# Mini-MagLites torn down and compared



## PCC (Jul 24, 2010)

I currently have four generations of 2AA Mini-Maglites in my posession so I decided to do a photo essay on them to show the differences between them all.

They are: early Mini-MagLite, later Mini-MagLite, Luxeon Mini-MagLED, and later Rebel Mini-MagLED. Note that there was an earlier version of the Rebel Mini-MagLED that is the same size and has the same configuration as the Luxeon Mini-MagLED but has the newer Rebel LED module and plastic mounting ring. I don't have one of those currently. I do not know when the different versions came out. The Luxeon Mini-MagLED is a single-mode light that draws about 400mA from two NiMH cells at 2.4V resting. The later Rebel Mini-MagLED is a multi-mode light that draws about 220mA from the same batteries on high, about 50mA on low, and has blinking and SOS modes, all obtained by turning the light on, off, and on again quickly. The newest Rebel Mini-MagLED is visibly brighter than the older Luxeon MagLED, despite drawing less power from the batteries.

On to the pictures:
Left to right in all of the picture: Mini-MagLite, Luxeon Mini-MagLED, and Rebel Mini-MagLED









You can see the height difference between the three shows the old incandescent Mini-MagLite being the shortest and the Luxeon/early Rebel Mini-MagLED are the tallest and the newest Rebel Mini-MagLED is right in the middle, length-wise. The old Mini-MagLite belongs to csshih.

Here are the pictures of the lights dismantled:
The business end of the three lights





The heads taken apart





The light engines removed from their hosts





The body tubes








The last photo shows the differences between the ways that Mag has used to make contact between the tail caps. The incandescent Mini-MagLite uses bare aluminum on the threads. The Luxeon Mini-MagLED uses an exposed contact ring that can be seen inside the battery tube past the threads. The latest Rebel Mini-MagLED has bare aluminum on the end of the body tube.

The different tail caps





The incandescent Mini-MagLite tail cap has bare aluminum threads. The Luxeon Mini-MagLED has two metal contacts and an oversized spring. The last tailcap is not a Rebel Mini-MagLED as it has bare aluminum thtreads while the correct one has anodized threads and a ring of bare aluminum at the point where it makes contact with the body of the light.

Here you can see the differences between the incandescent Mini-MagLite and the current Rebel Mini-MagLED tail cap with the springs removed




You can see the larger hole on the left tail cap that is drilled deeper than the Rebel version

The Luxeon and early Rebel Mini-MagLEDs have a longer body and a different tailcap that is not compatible with the earlier and later Mini-MagLites nor with the later Rebel Mini-MagLED. The Mini-MagLite tail caps can be used with the latest Rebel Mini-MagLED flashlights if you remove the anodizing from the area of the tail cap that makes contact with the bare aluminum at the end of the body of the light. The tail cap used on the latest Rebel Mini-MagLED can be used on the Mini-MagLite if you remove the anodizing from the end of the flashlight body. The longer tailcap of the Luxeon Mini-MagLED is not compatible with either short 
tail cap lights.

I've found an earlier version of the Mini-MagLite. The bodies, heads, tailcaps, and reflectors are the same but the early tail cap spring and bulb retaining system are different:








Early system on the right, current version on the left.

It's interesting to note that the two different LED modules are actually interchangable. The Mini-MagLED bodies are essentially the same as are the head and reflectors. The early Rebel Mini-MagLED is essentially the same flashlight as the earlier Luxeon Mini-MagLED but with a new module and retaining ring.




I even installed the older Luxeon module into my Rebel 2D MagLED to see if it would work and it did.

Of particular interest to lots of folks here on CPF are modifying these little lights. Here are four lights that I've modified:




From left to right: black cut down Mini-MagLite (currently waiting for a sandwich), silver cut down Mini-MagLite (going to put a Nite-Ize 3-LED drop-in into this one), blue cut down Mini-MagLite with Nite-Ize 3-LED module that I built for my grand nephew, metallic blue Mini-MagLite with a Sandwich Shop Mad Max Plus, custom heatsink, XP-G, and Nite-Ize IQ tail cap that I built for my daughter.

Yeah, my grand nephew could be the world's youngest flashaholic!





The longer Luxeon Mini-MagLED tail cap can be modified to work with the other Mini-MagLite/MagLEDs if you have access to a mill or lathe





The middle one is modified to work with the Mini-MagLite





Anyone else have any Mini-MagLites or Mini-MagLEDs to show?


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## prof student (Jul 25, 2010)

Tell us about that metallic blue min maglite that you built for your daughter, if you will. Sandwich Shop Mad Max Plus, custom heatsink, XP-G?


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## jhc37013 (Jul 25, 2010)

Very cool thread on the Mini PCC I don't see many of them especially this detailed.


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## Russianesq (Jul 25, 2010)

great thread, thanks for doing it lovecpf


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## Toohotruk (Jul 25, 2010)

Very cool...I hadn't realized they had that many changes over the years.


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## PCC (Jul 25, 2010)

prof student said:


> Tell us about that metallic blue min maglite that you built for your daughter, if you will. Sandwich Shop Mad Max Plus, custom heatsink, XP-G?


There isn't much to tell about this light. It's a pretty straight-forward Mini-Mag sandwich. I made the heatsink from copper, attached the Mad Max Plus driver to the heatsink using epoxy, AA'd the 14mm star board with the XP-G attached to it to the top of the heatsink then soldered it up. Yeah, that's an oversimplification but you get the idea. I'm going to make another one as soon as some more emitters arrive so I'll do a write-up but I'm pretty sure others have done a write-up already. I'll also do a write-up about cutting down a Mini-Mag since I was asked about it in a PM. Stay tuned...

BTW, bigchelis tested that light and it puts out around 110 lumens as pictured. With a simple on/off clickie that number jumps to 215 lumens but I lose the modes. My daughter likes the multiple modes so it retains the Nite-Ize IQ switch. The head is tightened down all the way and it has a cut-down original MM reflector in there. I can unscrew the head and defocus the hotspot like any other Mag but the beam is just plain ugly if I do.

Thanks for the comments, folks.


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## Essexman (Jul 25, 2010)

Nice work on the cut downs. 

I've always wanted a 1AA mini mini mag, but never got round to getting one. There used to be a member on here who cut them down and sold them, but I forget who. He also made a CR2 Mini mag.

Well the other month one came up for sale and I got it, here it is next to a Fenix T45 






It appears to have been stripped and coated in HA of some type. The sandwich is unknown, the LED is a Luxeon III. I was thinking of further modding it, but it's not bad as it stands, so I'll leave it for now. I'ts running on a 1.7V Lithium.

Question- What are you using to power you cut downs?


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## DM51 (Jul 25, 2010)

Very good thread! Excellent detail on the differences between the Mini-Mag versions. 

It's one of those threads that would fit well in both the General and Collecting sub-forums, but you have covered mods too, so I'll move it there for you as you have asked.


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## PCC (Jul 25, 2010)

Essexman said:


> ...He also made a CR2 Mini mag.
> 
> Question- What are you using to power you cut downs?


Now that's an idea! The black one shown above needs to be redone because I tapped the threads a little bit crooked then retapped them again so they're cross-threaded. It's about as short as it can get if I want to use it with an AA battery so I've been living with it but a CR2 should fit and allow me to eliminate the section with the bad thread job. Now I need to get some CR2 cells to use with it since I don't have any.

The Sandwich Shop Mad Max drivers can handle a single cell as well as the two earlier Nite-Ize drop-ins. The 3-LED drop-in works down to about 0.7V but only provides about 10 lumens (that's why I used that particular drop-in for my grand nephew's light) and the 3-Watt version from Nite-Ize is good for about 15 lumens but will only work to about 0.8V. I have not tried the latest drop-in from Nite-Ize because I can't find it on the shelf of any B&M store around here. Shiningbeam has a three-mode driver that looks like it would fit this application that is rated from 0.8V to 1.7V. It has a 14mm diameter, though it looks like it would not leave much room for the heatsink. I supposed you could cut the MM down to 1.1 or 1.2 AA, leaving some room for a larger heatsink to use that driver.


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## Essexman (Jul 25, 2010)

Re CR2's I think you may have to open up the battery hole to fit a CR2 as they are a little bigger diameter?

Yes that Shiningbeam has a three-mode driver was one I was looking at too, could be very good if it fits OK.


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## elumen8 (Jul 25, 2010)

Great thread. I have pretty much all the generations back to my oldest 2AA that I got in 1985. I have the two latest gen Rebel versions, I'm glad they put the lanyard hole back in.

JB


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## PCC (Jul 25, 2010)

I looked up the size specs on the CR2 cells and they are a slightly larger diameter but I might be able to do the boring to get it to fit.

Yeah, Jamie, the newest tail caps are nice, especially if you want to modify it like on that black 1 X AA shown above. If you cut it down like I did you don't have a hole like on the silver 1 X AA next to it. That one is using the older tailcap design and it ended up with that big hole that I need to fill with epoxy. I want to put a tritium vial in there, though, so it will remain open for now until I can get one.


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## steve007 (Sep 7, 2010)

Is the led capable of supporting the CR2?


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## OCD (Sep 7, 2010)

PCC, not to hijack your thread, but how do you remove the emitter from the Luxeon model? :thinking: I have a 3AA model in which the alkalines puked in :green: that I would like to try and salvage. I managed to get only one of the batteries out so far.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Sep 7, 2010)

PCC said:


>



Bet this one's the brightest of the batch! Train him well and he'll grow up to be a strong Jedi-erm, flashaholic.

But yeah, neat to see the evolution of the everyday AA minimag!


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## PCC (Sep 7, 2010)

steve007 said:


> Is the led capable of supporting the CR2?


The CR2 is 3V so it should be able to. I don't see why not other than that voltage of 2 AA alkalines would sag more than the voltage of a CR2.



OCD said:


> PCC, not to hijack your thread, but how do you remove the emitter from the Luxeon model? :thinking: I have a 3AA model in which the alkalines puked in :green: that I would like to try and salvage. I managed to get only one of the batteries out so far.


Have you considered contacting the battery manufacturer to see if they'll replace that light for you?

You push the LED module straight down. On the older Mini-MagLED this is more difficult because you don't really see the module itself and pushing down on the larger plastic ring does nothing. You need to carefully push down on the black plastic ring of the Luxeon emitter until the larger plastic ring can be removed. Once this is done the batteries are the only things keeping the emitter module in place. Then you would just try pushing straight down to try to force the middle battery out. The problem is that you will probably damage the module before the battery falls out. If it's the 3AA battery tube you're looking to salvage then you can always put in the Rebel 3D module and probably trim down the plastic ring to make it work with the different module shape. I just happen to have one of those 3D modules laying around...


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## OCD (Sep 7, 2010)

Thanks PCC.



PCC said:


> Have you considered contacting the battery manufacturer to see if they'll replace that light for you?



I did contact Duracell and they were very quick in responding to me. I had a check in hand for a replacement in 1 week! With nothing to lose, I wanted to see if I could salvage the light.


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## PCC (Sep 8, 2010)

Oh, I see. If you look at the larger plastic ring you'll see two slots. Looking through those slots you'll see metal. If you can somehow hook a corkscrew or something into one of those slots you might be able to pull the black plastic ring right out. If you don't care about salvaging the module then I'd just place a small but long socket over the Luxeon and pound it straight into the flashlight body to force the middle battery out. Try not to flare the top of the module out as that still needs to clear the shelf that the black plastic piece was hitting to prevent the module from falling out. Good luck with this.


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## steve007 (Sep 9, 2010)

Well, I managed to pull out the LED from the body and removing the plastic casing. The CR2 gives a significant boost in light output. If only I can come up with a way to house the CR2 with the original housing it would be great. Looks like I'll have to figure out a way to MOD the body or perhaps use a different host. Some special modding will be in order for this to work out.


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## PCC (Sep 9, 2010)

Well, the AA battery has a nominal diameter of about 14.5mm while the CR2 is around 15.6mm. The inside diameter of the Mini-Mag is going to be around 15mm. You'll need to both cut it down and bore it out to get it to fit a CR2. That black cut-down Mini-Mag shown above will be getting that treatment some time soon but I need to wait for the LEDs that I ordered to arrive before I can do that. The only problem that I may encounter is that the bored diameter may be larger than the diameter of the threads of the tailcap, which means that it may not work with the standard tailcap.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battery_sizes for battery sizes.


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## steve007 (Sep 9, 2010)

I was thinking of custom building a section of the tube, meaning the original tube would be cut into three parts. The mid section would be discarded. I would then mod a metal tube that would fit the CR2 battery and perhaps weld or find some way to join the modded portion to the original tube. This would ensure the original tail cap and original LED housing are in use. Kinda like re-inventing the wheel.

In taking your advice (PCC) I snipped the black retaining ring that holds the LED. This enabled the LED to freely move up and down the MAG tube without any friction.

BTW, what type of LED are you putting in there? I don't think I'll be changing the LED as I think the original one suits it's purpose. I may tinker in fabricating a brass ring to wrap around the LED to help with heat dissipation.

fyi, great tutorial you've put together on the comparisons between each light and the photos are excellent.


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## dandism (Sep 9, 2010)

Those cut down mini-mags looks great! Do you also cut down D size mags?


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## PCC (Sep 10, 2010)

steve007 said:


> I was thinking of custom building a section of the tube, meaning the original tube would be cut into three parts. The mid section would be discarded. I would then mod a metal tube that would fit the CR2 battery and perhaps weld or find some way to join the modded portion to the original tube. This would ensure the original tail cap and original LED housing are in use. Kinda like re-inventing the wheel.
> 
> In taking your advice (PCC) I snipped the black retaining ring that holds the LED. This enabled the LED to freely move up and down the MAG tube without any friction.
> 
> ...


So, how are you going to get the battery out when it goes flat? You might as well cut the head off about half an inch (12mm) below the point where the head sits when it is fully screwed down then make a body that attaches to this and has its own, larger tailcap.

I'm planning on making my own heatsink and using an XP-G R5 with a Sandwich Shop driver. If I do the CR2 light it's going to be the BB Nexgen 400 because of the small battery. It should still be good for about 80-90 lumens OTF.

Which MagLED do you have? Rebel? Lux III?



dandism said:


> Those cut down mini-mags looks great! Do you also cut down D size mags?


Thanks! Sorry, I don't have a proper lathe so I can't cut threads unless I use a tap or die. I bought a 5/8" 28TPI tap for cutting down Mini-Mags a few months ago but I'm pretty sure that no one makes a tap large enough to do that with a D-cell Mag.


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## steve007 (Sep 10, 2010)

[/QUOTE]Which MagLED do you have? Rebel? Lux III?[/QUOTE]

Rebel

I was thinking the exact same thing, cut just enough from the top so that the CR2 would connect with the LED base. Perhaps I could use an earth magnet if I'm off a bit with the cut. Not too concerned about being too precise on the top end. My main concern would be the body that would house the CR2. 

Another good point you brought up is how would I remove the CR2.....hmmmm, have to ponder a while on that one...


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## rajalexi (Sep 29, 2010)

Very nice work on the cut down mini's. I got a little confused though. Are all of the different tail caps threaded the same at 5/8 28tpi? Or are they different threads? I cut down a minimag yesturday and JB welded it and the weld didn't hold. So I wanted to tap it but the 5/8 28tpi tap is not very commom. I am willing to wait for the tap to arrive but I wanted to try it on a new Rebel led mini. I love the cut down mini mag lite with a 14500 Li-Ion. It is a little brighter and a lot smaller and still lasts plenty long. Thank you for your help and all of your pictures, they are appreciated!:thumbsup:


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## PCC (Sep 29, 2010)

Yes, they are all 5/8 X 28TPI. If you are in the SFBA or want to ship it to me I can tap it for you.


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## rajalexi (Sep 30, 2010)

Thankyou for your offer and all of your help. I just ordered a 5/8 28tpi last night. So next week I should be able to cut and thread my own Minimags. If I just needed one I would have sent it to you but I know when people see this light they will want their own so i figured I would order a bunch of batteries (14500) and a tap. People love the minimag. I can show them another flashlight equal in size that is brighter and still has the zoom function for about $10 off DX and they just want the minimag. Now if I can just figure out how to get my P7 in it with enough heatsinking to run it for a couple minutes at a time. . . .


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## JohnnyMac (Jul 12, 2011)

I was looking through threads here for other current Mini-mag mods and thought I'd share my baby with all of you. She's an incan mini that I've shortened to single AA size (threaded tail) for use with 14500 Li-Ion cells. The head's been bored to take a standard P60 pill along with Carclo optics. In the pill is a 3.5A regulated driver with temp and power cut-off if voltage drops too low. It has 5 modes (L/M/H/Strobe/SOS) and modes can be quickly and easily changed using one hand. This is running an XM-L T6 emitter that is pretty much limited only by the battery. Heat isn't too bad an issue but it does get warm quickly and gets hot after 5 minutes on high. Fortunately the low and medium are perfect for long run times and still put out plenty of lumens.

As you can imagine, she is insanely bright and runs right up there with any of my other XM-L torches (16340, 18650, and even 3x18650 powered). Strong, large hot spot with tons of spill, it lights up the entire back yard on high. She's a keeper! :rock:

Below are a few pics of it and the holster I made for her. Enjoy!

Johnny


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## Bimmerboy (Jul 12, 2011)

JohnnyMac said:


> I was looking through threads here for other current Mini-mag mods and thought I'd share my baby with all of you.


Only problem is, it's not torn down and compared. 

That's definitely something I'd like to see more detail on as I'm a big fan of Minimag mods. Could you make a thread about it?


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## PCC (Jul 12, 2011)

That's a nice little light! More info and pictures of the guts, please.


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## Dalistro (Jul 13, 2011)

Very nice and informative!

I myself have a maglite (incan) 2AA one,it has the newer bulb retaining system.
Got it in the year 2000 I think.
I would show mine but its the same one as your newer one lol.

Do you happen to know when they changed to the new ones?


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## djt (Jul 13, 2011)

Great pics and informative thread..... I now want a minimag! Any chance your selling the modify minmags?


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## PCC (Jul 14, 2011)

Dalistro said:


> Very nice and informative!
> 
> I myself have a maglite (incan) 2AA one,it has the newer bulb retaining system.
> Got it in the year 2000 I think.
> ...


Nope, I don't know when they made any running changes to their lights.



djt said:


> Great pics and informative thread..... I now want a minimag! Any chance your selling the modify minmags?


Nope, not selling any. The reality is that they're somewhat expensive for what you get. For example, putting together a modified Mini-Mag could easily put you back around $40-50. For the money you would be better off buying any number of better built, better featured, brighter 2 X AA cell lights that are available out there. The ones that I've built I built more to see if I can do it than for any specific reason. These days I won't actually spend money on a Mini-Mag to modify. If one were given to me then I would do something to it, though.


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## JohnnyMac (Jul 19, 2011)

Bimmerboy said:


> Only problem is, it's not torn down and compared.
> 
> That's definitely something I'd like to see more detail on as I'm a big fan of Minimag mods. Could you make a thread about it?


Torn down and in more detail. Beam shots as well.


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## JohnnyMac (Jul 19, 2011)

djt said:


> Great pics and informative thread..... I now want a minimag! Any chance your selling the modify minmags?


Not sure if you were talking about PCC's lights or mine but you can see my main thread for more detail. I'm actually putting one together for another member. I really didn't plan to highjack PCC's thread so pm me if you are interested.


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## PCC (Jul 19, 2011)

JohnnyMac said:


> I really didn't plan to highjack PCC's thread so pm me if you are interested.



I don't consider it a hijack. You're contributing to this thread and taking it to the next level like I had intended to: custom lights based on the Mini-Mag. I was going to do that myself, but, I got sidetracked with other light projects and my remaining MM's are waiting for their date with the lathe.


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