Can I mod a 4D Maglite to out throw a Tigerlight??

Edited the title to reflect I want throw.

Need suggestions for modding a 4D Maglite. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I was able to pick up a 4D Maglite on sale at Home Depot over Thanksgiving weekend. I've played with it a little, now I want to make as bright a light with as much throw as I possibly can. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I wanna 'sinjz' some eyebrows from several hundred feet away. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif How can I do that? I've read that I can pick up some sort of PVC tube so CR123 fit inside the Mag tube. Can I do this with a 4D and how many CR123 can fit in a 4D? What size PVC tube should I get? What kind of bulb? And do I have to worry about the reflector of lens melting? What else did I forget to ask about? Newbie modder needs help! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

*shrug*
ask Mr Bulk, *lol*

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

I put 8 123's in my 4d and used a 18v bulb (XPR18) out of a Makita cordless flashlight. It obviously overdrives it, but I've run maybe 30 minutes with no problem so far. I'm using one of the Krylon sputtered reflectors with the cam cut off, so it's fixed focus. I had an old fiberglass antenna from a rtu that the 123's fit perfectly in. I then used some foam weather stripping to make the tube fit the 4d better. I had to use a much shorter spring in the tailcap and remove the anodizing from the bottom of the cap to make a good connection. Not the best mod, like with a Carley or WA lamp and carley reflector, or HID, etc., but much brighter than stock and the bulbs are cheap and easy to find at Lowe's, Home Depot and the like. I would assume the Dewalt 18v lamp would perform about the same. It's not nearly as heavy as with the 4 D's. You can do a search on the forum for Mag mods, or nearly anything Ginseng has posted about to find some much more elaborate mods.

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

Can you tell us where the light will be used, in your home, in the car, walking around town, how much do ya wana spend $$$? The reason I ask there are so many options cheep to expensive. To "'sinjz' some eyebrows from several hundred feet away" takes some mussle and depending how you intend to delploy the light there may be less expensive options.

Later
Sway

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

Destroy it, buy a Tigerlight. Best mod ever /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

Admedeus, how does it compare to stuff like the Space Needle, UltraStinger and Tigerlight?

Sway, I definitely want to do this on the cheap. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif I figure I can go step by step. Get some sort of PVC tube (what size?) so I can use CR123's and up the voltage first. And get a bulb (which one?) that can handle the higher voltage. Somewhere later down the road I'll pick up a better reflector and a lens to smooth out the beam etc.... Does that make sense? Should I be looking for that reflector now? I won't be 'using' the light. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif It will usually kept at home, but will occasionally be let outside to play. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I want to be able to spotlight someone from my balcony (about 200-250 feet away). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif If I take it outside, I want to be able to clearly light things up far away. Blinding possible attackers before I club them with the other end would be nice too. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I'm thinking throw, NOT flood. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Will probably never have it on for more than a minute or two at a time, but would like decent heatsinking.

Penguin, if I could afford a Tigerlight, I would not be looking to mod a Mag. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I figure the PVC tube and bulb will only be a couple of bucks each. Less than $10 combined. Of course I could be completely wrong on the bulb. It's really the reflector that is scaring me right now. What are my options?

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

Sinz, the only thing I've compared it to is a E2E, and it was brighter and had more thow than it. I've got a TL-3 incan on the way, when I get it, I'll compare it and let you know.

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

Sinjz,

For a cheep mod less than $2.00 put a 3 cell bulb in and see how you like that, it will be a littler brighter but with decreased bulb life. Stay away from the Mag-Lite Mag-num Star bulb I don't like the beam quality of this bulb.

You can also put 5 C cells in there for 7.5V and run your 4 cell bulb. You will have to get some PVC pipe from a home store for the battery tube just take a C & D cell with you find one the C will fit inside of but not larger than the D you may have to wrap some tape around the tube for a tight fit.

This should get you started down the road, later you will want more /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Later
Sway

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

I've read about the 5C option. I'm thinking of skipping that and going straight for the 8xCR123 option. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Is 24 volts TOO MUCH??? Admedeus did it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I also understand the concept of overdriving a bulb, but I'm thinking I can find a better bulb. I just don't know which bulb that would be. I read something about Welch Allyn bulbs, but know nothing except that someone named PaulW said the WA 011185 disappointed because of high resistance in the host. Uhm, how do I fix that? After more reading I figure I should get a better reflector now. My problem is I don't know what kind to get. Still doing some reading so I'm not sure what that Krylon sputtered reflector is, but I know I seen someone names Otokoyama selling special ones. Are they really better?

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

You want cheap...123's are not cheap. Your first set will cost around $12 in bulk. 4D's will cost around $4 in bulk. and since they have about 1/14 (~18000mah vs ~1300mah) the mah of a D battery, they will last a lot shorter. 1/14 the lifespan and 3 times the $..results ultimately spending more than 40 times the money just in batteries. Unless you want to go the rechargable route which will initially cost a lot more. You should have just gotten a MagCharger with the WA bulb.

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

FninjaP90, I didn't really think about that and I understand what you are saying, but I'm thinking I won't be using this light so often that I wouldn't actually run down the batteries that quickly. 24 volts down to 7.5 is a big drop. I assume the light output would be dramatically less. However, I recently read something about a 3AAtoD adapter. If I can get 4 of those that would be 18 volts. That's a good compromise in my mind. A little less power, but much more affordable. Does anybody here have any info in this 3AAtoD adapter? I think I read I could get it from Electrolumens, but I also saw something about resistance. I couldn't really follow it, so could someone give it to me in plain english. Would 4 3AAtoD adapters in a 4D Maglite be good?

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

Yeah but the AA's will last 1/15 as long as using D's. Get rechargables. 12 rechargables and a big AA charger would cost around $40, but would be way more cost effective down the road. You will have probably already regained the money you spent on rechargables on like your 8th charge. And 8 cycles still isn't as much as a D battery. 12*1.2=14.4 volts is still good.

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

Sinjz,
I'll tell you what I can. It might be what you are looking for. I have done this with 3D Mags, but not with 4. I think I can give you enough info. to get you close to where you want to go with the 4D Mag.
I used three 3toDs that were not modified to reduce resistance. I used the KPR118 bulb from Radio Shack
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=272-1164
With 9 alkaline batteries this is very bright with a much larger hot spot than the KPR112 used with 3x123. I have used the 3toDs in several different combinations & alkaline AAs are brighter than nimh. I think you could use four 3toDs with 12 nimh AAs with the KPR118. If the bulb flashes just use 11 batteries and one dummy cell. I also recommend the Acrylite lens. Here is another link for a 7 cell bulb you might try. LMSA701 is the part number I haven't tried this one.
http://www.flashlightking.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=REPLACEMENT_LAMPS
I think the 12 nimh AAs might work because of their lower voltage.
Good luck & please keep us posted on your progress.

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

If you really want to Sinjz some eyebrows from several hundred feet why not Man Up! Get a spotlight and use the Mag 4D Bat for walking around and in the house.

300 Yards.


Later
Sway

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

Here's one way to do it.

Monster 3D Mag

Wilkey

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

Wilkey that is awesome /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

I already have rechargeable AA. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif But with a slow charger, I guess I'll only get to play with this thing every other day or so. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

HogHead, is the KPR118 the highest bulb Radio Shack carries? How do I make a dummy cell? Also how would I reduce the resistance on these 3toD's?

Sway, I know nothing about spotlights except that I keep hearing that most of those 1 million candle power ones seem pretty weak. Besides I already have the 4D 'bat' and I want to play with it! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ginseng, nice purple monster mag 3D. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/faint.gif That's the type of thing I want, but brighter. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Radio Shack has a 4 AA battery carrier that fits in a Mag D cell light and can be stacked?!? Can the WA01185 bulb handle 12 Alkalines or 12 Nimhs? Is that 2" Carley RF1940 the best reflector for throw?

Again I ask about that Otokoyama reflector. I might have to do some searches, but if I remember correctly that sucker was bigger than a standard Mag reflector. Does that lead to better throw? I want to lean on the experience of you guys cause I can't really afford to buy multiple reflectors. BTW, anybody reading this thread selling some of these pieces? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

The "Mag Daddy" reflector is 3 inches. Because of its size, it not only reflects more light that would otherwise be lost as spill (and I do mean lost if you're talkin' throw), but is better able to collimate light emitted by larger filaments. My Mag 2D running a Magnum Star 5-cell bulb on 6AA NiMHs outthrows everything else I have.

I expect to start making the run of Magcharger Daddys this weekend, and am very anxious to try them out with the WA01160, which the stock Magcharger reflector seems to struggle to collimate.

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

Sinjz, you should definately follow Ginsengs work.
He is currently talking of using a mere 100w bulb in a 4d mag, but I am sure that once he feels a bit more confident he will up the bar again /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

You need something a bit more potent than 123's for this I think, take a look at his "hi current 4/5A group buy" thread in the electronics section. you might need to bore the mag a bit to accomodate three rows of A sized batts, the formula is 2.16 times the cell diameter, so you might need an inner diameter of 17x2.16=36.7mm.

The mag reflector is indeed a good throwing reflector, but unfortunately it melts with the higher wattage bulbs. Its aluminium counterpart which can be modified with some hand tools is the carley 2" reflector. Otokoyama has modified some of these, they are called the "perfect mag reflector".
They come in stippled (orange peel) and smooth flavors, for smooth light or a bit more intense light respectively. There may be a group buy of the raw unmodified reflectors at some time, it seems (along with welch allyn bulbs etc), since they have a minimum order of $40 or $60.

flashlightlens.com sells glass lenses for mags. the UCL lets at least 8% more light through than the stock reflector.

Re: How can I mod a 4D Maglite?

Thanks for the info Otokoyama and AilSnail. I'm actually checking the groupbuy forum every couple of days. I'm waiting for someone to actually set up the Welch Allyn group buy so I can put in an order for a couple of bulbs. Still gathering info on which ones, but the WA01160 seems likely. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the reflector though. I would have loved the "Mag Daddy", but I don't think Otokoyama is making any more and I couldn't afford the $95 dollars anyway. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I might try only using the light a few seconds at a time and save my money. I just hope the things doesn't melt in those few seconds. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Would it be a good idea NOT to use a lens at all? Wouldn't that help with cooling the reflector?