I just recently found out that Nite Ize makes an LED replacement bulb for C and D size flashlights. Looks like a good upgrade for my 4D cell Mag-Lite. I had seen other LED replacements previously, but they were expensive. Interestingly, it just says Mag-Lite . I would love to use it in my old US Army issue flashlight. I wonder why it only says Mag-Lite? Does Mag-Lite use a unique bulb size/voltage?

QUESTION: Does anyone know of smaller LED replacement bulbs? I have an old headlamp that I keep in my desk at work that uses a 4.5V incandescent bulb. Would be great to swap that out for an LED bulb. Can anyone direct me to a good website or ?

I'm not sure if this is a unique Petzl made bulb or a standard bulb. There's no nomenclature on the side of the bulb other than 'Petzl 4.5V'.

I have one of the Nite Ize in my 4 cell maglight. It is not as bright as the regular incandesant, but the battery kife is great. It would work your army issue too.

I've got the Nite Ize in my 2D cell as well. I agree it's not as bright, so one day I said "to heck with it", and switched back to the regular bulb. Whenever that one burns out, I'll give in a switch to the LED.

ALSO, I was wondering if anyone else knew the answer, but I bought my 2D Maglite at Target, and it was on clearance at the time for a ridiculous $4-5. Anyone know why this would be. It's a good flashlight but a real ugly "gold/dirt" color. Could this have been the reason for the clearance?

probably the color but it aint nothing paint won't fix.

Flashlight technology has really progressed in the last few years, so unless you're really attached to the older lights for sentimental reasons, you're probably better off just getting a new LED based flashlight/headlamp. The price of some of the newer lights are less than the price of a conversion bulb.

The 3 cell mag light bulb would probably work for the 4.5V petzl bulb if they had the same base. The mag light bulbs us a PR base, which is smooth, so it might work in your army light if it's also 3 cell. For the headlamp, if it's the old style Petzl headlamp that I think you have, then it's got a screw base terminal which are less common. They won't be physically compatible. There's nothing special or unique about incandescent bulbs, if the voltage is right, and it fits, then it'll work.

You nailed it, particularly with my old US Army one. It's just a flashlight I've had forever that brings back some memories.



I was afraid you might say that. Yes, it's kind of an odd screw in type bulb, definitely not smooth like the PR type. I'm probably SOL here. Sigh.



That's what I thought, which is why I wondered why it said "replacement for Mag-Lite." The smaller Mini-Mag conversion kit definitely is for Mini-Mags only, so maybe the clueless ones in the purchasing dept. put "Mag-Lite" in the text assuming it was the same deal.

There are ways to make anything work, depending on how much trouble you want to go through. It's not that hard to put in a different bulb base to make it work. The results might be disappointing though. Check out www.candlepowerforums.com for a lot more info. There are guys there that'll spend $100 to mod a $10 light. It'll probaby take you a few years to read through everything though.

Hmm, That's weird. I believe that my Maglite 4D is much brighter with the LED bulb than with the incandescent. However, I've got the Mag-Lite original LED replacement, 3 watt, not the Nite Ize LED (no wattage on their website, though, 1 watt?). I can't look straight at this LED light, it's simply painful (another self-defense feature )! No problems looking at the incandescent bulb...

Hikin_Jim, "Mag-Lite" in the name means that this bulb does not void the Maglite flashlight Limited Lifetime Warranty. For the other LED replacements you can try to search eBay.

The Nite Ize website says in the fine print at the bottom:

(emphasis added)

For $6.99 you can get an 'ArcMania SMJLED' replacement bulb for a (2) C/D cell or Mini-mag light. They're not extremely bright but they have a nice white tint and burn for long long time. Definitely a lot brigher than the Nite Ize though. I've got a couple of the PR based bulbs in cheapo 2D garrity flashlights and they're much brighter than the standard incan bulb. Not to mention it'll run for days.

http://www.lighthound.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=181


(Oops, just noticed you said 4D. Nevermind)





As far as the Petzl goes, you can get screw based replacement bulbs. But to be useful its gotta be a cluster of 5mm leds (not sure they make it anymore), and not a 1W or 3W side emitter. The reason is that the Petzl reflector isn't optimized to capture the light so you just get a dim flood. I know, I found that out $20 bucks later.

Here is a good question for this thread..... Are LED lights shielded against EMP? Never been able to find a definitive answer on that one. My thought is that any metal cased led is itself a faraday cage. Thoughts?

From every thing I can find out led's are very sensitive to emp.

I've always heard that they're more resistant than incandescent bulbs but the information available isn't very clear. Some theories say that because it's a semi-conductor it would fry in a similar manner to an IC chip. Some say that because it's within a resistor network (as all LED lights need to be), it would be shielded. And some claim that the flashlight itself acts as a Faraday cage and would protect it.

Personally I don't think my gear will ever be exposed to such a pulse and don't really consider it something to worry about.

NOT ANOTHER [next 473 characters censored] EMP QEUSTION!!!! *runs screaming from room*


*walks back in* There, I feel better now. First, I'd say start with a search on EMP (you'll have to spell it out).

The problem with EMP is that everyone's research supports the claim they want to make. Those who want everything to get smoked are able to conclude that everything gets smoked. Those who want EMP to be a minor thing find that most modern technology is too small to act as a viable wave guide. My answer as a computer engineer is, it depends- are we talking about a coin cell light, or LEDs replacing your household light bulbs? How long of leads are you looking at? What is their cross section relative to the pulse's origion? How well shielded is it? Is the circuit grounded or have internal surge suppression? How big a pulse, and how far away? We can ask questions all day and all night for the next week, and we still couldn't be 100% sure of the answers becuase most EMP research results that is available to the public is slightly to very outdated.

IF (big freaking five hundred pound "if" plated in gold and jewels swimming in a pool of crude oil with a 700 peice orchestra bar and a bevy of beautiful people around the edge) a large scale electromagnetic pulse ever actually happens, there are going to be a lot of variables. Will your coin light survive? Who knows- CR123s with the internal regulation might get zapped to. You have a back up plan in any event on the theory you can lose your light, right?

For what it's worth: When I was in the army, they told us that integrated circuts were more susceptible to EMP than vacuum tubes and that Soviet (now Russian) war planes were using very small vacuum tubes.

Sounds like I may be out of luck with my old Petzl unless I want to (shudder) use an incandescant bulb. Thanks for the info.

HJ