Maglite 3D P7 Mod - still the way to go?

Hi Folks,

Complete noob here, so please take it easy on me! I arrived at CPF looking for a way to upgrade and old 3D Maglite. Then, I got sucked in by all the excellent mods I found. Suffice to say, I've done a lot of reading these past couple of evenings.

I'm planning a fairly simple build, identical for the most part to this classic: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?238641-How-To-Mod-a-Maglite-P7-38-PICS

I have a couple of questions. Many of the more referenced threads are pretty old (i.e. 2008/2009 vintage). Is P7 still the way to go, or has there been a giant leap forward in the LED workld? If P7 is still the best, where on this green earth does one buy one? I was looking for a I bin version as I plan on doing 3 NIMH DD - no need for a driver. Every link I've found has been dead or the product no longer available. The Malkoff drop in is starting to look more and more attractive as trying to find elusive components is pretty frustrating.

Last, but not least, batteries. That seems like an overwhelming world all of its own. Would I be OK powering this mod with plain old Eneloops, or would I be better off with some fancier type of battery arrangement?

Thanks in advance.

nope.
For the LED I'd use an XM-L2 and I'd also go with a driver such as the 7135 amc based 2800mA (from anywhere with flashlight drivers; really, anywhere) or up gunned 3040mA (from illumination supply [or other?] if they end the back order status?).

Other than the above, that guide you posted has good fundamentals and was what i used when I made my mag mod. Some people will tell you that 3d will not run in regulation the whole time. That's somewhat true but it should run in regulation for a decent amount of time. There was a guy one here who made an very similar (XM-L, 7135 driver) mod with 3c and it ran well. I made a 3s2p AA version (3 AA to D battery holder, 2 of those in parallel) and it runs in regulation for about a third of the run time. When running 3AAs it starts out close to regulation and drops off. Since you have the 3Ds and the XM-L2 it should run in regulation for a longer percentage of the battery life than our C and AA mods.

Tint: the colour of light an LED puts out is often reference to that of a black body radiator to discern what kind of white it is. To rephrase, an LED that is 6000k or more will be kinda blueish white, 5000k will be fairly nice what but seem somewhat 'cold', 4000k will be a nice neutral white (maybe a little yellowish?), 3000k will be a yellowish 'warm' (like an incandescent light) white. A lot of people go for the 6000k + white to get the most brightness/lumens. I'd go for the 5000K or 4500K if you could, to get a nicer colour.

if you already have p7 led, use it, but if you have to find it, do not bother, use xml. or xml2. at same power consumption xml2 is brighter. p7 are still for some reason about 2x the price of xml. even thou it is outdated.

OK, thanks for the info guys - have a little more research to do before pulling the trigger on parts.

marksmatter said:

The Malkoff drop in is starting to look more and more attractive

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Unless you're dead set on doing-it-yourself, the Malkoff will save you a lot of time and effort.

StarHalo said:

Unless you're dead set on doing-it-yourself, the Malkoff will save you a lot of time and effort.

Click to expand...

I can't help but agree as I arrived at the same conclusion about an hour ago and placed my order with Malkoff. Still appreciate the help everyone! I also decided to buy a new Maglite 4D cell host to duracoat for a custom look.

I have to go now as my budget tripled just by visiting these forums!