D Mag mod dive light

Packhorse

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however underwater the perceived output should be similar as water eats up halogen light whilst led light is less effected.

HIDvsLED2.jpg

Left 50watt (35wtt driven at 14.4v) Halogen 8deg Philips masterline ES MR16 Centre 21w Salvo Right P7

Conclusion
P7 does not give out as much light as the other 2 but its tight focus and better colour makes it a far better dive light than the halo.
 

sailor612

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Ok...
This is what i've decided...
I'm going to go with 1 MC-E wired as you have in the schematic. I'm going to use (2) 1400mA drivers like you showed wired as the schematic. And (3) D-NiMH batteries in series at 10000mAh (that will be 3.6ish volts) to supply the required 3.4v for the cree. And 2 magnetic reed switches...

I guess that if the est. lumens @ 350mA for the cree is 370lm , 700mA will give me close to 650-700 lumens total, and about the equivelent of 10W (i've tried to base my opinion of watts on a 15W led my buddy has) total, correct?

Sound good?
 

LEDmodMan

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That sounds about right. With losses, you'll probably see about 550-600 lumens out the front (depending on the bin of the LED too); similar to a Surefire M6 but in LED instead! The better the heatsinking, the brighter the LED will be. Good luck!
 
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sailor612

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(depending on the bin of the LED too)quote]

I was looking at that earlier this afternoon...what is the best bin? The one i'm thinking about getting is: MCE4WT-A2-WG0-K0-0-00001, Cool white, WG. I had trouble figuring it all out, and found a post on here that suggest that bin for "better colors." That one is the 370min lm, they also have one that is 430 min lm, i just didn't know if that would effect the setup I already have planned (lower battery life, require more battery voltage, change driver needed....or whatever could effect what I have planned) If not, then maybe i'll go with the 430lm bin instead! What does the WG, WG Tint, WH Tint, WC Tint, WC...mean? THe 430lm ones are "cool white __ tint"
 

LEDmodMan

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You're missing the "[/" after "too)" which is why you're quote isn't working. :whistle:


Anyway, the best flux bin you can get is the "M" code flux bin. 430-490 Lumens powered at 700mA per die.

The Cree page for the MC-E is here, and you want to have a look at the binning and labeling sheet.

In my opinion, the two best Cree bins are WC and WD. They will be the purest white of all. Of course, that's my preference; some people like "warmer" or "cooler" colors. Have a look at the old Luxeon binning chart laid over the 1931 CIE chromacity diagram (I did some of the work on the chart) HERE at Wayne Y's place. This chart is by FAR the easiest way to explain color binning to most people.

The Cree WC bin occupies the same color space as the old XO Luxeon bin, and the Cree WD bin is the same as the old WO Luxeon bin. From there you can see how the rest of the Cree bins will line up as far as colors go. Notice how the color changes as you move away from the Planckian (locus for black body radiation). Also note that the Cree "cool white" color bins WH and WJ overlap with the "neutral white" 3A and 3B. Sunlight is approximately 5,800 degrees Kelvin color temperature (4,800-6,500), FYI. :candle:

Anyway, the main reason the "cool white" WC-E's are brighter than the "neutral white" WC-E's is because there is a thicker phosphor layer applied over the neutral white LED dice. More phosphor absorbs more of the blue light, therefore making it dimmer.

Hope that helps you out. :D
 
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Amonra

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the 370 lumen bin and the 430 lumen bin will not make any difference in the setup you decided to use. they both use the same power but one is more efficient than the other i.e. more light for the same wattage. Cool white colour would be fine for diving
 

nwbrewer

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Ok...
This is what i've decided...
I'm going to go with 1 MC-E wired as you have in the schematic. I'm going to use (2) 1400mA drivers like you showed wired as the schematic. And (3) D-NiMH batteries in series at 10000mAh (that will be 3.6ish volts) to supply the required 3.4v for the cree. And 2 magnetic reed switches...

I guess that if the est. lumens @ 350mA for the cree is 370lm , 700mA will give me close to 650-700 lumens total, and about the equivelent of 10W (i've tried to base my opinion of watts on a 15W led my buddy has) total, correct?

Sound good?


I run this setup with a DSWOI P7. I like it a lot, works well for crappy puget sound vis. Last time I went out though, I had some issues where the LED would flicker a bit. I turned the light off, couldn't get it back on. Waited about 2 minutes, and it turned on fine. This repeated a few times during the dive. I think it was the AMC drivers overheating as they are not currently heatsinked. Anybody have any thoughts?

Jake
 

Amonra

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Jake, i suppose heatsinking the amc's would be a start, otherwise it could be a dry joint that appears when it gets hot.
 

sailor612

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Awesome! Thanks yall!

What is the best way to heatsink this setup well? I've seen some "DIY" heat sinks on the forum for sale, but most of the DIY ones are for the die only, not for stars or round...
 

Amonra

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My mistake, i forgot that the heatsinks found on CPF are only for emitters and not stars the reason is that they are made to use the original mag reflector and mantain focus ability. in this case the star base will make things a lot easier for soldering but it means that using the original mag reflector is not an ideal option. however i have found this heatsink/reflector combo which might be ideal : http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.17384

Im not sure that the star will fit in the brass part but i think if you ask DX or ask around on CPF you will get an answer
 

sailor612

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Thanks
After doing some looking around i'm thinking i'm going to order this 10deg optic and holder from Cutter Extreme. http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut850 Is the >85% efficiency ok?...i ran into one that had 90% efficiency but would have to do some digging to find it again...
I'm thinking if I go that route then i'll get a chunk of aluminum machined that fits in the head and just thermal glue the star to the aluminum....
My big thing is I don't want a wide beam, i wanna keep it as tight as possible to focus it on a spot and not catching the light on ALL the particles in the water around me..... without turning it into a lazer.

Do optics with the holder just get glued to the star? Or how do they get attached?

Edit: Although the premade reflector/heat sink would be MUCH more convient, they don't specify what the degree of the beam is...
 
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Amonra

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im not sure about the DX combo, i suppose you would have to ask around.
Cutter have this really tight 2.5deg beam optic for the MC-E here: http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut859
they also have a 5deg one here http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut857
If it is too tight you could always add some diffusion material on the inside of the mag lens, however you must note that the mentioned degrees are for 50% of the output so you still will have another 50% spread around as spill.

Also the optic you chose is too small for a mag head and will look ridiculous, it would be good however for a triple MC-E setup.

Normally optics are glued/epoxied to the led but sometimes they clip onto it, otherwise the glass can be used to keep them pressed in place.
 

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