4D Maglite - What to do?

I'm very new to the flashlight world and not very knowledgeable about doing mods. While cleaning out the garage I found an old 4 D-cell maglite. I would like to upgrade it to a nice utility light for general use around the ranch. I've read about the ROP but I'm not sure I'm up to the task. I've also considered just getting a replacement LED bulb and trying that. I really would like a throw monster but the odd size rechargeable batteries are a little intimidating, as I know NOTHING about them. Is there some mod(s) I can do and just use regular D cells and still have a nice light thrower or do I need to go with the ROP. Do the LED upgrades from Lighthound work pretty good? Any suggestions and advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott

seems Your understanding of "general utility" is other than mine

I would consider such a light being rugged, more or less low in output but with a long runtime.
part one is ok with the mag but 2 and 3 only with the isert, not when modded to ROP.

If You can solder a bit and do not want to machine much on Your own, I would get all necessary parts for a multistage + multiemitter Led from providers in here, mostly sandwich shoppe.
You would need: 3 or 4 SSC/Cree led, suitable optics/reflectors, a SHARK circuit, a REMORA as additional multistage circuit and a ready made heatsink.
If using Cree and its reflectors (much better than optics but triple the price), You end up more expensive at around 100,--
Seoul with IMS reflectors is cheaper

Gives a three stage light which will more than satisfy You, running on the 4 D cells

maybe terralux tle-6 ex led
glass lens from lighthound
better reflector from sandwichshoppe ?

welcome to the forums

I vote for the terralux tle-6ex too for your case buddie..
Runtime and led go hand by hand, and this replacement for the mag is really nice and bright (around 140-150 lumens if I am not mistaken)..
Bright, decent throw and good runtime.. seems to fits your requirements..

I guess this set up will give you a really nice rugged light for general use and you can always go down the road for a set of a charger and rechargeable D batteries later on, if you find yourself using that light much too often..

And you can always go down the malkoff lamp (see threads) for a REALLY REALLY nice LED thrower (believe me it worths its money and works on regular D batteries)!

Welcome to CPF..

I am a newbie so your mileage may vary greatly. I had 4 old 4xD cell Maglites. I upgraded one with the nite-ize long run time LED, two with the standard MagLED upgrade kit and left one as is with it's magstar bulb. I can't afford a lot of fancy stuff, so these are for this years hurricane kit. The upgrades were well worth the money in runtime and brightness. 2005 we took a direct hit from Wilma, knocked out power for a few days, the need for more attention to lights and emergency repair tools became evident. We lost part of our roof at night ...

I also bought two mini MagLED 2xAA for $19 each, filled with Lithium batteries, at the local Walmart for in car use. These seem to have good value for the money and good build quality. Lithium batteries to meet the high temperature storage, always ruining mini-mags when the batteries expanded. Only negative, lack a lanyard ring attach point. Previously my emergency car light was a Pelican 2400 and standard mini Mags.

Hey tarpon

Any light is useful in any form and shape. At least when it comes to my case, I am not "stuck" on brands or performance. Dont get me wrong here.. I do appreciate a good light, but I do appreciate power efficient lights, and also the cost of lights.. I have a rule I follow which is "in absolute darkness even a maglite solitaire can be useful".. I guess this is the foundation of my flashaholism!

For emergencies, I have several 2D Eveready value lights with niteize led drop ins (the regular ones for maglites) and this way you get a very effective light with good runtime for about 10$ (1,5$ for the lights and 8$ for the niteize).. some people laugh at them, but to me they are lights I can rely on for long runtime and illumination when dark times arrive.

So dont feel bad for any kind of light you might own.. still, I would advise you to do just a necessary purchase. Consider a 2C maglite and place a niteize that you already own on it. It seems that everyone is using D or AA batteries flashlights, and they do consume them bigtime especially in emergencies, so it is nice to go to your local store reassured that you will find LOTS of C battery supplies still on the shelf, just because noone is using them! Or you can just stick 4C cells to regular 3D maglites (and use one of the led drop ins).. They fit, they will work like a dream and much longer.. Hope this one is helpful for you..

If you can find one of those InReTech drop-in LED kits, that would be something.

Enjoy!

What to do with a 4D Mag? Hmmmmmmmm. I think the easiest thing to do is replace the bulb/lamp with a Radio Shack XPR-103. It is a Xenon designed to run on three alky's. It does have a rich history of being overdriven on 4D cells and it is quite bright with good throw.

Weird....I too just recently brought my old 4D Mag back from the grave. It was buried in the bottom of a box for years when I stumbled across it while clearing out old junk. Batteries were shot, the bulb was missing and even the spare lamp that's in the tailcap was gone to never never land. I picked up these items from BatteryJunction and the old beast is back in the truck where it belongs!.....

Replaced the missing stock bulb with this....
http://www.batteryjunction.com/tle-6k2.html

Placed this in the spare lamp compartment in the tailcap...IMO, this part is very underwhemling...oh well live and learn.
http://www.batteryjunction.com/lupforcdce.html

Needed new batteries too...
http://www.batteryjunction.com/dduprba1.html

And just because...
http://www.batteryjunction.com/niizegrnclfo1.html

Sure, it may have been cheaper to just buy new one or to buy replacement stock parts but it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun! There's something cool about finding an old beat up light you've had for a years and making it "new" again.

phil_vr said:

I vote for the terralux tle-6ex too for your case buddie..
Runtime and led go hand by hand, and this replacement for the mag is really nice and bright (around 140-150 lumens if I am not mistaken)..
Bright, decent throw and good runtime.. seems to fits your requirements..

Click to expand...

There are 3 versions of the TLE-6EX - the regular, the one called "Green LED" and the one designed for 2/3 Cell mag.

Whats the difference between regular and green?
Should I go for the 2/3 version for a 3D mag?

/Alex

dts71 said:

There are 3 versions of the TLE-6EX - the regular, the one called "Green LED" and the one designed for 2/3 Cell mag.

Whats the difference between regular and green?
Should I go for the 2/3 version for a 3D mag?

/Alex

Click to expand...

The TLE-6EX is meant to go in lights with 4-6 C/D batteries. The TLE-6EXB is meant to go in lights with 2-3 C/D batteries. The TLE-6EXG is meant to go in lights with 4-6 C/D batteries and is a a green LED so it puts off green light while the other two models put off white light.

The TLE-6EXB has received less than stellar reviews. The "B" stands for boost and it is the version for the 2 and 3D cell Mags. I'm not certain about the "Green".

The one to have is the plain TLE-6EX which x923x linked to in post #10 above. Also, be sure to use the 5% discount code "CPF2006"

Best of luck

JamisonM said:

The TLE-6EXG is meant to go in lights with 4-6 C/D batteries and is a a green LED so it puts off green light while the other two models put off white light.

Click to expand...

Green LED = green light
I guess it's so much talk about the environment these days that I totally missed the obvious... :laughing:

BigusLightus said:

The TLE-6EXB has received less than stellar reviews. The "B" stands for boost and it is the version for the 2 and 3D cell Mags. I'm not certain about the "Green".

The one to have is the plain TLE-6EX which x923x linked to in post #10 above. Also, be sure to use the 5% discount code "CPF2006"

Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for the advice, I'll go for the ordinary one then.

Cheers!
Alex

JamisonM said:

The TLE-6EX is meant to go in lights with 4-6 C/D batteries. The TLE-6EXB is meant to go in lights with 2-3 C/D batteries. The TLE-6EXG is meant to go in lights with 4-6 C/D batteries and is a a green LED so it puts off green light while the other two models put off white light.

Click to expand...

The TLE-6EX is actually for 3-6 cell M*g's but think brightest on 4+ cell versions - it's a cheap (US$25-30), easy and bright upgrade - works pretty well. Not as good as some drop-in's but they are typically more expensive.

barkingmad said:

The TLE-6EX is actually for 3-6 cell M*g's but think brightest on 4+ cell versions - it's a cheap (US$25-30), easy and bright upgrade - works pretty well. Not as good as some drop-in's but they are typically more expensive.

Click to expand...

Here's the product page. http://www.terralux.biz/products/MaxStar5.php Straight from the horses mouth. It does work though, I just put mine in a 3D maglite and it worked, but not as brightly as the 4D.

Certainly works with 3D and I think Terralux may have updated their specification when the 'B' version came out specifically for 2/3 cell lights.

On the Battery Junction web site it says:

The MiniStar5 from TerraLux is the newest and brightest commercially available upgrade for Maglite flashlights using 3, 4, 5 or 6 C or D cells. Utilizing Seoul Semiconductors (SSC) P4 LED emitter the MiniStar5 outputs up to 150+ lumens at the emitter.

barkingmad said:

Certainly works with 3D and I think Terralux may have updated their specification when the 'B' version came out specifically for 2/3 cell lights.

On the Battery Junction web site it says:

The MiniStar5 from TerraLux is the newest and brightest commercially available upgrade for Maglite flashlights using 3, 4, 5 or 6 C or D cells. Utilizing Seoul Semiconductors (SSC) P4 LED emitter the MiniStar5 outputs up to 150+ lumens at the emitter.

Click to expand...

One thing that I don't understand is why must there be two different versions of the same thing? Why can't their drop-ins be used with 2-6 cell maglites? Is it power requirements?

JamisonM said:

One thing that I don't understand is why must there be two different versions of the same thing? Why can't their drop-ins be used with 2-6 cell maglites? Is it power requirements?

Click to expand...

It's not the power requirements. The 2-3 cell drop-in has a boost circuit while the 3-6 Cell drop-in has a Buck circuit. They could have made a Buck-Boost circuit for the drop-in so it can run on 2-6 batteries but that would add cost and complexity. From what I have read, the Boost version is not as good as the Buck version.