Microstar in a Solitaire!

I've now found a use for this little yellow and white horror, by fitting it into a M@g solitaire just by filing down & drilling the reflector, I now need to find a way of getting 3 - 4.5v to it, (its a bit dim on one AAA ) I've had a look to see if anyone does a 3v AAA but no luck, so has anyone any suggestions?,

Mark

PS have posted this question in the mods section but its a bit quite in there at the moment

markbUK said:

I've now found a use for this little yellow and white horror, by fitting it into a M@g solitaire just by filing down & drilling the reflector, I now need to find a way of getting 3 - 4.5v to it, (its a bit dim on one AAA ) I've had a look to see if anyone does a 3v AAA but no luck, so has anyone any suggestions?,

Mark

PS have posted this question in the mods section but its a bit quite in there at the moment

Click to expand...

Been there done that! just jabbing ya, but yeah did that when they first came out. What you need is what I use,, I use a 3.7V (4.2) li ion from warren or AW (can't remember but make sure it has the nipple)
My mod i do on the soli 5mm reflector's fit the SMD perfect, and so did my extended soli reflector. you may need to shim bezel to make sure it stays off, i do it with o-ring's in the front of the lens (in fact i remove the len's entirely,because one, it's blocks enough light even i notice it, two, heat,, that's next)


the down side as you saw is for whatever reason, it does blast out a big bright flood that doesn't really have a well defined hot spot, also with the little extra volt's it really get's hot! the head on a 2xAAA mini mag i think disipates the heat better, i tested the mini mag with two energizer lith AAA's at 1.7V making for 3.4V didn't heat up like the soli will.

anyway, makes a fun light have fun! VDG

I'm also using a 3.7V AAA sized Li-ion cell, but drop the voltage a bit with 2 4.7 1/2 ohm resistors in parallel. Gets warm, but not hot as with just the bare Li-ion and no resistors. The longest I've left it on is about 30 minutes. The li-ion is not protected, so i try to keep track of how long it's been used & recharge after about 30 minutes of accumulated use. Just worried that the Microstar will drain it completely & kill the cell.

-Remove the Mag lite spring & spare bulb & stuff in a small section (about 3 rings) of spring from a ball point pen into the base of the solitaire where the spare bulb used to go (u might have to experiment to find the right size spring or squeeze the spring in there)
-Fold the resistors leads & use electrical tape so only a small tip touches the end of the battery & other end touching the spring (use trial & error to find the right length)
-Cut a small circle from piece of plastic packaging & poke 2 holes for the Microstar - plastic circle should be small enough so microstar can push down and turn off the light when turned clockwise fully

With the sanded down solitaire refector, I get a nice wide & useful sidespill. Much wider than with the Microstar's maglite replacement reflectors. There's still a faint light green ring around the center spot, but thinner & much more acceptable than the thick lime-green ring on the minimag replacement reflectors. Does not throw as well, but great for shorter distance work.

Thanks for the info, I thought there would be an answer to this some where. It's certainly a better use of the microstar than using it in a 2AAA mini mag don't you think.

Thanks again

Mark

Yes, certainly seems so. I wonder if it's a problem with the replacement mini-mag reflector design.

I found the clicky/pocket clip of a Garrity 2AAA stainless penlight to fit and work with a Solitaire. The contact between the clicky and the back of the battery tube is iffy - needs fiddling. The switch will not work with a 2AAA minimag as the back of the minimag battery tube is painted over.
EDIT Polishing the back end of the soli with sandpaper improves electrical contact a lot.
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Where can I get a charger for a 10440 Li-ion? Emillion only sells Nano for R123.
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Is there an easy way to remove the reflector of a Solitaire?

pretty much have to just ease the reflector out and let the legs bend an/or break. just be careful to keep the shiny side pristine.

I had called terralux and got the Ok to put the full li ion voltage thru there mirco, just heat, no real damage to the module. I resistored it down once but since the interaction between the SMD and the reflector makes for poor throw
I went back to having full juice, i just don't use it very long, much my other 1xAAA type KC light's.

I recommend drilling rather then sanding the reflector too, this will give you a little more material left, and give the switch more to bite on then sanded down.

There are some tricks i have been doing to soli reflectors since i started moding them last yr. the last 2mm is flat on it, and if your very careful it can be removed from the main portion and fused with a stock (but drilled) one
for a uber flood and power. (I 'm given' all my soli secrets away so don't any of you's go makin' and sellin' these on the custom BST! just kiddin )

One more thing, the reason the soli is giving out so much flood vs hotspot is the nature of the SMD/reflector interaction. the micro throws like hell in a 2xAAA mag because of the strong parbolic curve were the SMD's very low mounting starts on the terralux made reflector. I wish these could be ordered in a regular 5mm or even lux,
Because when placed in the reflectors hot spot, the 5mm do throw!
I got two soli conversions with 35K 5's "Resistored" that make a new ARC v4 look like stock soli.
Anyway my point being, I don't think much can be done on the soli reflector for throw, at 3.7V maybe someone with better skills can suss out the current/voltage requirements of the micro and find a replacement LED that would spank bigtime. I truly love the terralux modules and the micro for a soli mod,, just feel it could use a better LED. VDG