Fyrstormer's Evil Labs are proud to present...

[RyanA]

So how do the modes work now? Screw the head partway down for the outer leds, and all the way down to cycle through the modes of the Gdup with the clicky?

 

[nfetterly]

At the time, the LunaSol series was already "history" and I felt that posting the mod would only open a can of worms for me so put the light on the shelf and moved on...

Ahhh, a can of McGizmo worms!! I think I'll order some! We now have the option of a warm LED..., the McGizmo worms are loose....:nana::nana::nana:

 

[fyrstormer]

So how do the modes work now? Screw the head partway down for the outer leds, and all the way down to cycle through the modes of the Gdup with the clicky?

Yep -- or as I use it, tighten it all the way and cycle through the modes, or loosen the head a bit if I need even, hotspot-less lighting.

 

[SFfanman]

Ahhh, a can of McGizmo worms!! I think I'll order some! We now have the option of a warm LED..., the McGizmo worms are loose....:nana::nana::nana:

:devil:

 

[UnderTheWeepingMoon]

Wow, great work! I was gonna ask a modder to up the drive current on my LS27 but this seems like a better option. I'm interested to hear how much you'd charge for such a swap.

Edit: I remember Don alluding to a similar mod in the past. I think he called it the LunaSol Eclipse.

 

[ninemm]

When I get my LS20 I'll give you a call.

 

[fyrstormer]

UPDATE: Well, I've been using the LSC27 for a week or so, and it continues to work just fine, though it gets a mite toasty when left alone on the brightest setting for a few minutes. That's not surprising, though, and as long as I'm holding onto it, it doesn't get any warmer than any of my other 1-amp lights. I'm confident at this point that it will hold up to long-term use, at least as long as the highest setting isn't used willy-nilly; and really, there would be little point in having three settings if I were only going to use the brightest one anyway.

One interesting thing about the GDuP driver I used is the calibration routine runs on each setting separately, and it re-runs whenever the microprocessor detects that the current going to the emitter is out-of-spec -- no need to click the light on/off/on 15 times or whatever the older GDuP driver required. (this happened when I ran the heat test, because of course LEDs lose electrical resistance as they heat up.) I think this is a fantastic idea, and because of it I don't mind at all the occasional flicker that the microprocessor causes to let me know when the calibration routine starts and finishes.

Also, the reduced-power driver I ordered for my LS20 came in a couple of days ago, and I promptly built an LSC20 with it. Here are the comparison shots:

Good stuff. And now the LSC20 will be in EDC rotation for a week or so, to make sure it can handle 750mA, though I've noticed no problem thus far.

 

[scout24]

Fyrstormer- I see the 750ma. drive level for high, if you don't mind sharing, what are the other two levels? Looks awesome, can't wait for a long term report...

 

[fyrstormer]

Fyrstormer- I see the 750ma. drive level for high, if you don't mind sharing, what are the other two levels? Looks awesome, can't wait for a long term report...

The LSC27's modes are 90, 300, and 1000mA. The LSC20's modes are 68, 225, and 750mA.

 

[McGizmo]

Am I correct in assuming that you are using R123 Li-Ion batteries to achieve these drive levels?

 

[fyrstormer]

Am I correct in assuming that you are using R123 Li-Ion batteries to achieve these drive levels?

Yes. I assume CR123 primaries would also work, as I used to own a Fenix P1D Q5 that ran this "hot" and it only worked with primaries, but I don't know what these lights' runtimes would be on primaries.

 

[McGizmo]

I have read claims of 1000 mA to a LED off a CR123 but with my test equipment and the converters I have had to work with, I never saw that much current get to the LED even though I tried. If you can get 750 mA or 1000 mA to the LED from a CR123 for any reasonable length of time, good on you.

 

[fyrstormer]

All the better that the GDuP drivers are RCR123-compatible, then.

I know from testing with my multimeter that a CR123 can output a couple of amps when fully-charged, but I never really bothered to see how quickly they dropped off since I only use CR123s in lights that sip electricity, because I hate throwing away batteries.

Were your tests using boost-only drivers, or buck-boost drivers? I've heard that boost-only drivers are more efficient, though how much I don't know off-hand.

 

[fyrstormer]

Well, I've been using the LSC20 for a week straight, and I'm still satisfied with its performance. Since Level 3 on the GDuP is the only level that is higher-powered than the stock driver, that's the only one I've bothered testing aside from just making sure it works at all, though I have used the lower modes as appropriate when I've actually been using the light instead of testing it. I loaned it to a relative while they were working on their car and it came back to me warm and oily, but otherwise fine. I'm pretty sure they had it on Level 3 for a good half-hour, maybe with some quick shutoffs when they went in the garage to get tools. I think 750mA is a good compromise between improved brightness and the smaller heatsink mass of the LS20.

 

[scout24]

Very nice!:twothumbs

 

[fyrstormer]

Hard to believe this was six years ago. I still have the LSC27 that I used to test this mod.

 

[easilyled]

Hard to believe this was six years ago. I still have the LSC27 that I used to test this mod.

Mod the central "throw" emitter to an XPL-Hi and send it to me for further testing.

.... and its about time that the Fyrstormer Evil Labs came up with another revolutionary idea! :nana:

 

[fyrstormer]

Heh. For the past three years, this is what Fyrstormer's Evil Labs has been working on:



This doesn't include race car chassis that I built just to admire them, even though I have no place to run them.

 

[easilyled]

That's a mighty impressive collection. Even though cars are not really my thing, I can see that. :thumbsup:

 

[fyrstormer]

We won't get into the amount of money spent on upgrade parts.