Finding the love for vacuum bulbs again

One of the first things I did when they were available is upgrade my torches to use krypton bulbs. Whiter light. I don't know if its a reaction to all the piercing car lights I see but in the past few months I am refitting vacuum bulbs to a few of my torches...and I like it. They don't like overdrive as they blacken, but they don't mind 'fresh battery overdrive' of about 10%.

The colour is not like krypton or halogen underdriven, more like light honey colour and not dingy yellow. Really easy on the eye and nice to use.

Many of the non-branded vacuum bulbs are junk and blow or give bad beams, but real ones like Ever Ready from the 80's are perfect.

A few of may favorites are:

3.8V, 0.3A - works from an 18650 no problem, hours of decent light from one charge.
5.95V, 0.5A - 2 x 18500 LiFe in a 2 C torch. My favourite.
2.5V, 0.3A - 2 x NiMh anything. Hours and Hours of good light that does not wreck your night vision.

How about you? Any classic vacuum bulbs lighting your way?

TBH i wasn't thinking about them untill i've seen this post...

Minimoog said:

2.5V, 0.3A - 2 x NiMh anything. Hours and Hours of good light that does not wreck your night vision.

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I have been looking for a bipin with similar specs to fit a Tad Customs E socket, for an E2L AA w/ Elite incan head. Xenon lamps I have been using are great, but they pull at least an amp and runtime is only 90 minutes or so. I'd like an option of half that brightness for twice as long. Lightsaver tailcap can mitigate, but with low voltage (below 5V) the IQSwitch PWM gets to me. Direct drive is preferred. Finding the right dim lamps is not easy.

Love regular bulbs. My most used are

2V, 1.2A with 2xnicad

4V, 85A halogen with 4xnimh overdriven (hpr53)

2.3V, .27A for the middle of the night

And a 3.7V p60 with a ur16650zta at 4.35V


Night hoodie have you tried a minimag bulb?

Need a Light? said:

Night hoodie have you tried a minimag bulb?

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Yes. Minimag branded lamps last 4 hours, seldom longer IME. I have used variants that last longer, but... I am not satisfied with the format, prefer G2ish size lamp. I was fishing to see if there were known regular bulbs hidden somewhere on the Internet that might work for me.

In the 50's and 60's a company called Tung Sol made bulbs that were renouned for longevity and good beams. They were apparently very popular for radios, automobiles and other applications like motorcycle headlights.

I use their PR stuff in vintage lights and when edison thread like #14's or the ever popular #222 and the like, I really like Netherland made Norelcos.

My bad night hoodie, you expressed interest in a 300mA bulb and I'd always thought the minimag was roughly that but that's probably the old krypton bulbs, the new xenons must be 500. Or I was just entirely wrong lol.

No worries. I'm never satisfied anyway. Back to the previously scheduled thread already in progress.

Vacuum bulbs are neat. I wish there were lots of easy to find sources.

night.hoodie said:

I have been looking for a bipin with similar specs to fit a Tad Customs E socket, for an E2L AA w/ Elite incan head. Xenon lamps I have been using are great, but they pull at least an amp and runtime is only 90 minutes or so. I'd like an option of half that brightness for twice as long. Lightsaver tailcap can mitigate, but with low voltage (below 5V) the IQSwitch PWM gets to me. Direct drive is preferred. Finding the right dim lamps is not easy.

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What about the halogen GH159 from Reflectalite? Very well made G2.5 bulb 2.5v 0.5A. I get them from Bikeco.

Minimoog said:

What about the halogen GH159 from Reflectalite? Very well made G2.5 bulb 2.5v 0.5A. I get them from Bikeco.

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Nice! That might be perfect. Thank you. Noted, and hunting a source. (oops, no need, you provided that too!)

night.hoodie said:

Nice! That might be perfect. Thank you. Noted, and hunting a source. (oops, no need, you provided that too!)

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I thought you said minimag bulb gave 4 hours on nimh aa? Isn't that a similar performance to this bulb? Apologies if I come off wrong, I'm only curious

Need a Light? said:

I thought you said minimag bulb gave 4 hours on nimh aa? Isn't that a similar performance to this bulb? Apologies if I come off wrong, I'm only curious

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What I meant was bulb life... the minimag lamps generally don't last much beyond 4 hours before . I had one last almost 7 hours (and I bet bykfixer has had a few last longer). I found replacement lamps of identical size from military surplus for avionics in Tomcats and whatnot that apparently NEVER even on 4.2V, but they do eventually get so blackened they need replaced.

idky, but my expectation is the larger the lamp globe, the longer the lamp life before . That would make the difference worth it, if I could push it beyond 10 or 20 hours of glowing lifetime (not runtime).

Ahhh okay! My bad, apologies lol. But I've always wondered about the variance because I've definitely used my minimag for a few recharges before. I wonder how long the "best" ones go.

I've long wanted to try those military bulbs ha, they seem ideal

I've had minimag bulbs and those in minimag clones last dozens of hours. I have one from the early 90's I carried for a few years in my truck that still had the original bulb until I put a Lamptronix in it. Probably had a few dozen battery swaps. It is retired to dust collector status.

Perhaps search for Lamptronix bulbs for the military style. Those are tough.
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...ix-(Mini-Mag-LM2A001)-replacement-bipin-lamps

Are the 90s minimag bulbs not krypton, vs modern xenon? I wonder if the dimmer krypton a last longer, I have a couple still. Mine have red accents as opposed to the gray on my xenon. And unfortunately or not, it's been a matter of income/internet access since I heard of any such bulbs. At this point I can browse on borrowed wifi but have no dinero. Link is still very appreciated for when I can afford it!

I bought a 2D Mag with the standard vacuum bulb a few years ago and have kept it unmodified. After decades of trying to get the most light possible from Mag hosts, I realized that the most reliable flashlights in my life have been the old standard 2 D cells of various brands with a PR2 bulb. It always works and produces just enough light that lasts all night.

Need a Light? said:

Are the 90s minimag bulbs not krypton, vs modern xenon? I wonder if the dimmer krypton a last longer, I have a couple still. Mine have red accents as opposed to the gray on my xenon. And unfortunately or not, it's been a matter of income/internet access since I heard of any such bulbs. At this point I can browse on borrowed wifi but have no dinero. Link is still very appreciated for when I can afford it!

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90's Minimag were Vacuum - they blackened with alkaline batteries as they were overdriven for whiter light. New ones are Xenon - there never was a Krypton. The Xenon ones are tougher and don't blacken. Tip - use 2 x NiMh not alkaline on the vacuum bulbs. Stops them blackening - the same applies to the 1980's Streamlight Jr (same a Minimag but different bulb shape).

Are you sure? I just googled and found a picture of a minimag in package and the card says krypton, so they did exist at some point.

And will the bulb eventually blacken on nimh? Or just burn out first?

That krypton or not is a question Lift'd may be able to answer.

I do recall Don Keller speaking of the early days of kryptons but do not recall when that was. My memory indicates minimags started out with kryptons, but then again my memory also says it's still 2013.

Minimoog said:

What about the halogen GH159 from Reflectalite? Very well made G2.5 bulb 2.5v 0.5A. I get them from Bikeco.

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Been eyeballing these since you mentioned them, perfect for 2xAA Eneloop for 3hrs48mins of 10lm. Reflectalite says they're 5mm diameter by 16mm tall (excluding pins), however, so this is too tall for an ordinary Elite bezel using a bipin socket, would bump the lens, crush the lamp. Removing the bezel and lens tho and running naked... kind of sub par.

WTB Smooth Aluminum Elite bezel replacement that is 6-8mm longer, and 24mm longer, long enough to accommodate halogen of any height.

Speaking of halogens, too late I discovered on their site the Reflectalite GH158, unfortunately no longer available, sounded perfect for 1 Li-ion secondary or 2xCR123A primaries, at 4.8V and 0.5A closely matches specs of MN02... but it is halogen (idk what Surefire is, a halogen/xenon mix many have speculated).

Just below listing size for G2.5 halogen, Reflectalite says their G4 lamps are 8mm x 24mm, again excluding pins.

Does anyone know exactly how large the hole in an Elite reflector is?? Because I want to run G4 in it. See WTB whine above. Next WTB: G4 socket for E2e.