I was looking for a cheap way to upgrade my 2D (non-led) maglite that I have lying around, without being afraid to burn the house down because my children would put one underneath their blankets, as they sometimes do with my 3D maglite (cheap upgrade led 50lm). (no lithium, and no hotrod)
So I started browsing through Ebay,and found a few below $10 and ordered 2 different types.
the 1st one being only $1.94 called a "P13.5S PR2 1W Warm/White Led FlashLight Bulb High Brightness Lamps 90lm"
The 2nd one being $8.99 called " P13.5S 3W CREE MAGLITE LED UPGRADE FLASHLIGHT BULB 150LM 3 6 12 18V DC MAG LIGHT "
They are both 3V-18V
Unfortunately they both don`t work in my 2D maglite because the voltage being too low.
But in my 3D they both work. And from these two the cheapest one is your best bet for the money.
The 2nd one is barely brighter than the first one, but costing 400% more. I would just skip this one and go directly to the first one.
Please note though, that the 1st one shipped mine in just a plastic bag, no protection, no padding.I had to use pliers to get the edge back into place.
Nice LED upgrade to have for power outages etc.. and for small kids to play in their self-made bed-huts, like my kids do, without being afraid something will burn.
Another option I ordered last week to try:
The Fusion36 new “Eco” version
Said to be 20-30 % less bright than the original
(so, realistically maybe +/- 300 lumens?)
I don’t know if they still have them, but a few years ago my local Walmart had a Rayovac 30 lumen LED upgrade for 2 D cell flashlights. I bought one to try in my old green military angle head flashlight and it works fine. The upgrade just replaces the existing bulb. No other parts or mods are needed. I think it was $3 or $4.
@travis, i didnt know they still made those. Good to know. Maybe ill get one for the 3d, but still need one for the 2D.
@jch104000: yes, that same kind was in my 3D, about 40Lumens for $4 (i paid $10 for the liteflux, or something). So this one even below $2 is more towards 100 lumens.
@sedstar: you are correct. Not bright, but still good for emergency kits. Thats the exact reason i origionally bought one.
Now my kids have the 3D and play with it, and sometimes forget to turn it off,so now with the $1.94 bulb its not getting hot either, so pretty safe.
This $2 one is brighter than the dorcy ones. Albeit dim in comparison with any other currently available Led maglite
So Id call these better deals. Im not sure how long they will last though, only had them for a few weeks now.
The 3D was a gift of a good friend of mine aboit 8 years ago, and dont want to part with it. My 2D is a blue one that i used to do some OL handfiling on, and looks nice now….but extremely unpleasant with its current xenon bulb
The Rayovac I referenced above is only for 2D’s and works in my 2D military angle head flashlight. They also make a 40 lumen bulb for 3D or 4D flashlights but the 30 lumen is specifically for 3 volt 2 cell flashlights. Don’t know if they have them on ebay.
EDIT: As a followup to Hank’s comment below, I checked the packaging for mine and it says “works with 2AA, 2C, 2D flashlights”. I’m thinking that’s as long as the flashlight doesn’t use the screw in bulb that used to be popular with 2AA penlights. The packaging specifically says “for 2 cell flashlights”.
Fusion36 “Eco” arrived in just 11 days.
Puts the old Maglite back in the rotation
Its not crazy bright compared to newer lights—I’ve just begun to examine the
beam–- but Id describe it as a nice flooody even beam with maybe 2xx lumens?
Def glad I spent $13 to get this much light, as the 30 or 60 lumens just don’t seem
worthwhile to me, and I didn’t want to dump $50-ish into the Old Girl.
Good compromise IMHO.
Good to know. I actually think about gettingbthat for thr 3D, and are still looking for my 2D. Problem is that the ones i bought both said 3V~ but didnt work on 2 cells.
and someone mentioned a thread on BLF that describes this conversion. Hell if I can find it…
Question is, are the reflectors/innards for 2D lights the same dimensions as 3D/4D? I got a 2D, and would like something with more oomf. A pair of 32650s or 26650s with sleeves should power it fine.
I just ended up with another 3D old school maglight. It’s super annoying that the LED bulbs are like USD 9-13 I You can buy a box of five of the little surefire 1AA lights for $15 and just one bulb that is not as bright costs almost as much? If someone had a decent one I would buy it. I have tried the niteeyez a number of years ago. super dim,we’re talking penlight/keychain, but I read a test and he got over 24 hours out of a pair of D cells. I have also tried one of the Teralux bulbs about 7 years ago. I think I paid $20 for it. At the time it seemed pretty kick ass. Now I would say it’s decent, but nothing much. You could buy a better light for less money.
It just sucks having these really well built lights and they are not really worth it to fix up/upgrade.
I have 4 Maglites . A 6 D cell that doubles as a club . Two 2 D cell models and a 3 D cell . Junk draw , glove compartment lights . The cheap bulb upgrade for the 3plus cell models makes sense but I too can’t find a cheap replacement for the 2 cell ones. Not worth spending a lot of money but too good to throw away . Any help ?
Hm? Mag has their 2-cell LED “bulb”. I’m using that in a “modded” 2×AA Taskforce light. Rubberised, looks like it’d fit C cells, but nope, AAs (internal ridges in the tube).
Just popped out the retaining cap for the bulb, Xactoed the hole the bulb goes into to let the Mag bulb snugly press-fit into the head, then just carefully screw on the head so it makes contact with the nipple on the top AA cell.
So it doesn’t even suck down that much juice from a pair of AAs, and works quite well. Horrible beam if you go white-wall hunting, but doable in practice.
I recall that Mag has (had?) 3 bulbs, for 2/3/4 cells.
Obscenely overpriced, paid close to 20bux for it, now is a little cheaper like 16-17 (woohoo), but works pretty well.
Nite Ize makes one, probably similar, but doesn’t have the nonstandard fat base of the Mag. The NI one is the same form factor as any PR2 bulb, so will drop into any light that takes a hotwire bulb.
because the voltage being too low.
