How do you remove the LED bulb from a 2 D cell Maglite Pro LED flashlight.

I know it is not a bad connection in the circuit and I also know LEDs are supposed to last forever, but they do occasionally die. Maglite obviously knows this as they do not warranty the bulb. I have seen references indicating the answer is to go to the Support page of Maglite, but that appears to be a dead-end. Do they have a page that shows the actual step by step instructions? I have yet to find that URL.

The bulb doesn't unscrew and only spins in the mounting fixture. The fixture itself is held in place inside the flashlight body by a constant section internal retaining ring. There is also a channel in the fixture that captures the retaining ring making it impossible, or at least very hard, to remove the ring and free the fixture to obtain a clearer picture on how the bulb held in place. Is there a trick to only removing the bulb?

I haven't tried disassembling a modern maglite with LED so I don't know how it's held in.

That said, I have disassembled many LED lights from other manufacturers. Unlike old Incandescent lights, the LED isn't mounted on a screw-in bulb. Instead it's usually soldered to flat metal circuit board which is then soldered to 2 wires which connect to the driver (a separate circuit board with the computer which controls modes and regulates current).

Basically, it's highly likely you can't just unscrew it. You'll probably need a soldering iron and basic soldering skills.

Contact Maglite and tell them your situation. All they can do is say no. But they are pretty good about fixing lights that don't work. You just pay to ship it to them.

The LED module in modern Maglites are usually pressed in from the front on lights with a switch. That means remove the switch and bang out the module with a 19mm socket. Trouble is the LED is soldered into the module in a way that pretty makes it non user servicable.

First of all, thanks to both of you for taking the time to reply.



As far as contacting Maglite directly, I did so minutes before my original post and so far no response.

I did measure the depth from both ends of the body to the fixture where it contacts the side of the body and if you subtract those two depths from the overall length of the body, the difference is 1 inch (8.375 – 1.625 – 5.75). As it turns out, the position of that 1 inch falls exactly where the switch is. As result I believe the switch is indeed part of the assembly. I also believe, as byfixer suggests, that it was pressed in from the front and that the whole assembly, that includes the switch and LED, could be pressed out by applying pressure from the back. The problem is that there is an internal snap ring, that is not what you would expect, that prevents the assembly to move toward the front. Most internal snap rings have an ear at each end with a hole so that you can easily remove the ring with standard snap ring pliers. It appears in this case however that Maglite intentionally made it very difficult to remove the snap ring as there are no ears on this ring and the ring sits in a channel to prevent easy movement of the ring back out of the groove in the body. The alternative is to remove only the LED but I do not even see a hint of how to do that, hence my post. I do not believe it has wires soldered to it as it is held forward by a a spring and it rotates easily in the fixture that holds it.

If by chance soldering is involved, I do not have a problem with that. I have been soldering as needed for over 50 years and I have a very nice Xytronic temperature controlled soldering station for PCB type work. The problem is getting it apart without doing more harm to see what needs to be replaced and to determine if soldering is even needed. Although I do not think it likely, it might even be the switch, but I cannot rule that out for sure until I can isolate the LED from the switch which is another reason for removing the LED.

Retaining ring with no holes to insert snap-ring or needle-nose pliers?

No problem: Try drilling your own holes in the retaining ring using a very small drill bit. A hand-held manual pin-vise drill sometimes works well for this. The holes you drill shouldn't be deep. Just enough for your pliers to get a grip. 2-3 mm should be enough.

Have you tried a volt meter checking continuity before you begin disecting your light? Could be the switch or perhaps something got dirty. Sometimes it doesn't take much crud in threads, battery contacts etc to break the circuit.