Maglite question

Alright, I have a 10$ 5in maglite picture of said light:


Main question:

• Is the inside of the case the conducter that takes the circuit back to the base? see second image

Other:

• What are the best AA batteries and best bulb I could use? I was thinking of just getting as powerful a bulb as I could from radioshack and drilling a little. I don't have much experience with LED's, but aren't they dimmer?

I kind of just got into this today.

ohhhh man i was thinking the same thing when i first got here...the led your thinking of are the 5mm weak ones , like the ones you see on the tip of your remote control right....for starters get this , use coupon code cpf2006 for %5 discount ...get that for now you will be more than happy...then research more and save $$$

welcome to CPF

This LED upgrade with NiMH batteries is roughly 14x brighter than stock.
http://www.lighthound.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2560


LED's are not always the dim little blue things you think they are.

Welcome to CPF:welcome:

teqniche said:

Is the inside of the case the conducter that takes the circuit back to the base?

Click to expand...

Yes.

teqniche said:

What are the best AA batteries and best bulb I could use?

Click to expand...

Batteries - Sanyo Eneloop, Sony CycleEnergy, Varta Ready2Use etc. You want the ones that are "Ready to Use" or LSD - Low Self-Discharge".
Bulb - in this size and voltage, you need to go LED to get a dramatic brightness increase.

PS - I couldn't get a 2AA Maglite here for a penny less than $30 - you're already ahead...

:welcome: run away and hide your wallet it might not be to late for you

You're sooo right...I cannot keep this up! I've new here and I've already burnt a hole in my wallet...:mecry:

1, Yes, the body is part of the circuit. When the head full screws, the part that holds the bulb lowers a bit a breaks the circuit, thus turning off the light.

2. LEDs can be much much brighter. The Minimag 2 AA around 10 lumen. 2 AAs can drive a high power LED at around 200 lumen out the front. LEDs have improved quite a bit since 10 years ago. 5mm LED, the common ones, are nowhere close to output compared a a high output LED, especially a current gen one(Cree XR-E, Seoul P4, Seoul P7, Luxeon Rebel, Luxeon TFFC K2).

Check this thread for a list of more common drop-in/mods for maglites.

For the price of most drop-ins, I'd get the RC-N3, but it will take at least 2 weeks for the light to ship to you.

:welcome: