Makita 18V Solarforce mod

Hello all!

My favorite Heavy Duty light for working on the cars:

But it had the worst point beam profile I had ever seen!

Out goes the old bulb!

Just so happens I happen to have a new Solarforce 18v xpg R5 just lyin' around.

And they are the same height too, that is so convenient. Thanks Makita!

Voila! sorry about the dust.

PS: I have not tried this led with a fully charged pack yet. I made sure the voltage of this pack was below the 18V threshold of the Drop-in.

I'll check when the other pack has finished charging....

Update to come.

UPDATE:

It Works! 19.93V and runs like a champ! So much better than the old Hot-wire.

Edit: Larger Pics

Update: Beam Shot

Outdoor shot with my wife's D80 to come tonight

Pictures please, beamshots etc.

Thanks!

Have you provided some sort heat sink for the drop in?

These drop ins need to have a good thermal path to disperse excess heat generated by the LED.

Parkerdude: I will take some outdoor shots tonight with something better than my cell phone.

Burro: Unfortunately the entire casing for this light is plastic, that "lens" you see in the picture is actually the entire screw on cap of the light. Short of drilling holes through portions of the body I am unsure of how to keep the pill cool, beside keeping it turned off.

How many amps does it pull? My experience with Solarforce drop-ins is that they are relatively under-driven and this is an XP-G so, heat might not be an issue.

Hopefully someone smarter will weigh in.

makitaforceFoy

Not driven very hard at all!

Measured 0.32 amps! 1-mode 3v-18v pill

Heat is not an issue...

That's what I thought.

Probably how Makita should have built it in the first place.

I am baffled why retail/off-the-shelf/consumer type lights rarely have anything better than an XR-E. Even an mildly driven XP-G in a C/D Mag would be the best performing flashlight Mag Industries ever offered. Something as simple as an XM-L in a 3-D or 3-C Mag driven at 1.8 amps can't be that difficult . . . or expensive, given emitter/driver prices these days.

You've turned this great shop light into a superstar with a simple drop-in . . . dropped in. Why didn't Makita do it?

Foy

Maglite could offer the best emitters like anyone else, but they simply choose not to. It's not about their inability or ineptitude to adapt. They're just milking everything they can from as little as they have to use. Their target market has a different perception of "bright" when it comes to flashlights. The irony of it is that a company like Maglite is offering light to the blind. Also, the quicker they jump on the newest technology is the quicker they have to discontinue an already successful product. As long as the consumers aren't demanding it then there's really not much of a reason to offer it just yet. Maglite dominates because of their distribution chain. They don't need to rely on chasing the newest emitters. That is, of course, until an entity of significant influence can enlighten the masses with a superior flashlight on a large scale. Until then, people go to the name they trust when it's a product they don't really care to think much about. Maglite knows all of this and they'll continue to take advantage of it.