Overdriving Minimag bulb with single Li-ion

I've been putting some various lights togather recently and ended up with a few half-finished projects lacking pieces...so I made a light that I hadn't seen discussed. MMMag using a new protected Li-ion to overdrive the stock minimag bulb. I figured i'd try this until I get the socket for a strion bulb in that host...

So, I just tried it and its VERY bright and white. Beam is a mess and doesn't have an even spot but it really puts out some light. I'm wondering now if the bulb is going to blow quickly, or if I am doing anything else unsafe with this configuration.

Has anyone else tried this configuration? Its so simple i'm sure someone has, so what is your opinion of it?

Thanks,

schiesz

been there done that.
Nothing unsafe from that, but your bulb will have significantly less lifetime.
the set up only good for the first minute of the bulb life, and then black smoke will cloud your bulb from the inside and the gain from overdriving it is nullified.
IMHO, put a white led in there instead of the original bulb and the result is much more pleasant to the eye

I've tried the same thing, except with 3 AAA Nimh's in a Rayovac 3AAA headlamp. I put a heavily used minimag bulb, and it lasted only 20 mins or so. Very white while it was still alive though.

Well, I have enough minimag bulbs around to last like this for a long time, even if they only last 20 minutes a pop. With new mmags coming with 2-4 bulbs (1 in light, one in tail, 2 pack spares with some new ones), and a few spares I had around from before I found this site, I think I have 14 of those suckers right now if I can find them all. I was pretty well ready to throw them away as I ran into them until I tried this tonight.

I'm still quite impressed with the output playing with it more after we got back from dinner. It looks like as much output as my E1L. It totally blows away the SMJ in my wifes mmag.

schiesz

No Instaflash (good thing)

Make sure you don't melt the "do not remove" thing

Hey way to go Schiesz!

schiesz said:

Beam is a mess and doesn't have an even spot but it really puts out some light.

Click to expand...

Now if you want to "improve" the beam pattern, then you can get one of McGizmo's McRxx replacement reflectors available from The Sandwich Shoppe, if you wish.

Enjoy! :wave:

I tried an IMS17, IMS20, MDR, McR18, and some other reflector that came with the host, but the stock reflector really worked best. I assume its just because the hole on all the others is sized for an LED.

First bulb died, might have had around 8 minutes runtime, but in 5-60 second increments.

Not too bad to use in a pinch I guess, but not too desirable for continued use.

Oh well, its been a fun night with my MMMag (Thanks FrankVZ) and gives me something to do with it until I can get the strion hotwire kit.

schiesz

schiesz said:

I tried an IMS17, IMS20, MDR, McR18, and some other reflector that came with the host, but the stock reflector really worked best. I assume its just because the hole on all the others is sized for an LED. . .

Click to expand...

Aahhh. . .I did not take that into account , but that's reasonable enough.

Second bulb died after 3:49, I timed it to get an accurate runtime. That's right, under 4 minutes.

This one was the old style with the orange colored rings at the bottom. The first one was one of the newer ones with the green band. This bulb is completely blackened/silvered to the point I cannot see the filament. The first bulb was darkened slightly, but I could easily see through it, and see the filament was burned straight through.

I'm trying another old one now, to see if its similar to this last one. I have two more replacement packs of these old bulbs before I even get to all the new bulbs i've taken out of new minimag packs...

schiesz

Third bulb burned out at 1:45.

Old style bulb, orange rings. Bulb completely blackened. It doesn't look like my bulb supply is going to last very long after all.

schiesz