Help, I need a Flashlight Modding Intervention! Maglite Solitaire revisited.

I can't put these damned things down!

I needed to mod another Solitaire, for a single 10440 light, but I am concerned about how hot they get. The last two I did were made wrong. I let the light work as normal, where the head turns up for on and down for off. That leaves the star all by itself and it gets so hot, so fast, that it ruins the led.

So, I'm off on another quest, to get more out of less, or nothing at all. An effort in futility and minutia.

sa1

Gray Solitaire, Nichia 219, TIR optic.

sa2

Had to sand the outer ring of the optic, to get it to fit in the head. Hell, I can't even see it.

sa3

The "pill", ends up being a flat piece of copper sheet, a piece of brass tube and a hand cut copper round for the positive terminal. I mean, there's nothing here that's over 10mm in diameter and it's so small, it's almost impossible to handle it with my hands. At least the light will now turn on by tightening the head down, causing the heat to go into the body (hopefully).

sa6

The finished pill, wired up and ready to go.

sa4

sa5

Remove the ano on the top of the body and it's ready to put together.

sa7

I ended up using AA to hold the optic to the star. It's so tight and so small, alignment itself may cause the dome to come off the led. Better off assembled and held together this way.

sa8

Finished. The stack is tall enough that the head can't screw down all the way, so I made a quick copper spacer ring.

Beam Shots - I used 3XAAA Alkalines to test the light.

sb1

sb2

It's bright! It also gets hot FAST. It is a WOW light, but after 30 seconds it's warm and after a minute, it's time to turn it off.

Useful? Hell no!

Fun? WOW.

Pretty damned cool .

You've been on a real modding streak lately , Justin !

Keep 'em comin' .

Heheheh...you and your direct drive mods. I love it! I'm still waiting for an order from Ric to arrive with those little TIR lenses in it. Once that arrives I start playing. ;) You are an inspiration!

Nice work, I certainly want a V2 of mine. ;) For anyone on the edge mine was amazingly bright.

I gave up on trying to do solitaire mods for the same reasons you discovered:

1. Too damn small to work with

2. Virtually no room for adequate heatsinking

But, I completely understand your fascination (obsession?) with trying to get the little sucker modded. I have several carcasses of stock and cut down solitaires in my junk box collecting dust. I went through my own fascination with small (AAA and smaller) sized EDC's, looking for the "perfect" keychain light. I have since had several iterations on my keys, from my own creations to off the shelf ones. I am currently using a TrustFire MINI-01 and simply LOVE it. It is powered by 1 x 16340 IMR and the WOW factor for a light this small is great. Runtimes are short on high, but I typically only need a few short bursts now and then. I modded the stock XML to a neutral tint (5000K) which gives better color rending and easier on the eyes IMHO.

I recall when the XPE's first came out, a CPF member modded a solitaire and sold it for $65! Not bad for a simple emitter/optic swap (no driver, just DD with 1 x 14440). Won't see that anymore. For that price, one could pick up a 6 x XML powerhouse.

Was?

It was amazingly bright right up to the solder melting and the led sliding off the star.Surprised

That's when I decided to try V2 and have it sit on the body, for heat problems, but no matter what, it is a 30 second wonder. Not useful, just the brightest Solitaire around.

Perfect, like a v8 in a VW :open_mouth: Not something you want to drive very far, but will get you to the end of the block in an instant.

O.L., could you tell me where you obtained the optic? This might be a useable light with a single or double stack of 7135ā€™s or a qtc pill.
Edit Never mind, found your video thread.

Justin, tell me the diameter & thickness of the base (yellow arrow) the diameter & height of the tube (purple arrow). If some made from solid aluminum or brass would be ok, Iā€™ll make you someā€¦ I donā€™t think I have any copper rod.

Dan.

Editā€¦added Imageā€¦. We can do small!! :wink:

Dan,

If I could only remember.Undecided I didn't write down the dimensions and off the top of my head, I just don't know.

Actually, I would not recommend doing this mod again. Yes it's bright as all get out, but it gets way too hot, way too fast. Also there's just no real room for anything. I think it was one of those "I just had to do one", kind of mods, but I don't plan on doing any more of these. (subject to change).

That sounds like me!! OHā€¦ ā€œIā€™ll remember!!ā€ Yeah, rightā€¦. TILL I BLINK! Ha!

I might do one and just try using some grooves to create more surface area. I have found over time that you can have less contact area between the pill and caseā€¦.IF you increase the surface area with some grooves or as one I doā€¦ ā€œdotsā€ machined into the pill surface. Sometimes thoughā€¦ you just canā€™t get rid of enough heat when they are so smallā€¦.Good mod though!!! I enjoyed seeing what you were doingā€¦as always!! Thanks for sharing. Dan.

Here is a link to CPF Ma sha1ā€™s solitaire thread using a small resistor to control current/heat. He uses Lisa optics or ground down(method NOT reccommended) asperics for focus.

Another item of interest. A 3/8ā€ copper pipe bushing (fits 1/2ā€ fittings) is an almost perfect fit over the head of a Solitaire. Might do well as an external sink/collar.