Probably depends on the cells you use. Most will probably have enough voltage sag driving the 3 emitters that you should be ok.
+1
If you drill the star to break the trace, make sure you don’t put a dimple (pimple actually) on the opposite side. That will prevent good thermal contact to the heat sink. If you drill rather than cut the trace, drilling on a hard surface will help prevent the pimple. Also I have noticed that some of these come with no thermal compound between the star and the sink, add some if necessary. Lastly, when you put the TIR optics back together, be sure that everything is snug. The only thing pressing the star to the sink is the force exerted by the face plate, pushing the optics into the star.
Ok thanks for the advice guys! 
Your work makes me want to get out of my “comfychair” and try that! I also intend to try the 2 - 18650 parallel mod on my 3D, ala ImA4Wheelr that was done in the US - Defiant “Super Thrower” 3C mod topic
On the inline parallel adapters, best thing to use if you're tight on space is a tailcap switch PCB, with all the vias drilled out so all contacts on both sides are completely isolated. Then attach the double-L pieces. But if you're only doing 2 cells in a 3D Mag you'll probably need quite a bit of spacer... you can squeeze in THREE cells in parallel into a 3D if you use the PCB trick and are careful about the dimensions! (and hack the hell out of the tailcap)
Thank you for the credit on that again. I know you were thinking about doing something similar and it seems that someone has probably had to have done something similar in the past. But it does feel good to contribute something that others find useful (Like what the OP did contributing this thread). I have to give you big props though for taking it to the next level. You did a sweet job on that. I have even seen pictures of your version in other threads. I’m glad about that though, because I cringe when I think about that first prototype I made with the foam divider. That would be a short waiting to happen if someone copied that version.
I have done a similiar mod to one of my favorite flashlights.
It’s an old 2xD Metal flashlight from seagull which I have since I was little.
I ordered some different 12V bulbs after seeing this thread and decided last week to test out which fits best.
I used this LeD bulb(ordered from focal price or so) http://www.fasttech.com/products/1263200
I also paralleled the LEDs but wothout the drilling i just desoldered one wire and bend it up, the leds were clamped down with the optics anyway.
I used a 1A regulated driver to power the LeDs up
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1143101
This gives nice amount of light trough full voltage range. Tailcap current is too much for D Batteries, approximated runtime 2 hours….
It almost fitted perfect just the lens could be one millimeter wider, I have for now used a tiny bit insulation tape to clamp it with the head maybe I will find some clear foil or so…
I like the light and the beam is a nice as shown above (maybe even a bit better than the 3 LED bulb I have here too)
I had to made a battery contact and some soldering like always and it’s not very neat as I want to test the silicone adhesive I had ordered from fasttech but it works.
I recycled an old PCB for the positive contact so there are some pads missing… But it works and was done quickly. Soldered the negative wire direct to some copper from the switch mechanic. Some kapton around to protect from shorting something.
Are the spare bridgelux emitters from fasttech much brighter(two times)?
The bridgelux from FT are a very cool white. They are definately brighter, yes maybe twice. I would be concerned with leaving one lead unsoldered off the star as it is very important to have good thermal contact from the base of the led to the star. These modules only rely on the force of the TIR optics pressing down on the led after the face plate is screwed down for physical (thermal) contact. I soldered mine onto the star, that is reflowed the base to the star.
On second thought having one lead unsoldered to the star will a least allow the led to “pivot” on the soldered end when the TIR presses down on it and not lead to a situation where the led is permanently bridging the pad if it is not soldered properly.
Yes I thought about these theoretical problems, but since 5 of these small LEDs cost less than a dollar I risked it and it works flawlessly. I didn’t understand the last part, one leg is soldered to the star the other leg is soldered to a cable no bridging possible as there will be no movement.
Thanks for the info about the bridgelux, then I won’t order them I like the warm white tint and the output is usable.
It would be fun if we could find a reflector which fits in the mr16 alu, to use it with a single XML or so…sadly I killed the stock reflector :_(
Recently finished my own Mag build
Constant current circuit
3mm red LED’s fitted
Head glows red constantly to help finding it in the dark
How much current do those draw? Pretty cool looking
They pull about 20mA at the moment but I’m going to be getting some 2mA LED’s soon to swap them out with!
WOW. That’s quite some budget mod we have here! Cool!
WOW. That’s quite some budget mod we have here! Cool!
I noticed these when searching for the 3W x 3 LED 12v bulb.
Could this be plopped into a maglite as well? Same dimensions as the other bulb. I can’t seem to find an example of what it would look like, but I’m assuming it’s just pure flood. They seem to go for the same $1.50 - 2.00 price as the 3W x 3. I figured it might be worth a shot at that price unless someone knows it wont work without a ridiculous amount of modification.
The real issue though is can you either run the bulb with 12v as is or splitting the LEDs to run on less as I did. The fact that there is a total of 18 LEDs is encouraging as 18 is a multiple of 3. If you can pick one up for $2 go for it. If it doesn’t work out, what have you lost? Remember you don’t have to mod the Mag in a non-reversible way. In other words, you can restore your Mag to it’s original condition.
Yes it would be pure flood. I use mine around the house, great for looking for stuff.
If you modify the traces in the 18LED light with cutter and drill the PCB might look ugly and this has no lens which hides it…
If you want a flooder and it doesn’t work with this light you could also remove the PCB and use a normal cree leD without optics maybe a driver, this will also make flood. But it will make the mod some hundred percent more expensive… :bigsmile:
The 3led modules are quite nice and make useable beam and colour.
New style available. Metal plate is gone.
Looks quite a bit nicer imho. More finished and clean.
US $2.31 MR16 12v warm white led bulb SCA-1156
Pictures show the combined triple TIR snaps into the heatsink with 3 tabs. Should come apart without an issue.
Appears to be the same size and all. Seller: “48 x 48 x 50mm”. Each TIR looks larger tho. There isn’t dead space around each TIR like in the metal plate bulbs.
Listing title says 3W, but detail says 3 x 3W LED.
I think it looks nicer too.
Nice quick mod i might do a simmilar mod to a 3D mag Incan i have kicking around im not using.