Luxeon Candle

One nice feature of the regular MiniMag is "candle mode". You can completely unscrew the head, exposing the bulb, which provides an almost spherical distribution of light, which is more desirable in some (romantic) circumstances than a powerful beam.

Ever since I put an LS in my only MiniMag, I've been wondering if I could somehow preserve the candle feature. While playing with it the other evening, I came pretty close.

If you remove the collimator and put it back in upside down, you get a less powerful beam, as well as enough leakage to provide a nice ambience, so to speak. I'll really put it to the test this weekend, when we go camping

It seems to me that if you just remove the optics completely that the light output from the bare Luxeon pretty much resembles that of a mini-mag with the head unscrewed.

Granted, it may be difficult to unscrew the head of your mini mag mod without damaging something.

I've always been wondering if it is possible to do the mini-mag luxeon mod and still retain the original mechanism that turns the light on/off through the twist action. This way, if the head is completely unscrewed, the light will be on and in candle mode. I thought about somehow trying to glue the optics in place so that when the head is screwed on, the optics are aligned with the emitter. *BUT* I don't want the optics to directly touch the emitter for fear of eventually wearing the emitter and optics...so I think fashioning some kind of other piece that is on the same plane (surface) as the bottom of the optics...that comes in contact with the area around the emitter...so it can push the emitter down to turn the light off...of course all this is assuming the mod can be designed with the original on/off...just some rambling suggestions....

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sean:
It seems to me that if you just remove the optics completely that the light output from the bare Luxeon pretty much resembles that of a mini-mag with the head unscrewed.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The big difference is the distribution. The completely exposed halogen bulb casts an almost spherical light---very similar to a candle.

The LS without optics only has a 110-degree viewing angle, and the point source of light is very annoying.

The inverted collimator more than doubles the viewing angle, and the light is only annoying looking down, mostly.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by roger:
I've always been wondering if it is possible to do the mini-mag luxeon mod and still retain the original mechanism that turns the light on/off through the twist action.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That would quite a challenge, as the MiniMag head needs to be almost completely unscrewed to fit the LS and converter, and there's not much room left for washer-like parts that would keep the electronics from rotating and twisting out of the power socket.

A homemade tailcap switch would be much more practical.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by roger:
I've always been wondering if it is possible to do the mini-mag luxeon mod and still retain the original mechanism that turns the light on/off through the twist action...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


I've got a basic 2AA mini-mag mod with the Luxeon & optics, it's the same as Dugggs mod without the boost circuit. (still waiting for boards) The extra room allows me to turn the light on and off with a twist, the same a the original mechanism intended. I could cut the heatsink down further so the head could be completely unscrewed, but then the LS heatsink would not make contact with the body. Once I recieve the boards I will build a boost circuit and will try very hard to get it to fit in the mini-mag and still allow normal twist on-off functionality. It may be impossible but I'm gonna try!


Duggg, does your lens holder screw all the way down? Can you fit the original lens & collimator inside?

I set aside both the lens and its O-ring.

With them in place, it is not possible to screw the end cap onto the head.

With just the collimator in place over the LS, I can screw the end cap on about half way.

The end cap presses directly against the face of the collimator, and the base of the collimator presses directly against the LS, which in turn is pressed against a ridge inside the head.

While this helps with heat transfer, it does put the LS under stress, especially if the MiniMag is dropped.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> ...which is more desirable in some (romantic) circumstances than a powerful beam. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

C'mon guys, if you want romance light a candle.

However, for practical purposes, the candle mode of the minimag is nice.

Duggg,

on the issue of ON/OFF for the ZLT+Minimag - as you discribed in this thread the normal switch is out of function - so how does one turn it on or off then ? I didn´t saw a tailcapswitch or anything and the site explaining the mod didn´t talked about it.

TIA

Klaus

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The normal switch is out of function - so how does one turn it on or off then?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I simply unscrew the tailcap a bit to turn it off

When I did this mod, one of my goals was to not actually permanently modify the MiniMag in any way. So if I wanted to, I could convert it back into the original halogen MiniMag in less than 60 seconds.

If I wanted to make it permanent, I would drill out the tailcap and install a push on / push off switch with a waterproof boot, use silicone to seal the collimator, and use loctite on the head to prevent it from accidentally rotating.

Thx Duggg

Klaus