Deepoutdoors Cold Fusion - Flooded Head

[b-bassett]

mpenders mentioned the board on the battery pack. Do any of you think it would be useful to see that? I'm beginning to wonder if it's time to find another host for a head?

its def worth a look at all the parts though i suspect its only a cell protection circuit, especially if its only a 2 core cable.

dont be too discouraged with the head, it is small, but perfectly usable.

can you get any measurments of those recesses's though? that will help sorting out exactly what will fit

 

[mpenders]

its def worth a look at all the parts though i suspect its only a cell protection circuit, especially if its only a 2 core cable.

It's a 3 core cable with underwater unpluggable (3 prong) wet connectors. The board in the head is connected to all 3 wires, but the battery charger is only connected to two of the wires (charger mates to the wet connector, canister remains unopened). I'm pretty confident that the ability to control on/off/50% power is driven by the board in the canister.

There are actually 2 boards in the battery cannister, a protection circuit inside the shrinkwrapped battery cover, and another that is involved with the switching of the circuit. As designed, the head only works in conjunction with the supplied canister/board. If you decide to reconfigure the head with new led/driver/switch, the existing board in the canister will not be used/needed.

I think the previous owner of my light tried to extend the length of the cable from the charger, and failed to maintain positive to positive, negative to negative, resulting in fried components on the board in the can when he hooked it up to the charger. The lighthead is fine, but won't work without a functioning board in the can.

I can also supply pics if anyone is interested.

 

[lucca brassi]

still on frensell lens

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/4...cal.html?newId=242523494&pn=5&pt=10&t=12&cids=

looking on table lower 25mm lens could fit in ? I think it is worth to try

item	size	thickness	focal length	groove pitch	material
A7-1	Dia9mm	2mm	7mm	0.1mm	PMMA
A10.2-1	Dia12mm	2mm	10.2mm	0.2mm	PMMA
A15-0.3	Dia25mm	2mm	15mm	0.3mm	PMMA
A30-0.3	Dia30mm	2mm	30mm	0.3mm	PMMA
A30-0.5	Dia30mm	2mm	30mm	0.5mm	PMMA
A50-0.3	Dia90mm	2mm	50mm	0.3mm	PMMA
A63-0.3	Dia59.5mm	2mm	63mm	0.3mm	PMMA
A63-0.5	Dia53mm	2mm	63mm	0.5mm	PMMA
A71-0.2	Dia92mm	2mm	71mm	0.2mm	PMMA
A72-0.1	Dia106mm	2mm	72mm	0.1mm	PMMA
A72-0.3	Dia56.4mm	2mm	72mm	0.3mm	PMMA

 

[undrwater]

Question: why do I need a heat sink when I can thermally glue the LED directly to the aluminium housing?

 

[wquiles]

Question: why do I need a heat sink when I can thermally glue the LED directly to the aluminium housing?

A heatsink helps you spread that conducted heat, so that you can reach that outer housing more efficiently. What you "need" is a low resistance thermal path for the (about) 80% of the energy that you feed the LED that simply turns into heat at the base of the LED - a good path means (ideally) zero transitions - or very few transitions. As long as you have a good thermal path, you are OK. If the aluminum housing is exposed to the outside elements (water in a diving light), that would be a good thermal path.

If you look at the Barbolight U9 that I modified here, the "heatsink" is nothing more than a flat surface right in the head - and the head is a solid piece of Al, which is of course exposed to the elements to help radiate that heat from the LED).

 

[undrwater]

That's almost exactly what my head is: a single machined piece of aluminium. So it looks like I can shave a few mm without the need of an additional heat sink, yes?

 

[wquiles]

Yes - you don't need a separate heatsink in your case

 

[DIWdiver]

You can't glue the XML directly to the light head, because the only contacts are on the bottom of the LED. You need something there to bring the contact out to where you can attach wires. That's what the star is for, and also to help you avoid having to reflow solder the LEDs. The star could be very thin, but most of them are 0.062"/1.6mm. You could probably sand a mm off the back before installing it.

Otherwise, you are correct that you don't need a separate heatsink.

 

[undrwater]

You can't glue the XML directly to the light head, because the only contacts are on the bottom of the LED. You need something there to bring the contact out to where you can attach wires. That's what the star is for, and also to help you avoid having to reflow solder the LEDs. The star could be very thin, but most of them are 0.062"/1.6mm. You could probably sand a mm off the back before installing it.

Otherwise, you are correct that you don't need a separate heatsink.

But this DOES give me more room than we were originally thinking? About 2mm or so?

 

[DIWdiver]

Depends. Some of us were talking about using a heatsink, some weren't. From the top of the LED dome to the top of the aspheric dome you need just about 0.9"/23mm. Add to that the distance from the mounting surface to the top of the LED (0.2"/5mm on my XML+star) and you end up with about 28mm, which should fit in your head, but leaves no room for the driver, except the slot in the back. Lucca's heatsink idea gives you room for the driver, but takes up space required by the aspheric, leaving you room for only the smaller optics.

Maybe if you used a small star, of cut off part of the star, you'd have room for the driver to rest in the slot and come up beside the star. Everything depends on how small as driver you can find.

Or use the heatsink and the stepped flat lens, and maybe you could have your cake and eat it too!

 

[350xfire]

While you are at it, I would try to make a delrin plug and replace those plastic glangs with Agros.

 

[undrwater]

While you are at it, I would try to make a delrin plug and replace those plastic glangs with Agros.

You almost completely lost me. I believe "glangs" is supposed to be glands? I have no idea what Agros are, but I'll search. Does a delrin plug work with the Agro, and how does one go about making it?

Also, I was thinking about mocking up an XML star to see if there is space enough for driver / switch to sit in the slots. Does anyone have a recommendation for an XML / star?

 

[DIWdiver]

You almost completely lost me. I believe "glangs" is supposed to be glands? I have no idea what Agros are, but I'll search. Does a delrin plug work with the Agro, and how does one go about making it?

Also, I was thinking about mocking up an XML star to see if there is space enough for driver / switch to sit in the slots. Does anyone have a recommendation for an XML / star?

Yes, it's a gland. Agro is a brand name. High quality.

www.ledsupply has XM-L stars in stock. www.dealextreme.com also have them a little cheaper, but shipping is quite a bit longer.

 

[350xfire]

Yes, I meant gland not glang... Sorry. What I meant was that you should make some type of threaded plug that will thread into the light head and will allow you to thread the Agro gland in place. This way no more plastic gland.

 

[undrwater]

Yes, I meant gland not glang... Sorry. What I meant was that you should make some type of threaded plug that will thread into the light head and will allow you to thread the Agro gland in place. This way no more plastic gland.

Sounds good. Do you think I can easily find someone who can source and machine the delrin for this purpose? I certainly don't have the tools (I don't think?). That's a bit down the ways, I think, but I'd like to do it.

CREE XML:

I've found a few LED's calling themselves XML or XM-L or whatever. Can someone help me sort them out? Which is recommended if any:
http://www.ledsupply.com/creexml-w280.php
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/xmlawt-1000-lumen-led-emitter-white-light-bulb-3-0-3-5v-51989
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/xm-lt6-885lm-led-emitter-6000k-white-light-bulb-3-0-3-5v-50599

The shape and size of this one is interesting, and may fit the best:

Is it pretty safe to cut off the "tabs" of these stars that don't have traces or attachment points on them?

 

[undrwater]

It's a 3 core cable with underwater unpluggable (3 prong) wet connectors. The board in the head is connected to all 3 wires, but the battery charger is only connected to two of the wires (charger mates to the wet connector, canister remains unopened). I'm pretty confident that the ability to control on/off/50% power is driven by the board in the canister.

There are actually 2 boards in the battery cannister, a protection circuit inside the shrinkwrapped battery cover, and another that is involved with the switching of the circuit. As designed, the head only works in conjunction with the supplied canister/board. If you decide to reconfigure the head with new led/driver/switch, the existing board in the canister will not be used/needed.

I think the previous owner of my light tried to extend the length of the cable from the charger, and failed to maintain positive to positive, negative to negative, resulting in fried components on the board in the can when he hooked it up to the charger. The lighthead is fine, but won't work without a functioning board in the can.

I can also supply pics if anyone is interested.

Can you? I'm thinking maybe there were a couple of versions as I don't believe mine has "underwater unpluggable (3 prong) wet connectors". The canister on my unit has a tail cap with 2 O-rings, and uses a standard charger when the cap is off.

 

[b-bassett]

CREE XML:

I've found a few LED's calling themselves XML or XM-L or whatever. Can someone help me sort them out? Which is recommended if any:
http://www.ledsupply.com/creexml-w280.php
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/xmlawt-1000-lumen-led-emitter-white-light-bulb-3-0-3-5v-51989
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/xm-lt6-...3-0-3-5v-50599

The shape and size of this one is interesting, and may fit the best:

well they are all xm-l's the main differnec ist he price asns size of the board they are on.
the DX one you've shown is on a 16mm 'star' wheras the LED supply one appares to be one a 21? mm star.

both should be fine, the DX one will give you more room around the sides though.

i wouldn't cut the boards about too much, the surface area is needed to transmit the heat away to the housing. so id try to leave them alone if possible.

 

[undrwater]

I notice the lumen output ratings on the web sites for these XM-L's is drastically different. Is this due to current supplied or something?

 

[350xfire]

What I do to keep it simple is to select the U2 at about 6000-6500 color temp. Those are usually the higher lumens. It all has to do with the manufacturing process and how they test and sort them out.. Keep in mind that the rated lumens is only at 350 or 700ma and the led can handle 3000ma. So you need to cross reference the luminosity chart to determine how bright at a certain current.

 

[DIWdiver]

I notice the lumen output ratings on the web sites for these XM-L's is drastically different. Is this due to current supplied or something?

Exactly. Most manufacturers specify the MINIMUM flux at substantially less than the max current, then tell you what it will TYPICALLY do over the range of allowable currents. I think this is because the large volume consumers of the LEDs are not running them at anywhere near the max, and they are very concerned about efficiency. Efficiency decreases with increasing current. By the way, those large volume consumers make light fixtures, not flashlights.

Websites that cater to hobbyists make different claims, because we're typically more interested in running the LEDs at or near max. Also, some of these websites are uh, well, let's say, 'less careful' about verifying the accuracy of their claims, while others are very careful.

It is true that if you get a certain bin and color from two different vendors, they should behave very similarly over various conditions, both within the same small tolerance given by the manufacturer's data sheet for that bin/color. Now the only question is "is that U2 really a U2?" Without equipment that most of us don't have access to, you can't tell. You have to trust the vendor. There are many I would trust, a few I wouldn't.