I have a 4D, 3D, and 6D Mag bodies. They are still lying around. I keep a 2D LED by the bed for emergency lighting and self-defense, and a 2D 134-lumen for occasional distance-viewing use. I also have a 2C which is a great host to the 6D mag mod with 3 CR123s. It I also occasionally use. And as it turns out, the Krypton 6D throws further than the 233 lumen Xenon version for some reason.
Anyhoo, I want to get some drop-ins for these--that or sell them or something. But seeing as they've been with me since the earlier 2000s, I may not want to part with them.
Any recommended ideas on good dropins that are bright and do not require technical skill to install? I was going to do a 3D ROP mod, but with these high-power LEDs, I don't know if I see the point anymore.
This is brightest with four or more cells but works fine at my back door and as supplemental kitchen illumination with 3Ds in it. If KD still does the cheap 3AA to D adapters, two of those in a 2D will give maximum brightness with obviously shorter runtime. With the usage mine gets (Every time I cook when it is dark and when the assistant is out the back), the 8000mAh LSD Ds need recharging every 4-5 months. With 6 cells the Fusion hits 400 lumens in my measurements. It isn't useful much past 60 feet but it gives plenty of light up to there.
I'm currently working on a Maglite adding the DX single XM-L drop-in and so long as you don't mangle the switch it's not a bad "mod". All you have to do is grind a little of the head down and maybe file the end of the Maglite head if you want the end cap to screw on as far as the o-ring. See this thread. I have also seen a video on youtube where someone kept the original bulb socket in place and just put a piece of heatshrink in there to isolate the negative and positive springs from making contact with each other (see 2:20 into the video). I don't even think that guy did any grinding. Personally I'd remove both springs and hardwire the module to the switch contacts. Negative should actually get it's contact from the module touching the body I believe (esp. if you take a file to the head of the body and file down a good contact surface). Oh, I'm running (2) lithium-ions for this module (7.2v to 8.4v). Not sure what kind of cells you want to use. You can generally fit more "C" cells into a "D" body (ie. 3 C's into a 2D), but it might take some modding of the tailcap and/or spring.
Your older Mag's should use the 5/64 (or 2.5mm) allen wrench. (Or is it 5/32? I've seen both posted on the web.) I destroyed my switch because I didn't realize Maglite had changed over to using a Torx T-8 for their switches (changed very recently)!
I know you said "no technical skill", but this type of mod is fairly easy if you can grind and do some basic soldering. Or don't solder, and find a way to utilize that existing bulb socket like in those links.
I've decided to turn the 6D into a usable would-be baton and run the Xenon 233 lumen bulb with dummy cells for the last four spaces. I'm going to run the 3D with the same 6AAs with the ROP low, dummying the last space (this should work, right?) And as for the 4D (my fav in former times--kept away many a bus station brawler! lol), I may keep the standard bulb in it just to show non-flashaholics: "Hey, guys, this is how dim lights used to be!" lol
Or run a 2D with 6AAs and use a 5D bulb which works nicely. Those KD holders don't supply enough current for an ROP high to shine well, and are a bit marginal with the ROP low. Make sure your dummy doesn't add much more resistance.
How about hard wiring the dummy cell from end to end inside with some good wire (like 12AWG or 14AWG). Shouldn't that take care of the resistance problem?
I keep forgetting to ask about these 3AA to D adapters, but do they run the AA's in series or parallel? (I'm thinking I read someone say they are in series.)
The KD cell holders are fairly high resistance - I saw a mod around here where someone replaced the metal in one of them with copper sheet. I think it was a SAIK mod. That is probably very, very fiddly work best done by people with far greater manual skills than mine.
Good wire for the dummy will be fine. From memory the ROP low in a resistance lowered Mag ran about 2 amps so it isn't as if monster currents are involved.
You want them in series for the voltage - in parallel for capacity. But since 3 good AAs will at best give around 8000mAh and LSD Ds of higher capacity than that can be found, they are more useful for putting 6 cells in a more manageable package than a 6D. I did briefly try a 4D bulb in a 6D but I only got about 10 pretty bright minutes out of it before the bulb blew. That was the only one of 4 that didn't die at switch on.
From the photos it is impossible to tell as the pictures are of such low quality but those resemble the ones that were series wired. I tried them with ROP high bulbs but the results were useless.
KD mean it about the amperage, but if you can get thick copper sheet and do a bit of modding, they could be made to handle much, much higher currents. From memory, all the Mag bulbs draw less than an amp - I can't find the info on the Maglite website just now as they seem to be doing ANSI testing and haven't yet put up the results.
If those holders would handle serious amps they'd be fun with a 6D and a 20Vish 150W bulb. Runtimes would be minuscule but fun. There are alternative holders that work at the maximum current the cells can provide (Eneloops work fine at 8 amps I'm told, I've not tried this myself) but they are horrendously expensive. Look up the Fivemega holders on CPF if you want your wallet to run away whimpering. I've been messing with the idea of making up some fibreglass holders as the mat and resin are cheap and easily available. But they might have to be too thick to fit in flashlight tubes. Nor am I any good at precision fabrication, duct tape is more my thing.
Interesting. I don't know if I'd notice any differences in output with these things vs other battery holders. But please do post any links you have that sell them and I'll consider them.
Thanks for posting this! Searched these on Amazon and they're really affordable...now I have to figure out if I want the 3D LED + 1 dummy or the 4D LED for my old 4D maglite...any opinions on which would be better?