Anyone every modified a Maglite Solitaire?

Just wondering if anyone has ever modifed a Maglite Solitaire (1 AAA) for an LED bulb?

Yes and very easy to do. Go to http://thelightsite.cruxial.com/ and look on the mods page

I recently did a mod similar to this one http://thelightsite.cruxial.com/mods/solitaire.htm

I used a 5mm turquoise LED (part number LED1052) from http://bgm.bgmicro.com. They claim 20,800 mcds for this bad boy. It *is* very bright, but the beam quality isn't quite as nice as I'd like.

Also, instead of risking breakage of the reflector by removing it, I used a variable speed cordless drill on a low speed setting, and was able to carefully drill the reflector hole w/o damaging either the reflector or the lens. Took about 20 minutes. I'm sure a drill press would've been better and safer. Note that you may need to put a drop of superglue on the rim of the reflector to keep it from rotating in the head while drilling.

Also, I noticed after I put it all together that the top of the LED would bump into the lens a ways before the head screwed all the way down. Just to keep someone else from ruining the lens by overtightening the head, I super glued a very narrow, thin strip of plastic to block the head from screwing all the way down.

The finished light is a bit brighter and more tightly focused than either my turq photon III or my ARC AAA turq EV. It's an EDC for me now, along with my 3.1 ARC AAA white.

Next project:
I'm going to try and squeeze three 5mm LED's into a solitaire. ! Planning to file down the sides of the LED's, and bond them together with some epoxy.




Update - 7/22/02:
It seems nearly impossible to get 3 LEDs in there, so I settled for two. Works fine, and no resistor needed now.

You can now read up on this mod at theLIGHTsite.cruxial.com. (Thanks Doug P. )

Jack'o'Lantern, if the torch is only using a single AAA cell, how are you driving the turquoise LED which has a forward voltage of about 4.2V?

At the link I mentioned, it is all explained very nicely. The short story is that you toss out the AAA, and put in a 12V "remote control" (GP23A or equivalent) instead.

Of course, you need to make a conductive "filler" of some type to take up all that empty space the 12V leaves in the body. I didn't have any springs handy, so I'm using some tightly rolled up and taped tinfoil at the moment. If using tinfoil for this, I'd make it 1/16" to 1/8" longer than needed. The foil will squish down after a while, even if rolled up tightly.

It'd probably be wise to place a resistor in there, but the 12V's internal resistance does a suprisingly good job of limiting current. I've not put a resistor in mine yet and the LED hasn't blown, but then again, I'm using an old battery that measures only 9.7V with no load, and I've only run the light for a couple of minutes at a time. Even if the LED did blow, it's very simple to replace in this mod.

Hope this helps.

I love that mod! I did check out the link and have a couple questions:
1. If you were to use a resistor, what capacity would you use?
2. What is the total length of the foil plug that takes up the extra space?
3. Just to clarify, that is a MN21/23 12v battery, correct?

Where can I find the circuit for this satcure mod?


(thanks Doug and YC)

Unless, trying to modify it myself would be a good way to step into mods!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
I love that mod! I did check out the link and have a couple questions:
1. If you were to use a resistor, what capacity would you use?
2. What is the total length of the foil plug that takes up the extra space?
3. Just to clarify, that is a MN21/23 12v battery, correct?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's a nice, easy mod. Just my speed.

Not sure on the values for that resistor, but I think a 330 Ohm 1/4 watt "5%" might be in the neighborhood. Depends on the LED. Here is the best reference I've found yet on that topic... http://linear1.org/ckts/led.php

Somebody mentioned the other day that you can use a wooden dowel, drilled out to accept a resistor instead of the tin foil plug. Just use the resistor leads as the contacts on each side - coiled up.

Regarding the plug, I made it 5/8" long, and it works, but could be tighter. I think 11/16" to 3/4" would be better. 3/8" or so works well for the diameter.

I think the Duracell battery number is MN21/23. A23 looks to be the Energizer number. It's the little 12V kind people use in keychain remotes for car alarms.

On the satcure circuit, here's all I've found so far...
http://www.satcure.com/hobby/eleckits.htm
http://edusite10.tripod.com/led3/onetran/single_tran.html

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Orion:
Who can I send MY Maglight Solitar to so they can modify it?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dunno anyone who sells these. This one is so easy, you'd probably have it done in an evening even if you've never mod'd anything b4 Just needs a small file, a drill, and some superglue (optional).

First of all, I don't have access to any 5mm LED Nichia lights, just the LEDs that Radio Shack may have. Plus, I'm not sure what Voltage or whatever to use. I got a 1.7 Volt Red LED from Radio Shack that said 3000 mcd on the package. I inserted it into the Solitar holes and it barely lit up.

After that, I got my cheap free flashlight (I got it from an insurance company, a light shaped like a car, and to turn it on, you flip the front end [which is on pivot points] around and it lights up.) Anyway, that light uses two AAA batteries. THAT did the trick. That Red LED is pretty bright, and is actually brighter than the Red LED 'bezel' I got from UK for my 2AAA. I don't know if the 2AAA are over powering the 1.7 volt LED, but it seems to be working.

The plus side is that a light that I wasn't using is now 'rejuvinated'.

But as far as the Maglight Solitar, I'm not sure how to proceed. I'm an ultra amateur!

Orion...I've been modding several of my lights:
1 Solitaire (now a brilliant blue LED w/WriteRight to smooth out the beam)
2 Mini Mags (1 Blue LED, 1 White/Blue LED also with WriteRight on both of them).

On the Soliatire, I use a MN21/23 12v battery which provides enough internal resistance to not blow the LED. I also use a #4 Spring from Ace Hardware to take up the extra space in the barrel.

On the 2AA MiniMags, I use 1 AAA and 2 N batteries for @ 4.5v. Also, these fit nicely in the barrels without needing any spacers or springs to take up extra space.

If you want, I suppose I could mod your Solitaire for you. email me (in profile) and let me know...

"On the Soliatire, I use a MN21/23 12v battery which provides enough internal resistance to not blow the LED. I also use a #4 Spring from Ace Hardware to take up the extra space in the barrel."

Hmmm, Perhaps I'll try that and if I run into problems, I'll take you up on your offer. Will a White Nichia take the power of that 12v with the internal resistance?


"On the 2AA MiniMags, I use 1 AAA and 2 N batteries for @ 4.5v. Also, these fit nicely in the barrels without needing any spacers or springs to take up extra space."

I have a 2AA MiniMag with a 3 LED modification. However I was curious as to using 1 AAA with 2 N batteries. I didn't think it was possible to use different type of batteries.

Sure thing, just contact me and we can figure it out via email.

Yes, the white Nichia will take the power of the 12v MN21/23 battery just fine since it is rated the same as the blue Nichia LED.

How did you get 3 LED's in your 2 AA minimag? I want to try multiple LED's but am not sure how or where to begin...

The 1 AAA and 2 N's work just fine...in fact, I've read on here you can use the same battery config with the NextStar bulb for some really bright light at the cost of shorter battery life.

I actually didn't do the 3 LED setup for my MiniMag. I got that from a company that does them. Cost about $30 though.

Here's the link:

http://www.opalec.com/

It's a pretty good setup. Has a neet little 3mm red LED that lights up when the batteries have used up their power. They say it will still burn for another 10 hours or so with diminishing light.

Anyway, thanks a bunch for the 'specs' on the Solitare. I'll give it a shot with the setup you mentioned.

OK. I've seen those and will probably end up getting one.

But, for now, I'm more interested in modding flashlights...

when I tried this mod, the reflector wouldn't come out and I completely destroyed it drilling for the 5 mm led...
How did you get out the reflector?
Doesn't the led bump into the lens? How do you deal with that?

I was simply able to undo the head, and press on the plastic lens to push out the lens and reflector. It may help to use a Q-tip to help push.

Yes, the LED does bump into the lens and has caused a slight dimple in the plastic lens where the LED presses against it. I have another thread on this where I've asked those who have done this mod before how they fixed that. It can be found here. Hopefully, it will have some answers posted soon so we can both benefit from it.

Well, I fixed the problem of the LED pressing against the lens.

See the other thread here.