Taking apart a Mini-Maglite

[Stormin Mormon]

Might have to pull the piece out with fingernails. Or, it may be a different design than the 2AA filament bulb designs.

[Stormin Mormon]

Correct. There is no predicting what will interest, or inflame the writers on this list.

[Steve B]

I have had little luck with the Mini-Maglites that suffered from leaking batteries. They CAN be disassembled, but I have only had one that I put back into service. I wonder why so many of them have leaky batteries, and in all my other battery devices, they don't leak as much.

Steve

[Stormin Mormon]

The Nite Ize from Walmart is very respectable conversion. Good light. Slightly blue. No focussing ability. Never blows a bulb, batteries last longer.

Teralux is also excellent. I've got the one watt Teralux, and really love it. Reasonably white light, a hint of blue. Bright, and can be focussed.

With my Teralux, I bought me a new Minimag from walmart. The threads are so loose, it kept turning itself on in my pocket. I used an older Minimag, which works perfectly.

[Jim Yanik]

"Steve B" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

it's not the MiniMag that is at fault for leaking batteries. It's the batteries themselves.

[Oren]

Me: So You have a degree in Criminal Justice?

Person: Yes!

Me: Okay forget everything you learned in class. We run a penal institution!

I now have to look for my military flashlight. Switch is brass and all contacts inside are copper. Must be 30 + years old. Never a leak or corrosion.

[Stormin Mormon]

What brand of batteries?

I've also found with some, the machine threads to the focussing head are so sloppy, they turn themselves on.

[Stormin Mormon]

I've had minimags that seemed to like turning themselves on. The newer ones from Walmart, that is.

[Stormin Mormon]

I had such an angle head light. Back, well, a lot of years ago. I recently found my web gear, and decided to see if the contents were at all usable. Sure enough, the batteries corroded the flash light to destruction. I beat on it for a while, soaked, and finally think I pitched it out. I'll have to go look -- might take up the manufacturer on the leak warranty. I can't remember which brand, and it's probably trashed by now.

[Pete C.]

There is an 800 number on the battery, just call that and they will give you mailing instructions to send it in. It will end up costing you just a couple $ in postage to get it repaired / replaced.

[The Daring Dufas]

A lot of people don't know about these folks. It's where I refer anyone looking for a hard to find replacement remote.

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

I have one of these that works fairly well for pulling things out. It's designed for starting wood screws but drill a little hole in something, twist this thing in and pull.

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

Hey, the "non-odds" are very boring. *snicker*

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

A drop or two of STP or silicone damping fluid works wonders on those threads.

TDD

[tom]

A couple months ago I discovered that some Walgreens batteries had leaked in my 10 year old DVD remote and had trashed it. Fortunately my Comcast cable remote has an Aux feature and the instructions even listed the correct code and that's now also my DVD remote. Worked out fine and I now have one less remote to juggle.

[benick]

jee bob. I really thought, after reading the responses to my cabinets post they were going to rip you and tell you to get a life and a new flashlight. Very odd group here. Apparently field stripping a flash light is high on their list of 'need to discuss' issues. My next thread will be titled 'how do I repair (not replace) a leaky flapper valve on my toilet'..There should be high interest in that considering the IQ and temperment here.

You asked a STUPID question , through Google Groups no less , about cabinet prices in your area when there is no way in hell anybody on here could possibly know that...Jesh , post the phone numbers to HD , Lowes and the mom&pop in your area and I'll call them and find out for you....Mommy dress you in the morning too ??? LOL....Assclown...I'm begining to see why others filter out the Google Idiots...

[Jules]

Yeah, I'm thinking the LED must be different - I've taken the little AA-cell maglites apart before (admittedly long ago) and I don't remember there being any gotchas at all.

From memory: unscrew head, remove reflector bowl, bulb, and plastic insert

- from other end, unscrew tail-cap, and you're left with a hollow tube with (corroded) batteries in it. Insert something into tube body, smack with a hammer, clean* up afterwards.

• one of my maglites had a Duracell leak inside it. Wish I'd known about the warranty; I cleaned it up and neutralized the leak and thankfully it came back with no problem (little bit of pitting left inside the lamp body) - but a new maglite would have been less trouble.

[Tony]

If the batteries are EverReady (energizers) they are still guaranteed not to leak. Send the lights to them and they will repair or replace them for free.

[zxcvbob]

I called Duracell. After waiting on hold for a half hour and listening to the worst music in the world and being told repeatedly "your call is very important to us...", they picked up just as I was about to hang up. Took my information over the phone and will be sending me a check for $20 (almost enough to replace the flashlight) and some coupons. They don't want me to send it back -- so I may still try to drill the swollen battery out but it's *awfully* deep in there, and I'll bet the switch doesn't work anymore and it's integrated with the LED assembly.

Bob

[Metspitzer]

Call Maglite and get a two for one deal.