are you sure the runtime with 4 2500 mAh AA's in parallel (2x2) won't be better than 2 D alkalines? With the 4 AA's, that's like having 2x 5000 mAh batteries in there.

It would depend on the capacity of the D cells you were comparing to.
Alkaline cells are not labelled with there (claimed) capacity like rechargeables, but good quality alkaline D cells can have up to 20000mAh - they are that much bigger for a reason!

Remember you can also get NiMH D cells (which give flatter output compared to alkalines), with up to 12000mAh.

 

[wcbcruzer]

Wow, didn't know alakalines could have so much capacity. But anyway, does anyone the runtime on a 6 cell with the overdriven 5 cell Magnum Star?

 

[250]

Welcome!

If I remember correctly, you can purchase two (2) of Maglite rechargeable batteries and then upgrade your bulb/lamp to the Welch~Allyn 01160(?) that'll produce a brighter light output than the stock. Someone remember the configuration?

Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy!

2 maglight rechargable batteries would be adding up to 12 volts. I'd bet this would instaflash the 1160 (which I believe is supposed to be 5Volts overdriven at 6). Plus the 1160 is a bi-pin unless you get it "potted" in a PR base. But I think you are onto something 2 sticks with a different bulb might be interesting!