What PR bulb to use with 6AA NiMH?

I have a Brinkmann 5D flashlight, I bought it years ago just because I *wanted* it. It is decently bright, but I quickly learned it is rather big, heavy, and awkward to use, so I have never used it much. The handy thing about it, the body is in two segments, a 2D segment and a 3D segment. So I am planning to convert it down to the 2D segment, get a pair of 3AA to 1D adapters, and run it on 6AA NiMH batteries. The question is, what bulb should I use?

The light came with a KPR112 (Krypton) bulb. (Actually, two of them, the spare is still in the tailcap.) Since that bulb is designed for 5 D cells, a nominal 7.5 volts, I figure I should be OK running it on 6 NiMH cells, a nominal 7.2 volts. Would it be practical to overdrive a 4 cell bulb on the NiMH batteries? If I do get a 4 cell bulb, should I go with Krypton or Xenon? (I seem to recall reading somewhere that Krypton is more resilient for overdriving.) Or is my best bet just getting a 5 cell Xenon bulb? With any bulb, do I need to be careful with pulling batteries straight off the charger, since at that point they may be over 1.4 volts, for a total over 8.4 volts? In case I ever use 6AA alkalines, would a 5 cell bulb be able to handle them?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

EssLight

Esslight,

Order the Pelican 3850 lamps, (they come with a high and low, 24 watt and 11 watt).

You will have created a "Roar of the Pelican" Brinkmann version.

If that is a plastic reflector, use only the 11 watt lamp, or the reflector will melt.

Your other option is the Xenon 5 cell MagLite lamp.

Bill

Bill, thanks for the suggestion. The 5D Brinkmann does have a plastic reflector and plastic lens. Based on what I found in this thread
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/106993
I don't want use the 11 watt lamp, it would still be too much heat. For a ROP mod I would be better off getting a Mag 2D, and buying a metal reflector and glass lens that fit it. I'm not looking to make that much of an investment right now.

I still wonder if I could get away with overdriving a 4 cell bulb.

EssLight

Get the magnum whitestar xenon 5 and 6 cell bulbs. put the 5cell in the light, the 6 in the tailcap. both will run great in the light... the 5cell being slightly overdriven on hot NIMH batts, and over driven a good bit more by alkalines. if you are going to be running for some period of time off the alkalines, swap the 6cell bulb in and have no worries. If NIMH is your primary power sourch, swap in the 5 cell bulb, and even if it blows.. youve got another lamp that will be slightly underdriven, even with hot NIMH that will be instantly ready to go. Just built this exact combo for my dad for christmas. 2500mah AA will give almost 3 hours of light with either combo. its not a ROP, but it will certanly smoke a stock maglite.

abinok, thanks for the two bulb idea. That got me thinking, if I ever want to run alkalines in it, I can just use a dummy cell with 5 AA alkalines, then I shouldn't need a 6 cell bulb. So tonight I fabricated a dummy cell out of a length of bolt and some duct tape. Of course, I don't have the 3AA to 1D adapters yet, so I can't try anything in the Brinkmann yet. I did test the dummy cell by turning my Fenix L2T into an L1T inside an L2T body. At least I know that works.

EssLight