Minimag Micropuck pill

Essexman

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So I had a few parts left over from other mods. It occurred to me that you should be able to fit a Micropuck into a minimag.
I'm sure this must of been done before seeing as the minimag and Micropuck have been around for years. The difference now is that we have a new age of emitters that are more efficient than before, so now one 500mA Micropuck with a SSC P4 or Cree XRE will give the output of a Lux III running at 1.0amp.
So here it is.

DSC00383.jpg


I had planned to write a tutorial for this, but I just don't have the time. So here's the basics.

I opened the front of the minimag up to 12.0mm to give a bit more clearance for the emitter leads/wires.
DSC00385.jpg


The two copper discs were 10mm dia for the positive contact and 14mm dia (to fit inside the tube of the minimag).
DSC00381.jpg



It's best to solder the negative lead to the 14mm disc BEFORE gluing the emitter on, otherwise the heat from the soldering could (and did on attempt number one) make the emitter fall off.
DSC00380.jpg




You will need a fine tip soldering iron, it's a little fiddly, so steady hands are required.

I had to isolate (using nail varnish) the edges of the 14mm disc, otherwise it was always on ! Another way around that problem would be to use a aftermarket tail switch.

You can use the standard reflector drilled out. I'm using a 17mm reflector that was lying around, but others are available to fit the minimag head which would give better results, and retain the on/off function as you twist the head.

Future ideas:
I think the negative input and output from the Micropuck are the same. Therefore you could solder the negative emitter lead to the copper plate and cut off the green output from the Micropuck. (I believe I read another thread about the JIL LITE CR2 being wired in this way?)

The Micropuck will run off 1 battery, so a 1AA version would be possible......
Or use a Micropuck and a primary CR2 battery (will also require boring inside dia for CR2 to fit).
Or use two micro pucks and 1AA battery.
Or use two micro pucks and 2AA batteries, but this would require recessing the spring into the tailcap to make more space for the second Micropuck.
Or make a direct drive version and use one RCR2 battery in a very very short minimag.

I used a LuxIII LED as that was all I had at the time. Next time I plan to use a SSC P4 or maybe a Cree XRE.
There's a very nice 19mm frean reflector from Arrow electronics that works well with the Cree XRE emitter, I would like to know if the reflector fits in the minimag head. If anyone has one and could try it in a minimag head please let me know.
 

kurni

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I am guessing that 2 micropuck would not be a good idea; NiMH capacity might decrease as current draw increases significantly. I know D alk capacity is almost halved if drawn at 500mA.
 

kurni

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The more I study this tutorial, the more I like it. I love the idea of resurrecting my Minim@g with heatsink. Any idea where I can get 14mm and 10mm copper plate?
 

Essexman

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Any idea where I can get 14mm and 10mm copper plate?
Kurni - I made those myself. The 10mm was punched using a handtool at work. The 14mm, I drew around an AA batt end and cut/filed by hand. Took a while to get it right, but I guess that's what lunch time is for ?
Not sure if that helps you, but now you know how I did it.

naga - thanks for the info, i'll have to try and source some of those fraen 19mm Cree reflectors here in the UK.
 
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