Simplest 3D Mag Mod

Was not too sure if 10.8 volts would fry a stock 6D Mag bulb but went ahead and tried it anyway, got myself some 3AA-1D cheapo carriers from KD, got a pair of 6D Mag bulbs, fitted them into my 3D and ....... NICE!

Will be posting some very amateurish beamshots later when i get home from work, but this is the simplest mod and gives my 3D a nice boost.

Think i will next try 7.2 volts and a 3D bulb in a 2D host, should work out fine.

You're pushing your luck with the bulb, as you're over-volting it significantly. In a normal 6D Mag, the bulb relies on the sag that the alkaline D cells will inevitably provide, so the bulb rarely/never sees 9 volts, it's always well below that - so even if you ran the bulb at a dead-on 9 volts, you'd be running it harder than it was designed for.

It's not a huge deal since it's a cheap bulb, just know ahead of time that it's going to have a very brief life.

Hi starhalo, thanks for the input, i figured that too so i got 3 spare bulbs and i'm probably going to not run this for long periods of time but out of sheer curiosity, i might just see how long the bulb will last and will of course share that information (unless someone else has done it, please post )

Am totally technically inept so this was just "hey, let's see if this works, at the most i'm out a few dollars for the carriers and the bulbs"

would a 2D host, 2 x 3AA - 1D carriers and a 6D bulb be a better option? I'd be underdriving it but sigh, the output! the output!

Am now thinking of 2D host, 2 x 3AA - 1D and a 4D bulb.

6 Energizer Lithium AAs with the 6D bulb or 6 non-lithium AAs (or two li-ion cells) with the 5D bulb is about as bright as you're going to get; the Maglite bulb is specifically built to be run with less voltage than it's rated for, so over-volting them is only so feasible..

I just gave my flatmate my Fenix E01 in exchange for his Maglite 2D than he never uses. Now I have a spare host - sweeeet! I just need for my backordered D sized Li-ion cells from KD to come into stock. I have a 4-6D Malkoff drop-in that should go well from 2 Li-ion cells. I might have to get me a nice Malkoff triple to put in my 4D host.

A 3D would be a nice size to fit 2 x protected D Li-ion cells + spacer for 7.2V & 5000mAh. It could than power a 6D bulb (normal) or 5D (overdriven) or Malkoff single (bright & 4 hours of run time) or Malkoff triple (750 Lumen, but only 1 1/2 hours or less of run time) or hotwire/ROP/whatever.

I'm all about the big drop-ins, my Mag:

StarHalo said:

I'm all about the big drop-ins, my Mag:

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dude!!! sweet!! (how many remember THAT exchange from "Dude, where's my car?"

I'm ashamed to admit it, but yeah I do remember the 'play on words' from that particular stoner movie

Has anyone tried a Maglite 4 cell bulb with 2 x Li-ion cells?
My Li-ion D-cells still haven't come into stock at Kaidomain, so I have had a play with 2 x AW Protected 18650 cells (bloody hard to get the tailcap on, even with a golden shorty spring) and one of my 4 cell bulbs. The tint still seems very yellow even compared to my warm tint Jet-IIIM (it's probably not all that bad, I've just gotten so used to LEDs). The brightness seems to be quite a lot higher than normal, not stagering or anything - just up there with my 200+ lumen LED lights.

I haven't tested the run time yet - for the batteries or for the bulb!
I figure a 4 cell bulb is designed to work with 4.8 - 6.5 volts to tolerate up to fresh D-Cell lithium or alkalines. But I am feeding 7.2 volts and probably holding above 7 volts for the majority of the batteries run time (Li-ions are good like that). The 18650 cells have been sitting for a few weeks since they were last charged, so they are charged but not completely 'fresh'. I am not too sure how the bulb will hold up if I try two 'fresh off the charger' Li-ion cells.

Anyone else tried anything similar? Any idea of how long the bulb will last before the higher voltage/brighter burning will kill it? Any idea of what the amp draw is? Any idea of how much heat if I run it for several minutes continuously? After a couple of minutes the head of the torch doesn't feel warm - is this a problem with lousy heat-sinking (Maglite may not have engineered this torch to run so much above spec)? Will the plastic reflector be OK?

I have 2 of these bulbs from my 4D that I gained when I switched the 4D to the Malkoff drop-in - so I guess I'll see how this overdriven bulb in my 2D works out. If I burn through my 2 bulbs quickly then I wont bother wasting money buying more of them.

KiwiMark said:

Any idea of what the amp draw is?

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To answer one of my own questions: 0.80 amps

Bloody awkward thing to measure too.

REALLY the simplest, and very effective mod for your Mag 3D would be:

1. exchange the bulb for a 6V / 6W Halogen bulb. Is sold by Farnell. Lives for a hundred hours!!
2. Put in a Mag Charger batterystick... and enjoy your 100 Lumen 3D

A stock 3D with the well-known White Star bulbs push out 23 Lumen as I read on the RS-online site....

For this mod, you don't need to change or modify anything on your 3D! And it will bring you more than 4 TIMES as much light!




325addict

SSC or Cree on appropriate o-sink
Simple mod

325addict said:

REALLY the simplest, and very effective mod for your Mag 3D would be:

1. exchange the bulb for a 6V / 6W Halogen bulb. Is sold by Farnell. Lives for a hundred hours!!
2. Put in a Mag Charger batterystick... and enjoy your 100 Lumen 3D

A stock 3D with the well-known White Star bulbs push out 23 Lumen as I read on the RS-online site....

For this mod, you don't need to change or modify anything on your 3D! And it will bring you more than 4 TIMES as much light!




325addict

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Your specs are a bit off mate... a Maglite 3D with fresh batteries puts out in the range of 76 Lumen (or 22,000 PBC), a 2AA Mini-Maglite puts out 14.5% of that approximately :thumbsup:

M@elstrom said:

Your specs are a bit off mate... a Maglite 3D with fresh batteries puts out in the range of 76 Lumen (or 22,000 PBC), a 2AA Mini-Maglite puts out 14.5% of that approximately :thumbsup:

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As much as that, really?

My 4D bulb never looked close to that, even on fresh batteries, though now it is on 7.2V I would say it is more than 100 Lumen - at least until the higher voltage/brighter burning leads to an early demise. :devil:

Once my new Li-ion D-Cells arrive I should be able to get close to 6 hours of bright light from the batteries on one charge, I still have no idea of whether I will get that much from the bulb. Seriously, has no one got any experience running a standard Maglite 4 cell bulb of 2 x Li-ion cells? I tried it out last night and it does put out a nice bit of light with a nice incan tint - not quite as bright as the Malkoff in my 4D, but for a 2D body and a 4D bulb - it was doing very well.

Once I have burnt through my 2 Maglite 4 cell bulbs I am a little undecided on what to go for - would these 6V/6W Halogen bulbs cope with 7.2 - 7.4V for many hours? Would they take the near 8V from 2 fresh Li-ion cells? If I come up with something I really like I could convert up to all 3 of my 2D Maglites to Li-ion cells and whatever goes really good.

hyperloop said:

Hi starhalo, thanks for the input, i figured that too so i got 3 spare bulbs and i'm probably going to not run this for long periods of time but out of sheer curiosity, i might just see how long the bulb will last and will of course share that information (unless someone else has done it, please post )

Am now thinking of 2D host, 2 x 3AA - 1D and a 4D bulb.

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Unfortunately the 4D bulb is unlikely to last on 7.2V - my 4 cell bull running from 2 x 18650 Li-ion cells has lasted for a few short runs totalling somewhere around 15-20 minutes and has now died. The cells were not fresh, several weeks since they were last charged actually.

There are actually quite a few bulbs that you could run from 6xAA NiMH cells and get a very bright output. The simplest is this one: http://www.lighthound.com/Pelican-Big-D-Rechargeable-Lamp-Set-FL-3854_p_1506.html but the high output bulb will draw a lot of current and even the low output bulb should not be run for too long with the stock reflector & lens - it would probably be OK for up to 5 minutes at a time.

I was thinking about another simple mag 3D mod. How about using 6x14500 li-ions using the DX 2AA->D "soshine" parallel battery case (3s2p) to drive a wa1185 (or some other suitable halogen)? This would be quite cheap as I already have a suitable charger and those parallel AA battery cases. What do you think? Will the protection circuirty intervene in this configuration? How about using LiFePO4 cells?

Won't overdriving or installing "hot" bulbs melt the reflector/tower on a stock Mag?

MARNAV1 said:

Won't overdriving or installing "hot" bulbs melt the reflector/tower on a stock Mag?

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It doesn't cost much to replace the reflector with an Aluminum one and the lens with a glass one - that should be enough to allow it to run an 1185 or similar.

carrier82 said:

I was thinking about another simple mag 3D mod. How about using 6x14500 li-ions using the DX 2AA->D "soshine" parallel battery case (3s2p) to drive a wa1185 (or some other suitable halogen)? This would be quite cheap as I already have a suitable charger and those parallel AA battery cases. What do you think? Will the protection circuirty intervene in this configuration? How about using LiFePO4 cells?

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I'd suggest 3 good 18650s instead of 6 14500s. It takes a bit of work to fit them in but they won't have resistance problems that the battery adapters will probably have and the 18650s also have more capacity.

3 Li-ion D batteries would be even better(bulb could flash due to the batteries not sagging under current).

Gunner12 said:

3 Li-ion D batteries would be even better(bulb could flash due to the batteries not sagging under current).

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I was going to do this, but my experience with two (one at a time) 1111 bulbs and 2 x Li-ion D batteries (instaflashed both even though I was using an AW soft start driver) put me off the idea.