Newbie here - Replacing the bulb on a maglite

strinq · Jun 2, 2009

Hi guys, pardon the question if it sounds a little too noobish.
I have an AA maglite and i wish to replace the stock bulb with an LED.
Is it possible to buy a normal say a 5mm led and just put it in place of the stock bulb?
Thanks in advance guys.

BobVA · Jun 2, 2009

Welcome aboard!

Check out this thread:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/83903

and

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/193434

(thanks to Al Combs for having unearthed these in another thread!)

Cheers,
Bob

strinq · Jun 2, 2009

Thanks a lot man. Read the first post before but the 2nd one helped quite a bit more as i'm an electronics noob. More of a wood guy myself lol.

TigerhawkT3 · Jun 2, 2009

To answer your question briefly, yes, you can just pop in a regular 5mm white LED. It'll be a bit dimmer, but it'll run for a long time. If it doesn't light up, remove it, turn it 180 degrees, and put it back in.

If you want something brighter, the linked threads are great resources.

kuksul08 · Jun 2, 2009

I once put a 5mm led in my mini maglite. It's kind of a joke.

Check out the TLE-5X its a lot brighter

R@ndom · Jun 3, 2009

It all depends on the vf of the led. If the vf is sufficently low it will output a bit less or as much light as the default bulb but with longer runtime. A minimag with a ground down red led is my super-runtime light.

Gunner12 · Jun 3, 2009

:welcome:

As you can tell from the previous posters, it isn't very hard to turn an incan Minimag to a LED light. But for not much more then many of the drop-ins, you can also buy a pretty good new light, so if you don't have to keep the Minimag, you can also save up a bit more and buy a compleatly new light.

strinq · Jun 3, 2009

Oh i do have another light, the pd30. And also in possession of an old maglite mini so was wondering if i can just pop in a simple led in without frying anything (seriously, i'm no e&e guy lol). Thanks again for the answers.

nein166 · Jun 4, 2009

strinq said:
Oh i do have another light, the pd30. And also in possession of an old maglite mini so was wondering if i can just pop in a simple led in without frying anything (seriously, i'm no e&e guy lol). Thanks again for the answers.

Go for it you won't fry a thing. Use a step drill bit to open the hole in the reflector.

It won't be bright if you use a white 5mm LED with a 3.7v forward voltage
You only have 3 volts in the AA to start.

I just did this myself with a 5mm 3.2v Low Dome LED
I was surprised to see a moon shaped beam come from the minimag.
Add some glow epoxy to the back for extra runtime

Gunner12 · Jun 4, 2009

You don't even have to modify the reflector. If you have more then one white 5mm LED and don't mind loosing one, then you can sand the LED down to the same size as the bulb and use that without modifying the reflector.

R@ndom · Jun 5, 2009

Gunner12 said:
You don't even have to modify the reflector. If you have more then one white 5mm LED and don't mind loosing one, then you can sand the LED down to the same size as the bulb and use that without modifying the reflector.

yep if you do this the light will actually hit the reflector and give you a nice soft hotspot. Or you can try and find a 3mm led.

Newbie here - Replacing the bulb on a maglite

strinq

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BobVA

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strinq

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