[Help] Maglite LED flashlight.

[Highpower]

I've got one of the newer Maglite LED flashlights suffering from the dreaded leaky battery disease. Luckily I caught it before the batteries swelled up and welded themselves inside the flashlight body. I got the batteries out but the corrosion had already started eating away at the anodizing inside.

I want to disassemble it to clean it but for the life of me I can't tell how it comes apart. I'm quite sure Maglite doesn't WANT anyone to take it apart! The front head of the light does NOT unscrew from the body like every other Maglite I've ever owned. It will turn approx 45° to help focus the light but it hits a HARD stop at each end. It is obviously attached to the LED module and not the flashlight body. But how to get them apart?

I've removed the rubber cover from over the switch and tried loosening the screw below as is common on the older models to release the switch from the body - but nothing happens. The switch / LED module doesn't move - at all!  

I don't want to force anything and Google / YouTube has nothing about these latest factory built LED (non-replaceable) models. (3DLM)
3 D-cell w/factory LED module, not one of the conversion bulbs. (Gen 4???)

Special tool to unscrew the module from INSIDE the body perhaps? Anyone else tackled one of these before?  

[Highpower]

Well I finally figured out how to get the head apart and remove the reflector, focus ring / gear drive and spiral snap ring. Definitely a departure from the older model designs. The front lens bezel was tighter than two coats of paint. I had to put a couple wraps of hockey tape around it in order to get a solid grasp on it. I thought for sure I would end up crushing the ring and shattering the lens but it finally yielded and spun off.

The switch body and LED module are still solidly stuck inside the tube and won't budge. I have to be missing out on the secret of how to release it's hold inside the tube.

[EdK]

Good luck.

Ed

[rleete]

My large (5 D cell) maglight had a very thin internal snap ring inside. I never did get it out to replace the bad switch. Just no way to get a grip on it.

[Highpower]

(05-30-2023, 04:51 PM)rleete Wrote: My large (5 D cell) maglight had a very thin internal snap ring inside.  I never did get it out to replace the bad switch.  Just no way to get a grip on it.

This one has a thin spiral snap ring in it too although the internals should be able to slide out the back of the tube without having to remove the snap ring. Even so I removed it anyway because it looks like I'm going to have to hammer out the internals. Corrosion has them locked solidly in the tube. The batteries didn't get stuck but the LED base and the switch assembly did. I'll try a little vinegar soak to see if I can loosen things up first. I would rather take the short route (out the front) rather than all the way through the back of the tube.



Back in the 80's I used to carry a 7 D cell Maglite in the cab of my pickup. Made for a good baseball bat in a pinch as well.  

[Highpower]

I shoved a wad of paper towel down into the tube and up against the back of the switch assembly. Got it good and wet with some white vinegar and let it sit for roughly 45 minutes. When I went to pull the paper towel out of the tube I noticed the top 1/3rd of the switch moved back slightly all on it's own.  

Then I was able to push that piece out through the back of the tube with a pocket screwdriver using the push-button hole in the top of the flashlight body for access. After that was out there was plenty of room to push the rest of the switch out too. The base of the LED module was still stuck tight in the tube though. Had to break out the heat gun and warm up the tube to get some expansion going, then used a piece of 1" schedule 40 PVC pipe and a dead blow hammer to finally drive it out of the tube. Once it was out I could see that the inside of the tube is knurled where the LED base presses into it. So it's not meant to be a slip-fit.  

Also it turns out the "switch" assembly is stacked together using 3 housing pieces and a printed circuit board. The actual "switch" is just a metal snap dome wafer that makes contact with pads on the opposite side of the PCB. I got all the pieces cleaned up and put back together and it lives again. That's $60 I didn't have to spend again to replace it! 

   

   

[Vinny]

YAY!

[EdK]

[Highpower]

I failed to show the answer to my original question as to how the get the head off of one of these things. The "bowl" of the head is no longer threaded onto the flashlight tube. It just floats over it on these LED models. You must unscrew the front lens bezel ring from the bowl instead. That will give access to the rest of the parts. I fought to get it apart again just to take another picture to show the next poor guy that needs to do it.  

Turn the plastic focus ring off of its splines, remove the outer spiral ring and the o-ring behind it, and then the bowl just slides right off the front..