12 up nichia 219 mag mod

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Hi all,

I've been threatening to build a 12 up maglite for nearly a year now and even built a cheapo prototype outlined here. I can't really remember if I was motivated by the Noctigon Meteor or actually had an idea of my own but as always I've just got to do it my way. My way, of course, involves hotrodding a maglite.

We begin by ordering a 1.875" diameter chunk of aluminum rod from one of the online metal stores. This diameter fits nicely into a D or C cell mag and requires only a single wrap of soda can to make it tight. Some sanding and drilling is required to make it suitable for use.

It fits nicely!

Add some nichia 219b and noctigon goodness. Adhered with arctic alumina.

Wire the emitters 3p2s2p, or sommat like that.

We're using a mixture of frosted and clear narrow spot Carclo 3 up optics. A 52mm AR lens over the optics holds everything behind the bezel.

The mag switch is modded for use in the usual way with the tower cut off and the main power bypass of the switch mechanism. One difference is that I've been hot gluing the driver to the front of the switch. Works great because its strong but not permanent. Wouldn't do this with a 7135 based driver or buck driver because of the potential for heat generation but it works great for FET drivers. I used a BLF 17DD-Z four mode (L-M-H-T) driver set up for 2S lithium ion power input. 22 gauge wires were used at the noctigons and 18 gauge between the driver and the 2S branch. Wire junctions were insulated with electrical shrink tubing.

I wanted to use King Kong 26700 cells for this light so the tailcap needed modding to accommodate a smaller spring. C mag springs work great in this situation but need a retainer of some sort so they stay in the tailcap. a bottle cap with a hole in the middle epoxied upside down in the tailcap retains the spring nicely.

Finished!

Beamshot is 60 yards to the sugar shack.

This beast draws 12.5 amps off full king kong 26700 cells for around 2 amps to each emitter or 16 amps off a pair of powerizers. I'm thinking it gives 5000-6000 lumens at startup depending on the cells used. Maybe a 12 up XP-L HI next time!

Thanks for looking,

Brian

2

I wouldn’t even care if it worked, it just looks so good! I’ve had a mag sitting around for awhile now, I need to find something cool to do with it. Thanks for the kick in the pants!

3

Very nice! I think you just decided my next big mag mod for me. Beautiful…

4

Good lord you’re not helping my regret over missing your micro-mags yesterday. Obviously you do some beautiful stuff with those old lights. That’s beautiful.

5

Is my memory correct that the old incans are better for modding than the new led models?

6

I've done plenty of incandescent and some first gen LED D mags and I didn't see any meaningful difference between them. Justin probably knows a lot more about later generation LED mags than I do.

Thanks for the kind words folks,its much appreciated!!

7

That light looks Great……
I am a big fan of high Maglites.

8

Very nice.

Just keep your eye on that slow2go guy. He'll have it gone from you in a blink of an eye.

9

Beautiful!

10

The incans are way cheaper. The heads on led Mininags are longer so easier to fit more in behind the bezel. I usually get around that by adding length with fins.

11

Very nice mod - never done a Mag mod myself.

12

Nice mod! How thick was the spacer?

I want to do a similar mod but with a 3D mag and 12x XP-L HI in 12S config with a taskled boost driver.

13

If you meant the heatsink, it was around 3/8 of an inch.

14

Fantastic, very nice build!