Simplest modifications for D cell Maglites

Hi,

Ive been reading these boards a bit and have kind of gotten an upgrade-experiment bug. Of all the threads ive read the mods look pretty tricky, so I decided to start this thread to see if you guys can help me.

I have a couple of LED D cell maglites and a couple of really old -maybe from the 80s- D cells (even a 6 cell) laying around the house that I think would be cool to restore and transform them into zombie lights.

I wouldn't want to make this expensive or complicated, so here's the deal: What's the simplest, cheapest, "drop in" style modifications for a maglite to put some life back into them?? The brighter the better as always!

Cheers!

There are a couple, but Terralux and Malkoff Devices are the two often talked about.

The cheapest way of all is to grab a 2D maglite, stick a 6D bulb in it, then use two 3xAA battery carriers with rechargeables in them. 6D power, 2D size.

Then you step up a notch

There's always the venerable Mag ROP (Roar of the Pelican). No flashaholic is a true flashaholic until they've owned one (a bit like car nuts and Alfa Romeo)

Have a read through this thread. It's a little old, but the same rules apply. Nothing is cooler than a 6V Pelican High bulb, over driven to 8.4V with a pair of Li-Ion cells, in a 2C Mag with a FM Bi-focal reflector 800-1000 old school lumens

I've been looking at Malkoff and Terralux. The Malkoff seems a bit more complicated, but is it a true 700 lumens?!!!! I saw a couple of the Terralux at 180 lumens, the Terralux drop ins seem way simpler am I right??

I understand I will need a particular set of batteries for any of these setups right??

Are there any sort of similar drop ins for a Surefire G2X?

Dammit, I see myself spending some money on flashlights from here on out lol

luisugueto90 said:

Dammit, I see myself spending some money on flashlights from here on out lol

Click to expand...

lol, you have no idea.

The hardest part of the malkoff drop in is cutting the cam off your reflector. He sells them precut if you prefer.

it is actually easy in general, use sheetmettal sheers, red or green handle, yellow handle will work too, but with other two it is easier once it gets close to reflector opening. no need to saw, or file.

Are you in the US or the UK?


The simplest drop in's are the bulb fitment types. These basically are a incan bulb case with an LED and some electronics in it.

Like this:





These really are easy to fit, as all you are doing is changing the bulb. TerraLUX are well known for this type of upgrade and indeed the first LED Mags from MagLite themselves used this approach too. If you're in the UK then there's a place called The Torch Site which also sell some of these that out perform the TerraLUX ones. The one pictured above is a 180 lumen XP-E and they also do a 200 lumen XP-G R5. These aren't the most powerful by a long way and the heatsinking on them is not great. But they are cheap and very easy to fit or reverse.

Personally I think they perform quite well and will totally invigorate an old MagLite and make it very usable. Using one of these drop ins will make them throw brilliantly, offer up a bright hot spot and nice usable spill. And while the heatsinking isn't great on them it actually works perfectly well as they aren't being driven too hard.





Malkoff is well know and recommended and they offer superior products in terms of design and ability. But you'll pay more for them.


TerraLUX also offer another kind of drop in for the MagLites. Essentially it's not anymore difficult to fit than the bulb types ones above, all you do is remove the head, unscrew the bezel and remove the reflector and replace with the drop in that'll then fit in the same bulb connector as the regular bulb.

This type of drop in is a multi emitter type. It'll offer up lots and lots of lumens, but due to small reflectors won't probably throw as far as the lesser lumen bulb type drop ins do.

This is the TerraLUX TLE-310M-EX rated at 1000 lumens (LED).



There are lots of other options available, but most will require more work such as soldering, grinding, cutting or sanding to make things fit.

Im neither from the UK nor the US. Im from Venezuela. But, since I will be sourcing parts and such form the states, I'm practically from there (although, funnily enough and to make things even more complicated, I am also a british citizen).

So would you recommend the Terralux bulbs for maglites?? Or is the Malkoff worth the money? Do they outperform the new LEDs I have in the most recent D cells I have? (the Terralux off course, not the Malkoff)

Do I need special batteries for the Terralux's? What would you recommend for batteries?? I need rechargeable D cells and rechargeable CR123 for my Surefire!

Again, is there simple any way I can also improve the already awesome performance of my Surefire??

I like the look of the TerraLX TLE-310M-EX although it is maybe a little pricey. But it is an easy to install drop in that works well. The 'bulb' style TerraLUX drop in's are ok, but being in the UK I can see no reason to buy one over the The Torch Site versions which cost pretty much the same but perform better.


I'm afraid I don't have any Malkoff drop ins, but Malkoff seems to have a superb reputation here on CPF so I'm willing to accept the are high quality. As to weather they are worth it or not, only you can decide.

The only thing to watch with the drop in's are the supported voltages and make sure you get one that'll work ok with what ever voltage battery setup you are running.


In terms of batteries there is a huge choice:


-D cell NiMh, although they are pricey (even more so if you want low self discharge ones) and chargers can be pricey too

-You could run C cells in a D cell Mag and as they are shorter it's a way of running a higher voltage. For example with a simple modification to the tailcap spring you can run 3 C cells in a 2D body

N.B. It's worth noting that NiMh have a voltage of 1.2v while alkaline are 1.5v, this again might affect what drop in will or won't work with a particular setup. Although as a rule alkaline cells suffer more sag and less performance as well as being prone to leaking and heavier than NiMh equivalents.

-C cell NiMH. But again a bit pricey to buy and get a good charger for.

-AA NiMH or lithium primaries. There are lots of D cell adapters that allow you to convert one or two AA's to a D cell size. The advantage here is AA's are cheap and easy to buy (such as the brilliant Eneloop ones) as are chargers for them. Using these adapters will retain the same voltage as running a D cell but you'll have lower capacity (mAh) so less run time.

-There are some Series adapters for AA cells which will increase the voltage, e.g. two 3AA adapters in a 2D would mean 7.2v (NiMh) vs 3v for using 2 normal D cells. This can be handy to get more voltage for some drop ins.

-Last up you could switch to li-ion cells. These offer up the most power, but are a bit more speicalised and some people don't like running them. A D cell Mag will allow you to run 18650 or 26650 cells. Currently I have two INR 26650 cells that I'm using in a 2D Mag. This totals 8.4v and will (when it's finished) allow me to run an XM-L U2 at 2.8A and have very high output. But this is a custom build. I think Malkoff offer a single XM-L drop in that I suspect is quite capable.

Hi. not sure if this is the right place, I'm a noob, please forgive me. I have had Maglite flashligtes for 30 years, my father used them... I have a great 4 D cell blue Maglight, was incandescent, had a battery leak because with that many batteries you never use them up. Upgraded to LED (unknown type for 4 cell) and I used 4 old Nickel Cadmium AA batteries (1.2V ea) in D cell converters and it works pretty darn well. The Ni-CD are known for not draining down like Ni-MH so it's a great emergency flashlight. I would recommend that setup to anyone.

But I just can't leave things alone!

I found 3W and 5W bulbs in P13.5S base 6-24V. I want to put 4 x 14500 Lithium Ion 3.7V cells (AA size) in the converters total 14.8V. My question, will smoke come rolling out of this thing? I'm not sure how much the switch can handle, and I ordered both 3W and 5W in case heat becomes an issue I downgrade. If that is too much I could get two dummy cells, run 2 Li-ion total 7.4V I know it can handle that. Your thoughts?

DoinStuff
(NorCal)

4li ion =16.8v fresh off charger, your bulb's voltage range is 6-24v why would it burn out?

alpg88 said:

4li ion =16.8v fresh off charger, your bulb's voltage range is 6-24v why would it burn out?

Click to expand...

He's probably thinking the switch wasn't made to handle that kind of current

aginthelaw said:

He's probably thinking the switch wasn't made to handle that kind of current

Click to expand...

5w at 16,8v is about 350ma, stock mag bulb pulls 2x as much. i personally used mag switch with currents up to 5A, no issues whatsoever

mvyrmnd said:

The cheapest way of all is to grab a 2D maglite, stick a 6D bulb in it, then use two 3xAA battery carriers with rechargeables in them. 6D power, 2D size.

Then you step up a notch

There's always the venerable Mag ROP (Roar of the Pelican). No flashaholic is a true flashaholic until they've owned one (a bit like car nuts and Alfa Romeo)

Have a read through this thread. It's a little old, but the same rules apply. Nothing is cooler than a 6V Pelican High bulb, over driven to 8.4V with a pair of Li-Ion cells, in a 2C Mag with a FM Bi-focal reflector 800-1000 old school lumens

Click to expand...

Ahh the good old days!
I wish I kept my ROP and my mag 85!

Paul6ppca said:

Ahh the good old days!
I wish I kept my ROP and my mag 85!

Click to expand...

I did. Well, at least my purple Mag2C ROP.

Chicken Drumstick said:

-You could run C cells in a D cell Mag and as they are shorter it's a way of running a higher voltage. For example with a simple modification to the tailcap spring you can run 3 C cells in a 2D body

Click to expand...

I did this with my old Mag lights. Flipped the spring, added an extra C battery, and bought some better bulbs. LED replacements would have been better but I was staying cheap.

my latest mag mod, 6d maglite, fm par 36 head, par 36 aircraft landing light,

Very nice! :twothumbs Would like to hear the specs and technical details.

alpg88 i see you've used turn off lamp. Nice! Boeing or Airbus?