Is there a difference between the Mini Mag LED and Incan for future modding purposes?

I'd like to go ahead and buy another AA Mini Mag but, but for modding purposes, I am not sure if it matters if I choose the LED Mini Mag, or the incan? Does it matter?
Since I will prefer to mod it as either High CRI LED OR higher lumen incan, I am hoping for as much flexibility as possible. Which one should I buy?

When you say "mod", do you mean swapping out off-the-shelf parts or do you mean to use custom fabricated parts?

IIRC, the led versions have deeper reflectors, another thing to consider.

It depends on how far you want to go to mod the light. The Mini-MagLED (MMLED) is a different light than the incandescent Mini-Mag (MM) in just about every way other than a few dimensions and the outward appearance. The MMLED head will screw onto an incandescent MM, but, it will be loose and the reverse doesn't work. Drop-ins and heatsinks made to work with the incandescent MM won't fit the MMLED. As far as I can tell, no one makes mods for the MMLED. No one makes heatsinks nor replacement modules for it (unless you count the 2D MagLED's module, which fits the MMLED and will give you 110 lumens for an hour or so). If you have a lathe you can make your own parts, though, but, that also means that you can make your own lights from scratch which means you won't need to buy a MM to mod.

Here is a post I made awhile back showing the differences.

Thanks for the help, and sorry for the delay in responding.
I have no skills in electronics or handiwork, so any DIY mod
would have to be either very easy (drop-in style mod) or
altered by someone else for a price.


To answer your questions, the goal I would like to achieve is for #1, #2, or both purposes listed here:

1) To make the incan Mag still incan, but put out way more lumens than the AA alkaline off-the-shelf version..
(Surely this means I'll need more than just a new bulb and reflector, right?)

2) To mod an LED Mag, instead, but so that it has superb, warm tinted, high-CRI light, such as that supposedly found in various brands
people mention repeatedly here (Nichia comes to mind)



I don't know much (yet), but it's obvious to me that the stock 2x AA battery
of the mini Mag is not going to cut it, if I want higher output in either torch.
Where should I begin? Are the batteries where I should start with my ideas?

p.s.
One more thing that comes to mind is that the Maglites do not have high and low
beams, so it seems I might want to consider modding for that too, but I do not know how.
Lest I wind up with a Maglite that has high output, but dies after 15 minutes on high.

LED lights have their advantages and their disadvantages, more advantages compared to incandescent. Incandescent lights have the advantage of simplicity, but, the bulbs don't last long, are somewhat fragile, and run at higher amperage than LEDs (shorter run times) for less light. LEDs put out more light using less power, are more robust, and have lifetimes measured in the tens of thousands of hours. You can actually get a high-CRI LED with a neutral tint (Nichia 219). The negative of LEDs is that they put the heat into the light and using a driver makes it more complicated compared to incandescent lights. That same driver allows the light to do a lot of things like multiple modes, strobe, etc.

To answer your last round of questions:
Yes, you can make it put out more light as an incandescent, but, it'll be the proverbial bright light for 15 minutes (probably more like 30-45 minutes). You can use the newest MagLite bi-pin bulbs in the existing MM by bending the pins to fit and you'll need to drill the reflector hole for the larger bulb. You then have a choice to use the 2-cell bulb with AA batteries or the 6-cell bulb with a pair of IMR 14500 cells (the 5-cell bulbs might work as well, being overdriven, they won't last long if they don't insta-flash).

You can mod the incandescent MM to LED simply by removing the incandescent bulb and replacing it with an LED module. There are modules that put out as little as 15 lumens (more than the stock incandescent bulb) to about 100 lumens. To get more output you need a way to get the heat out of the light and this requires a heatsink that couples with the body of the light. Cree makes warm tinted high-CRai emitters and Nichia makes high-CRI neutral tint emitters. You can get hundreds of lumens with the proper driver and heatsinking using normal AA cells. It'll even give you run times measured at an hour plus.

You need to decide what it is you want from the light and go from there.

I understand the main differences but based on my photography preferences, the 100 cri of an incan is what I need in complete darkness.. (maybe i should just get one of those big halogen bulbs instead)

In other words, if I can get 100 cri from an incan, then there is no logical reason for me to rule it out as my best option, and then substitute it with an LED that (with today's technology) cannot yet yield 100 cri.


On the more technical issues, though:

Considering that I'd use my best and more expensive lights for photography, the runtime/ fragility drawbacks you speak of don't matter that much to me.
Those flashlights are not going to get banged around, dropped, or even used on high for long periods of the time. As I see things now, low cri LED's are for daily use around the house, work, car, for hunting, self defense, or just walking at night. In a nutshell, I'd only use high CRI LED or modded incans for photography purposes only.

Now that you know of my personal tastes and wishes, thank you for listening to my boring drivel.



"You can get hundreds of lumens with the proper driver and heatsinking using normal AA cells. It'll even give you run times measured at an hour plus."

This is good to know. I was wondering what to do about battery power for high CRI LED's. but... I am confused about the Maglite incan mods. For example, it seems obvious to me that I am much better off going with a 2D Mag (as opposed to a AA mini Mag), if what I want to do is create a high powered incan. This way I am not limited to the wimpy AA battery limit, and I can then use larger bulbs and reflectors.

High CRI led is nice but it still isn't incan. Which is seems that you need. You can get a 9P and put a 6P engine in it. Or use a full size mag with a bi pin hotwire.

Thanks, awenta. PCC mentioned the bi pin hotwire, but for a Mini Mag, instead... So does that mean the bi pin hotwire is somehow a universal solution for Maglite flashlights, despite the fact that a AA Mag and a D-cell Mag are completely different flashlights?

I guess I just don't trust using the stock alkaline battery configuration as the preferred power source. (two D cells) If anything, I'd be using rechargeable.
Also, what is a 9P or 6P?

Forget about Mini Mags. They won't be able to do what you want them to do without a lot of expensive (in $$ and/or time) modifications. Mini Mags also limit your battery options to 2xAA or 2x14500, and that doesn't offer a lot of capacity to play around with.

If you're new to this and are not sure where to start, start with P60 lights. They offer more and easier options for achieving what you seem to want to achieve.

Buy a Solarforce L2N, some Panasonic 18650, a good Li-ion charger, order a Lumens Factory E04 xenon bulb as a starter, and a Malkoff Nichia drop-in from Illumination Supply.

One thing to know about high power High-CRI LED lights are that very few are produced commercially. Most of the ones that you will find on CPF are either custom jobs or DIY jobs. Some of these custom/DIY jobs are not easy to make and require a good amount of experience/expertise. The easiest and least expensive way to have a high power High-CRI LED light is to go the P60 route.

That was extremely helpful. Funny you mentioned Solarforce P60's because that's what I already planned on getting. I was just trying to figure out if it was a PITA to mod a spare Mini Mag. (I would much rather mod a 2D cell)

The main reason for choosing a Maglite? It has that twisty focus thing. Coast and LED Lenser also make a few of those, but I don't think they are P60's.

Twisty focus is a pain with my photography. I rarely have a lens so long that the tight-focus is useful for much but an extended focusing light. (I also don't seem to find many shortfalls with CRI85-93 LEDs, but that's personal preference).

Thanks, ill check out that cr185, as well.

waxycap said:

Thanks, ill check out that cr185, as well.

Click to expand...

He meant LED that have a CRI between 85 and 93. "cr185" isn't a thing.

Regarding "twisty focus", it doesn't really work well with LEDs, especially if you're using a regular reflector. Due to the light emitting characteristics of most LED, there's really only one point where the beam is in focus. It can be either completely in focus, very slightly out of focus, or completely out of focus and thus unusable. There's very little margin between the three. It's not like with a incan bulb where it emits in all directions and you can play around with the focus a little bit.

Coast/LED Lenser have a decent focusing mechanism for LED, but it is patent protected and I haven't heard of anyone having reproduced it for DIY purposes.