2D Maglite MR16 mod

I’m back again with another outdated, janky, why-would-you-do-this-when-there’s-better-options Maglite mod.

This time it’s a simple one, but not one I’ve seen much of. I was at the hardware store the other day and saw that there was an MR16 GU5.3 bulb and I just so happened to have a set of calipers with me. These days I’m often strolling my newborn around town and he seems to love hardware stores, especially all the light fixtures and demo-bulbs. Anyway, I vaguely remembered the head of a Maglite is somewhere in the neighborhood of 52mm wide. This bulb was just about perfect.

I took a chance and snagged it. When I got home I tossed it in an empty head and it was a perfect fit. I did some basic testing with it with a few Li-ion combinations and found that these types of bulbs seem to run off 2 3.7V cells just fine despite being 12V bulbs. I did a run-time test with a pair of Vapcell M11 18350s and on a full charge the bulb stayed on for 67mins. The bulbs have a nice tint, I actually really like it. And the lens on this one lends to a nice flood.

From there I bought some cheap, well reviewed MR16 sockets and some 26650s rated at 5000mAh. I figure that this could get me about 5h of run time but I haven’t tested that yet. And also, chances are I’ll mostly just keep this as a fun project piece or to show off to any friends who are curious. I thought about maybe running it on 1 Li-Ion cell using a boost driver to kick it up to 9V or 12V but that felt like I’d be thinning out the soup a bit much driving a driver with a driver….

I wanted to make sure this was swappable because it would be fun to try out some other bulbs. I sometimes see MR16s pop up in thrift stores and think it might be fun to test some others. From what I’ve seen, these bulbs are often used as spot-lighting or gallery lighting and I’d like to get my hands on some of the higher CRI ones at some point.

Anyway, I made a battery adapter using a few PVC pipe segments and taping it together. Then I did the shorty-tail spring mod by sanding away some anodization in the tailcap. Modding the switch assembly is really easy. The nice thing about this set up is that even though the bulb is LED, because it’s meant for A/C power it doesn’t matter which lead it wired to positive or negative.

It turns on! I like it a lot, it’s just a fun unique little project. I have plenty of flashlights, plenty of EDC gear, and at this point my eyes kinda glaze over at these hot-rod pocket-rockets that are everywhere these days. I’m having more fun modding Maglites and trying new things.

I’ve still got my shorty C cell build coming along. And I have some plans for a few Mini Maglites I’ve got in need of some TLC.

Thanks for reading!