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Flashlight Enthusiast
Given the preponderance of LED lights and mods on CPF, I have been able to keep track of almost all of the (relatively few) hotwire lights and mods which have come on the scene over the last two years. And I have a few observations and thoughts which I would like to share with you.
As I see it, there are about a half dozen common issues that plague hotwire mods, and I will take them one at a time below, and then offer at least one solution for the future.
HEAT
Heat is the number one issue that rears its ugly head in a great many of our wonderful hotrod incandescent lights. The lowly 3D or 4D maglite was never designed with a 10 or 20 watt lamp in mind, let alone a 30 or 100 watt one. With the sole exception of the body, the light is, start to finish, a low wattage design. The stock lens, reflector, and switch/pedestal assembly are all incapable of withstanding the heat generated from a 20 or 30 watt lamp. Changing out the lens and reflector are straightforward, and these days replacement lenses and reflectors are fairly easy to come by, but the switch/pedestal is another story. My very first thread here in the mod forum was called (at first) The Mag C/D switch/pedestal assembly has got to go. I felt strongly from the very beginning that it was disgraceful for us to have such a well made aluminum body, lens, lamp, and reflector, mated with this cheapo plastic part.
That was some time ago now, and much progress has been made, but even so, heat damage is still one of the worst issues to plague our hotwires, mica shields not withstanding. In my opinion a light should be able to be run continuously and repeatedly without gradually melting and off-gassing away, fouling up lenses and reflectors as it dies. At this point in time, at this advanced level of the state of the art of our hobby, heat should be a non-issue in our mods.
RESISTANCE
Resistance is only slightly less plaguing and irksome than heat, and is more insidious because less obvious. Resistance shows up in switches, battery holders, springs, threads, tailcap contacts, socket contacts, PR-base lamp contacts, battery contacts and in innumerable other places. At first I was convinced that the mag switch/pedestal assy had a LOT of resistance in it, but then I changed my mind, and finally came to a middling position. I think that the mag switch itself is reasonably low resistance, and many have pumped insanely high currents through it (bwaites' Mule comes to mind) and lived to tell the story. However, the contact point between the floating slug and the strip of metal from the bottom switch/pedestal assembly set-screw is a resistance nightmare. First, the strip of metal is nothing special, and is not Chem Koted or treated against oxidation, and second, the contact is a round surface against a flat surface. This is bad. This is very bad. And whether you use the stock PR-base slug or MC bi-pin slug or new FM ceramic socket slug, the slug-to-ground path resistance problem is still present.
And this, of course, is not all. Battery holders all have some amount of resistance, or are prone to building up resistance over time. The best battery holders all reduce this to a negligible amount, but even so, there is still some resistance in spring contacts and tailcap to body contacts and threads, and so on. If intelligently and carefully designed, again, these can all have only a very small resistance. Nonetheless, it is something that must be considered, and in a maglite these contact points are not treated against oxidation, and the springs are not of the highest grade, and I believe that there is no small amount of resistance present in any mag mod that uses the springs, tailcap, and switch/pedestal assembly to carry the current loop.
LAMP EXPLOSION
If you’ve never had a high-pressure tungsten-halogen lamp explode and ruin your UCL and orange peel reflector, trust me when I say that it is definitely NOT pretty. And trust me when I say that in most if not all cases, the PR base is to blame. Bending one lead back in order to pot a lamp into a PR base is specifically warned against in at least one authoritative publication of which I am aware. It’s a bad idea, and one which has born bad fruits here on CPF. Many have had PR base potted 1185’s explode on them. To echo an earlier turn of phrase, THE PR BASE HAS GOT TO GO! Besides having this defect, it is also not a base which is in precise relation to the holder, and thus the filament is not guaranteed to be centered in the reflector—far from it—in fact, I would go so far as to say that in general a PR base lamp will NOT result in a centered filament. Plus, I know of no high-temp PR base holder, which brings up the heat issue again. It is crazy to pay Carley Lamps to modify a high quality halogen lamp in such a way that it is likely to explode and unable to be properly centered.
INAPPROPRIATE CHOICE OF LAMP AND/OR BATTERIES
As many of us have learned, directly or indirectly, you can’t just grab any old lamp and expect good results. A 12V automotive headlight lamp, for example, is very unlikely to be a high efficiency halogen lamp, probably because they must be designed for a high vibration and shock environment, although this is just a guess. Even sticking to known and trusted manufacturers is no guarantee: there are Osram lamps, for example, which are decidedly inefficient compared to the best Welch Allyn lamps, even when driven hard.
This observation should underscore the importance of the sort of work that people like Ginseng do, pointing the way for the rest of us and gifting us with the knowledge of which lamps are bright, white and efficient, and at what drive voltages. Ginseng, for example, was the first to post about the Osram 62138, which is an ideal 12V 100W lamp for a mag mod because at 12 volts it is being driven hard and is efficient and has a compact axial filament which mates well with a 2” reflector. Most “12 volt” lamps are extremely underdriven at 12 or 13 volts, and really want 15 or even 16 volts to shine.
Similarly for batteries: you can’t just run out to Wallmart and grab any old AA battery and expect it to deliver 3 or 4 amps. Most likely it won’t be able to. Figuring out which batteries are best to use is no small task, and can be a long and painful process. However, people like SilverFox who spend many hours testing batteries and publishing discharge graphs are a God-send in this regard. But despite the readily available information here on CPF, there are still people out there who try to drive an 1185 with a single stack of CR123A’s or AA alkys. I am not for an instant trying to discourage personal discovery and modding fun and re-inventing the wheel. It’s a great way to learn and most of us modders have “been there, done that!”; I’m just pointing out that it is an issue that commonly plagues hotwire mods, and at least a few people try out driving a Welch Allyn lamp with 123’s, get less than stellar results, and decide that incandescent technology sucks and go back to LED’s forever. And that’s too bad.
LAMP/BATTERY MISMATCH
Even with a well selected lamp and a well selected battery, you still need to ensure that the two together will match up properly. Trying to drive the 1185 with 9 high-current 1/2D NiMH cells will undoubtedly deliver stunning output and brightness, assuming of course that you don’t instantly blow the lamp at turn on (!). Even 9 high-current 2/3A cells are pretty capable of blowing an 1185 when hot off the charger. While 8 consumer grade AA NiMH cells will surely under-drive it.
The point is that finding a direct-drive wedding of lamp and battery pack is an art form and a very sensitive one at that, and unfortunately, direct-drive lights really need to be right at the balance point just slightly inside the danger point of insta-flashing when hot off the charger. And it takes a while to figure out where that point is, as I well know from my early TigerLight modding experience with the SL 35X LA.
WASTED SPACE
Because almost all of us modders must rely on “hosts” for our mods, there is not only the issue of lamp and battery pack selection and mating, but also the issue of mating the pack to the space inside the host. This is non-trivial, to be sure, and often the result is a great deal of wasted space. In my opinion, the stock maglites are shocking examples of extravagant waste of space. The switch/pedestal assembly and cam action focusing take up a great deal of space. Now add to that a mod which uses a single stack of 123’s in the body, with a tube spacer, and you have an even worse waste of space.
Again, I am not saying this to be a jerk or to discourage people from doing whatever mods they can manage with their supplies and resources; I’m simply pointing out that wasted space is another major issue that plagues our homemade and modified lights.
OK. So those are the six major issues I mentioned in the subject line of this thread. However, I want to add one more issue that is in a category of its own, and that is TIME. Right now, as I see it, there is a much greater demand for Turn-Key hotwire mods than the resident modders can supply. Even a modder like FiveMega who is as near to superhuman as possible and who puts my productivity to shame is still not able to supply everyone who wants what he is offering when they want it. Quite simply, we need to increase supply, and here is how I suggest doing it:
A SOLUTION
I want to create as many hotwire modders as possible! The feeling of making your own mods is one that as many people as possible should have. And I want to start this process by doing a DIY/kit GB and guided thread. Those who signup for this project will receive all the components needed to make up a 500+ lumen LVR regulated light and slow charger using a bored out Mag2D body or the TigerLight FBOP or OC. All that will be necessary is a good helping of motivation and drive and the ability to solder and a moderate amount of mechanical aptitude. The light created will suffer from none of the issues mentioned above. Myself or Bill Waites will be available (via the thread) to answer questions and make suggestions, and I will post detailed instructions with pictures. Plus, there will be plenty of latitude for each person to make decisions regarding how exactly the light is built.
Here’s one thing that will not happen, though: there will not be a long round-table discussion and committee meeting on what battery pack or lamp and on what design to use. I will decide—have already decided—on these matters, and will reveal the details at a later date. Sorry to be so tyrannical about it, but I never did play well with others.
But I feel pretty sure that you all will love the result, and the great thing is that the amount of time needed from me will be quite small. The battery packs will be made up by a company I trust and have experience with so that will eliminate the major time sucker of end-to-end soldered packs, and the assembly of all the components will be done by each person who signs up, so that will elimate another major time issue.
Providing enough people signup once I have posted the DIY/kit thread detailing the lights and their performance, then this will all begin a month or less after Bill and I have finished with the M6-R and USL projects, but before the start of the 2nd build run of M6-R’s.
Please consider this thread to be a “FEELER” thread for this idea as well as a thread for discussion of common issues that plague hotwire mods.
As I see it, there are about a half dozen common issues that plague hotwire mods, and I will take them one at a time below, and then offer at least one solution for the future.
HEAT
Heat is the number one issue that rears its ugly head in a great many of our wonderful hotrod incandescent lights. The lowly 3D or 4D maglite was never designed with a 10 or 20 watt lamp in mind, let alone a 30 or 100 watt one. With the sole exception of the body, the light is, start to finish, a low wattage design. The stock lens, reflector, and switch/pedestal assembly are all incapable of withstanding the heat generated from a 20 or 30 watt lamp. Changing out the lens and reflector are straightforward, and these days replacement lenses and reflectors are fairly easy to come by, but the switch/pedestal is another story. My very first thread here in the mod forum was called (at first) The Mag C/D switch/pedestal assembly has got to go. I felt strongly from the very beginning that it was disgraceful for us to have such a well made aluminum body, lens, lamp, and reflector, mated with this cheapo plastic part.
That was some time ago now, and much progress has been made, but even so, heat damage is still one of the worst issues to plague our hotwires, mica shields not withstanding. In my opinion a light should be able to be run continuously and repeatedly without gradually melting and off-gassing away, fouling up lenses and reflectors as it dies. At this point in time, at this advanced level of the state of the art of our hobby, heat should be a non-issue in our mods.
RESISTANCE
Resistance is only slightly less plaguing and irksome than heat, and is more insidious because less obvious. Resistance shows up in switches, battery holders, springs, threads, tailcap contacts, socket contacts, PR-base lamp contacts, battery contacts and in innumerable other places. At first I was convinced that the mag switch/pedestal assy had a LOT of resistance in it, but then I changed my mind, and finally came to a middling position. I think that the mag switch itself is reasonably low resistance, and many have pumped insanely high currents through it (bwaites' Mule comes to mind) and lived to tell the story. However, the contact point between the floating slug and the strip of metal from the bottom switch/pedestal assembly set-screw is a resistance nightmare. First, the strip of metal is nothing special, and is not Chem Koted or treated against oxidation, and second, the contact is a round surface against a flat surface. This is bad. This is very bad. And whether you use the stock PR-base slug or MC bi-pin slug or new FM ceramic socket slug, the slug-to-ground path resistance problem is still present.
And this, of course, is not all. Battery holders all have some amount of resistance, or are prone to building up resistance over time. The best battery holders all reduce this to a negligible amount, but even so, there is still some resistance in spring contacts and tailcap to body contacts and threads, and so on. If intelligently and carefully designed, again, these can all have only a very small resistance. Nonetheless, it is something that must be considered, and in a maglite these contact points are not treated against oxidation, and the springs are not of the highest grade, and I believe that there is no small amount of resistance present in any mag mod that uses the springs, tailcap, and switch/pedestal assembly to carry the current loop.
LAMP EXPLOSION
If you’ve never had a high-pressure tungsten-halogen lamp explode and ruin your UCL and orange peel reflector, trust me when I say that it is definitely NOT pretty. And trust me when I say that in most if not all cases, the PR base is to blame. Bending one lead back in order to pot a lamp into a PR base is specifically warned against in at least one authoritative publication of which I am aware. It’s a bad idea, and one which has born bad fruits here on CPF. Many have had PR base potted 1185’s explode on them. To echo an earlier turn of phrase, THE PR BASE HAS GOT TO GO! Besides having this defect, it is also not a base which is in precise relation to the holder, and thus the filament is not guaranteed to be centered in the reflector—far from it—in fact, I would go so far as to say that in general a PR base lamp will NOT result in a centered filament. Plus, I know of no high-temp PR base holder, which brings up the heat issue again. It is crazy to pay Carley Lamps to modify a high quality halogen lamp in such a way that it is likely to explode and unable to be properly centered.
INAPPROPRIATE CHOICE OF LAMP AND/OR BATTERIES
As many of us have learned, directly or indirectly, you can’t just grab any old lamp and expect good results. A 12V automotive headlight lamp, for example, is very unlikely to be a high efficiency halogen lamp, probably because they must be designed for a high vibration and shock environment, although this is just a guess. Even sticking to known and trusted manufacturers is no guarantee: there are Osram lamps, for example, which are decidedly inefficient compared to the best Welch Allyn lamps, even when driven hard.
This observation should underscore the importance of the sort of work that people like Ginseng do, pointing the way for the rest of us and gifting us with the knowledge of which lamps are bright, white and efficient, and at what drive voltages. Ginseng, for example, was the first to post about the Osram 62138, which is an ideal 12V 100W lamp for a mag mod because at 12 volts it is being driven hard and is efficient and has a compact axial filament which mates well with a 2” reflector. Most “12 volt” lamps are extremely underdriven at 12 or 13 volts, and really want 15 or even 16 volts to shine.
Similarly for batteries: you can’t just run out to Wallmart and grab any old AA battery and expect it to deliver 3 or 4 amps. Most likely it won’t be able to. Figuring out which batteries are best to use is no small task, and can be a long and painful process. However, people like SilverFox who spend many hours testing batteries and publishing discharge graphs are a God-send in this regard. But despite the readily available information here on CPF, there are still people out there who try to drive an 1185 with a single stack of CR123A’s or AA alkys. I am not for an instant trying to discourage personal discovery and modding fun and re-inventing the wheel. It’s a great way to learn and most of us modders have “been there, done that!”; I’m just pointing out that it is an issue that commonly plagues hotwire mods, and at least a few people try out driving a Welch Allyn lamp with 123’s, get less than stellar results, and decide that incandescent technology sucks and go back to LED’s forever. And that’s too bad.
LAMP/BATTERY MISMATCH
Even with a well selected lamp and a well selected battery, you still need to ensure that the two together will match up properly. Trying to drive the 1185 with 9 high-current 1/2D NiMH cells will undoubtedly deliver stunning output and brightness, assuming of course that you don’t instantly blow the lamp at turn on (!). Even 9 high-current 2/3A cells are pretty capable of blowing an 1185 when hot off the charger. While 8 consumer grade AA NiMH cells will surely under-drive it.
The point is that finding a direct-drive wedding of lamp and battery pack is an art form and a very sensitive one at that, and unfortunately, direct-drive lights really need to be right at the balance point just slightly inside the danger point of insta-flashing when hot off the charger. And it takes a while to figure out where that point is, as I well know from my early TigerLight modding experience with the SL 35X LA.
WASTED SPACE
Because almost all of us modders must rely on “hosts” for our mods, there is not only the issue of lamp and battery pack selection and mating, but also the issue of mating the pack to the space inside the host. This is non-trivial, to be sure, and often the result is a great deal of wasted space. In my opinion, the stock maglites are shocking examples of extravagant waste of space. The switch/pedestal assembly and cam action focusing take up a great deal of space. Now add to that a mod which uses a single stack of 123’s in the body, with a tube spacer, and you have an even worse waste of space.
Again, I am not saying this to be a jerk or to discourage people from doing whatever mods they can manage with their supplies and resources; I’m simply pointing out that wasted space is another major issue that plagues our homemade and modified lights.
OK. So those are the six major issues I mentioned in the subject line of this thread. However, I want to add one more issue that is in a category of its own, and that is TIME. Right now, as I see it, there is a much greater demand for Turn-Key hotwire mods than the resident modders can supply. Even a modder like FiveMega who is as near to superhuman as possible and who puts my productivity to shame is still not able to supply everyone who wants what he is offering when they want it. Quite simply, we need to increase supply, and here is how I suggest doing it:
A SOLUTION
I want to create as many hotwire modders as possible! The feeling of making your own mods is one that as many people as possible should have. And I want to start this process by doing a DIY/kit GB and guided thread. Those who signup for this project will receive all the components needed to make up a 500+ lumen LVR regulated light and slow charger using a bored out Mag2D body or the TigerLight FBOP or OC. All that will be necessary is a good helping of motivation and drive and the ability to solder and a moderate amount of mechanical aptitude. The light created will suffer from none of the issues mentioned above. Myself or Bill Waites will be available (via the thread) to answer questions and make suggestions, and I will post detailed instructions with pictures. Plus, there will be plenty of latitude for each person to make decisions regarding how exactly the light is built.
Here’s one thing that will not happen, though: there will not be a long round-table discussion and committee meeting on what battery pack or lamp and on what design to use. I will decide—have already decided—on these matters, and will reveal the details at a later date. Sorry to be so tyrannical about it, but I never did play well with others.
But I feel pretty sure that you all will love the result, and the great thing is that the amount of time needed from me will be quite small. The battery packs will be made up by a company I trust and have experience with so that will eliminate the major time sucker of end-to-end soldered packs, and the assembly of all the components will be done by each person who signs up, so that will elimate another major time issue.
Providing enough people signup once I have posted the DIY/kit thread detailing the lights and their performance, then this will all begin a month or less after Bill and I have finished with the M6-R and USL projects, but before the start of the 2nd build run of M6-R’s.
Please consider this thread to be a “FEELER” thread for this idea as well as a thread for discussion of common issues that plague hotwire mods.
