maglite 6c resurrection as disaster lite.

i have a old maglite 6c that i am considering resurrecting as a disaster lite.
i moth balled this one years ago because it flattened batteries sitting beside the bed. 6 alkalines every 3 months. i believe its just a mechanical switch . did it since new must be 20 years old now.

step 1 - fix the drain problem. anyone got any ideas ?

step 2 - fix step 1 first.

cheers.

I've got dozens of maglites, old and new. never experienced a drain problem before. If it's an old one (no c at the beginning of the serial) the switch parts are getting harder to find. I'd suggest buying an old cheap 2c and robbing the whole switch assembly out.


I love my 6c mags, but I have to recommend you consider selling it. The 6c is becoming more and more rare. I belive I got well over 100 bucks for the last one I sold. If you keep it, the 6c is one of my favorite platforms for a ROP. I had two built, one on alkalines, and the other ran on two c-size lithium cells in the back end, and an aluminum 4cell adapter in the front. It balanced very nicely and left a really good tail weight if you ever need to swing it.
g

thankyou mr.squatch.
with your words in mind i dissambled my switch assembly and found really old wd40 residue. hmmm. my fault.

theres no c or any letter at the beginning of my serial number. i would gladly sell it for good money if i could buy a 6 c to replace it. even then it has sentimental value.

if my switch dies will a switch assembly from a new 2c fit ?

now step 2.
led conversion.
i want runtime, reliability and a general purpose beam. malkoff wont fit ? whats an 'ROP'. terralux , modamag. leave as is. is that the options ? 6 c size alkalines for this one.

cheers

I have a 2D MagLite that used to belong to an uncle of mine. It would drain the batteries flat overnight. I tried cleaning it, but, it still would drain the batteries. The fix? Upgrade it to LED. The amount of voltage/current of the short is too low to power the driver so I don't get any light from it when it's off and batteries in that light don't drain out at all, now, unless I leave it turned on for a few days.

I would just get an aluminium MOP reflector (from Kaidomain $15) and use the Magnum star 6 cell xenon bulb, nice beam and pretty good runtime. Or use some AA to C adapters and run some Eneloops in there with a rop low bulb, or even a Magnum star 5cell xenon bulb, a glass lens is nice to have to.

A dude on cpfm had a bag of non C switches. Just gotta find one of his posts.

Google or forum search ROP. It's an extremely durable 6v bulb out of a Pelican light. Comes with a high and low version in each set. The beauty of the bulb is when you overdrive it to higher voltages it makes incredible amounts of light for very little money. Stock your 6c puts out maybe 50 lumens? With the new bulb at 8.4-9v you're looking at 1200-2000 lumens depending on how it's set up. You do need a new metal reflector, and a glass lens, but other than that it's the easiest mod there is for a maglite. in your 6c with rechargables you get 7.2v, with alkalines you're at 9v, with two 18650s you're at 8.4v.

sg