Has anybody ever tried putting an LED upgrade in an old Brinkmann Legend ?

[Guy McVer]

Guess what I found today at a thrift store? Another maglite! This time it was a beat up old 2 AA mini maglite. The bulb was missing, but I got it for one dollar and I figured I'd just replace it with an LED anyway. When I got it home and disassembled it for cleaning and fresh grease, I discovered that the contact plate for the positive end of the batteries was also missing. This was a bit upsetting because the flashlight doesn't really work without that plate, and you can't order replacements.

Being a tiny bit clever, I fabricated a contact plate out of one that I salvaged from another old battery operated gadget that I wasn't going to use anyway. It only took a little bit of bending with some pliers and I was back in business.

Next I checked the tail cap, and wouldn't you know it? The spare bulb was still in there. I pulled it out and inserted it in the end, and it works!

Guess what I'm going to do next? There's an LED upgrade in this little one dollar mini maglite's future. Probably not going with the nite ize this time. Their mini maglite kit is too expensive. If anybody has a recommendation, I'd be happy to hear it. If it's something I don't have to order online, I'll be really happy, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

edit: I found out that they actually have the mini maglite nite ize kit at my local ace hardware, so I'll be going with that. It's the one that comes with a replacement tail cap with a tail switch on it. It's cheaper than the one I saw on amazon, which was double the price for some reason. So anyway, I'll be getting that one since it's not as expensive as I thought. I also discovered that nite ize makes another bulb for D and C cell maglites which is brighter than the one I already bought, but it also costs almost twice the price. It's not worth it in my opinion.

 

[Guy McVer]

they had a bin full of these NOS ( but out of the package ) American made incandescent AA flashlights for $5 so I bought one intending to maybe put an LED upgrade in it.

I never got around to trying that and eventually lost the flashlight, I've identified the light as a Brinkmann legend and now I'm thinking I'd like to acquire another one if an LED upgrade can be installed.

maybe it's a long shot, and maybe nobody has even heard of these let alone tried an LED upgrade but I figured I'd ask.

Have you tried this:

Apparently you can just buy a regular 2 pin 3mm LED bulb and trim the two contact wires, and then stick it in and it works. I think that's what bdmicarta was talking about.

I'm not up on the latest stuff but LED upgrades for mini maglites used to be available. They might or might not fit into a Brinkman which is sort of a mini maglite clone. It probably isn't worth the cost unless you just want to resurrect your light.
The mini maglite uses a small bulb with 2 wires that plug straight into a socket. I've bought LEDs that you could plug into the socket instead of the bulb and the light would work like normal including the focus function. Not as bright as a dedicated LED light but with a long runtime.

Those little LED bulbs are super cheap and they come in a ton of different colors. I remember they used to sell them at Radio Shack before they went out of business. If you were going to use them in a project, you would solder them on. But it looks like you can just stick them in a maglite or maglite clone as long as it has the same two little pin holes. I don't know where you would buy them now, unless you ordered them online. They have them on amazon. Maybe you could pull one out of a string of LED christmas lights? I don't know if they use that style of bulb, but they might...