MiniMini M@g - Wonderful

I had done a minimini m@g of sorts a while back. I cut one down to run on 2 N cells and a BB500, but abandoned it. The runtime was too short. The light got too hot. The batteries were a pain in the butt to deal with.

After having run across another minimini thread, I decided to give it another try, but this time with a MadMax+ converter and a single AA batt. I dug throw my junk box and found a blue head and a silver body, so I starting chopping it up. It's amazing how much smoother things go the second time around. In no time, I had shortened the body, whipped the MM+ sandwiche together, and stripped the anodizing off of the parts. After, couldn't have a light that didn't match.

While working on the sandwiche, I took some current readings and got ~300mA on a semi fresh AA alkaline. That was about as expected.

After everything was together, I started playing with it. I left it on sitting in my lap. It didn't get anything more than warm to the touch. After about half an hour, it's still going strong. I'm sure that the light has dimmed, but I haven't noticed it. I'm really surprised at the amount of light that this very inexpensive and convenient setup provides.

I'm really surprised that there aren't thousands of these things floating around. Well, maybe there are and I just don't know it. This thing was really easy to do and I love it. The level of light that I'm getting is perfect for going out to check on the dog or taking the garbage out.

Now I have some questions to those of you that have one of these. Do you get better output from a NiMH cell? Do you get better output from lithium cells? Are lithium cells really worth it? Where do I find the 3v AA's? Are the 3v AA's difficult to mess with?

Thanks,

The 3v AA sized cells are easy to get . Buy a Duracell CRV3 and peeel off the sticky foil. You will find two AA sized 3 volt lithium cells wired in parallel. There is a strap that goes from the bottom (negative) to the top. It's seperated from the positice terminal by thick plastic tape. Peel that contact and strap away from the positive end so that you don't short anything, and then use sharp sicsors to cut the straps that bridge the cells. Fold the straps on the positiive end over on itself and you have a makeshift square button contact.

You will find a blob of glue holding the two cells together. I usually cut it off with a razor blade and seal over the metal (which gets exposed when I cut off the glue) with a piece of cellophane tape.

It takes me less than 5 minutes extract the cells from a CRV3.

Do not use Energizer CRV3. They use a pair of 1.5 volt AA (L91) in series.

At first blush, these seem very expensive. $12 for a two pack of CRV3 give you 4 cells for $3 each. Then I looked at the 4 pack of Energizer L91 for $10 at best buy. Those are $2.50 each.

I use the 3V in my EDC, which is a modified Dorcy AA that been documented elsewhere. I use it daily and change the battery once a month or so.

You will find that the cell voltage stays fairly stable till just before it dies. Then it drops like a rock. I go from "Hmmm, it's getting dimmer?" to dead in about 10 minutes.

BTW, Good work on the minminimag. Pictures?

Daniel

[ QUOTE ]
Chop said:
I had done a minimini m@g of sorts a while back.

After having run across another minimini thread, I decided to give it another try, but this time with a MadMax+ converter and a single AA batt.

Now I have some questions to those of you that have one of these. Do you get better output from a NiMH cell? Do you get better output from lithium cells? Are lithium cells really worth it? Where do I find the 3v AA's? Are the 3v AA's difficult to mess with?

Thanks,

[/ QUOTE ]
Tony, I think Rothrandir probably ran a least 100+ of those cut down miniMags, and they serve very efficiently today.

-Your LD Madmax w/o (+) works most efficiently with a AA 2300mAh NimH. it will run with steady output (drawing 850mA from the batt.) for about an hour and 20 minutes.
The same brightness can maintained with a fresh alkaline for about 20 minutes, before gradual dimming. The alkaline will last overall about 40 minutes.

The lithium L91 is only 15% brighter than the Other two types of cells and will perform really well for just under an hour. -For a cost of $2.50-3.00 a throw. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

I have not yet tried the 3V. Lithium (CRv3) -single cell extracted from the bundled 2-pack yet.
-Approximate cost about $4.50 per cell.

This is still my favorite overall light-considering it's moderate cost. I am a tall thin guy, so the AA celled light looks less noticeable in my front pocket than tha 123 cell light. It suits me fine. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I may post pics, but it looks just like any other minimini.

vcal,

The sandwiche I built has a MM+ WO with a TXOK sitting on top of it. Have you ever had the occasion to take a current reading on the juice going to the LED on the single NiMH cell?

[ QUOTE ]
Chop said:
vcal,
The sandwiche I built has a MM+ WO with a TXOK sitting on top of it. Have you ever had the occasion to take a current reading on the juice going to the LED on the single NiMH cell?

[/ QUOTE ]
No, I really haven't. But after asking Wayne/dat2zip, I have a pretty good idea that the LED itself is getting at least 650mA.-This is based on what he said when my question specified 1-AA NimH @ 1.2V.

Your 3 Watt is almost a perfect match for that MadMax/WO(+), IMHO. My 1 Watt Q3J does not seem to get really hot though.

Here is the thread on the work that was done with the MiniMiniMag las summer. As I recall, these were cut to hold one AA battery.

I've tried the chopped down Mini with a Madmax WO and a Madmax Lite with an AA sized 3.6-volt 14500 rechargeable battery. The little light has quite a kick to it. With the 14500 battery the light is brighter than with 2AA batteries. I think the WO gets too warm, too fast, so I've been alternating between the WO and Lite to see which works for me the best. I'm leaning toward the Lite.

haveblue,

does that li-ion clock in at 4.2v off of the charger? The MM is only supposed to go to 3v. You might let the magic smoke out!!

The 14500 battery reads 3.62-volts. Pretty darn close to the 3-volts the MM needs. But I've tried, the people at work have tried and my friends have tried the lights and the electronics have held up in the MM WO, MM Lite, BB 400, BB 650 and the SMD Pill. I've let them run at least ten minutes and all the Sandwiches and Pill have held up. The chopped lights are small but think big.

I am running 14500 in Dorcy AA converted to R2H for more than a couple of months now. So far so good.