Many people have an old incandescent light or two kicking around that may have some sentimental value or at least is too nice to throw away, even if they don't have much value as a collector's item, but doesn't get much use because LEDs have passed the old incan technology by. In most cases, these old lights can be brought back into useful service with low cost LED drop-ins that are easy to install as changing the bulb. Here are mine:
When I passed my trusty now nearly 35 year old 4D Maglite into semi retirement some years ago (after more than 20 years of faithful service), I wanted to keep it ready for use casual use, but I didn't want to put too much money into it (considering it was likely to be used infrequently), I didn't want to permanently alter any of it's parts and I didn't want alkalines leaking in it. At the time, (7-8 years ago) I went with a typical inexpensive 40 lumen LED drop-in from Rayovac and some simple AA to D adapter shells from Eneloop (so that I could use Eneloops in it). The LED was OK, though never as bright as I would have liked for a big 4D Mag and the old Eneloop shells needed a coin to make contact with the base of the AA Eneloop cell to the Mag's tail spring. Now there are better options. Currently I have a 55 lumen Nite Ize LED drop in in this light that is not only brighter than the old Rayovac drop in but has a better, more neutral tint. I am probably going to upgrade again to the newer 74 lumen Nite Ize drop in which should give about the same brightness as the old Mag 4 cell krypton bulb with much better run time. One thing I really like about these Nite Ize drop-ins is that they work in 2 to 6 cell lights so you don't have to worry about Voltage too much and can use the same drop-in in a bunch of different lights.
Eneloop has since improved their AA to D adapters by adding a twist on base so you no longer need a coin to make contact with the tail spring. I also use 3 AA to D parallel adapters, which are nice since you can triple the run time you get with AA's, or if you don't have enough AA's on hand to put 3 in each adapter, you can run them with 1 or 2 cells. These are sold for cheap by venders in China, just be careful to order the parallel adapters, not the series which will triple the Voltage!
I gave basically the same treatment to my old 2D Mag, which is pushing 20 years old but has seen little use simply because even in the incan days the 19 lumens of Mag's 2 cell krypton bulb just didn't cut it. With the Nite Ize drop-in running on Eneloops in adapters, this makes a great utility light for around the house with no problems with leaking alkalines.
A couple other classic lights that I have upgraded recently:
Fulton MX-991/U "Moonbeam"- this is the Vietnam era/current version of the old crook neck/angle head flashlights of WW2. A lot people have one of these from their time in the military, if not they are still being made by Fulton and new production and military surplus can be found at army navy stores, as well as gun shows, yard sales and the like as well as Ebay.
Mine is not that old as evidenced by the switch guard that was added to the design around the mid 80's.
The old moonbeam is fairly durable and dependable light, but brightness was never it's forte (hence the moonbeam nickname?). With the 55 lumen Nite Ize drop-in it real shines (literally!), making it a nice general purpose light for around the house or for camping trips. In the Fulton the Nite Ize drop-in beam beam is more floody than in a focused Maglite and is likely to have some artifacts – white wall hunters need not apply!
If on the other hand, you are an actual hunter and want to use the MX-991/U for tracking blood trails with the aid of the blue lens that stores in the little compartment in the base - hang on to the the old incan bulb tucked under the tail cap spring (or better yet switch it out for a brighter 2 cell Maglite krypton or xenon PR base bulb – it has to be a PR bulb, newer bi pin Mag bulbs don't fit in the Fulton). Typical white LEDs filtered through a blue lens won't make blood stand out like an incandescent bulb does. A blue filtered ican bulb makes bright red almost glow while a blue filtered LED makes it look black. In fact I am thinking of setting up a moonbeam specifically for this purpose with a couple of 3 AA to D series adapters (which would raise the Voltage to about 9 Volts) and a 5 or 6 cell Maglite PR bulb. Even at 9 Volts, this set up could still be used with the Nite Ize 2-6 cell drop-in.
If you are looking to pick up a MX-991/U, I would recommend a USA made model over any of the Chinese knockoffs such as Rothco or no-name copies marked TL-122, which are not near as well made as the genuine USA milspec models. U.S. Military contract MX-991/U's were made by G.T Price, USAlite, Bright Star and possibly others?, but Fulton was by far the most common and is the current supplier to the armed forces.
Eveready No. 108 Floating Lantern, AKA the Dolphin Mark 1 – these came out in the mid to late 60's and were tremendously popular in the pre-Maglite era with people wanting a dependable flashlight. A bunch of them were sold in the USA, and thanks to their quality construction many have survived and can often can be found for cheap at yard sales or thrift shops (where I got this one) if you don't have one already. In Australia this light is legendary as the first in a long line 6 Volt Dolphin lanterns that remain greatly successful on the Australian and New Zealand markets.
I wanted to try the Nite Ize drop in in the Mark 1, but it didn't fit the Eveready's socket very well and I couldn't get it to light up, I didn't fiddle with it because I had already found the Nite Ize drop in to give a unfocused beam in my Rayovac lantern so I went with the old 40 lumen drop-in I took out of my 4D Mag instead. In case you are wondering, both the Nite Ize and Rayovac drop in's will work with both center positive (most flashlights) or center negative (most 6V lanterns) configurations. Not all drop-ins will, so you need to check this when selecting a drop-in for lanterns or to get a drop-in that is center negative intended specifically for lanterns. Again 40 lumens is not quite as bright as I would want for a light this size, but it will do for the time being. On the plus side the hot spot is tightly focused for a good amount of throw, with a wide spill bean bright enough to keep from walking into things and runtime with a 6 Volt lantern battery is near forever (Rayovac lists the runtime as 120 hrs with "general purpose" battery, an alkaline battery would likely at least double this).
For those who would rather not bother with 6 Volt lantern batteries, there are adapters what allow the use of 4 D cell batteries, these are made by Rayovac (until recently?) and Dorcy (currently) and military surplus versions are also sold on ebay. While good deals on 6 V super/heavy duty lantern batteries can be had and they have good capacity with 4 F cells inside, alkaline versions often have smaller D cells inside and usually cost more than 4 D cells. Of course, once you have a 4D to 6V adapter, you can also use AA adapters to run Eneloops or Energzier L91 lithiums (great for lights stored in vehicles and for extended storage).
If you have one of these classics yourself or maybe a friend or family member does, it might make some sense to bring it back into service!
When I passed my trusty now nearly 35 year old 4D Maglite into semi retirement some years ago (after more than 20 years of faithful service), I wanted to keep it ready for use casual use, but I didn't want to put too much money into it (considering it was likely to be used infrequently), I didn't want to permanently alter any of it's parts and I didn't want alkalines leaking in it. At the time, (7-8 years ago) I went with a typical inexpensive 40 lumen LED drop-in from Rayovac and some simple AA to D adapter shells from Eneloop (so that I could use Eneloops in it). The LED was OK, though never as bright as I would have liked for a big 4D Mag and the old Eneloop shells needed a coin to make contact with the base of the AA Eneloop cell to the Mag's tail spring. Now there are better options. Currently I have a 55 lumen Nite Ize LED drop in in this light that is not only brighter than the old Rayovac drop in but has a better, more neutral tint. I am probably going to upgrade again to the newer 74 lumen Nite Ize drop in which should give about the same brightness as the old Mag 4 cell krypton bulb with much better run time. One thing I really like about these Nite Ize drop-ins is that they work in 2 to 6 cell lights so you don't have to worry about Voltage too much and can use the same drop-in in a bunch of different lights.
Eneloop has since improved their AA to D adapters by adding a twist on base so you no longer need a coin to make contact with the tail spring. I also use 3 AA to D parallel adapters, which are nice since you can triple the run time you get with AA's, or if you don't have enough AA's on hand to put 3 in each adapter, you can run them with 1 or 2 cells. These are sold for cheap by venders in China, just be careful to order the parallel adapters, not the series which will triple the Voltage!
I gave basically the same treatment to my old 2D Mag, which is pushing 20 years old but has seen little use simply because even in the incan days the 19 lumens of Mag's 2 cell krypton bulb just didn't cut it. With the Nite Ize drop-in running on Eneloops in adapters, this makes a great utility light for around the house with no problems with leaking alkalines.
A couple other classic lights that I have upgraded recently:
Fulton MX-991/U "Moonbeam"- this is the Vietnam era/current version of the old crook neck/angle head flashlights of WW2. A lot people have one of these from their time in the military, if not they are still being made by Fulton and new production and military surplus can be found at army navy stores, as well as gun shows, yard sales and the like as well as Ebay.
Mine is not that old as evidenced by the switch guard that was added to the design around the mid 80's.
The old moonbeam is fairly durable and dependable light, but brightness was never it's forte (hence the moonbeam nickname?). With the 55 lumen Nite Ize drop-in it real shines (literally!), making it a nice general purpose light for around the house or for camping trips. In the Fulton the Nite Ize drop-in beam beam is more floody than in a focused Maglite and is likely to have some artifacts – white wall hunters need not apply!
If on the other hand, you are an actual hunter and want to use the MX-991/U for tracking blood trails with the aid of the blue lens that stores in the little compartment in the base - hang on to the the old incan bulb tucked under the tail cap spring (or better yet switch it out for a brighter 2 cell Maglite krypton or xenon PR base bulb – it has to be a PR bulb, newer bi pin Mag bulbs don't fit in the Fulton). Typical white LEDs filtered through a blue lens won't make blood stand out like an incandescent bulb does. A blue filtered ican bulb makes bright red almost glow while a blue filtered LED makes it look black. In fact I am thinking of setting up a moonbeam specifically for this purpose with a couple of 3 AA to D series adapters (which would raise the Voltage to about 9 Volts) and a 5 or 6 cell Maglite PR bulb. Even at 9 Volts, this set up could still be used with the Nite Ize 2-6 cell drop-in.
If you are looking to pick up a MX-991/U, I would recommend a USA made model over any of the Chinese knockoffs such as Rothco or no-name copies marked TL-122, which are not near as well made as the genuine USA milspec models. U.S. Military contract MX-991/U's were made by G.T Price, USAlite, Bright Star and possibly others?, but Fulton was by far the most common and is the current supplier to the armed forces.
Eveready No. 108 Floating Lantern, AKA the Dolphin Mark 1 – these came out in the mid to late 60's and were tremendously popular in the pre-Maglite era with people wanting a dependable flashlight. A bunch of them were sold in the USA, and thanks to their quality construction many have survived and can often can be found for cheap at yard sales or thrift shops (where I got this one) if you don't have one already. In Australia this light is legendary as the first in a long line 6 Volt Dolphin lanterns that remain greatly successful on the Australian and New Zealand markets.
I wanted to try the Nite Ize drop in in the Mark 1, but it didn't fit the Eveready's socket very well and I couldn't get it to light up, I didn't fiddle with it because I had already found the Nite Ize drop in to give a unfocused beam in my Rayovac lantern so I went with the old 40 lumen drop-in I took out of my 4D Mag instead. In case you are wondering, both the Nite Ize and Rayovac drop in's will work with both center positive (most flashlights) or center negative (most 6V lanterns) configurations. Not all drop-ins will, so you need to check this when selecting a drop-in for lanterns or to get a drop-in that is center negative intended specifically for lanterns. Again 40 lumens is not quite as bright as I would want for a light this size, but it will do for the time being. On the plus side the hot spot is tightly focused for a good amount of throw, with a wide spill bean bright enough to keep from walking into things and runtime with a 6 Volt lantern battery is near forever (Rayovac lists the runtime as 120 hrs with "general purpose" battery, an alkaline battery would likely at least double this).
For those who would rather not bother with 6 Volt lantern batteries, there are adapters what allow the use of 4 D cell batteries, these are made by Rayovac (until recently?) and Dorcy (currently) and military surplus versions are also sold on ebay. While good deals on 6 V super/heavy duty lantern batteries can be had and they have good capacity with 4 F cells inside, alkaline versions often have smaller D cells inside and usually cost more than 4 D cells. Of course, once you have a 4D to 6V adapter, you can also use AA adapters to run Eneloops or Energzier L91 lithiums (great for lights stored in vehicles and for extended storage).
If you have one of these classics yourself or maybe a friend or family member does, it might make some sense to bring it back into service!