AB 28 Watt MAG 4D mod... *beamshots!*

Hi everyone,

Here is an uncharacteristically short post from me on a pair of mod lights I've been working on recently. (Warning - some new implementation here but no really brand new ideas in this mod.)

I was thinking (again) of my wife's now-famous Mag 4D bedside table light. She likes this because it's decently bright and has "impact". /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif

The engineer in me can't quite leave anything truly alone so I starting thinking of ways to get even more of the goods for this particular light. My original improvement for her bedside light was to install one of my Juiced Up! Maglite upgrade kits. (for the Mag 4D this consists of a 12 AA battery subsystem, a 14.4V high-output bulb, UCL lens, anti-rattle spacer, etc.) This works *very well* and she was very happy with it. More recently I started thinking of this light of hers again and decided to bring it back to the lab for another refit.

This time a nominal 20W MRC16 10-degree spotlamp assembly was installed in the head of the Mag 4D. The Mag switch assembly was removed from the light and (ahem) "trimmed". It got a high-temperature MR16 ceramic plug and leadset installed. The MRC16 lamp assembly sits right into the Mag head through the bezel ring opening. 12 AA rechargeables in a pair of AB custom battery holders drive the lamp at ~13.5V and almost exactly 2A. That's 28 Watts! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Here are a couple of comparison shots at 9 feet distance with a common Mag 2D for context:





Notice the pretty well complete obliteration of the Mag 2D in comparison... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif

You'll probably also notice a slight assymetry in the corona of the AB 28W mod - this is not characteristic of all of these lamp assemblies, just an artifact of this particular unit.

I have some of the Masterline IRC and Decostar IRC bulbs on order and will be moving in that direction next. The 35W 8-degree Masterline IRC is particularly interesting. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

This is a great mod! I love the outrageous nature of it. In fact I liked it so well I built up another one to keep under the bed on my side.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

A.

p.s. - this concept was first really well explained by Klaus and others in several threads dating back nearly two years here on the CPF. I haven't done much new here except perhaps to do a full modification on the Mag switches and install the MR16 leadsets inside the Mag bodies. In my mod the Mag heads can be fixed in place permanently since the bulb assemblies are changed by removing the bezel ring.

WOW!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif
That looks like one incredible amount of light!

How much would a retrofit like this cost?

Hello ab,

All I can say is WOW!!!

Tom

Also, do you have any price information?

Holy crap!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif

Amazing. Do you have a 3D variant?

Wilkey

Thanks for the compliments guys! I do appreciate them but can't be too personally proud of this one since the original concept belongs to Klaus. In this mod I'm just finessing the details a little - a bit easier electrics and a more convenient battery subsystem.

Among other things this light is a great bedside flashlight or truck flashlight. From the side of the street it can easily light the entire front porch of a house. From across the street it can light up the entire front of a house, BRIGHT. This light is in a league with the big boys in terms of total light output. In my living room where I did the couple beamshots you see above it lights the entire room very easily with corona light alone.

There have been quite a few inquiries already here and in PM's and email which makes me think a short run of these might be in order. The pricepoint for one of these would be $US 79, shipping included to the US or Canada. (other destinations probably a few $ more.)

Add a dozen high-current rechargeable AA batteries and you're up and running. If you needed a full set of 12 high-capacity rechargeable NiMh batteries to go along with one of these lights that would be $US 20 with the light. So basically $US 99 complete and ready to run - you'd just need a charger capable of charging NiMh AA's.

About the batteries - these are the excellent Duracell Dynacharge NiMh batteries much like the ones that Wits' End did a group buy on recently. They are nominally 1800 mAh but have been tested over 2000 mAh recently on the CPF. This price here ($20/dozen) is a little higher than the group buy price because it includes shipping from here to wherever they wind up going as well as I didn't get them through the group buy, and I had them shipped up here to Canada which increased their cost to me.

Current delivery from the battery subsytem is an important consideration with this light and others built on the same concept - they function only with high-current batteries. 12 are needed. Common alkaline AA batteries won't cut it here. Lithiums maybe but I haven't really tried them yet.

If there's enough interest I'll start a thread over in B/S/T.

Thanks! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

A.

Killer mod!

Have you done any run time testing on this yet?

John

why won't regular AA's work? Higher resistance?
I'd be interested to know whether or not Lithiums would work but that would be expensive to run!

Will this be a regular addition to your Mag-lite upgrade kits?

I'm interested in the custom battery holders your making! Any picts or extra info?

VERY smooth mod!

I don't think it'll touch my monster though - I stuck an 85-watt microfiche projector bulb into an old miner's flashlight. It makes a spot of DAYLIGHT-level brightness about 30 feet wide from more than 200 feet away. Runs on a 12VDC 7Ah gelcell. Of course, the result isn't explosion rated any more, but hey, if you need a lotta light in a little are this'll get the job done!

When I get the chance perhaps I'll post some beamshots of that s.o.b. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

oO

sounds very nice!

do you have any idea on approx lumen ratins? or any comparisons to something like the sf m6?

oddone, how about you?

The bulb I'm using (a DED) is rated for 150 lumens.

oO

Oh, ab, I'ma HAFTA try that mod out on a 3D Mag I have here... I just happen to have a 20-watt MR16 spot and a heavy-duty commercial MR16 base here, muahahaha...

That's just too awesome, hahahahahaha!

oO

I am working on something very similar right now. I wanted to try my 12 AA in 3-D size holder in mine. I am trying to get a hold of a 20W MR16 spot (where did you get that anyway?), but I haven't found one yet, just a 35 watter, which is too much for the batteries to push to full brightness, I think. Also, where can I get the mr16 base? The only one I've found is to buy a small track light for about $8 and rip out the one it has in it.

20W MRC16 spotlight should be available at Home Depot, etc. Of course you prefer one of the IRC models from Philips or Osram since they are substantially more efficient. Your battery problem may be more related to the cells you are using. Alkaline AAs simply can't supply the current needed for these lights - you need to use either high-current nimh's or preferably nicads to get this current delivery.

MR16 ceramic socket and pigtail I scavenged out of a couple of dead 12V halogen tracklight modules, although they are available from several online sources. These were quoted in one of the threads I referenced above, just can't recall which at this point - a quick search in those threads should find it.

best of luck with your mod!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

A.

LEDmodMan, visit http://www.allelectronics.com/ and search for catalog number QRX-4. I'm not sure that will fit into a flashlight or not, but for $1.25 it's worth a try.

AB: The Home Depot near me didn't have the 20w MR16 (I looked there), just a 20 watt MR12 (I think it was an MR12) which is a smaller diameter than the MR 16. I'll just have to keep my eyes open... Does you 20w bulb already have the glass lens on the front of it, or is it the open type? Be careful of UV radiation if it doesn't have the glass in front of it already! As for the batteries, I know I can't use alkalines, I just wasn't sure if the NiCDs could push the 35 watt bulb to full brightness (could they? or a 50watt?).

James: Thanks for the link!

The UV consideration is mooted by a quality glass lens - or you can take the easy route and use the covered MR16 bulb (called MRC16) - that is what I'd suggest.

Good nicads should be able to deliver the current to the 35W bulb, maybe not the 50W. (actually at that level you may run into trouble with the original switch contacts, battery contacts, etc. in your Mag. I think the common wisdom is that they are OK at 2A but maybe not at 3A.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

A.

AB: Thanks for the info. I didn't know the "c" meant it was covered. I will definitely keep my eyes open for that bulb, as it was exactly what I went hunting for and got skunked. You wouldn't have the Home Depot item # for the MRC16 spot by chance, would you?

James S: I'm really glad that I happened to notice this thread today. You don't want to get that socket that you mentioned earlier. I've got 2 of those just like that one and they really don't fit in a Mag head very well at all. I will be trying to order a much smaller socket in a few days and I will let you guys know if it works well or not but the socket that you referred to is not the best way to go for sure. Just trying to save you guys a few dollars by finding out the hard way.

BTW, anyone seriously interested in this type of project should really take the time to read this thread that I started on the subject back in February as it discusses some of the obstacles that you guys will run into and also in this thread I list sources in the United States for the hard to find, top of the line MR16 bulbs that everyone is looking for. I hope this info helps all of those attempting to tackle this very worthwhile project. Here is the thread: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB14&Number=133030&fpart=&PHPSESSID=

I mentioned "several threads" back in my first post in this thread. If you click that you'll find a posting with three threads all pretty well detailing the approach others have taken to these projects. I don't recall if X-CalBR8's thread was in there, if not - thanks for adding a link here!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

A.