Final Verdict of LED in Mag 3d?

I just want to know If the LED from the Sears 3AAA Toolight is going to be safe in my Mag3D. I really don't want to destroy the LED bulb by using it in the MAG. I Love The Light it gives off, plus the added feature of the "defensive" capablities of the Mag Body as a backup Light

First, I of course bought a couple of spares while they were on sale because I too like the durability of the little light for situations where I would not want to ding up a machined aluminum Luxeon light, and it just makes good light in a nice beam shape.

It does put out a significantly higher intensity with the 3 D cells, I am sure due to the lower internal resistance of the large cells. As far as that goes, I am hoping the Luxeon is up to the job based on my comparison to the StreamLight Propoly 4AA and the Dorcy 3-D lights I have. Both use a 1W Luxeon and put out at least as much overall light as the Craftsman bulb in the 3-D Mag.

My only other concern was at that output level if the PR base could dissapate the heat fast enough. It is nowhere near as bad as a 3W for heat, and running with the reflector off, I can touch the metal bulb holder without burning myself, but it would cause pain to hold in firm for an extended period. The other comparison for this would be the Everled, which is a Luxeon in PR base, but I don't have one (yet:naughty: ), so I don't know if it really compares to the output of the Craftsman bulb.

So that is all very subjective, and in the end for me it is an ongoing $13 experiment which is going very well so far. BTW, Sears sells a 3-D light with the same sort of bulb, for all I can tell the same exact bulb. I was not going to drop $30 on that one just to see if it was the same output, though. It could be possible that they use a higher resistance in the bulb base to throttle it down for the D-cells. Anyone have both?

Hondo if you are refering to these 2

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&pid=03493673000

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&pid=03493675000

The 3D bulb and reflector are not able to be seperated.

The Luxeon/PR bulb assembly from the sears 3AAA light should probably not be used in a 3D light. It will receive far more current than it was designed to handle and will probably burn out prematurely.

It took one of these assemblies apart. There is a 1.2 ohm resistor in series with the Lux. There is a heat sink of sorts inside the PR base, but it's too small to be of much use. Additionally, the Lux is mounted loosely to the heat sink with no thermal grease or epoxy in between. It will probably receive in excess of 600mA from 3 D cells. The spec calls for a maximum of 350mA.

Anybody know what the part number of the bulb for the 3AAA Sears light bulb is? Has anybody tried to buy a replacement bulb from Sears Parts? I was going to but the person on the other end couldn't find it using the Sears item # or Mfg Model # from the web site.

I hate to buy the flashlight just to get the bulb but I will if i have to.

They probably do not sale the bulb seperatly as they don't expect the bulb to ever blow in NORMAL use.

wwglen

Naturally they don't expect the bulbs to blow under normal circumstances, but like everthing else in the world, things break. I'm sure Sears isn't going to tell you "Too bad" if you bulb gives up or maybe they would just replace the flashlight like most other tools. BUT if somebody has a part number or any information from the bulb itself I'm willing to give Sears Parts another try.

I'll chime in with my two cents...

I bought two of the Craftsman lights. Played with them both for a while then switched one over to a 3D Mag. I was somewhat concerned that they might be getting too much current but - and this is a VERY rudimentary test - if I let one bulb run on 3xAAA cells and one bulb run on 3xD cells for 10 minutes each, the 3D bulb doesn't get any hotter. They both get quite warm, not uncomfortably warm, but pretty warm... but the one that was on the D cells don't get any warmer than on the AAA cells.

I was very impressed with the output and beam of this cheap bulb in a stock Maglite. It has more throw than the Dorcy 3D Super 1W but overall, I like that light more than the Craftsman bulb in the Mag and since that is a whole light available for ~$22, I personally cannot recommend the PR craftsman bulb over the Dorcy.

Though far from conclusive, the whiter of my two PR-based Luxeons has been through about six sets of NiMH in the 3xAAA body, one set of cheap Ray O Vac alkalines and one set of Energizers... That's about 60 hours of use and it's still brighter than the greener bulb.

I bought a few...and they are working *great*. The donor body had transplants from the Radio Shack and make nice small incans.

I figure this is a lifetime bulb...if/when they fry, back to Sears...and in the meanwhile, they produce a nice throwing bright white light in a sturdy body. On sale, they were a *great* deal!

I'm still trying to kill a set of D batteries without simply turning it on and walking away...wonder how many hours of juice is in there, anyway?

After running for 24 hours, switching out new cells increases the brightness but it still put out a usable beam. I just switched them out because I was eager to get at least 40 hours on the LED... my guess is with fresh quality cells, you'll get a day of good runtime (to approximately 50% brightness) and a whole day later you would still be able to read by it.

I still have both sets of D cells that I originally ran for 24 hours with the bulb. I guess I could do a 'second stage runtime' test but it will be approximate as I don't have a light meter.

rycen: Those are the lights. That is interesting, as looking down the reflector in the package it looks just like the 3xAAA. I would have guessed that opening the head would reveal the same little black plastic retainer that releases the bulb from the back of the reflector. Oh well.


Nikon: Darn close on current. I measured right about 600 mA at the tail of the D-Mag, and I think I checked the bulb across a 3xAAA pack outside the light and got only in the mid-200's. My Dorcy 3D 1 Watt, however, pulls about the same exact 600 mA current as the D-Mag at the tail cap. That had given me much hope that it would have as good a life span as the Dorcy light, if it didn't build up too much heat. Is the measurement at the tail cap comparable to the 600 mA you are suggesting for the diode, or will it be stepped down by the resistor (a factor of 1.2?)

I too like the Dorcy as well (always buy BOTH :naughty: ), and got two at the 10% Target sale. But the Craftsman drop-in in the D-Mag is so close in throw, I like it overall for the ability to adjust to a wider beam, even if it starts to donut real soon. Have to try the "backing off the reflector" thing from the Everled/Diamond drop-in thread, might work on this too.