Converting Your Incandescent Flashlight into LED

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There's no denying that flashlights are incredibly useful for many purposes. From everyday use to emergency purpose to outdoor use, flashlights are one of the most useful items that you have have around your house or in an emergency kit. However, incandescent bulbs are the downfall of many flashlights. LED light bulbs are a much better alternative, but what if you have already purchased an incandescent maglite? Instead of returning the light and buying an LED flashlight, you can easily and quickly make your own LED flashlight by performing a maglite LED conversion.

Negatives of Incandescent Bulbs

Incandescent bulbs have served us well over the years, but the fact of the matter is that they're obsolete when compared to LED bulbs. If you still need convincing before deciding to start your maglite LED conversation, consider these factors.

Incandescent bulbs have a much shorter life span. They can usually only last for about 1000 hours of use before burning out.

They also heat up very quickly and become very hot when active for long periods of time. Not only does this mean that the flashlight becomes a burning hazard or could possibly damage nearby items, but it also means that these bulbs are very inefficient. Light bulbs are energy efficient by putting their focus on creating light instead of heat. Since incandescent bulbs create so much heat, they eat up battery life much faster. In fact, 80 to 90 percent of a regular incandescent bulb's energy is spent on creating heat instead of light, making them terribly inefficient.

The light produced by incandescent bulbs is also not as clear or bright as LEDs, and many incandescent bulbs have an unappealing yellow tinge to them.

Benefits of LED Bulbs

After you've...

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...is through plugging the bulb and working off of trial and error since placing the bulb in the socket incorrectly can seriously damage the bulb and the flashlight.

Once you have determined the positive and negative sides of the ports and LED bulb, insert the bulb into the socket and gently push on it to secure it.

Finally, replace the batteries and the head and test out the flashlight to ensure that the bulb is working properly. While you may have the correct sides of the bulb inserted, it sometimes takes a few tries to get the bulb seated correctly.

Conclusion

A maglite LED conversion is a great way to cheaply and easily turn your incandescent flashlight into a bright and powerful LED flashlight. No matter if you're using a conversion kit or replacing the bulb, any maglite incandescent flashlight can be converted to LED with the proper parts in hand.

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