MagCharger85 in 2D length?

[andrewwynn]

you mean the 1160.. the 1166 is 11.6V bulb.. but if you have a MC the 1160 is begging to be put in.. it's such a gimme of an upgrade.. at the relatively lower bulb voltage that bulb will be extremely robust to boot. I have a MC here and i use it for comparison with the mini-monster like the mini mag11.. and though it doesn't have the same amt of output it also doesn't only last 20 mninutes!

I hope to have a 800-900 bulb lumen (500-600 torch lumen) light operational in a 2D size that has about 40 minutes runtime and i think that will be the best compromise of size vs light output and with soft-start and constant output... hard to beat.

I will be making the 1160 in a 7.2V host and an 1166 in a 14.4V host to compare them.. in testing so far they look extremely similar so i won't know which is nicer 'til they are operational.. though it would seem that the 1160 will win in the bulb longevity department so i'm leaning that way (not to mention much easier battery solutions).

The 1D version is just a 'show off' light... i only recommend playing on that level if you are a self-proclaimed nutbar as myself.

One thing.. when using LiON cells.. they are like 1/2 or less the weight of alkaline.. my 2D light feels empty... and the 1D model you can barely tell is in your hand.. so the word 'heft' no longer applies.. even the 2 1/2D model is really light compared to what it used to be before the diet.

-awr

 

[theamazingrando]

Are the LiON cells the larger diameter cells that people bore out their light bodies for? Or are those just any very high capacity cell?

 

[Kevin Tan]

There u go agin, Andrewwyn. Putting ideas into other peoples heads!! Another convert to the li-ion way to the lite!! Welcome to the path of the lion lite!!! ( Hehe !! )

Oh!! Andrewwyn, I need the reg kit for 85, 66, 60, 11, 74 another for the 83 (4.7v) if u got the kit.

Grando, if u know nothing about li-ions or lions do a search and laern up about them b4 trying to use them. They r very tempermental with little tolerence to abuse. Just like a real lion u get into big trouble if u abuse them. They really roar with flames and goes like a bomb too if overcharged or hi-amp overdischarged !!! And I mean that literally!!

Always go for the protected cells from Pila sold by among others J.S. Burley or the cheeper china made cells sold by AW ( not Andrewwyn ). Both members of good standing of this community.

 

[andrewwynn]

I only use LiONs in circuts that won't let me abuse them.. my driver circuits shut off at 3V/cell and my charger automatically shuts off at 4.200V.

Nikola Tesla pointed out a possilble problem with using stacks of protected cells... at some point one cell is going to shut off.. that will shut down that stack of cells.. now say you have 3.35A coming out of the cells.. (mag 85).. when one battery shuts off.. the other two stacks will have to split that load and the draw will jump from 1.11A (1C on a 1100mA 17500).. to 1.675A (1.5C).. My bet is that this would cascade to have them all shut down but the second two columns would shut down due to over current, not under voltage.. and two things.. 1) the spike of current at end of life.. how good is that for a cell.. and 2) how reliaable is the over current as a 'shut down' mechanism?

In any event.. for my pupsoses i'd rather use the RAW cells and protection built around them just like a real battery pack like you'd have in your cell phone or laptop.

The main point is that with RARE exception use protection of some kind if you use LiON cells.. the are not your father's oldsmobile.. they don't take abuse like a NiCD or Lead Acid bat.

-awr

 

[Kevin Tan]

Couldn't agree with u more. But for a beginner nooboie that is still trying to get the hang of the lion cells, protected 1's are still the best. Say, I've got 20pcs of 14500 waiting for a host and config. Any ideas???

 

[andrewwynn]

oh yeah there are a couple really nice places to use 14500s..

series-parallel in 8AA->2D will get you like 40 minutes of 800+lumen with 1111 bulb in a 2D host.

series parallel in 4AA->1A will get you 20.. but not likely to run with protected cells.

series-parallel of 3x3 or 4x3 will get you 10.8V for running 1185 or 1331... but no benefit over using 3x3 17500s which i believe you have already.

-awr

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Just for the record I have several lights with many of the bulbs talked about.

A big 5D light with 6C NimH and an 1111, a 2D with 6AA and a MC stock bulb, a 2D with 8AA and a 1274, a 3D with 9AA and an 1185 and last but not least a MC with an 1160.

Most have frosted bulbs, the 1185 has a LOP and the MC has a medium frosted 1160.

A 2D with 6AA and 1111 might be better, but even the LOP doesn't tame the wild 1111. I will have a MOP coming pretty soon so we'll see.

Of them all my favorite big light is the MC. It's bright enough and has decent runtime.

But the very best part is it can stay in the charger and come out swinging!

Keeping all the AAs charged is a job....

 

[andrewwynn]

The upcoming stippled carley reflectors tame up the 1111 and the 1185 beautifully.. in a shoot-out recently.. a favoritie light of choice (not me).. was the M85 with a frosted 1185 bulb and the #5 stippled reflector... just perfectly even wash of light.

charging AAs.. use the smartchargers from batteryspace.. do a very nice job and no loading/reloading of cells (with the hazards of tearing the labels.. very yikes!).

MC is mega practical and once the 1160 is frosted man it's got a nice beam. I have too many other lights to choose from to end up picking that one... but my 9x17500 host for the Mag85 (nearly 1hr runtime) has been turned into a Mag85, so my favorted runtime light is gone.. down to 8-9 minutes, whew.

I have my 'M85' which is a 2D-3bore light with 9xR123s.. about 1/2 hr runtime solid.. regulated a little lower than 10.8 to help with the lower output cells and keep it running constant.. start to finish no change in output.. very nice solution.. i'm working to put 6xGP2000 cells in.. the runtime will be about the same but those cells won't even know the light is turned on at 3.4A so i'll get a much brighter solution.

-awr

 

[wtraymond]

I'm going to jump on the li-ion bandwagon and cast a vote for the ROP LE with LOLA. If you haven't heard of this mod you can catch up here:

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=95327

This is the easiest and most powerful mod for it's size. It's also cheap and reliable. The 2C Mag host will cost about $16 at Home Depot. The UCL or borofloat is $7 from Flashlightlens. Modamag has some metal reflectors for sale now in the 'Group Buy' forum for about $25 shipped. The batteries are available from J.S. Burley's or AW in the 'Dealer' forum or from BatterySpace.com. All three of the previous mentioned retailers also carry chargers. I bought the 3854 bulb packs (each pack contains a HOLA and a LOLA) direct from Pelican for $11.95 plus shipping here:

https://www.pelicanpro.com/AWWebStore/Store.asp

I was thinking that you could also use the 2D Mag and four 18650s - two in parallel and two in series. This would enable you to run the HOLA without over stressing the batteries. Four 18650s should fit in an unmodified 2D Mag.

 

[wtraymond]

Nikola Tesla pointed out a possilble problem with using stacks of protected cells... at some point one cell is going to shut off.. that will shut down that stack of cells.. now say you have 3.35A coming out of the cells.. (mag 85).. when one battery shuts off.. the other two stacks will have to split that load and the draw will jump from 1.11A (1C on a 1100mA 17500).. to 1.675A (1.5C).. My bet is that this would cascade to have them all shut down but the second two columns would shut down due to over current, not under voltage.. and two things.. 1) the spike of current at end of life.. how good is that for a cell.. and 2) how reliaable is the over current as a 'shut down' mechanism?

-awr

I don't see these as real problems. The reliability of the protection circuit is redundant with multiple protected cells. If one cell's protection circuit fails, it will only be a short time before another cell's circuit shuts that series circuit 'off.' I propose it may be possible to run a series of li-ions with just one protected cell in each series if the protection circuit is reliable.

As long as the batteries have a balanced state-of-charge at the beginning of discharge, I don't see why a small current spike will cause any problems. The other parallel series of cells will probably shut down within seconds and well before the cells are over-discharged.

Short of self-destruction, how does over-discharging effect the life of a li-ion cell (eg. 1C vs 2C vs 3C)? This maybe a question for SilverFox.

 

[andrewwynn]

over-discharging means to pull the voltage down below 2.5V..i think a better way to describe what you mean is 'high discharge rate' or something.

I've pushed LiONs pretty hard.. a good source for answers on the what happens on high-discharge and longevity.. modamag is a pretty long way into a long term eval of abusing some R123s.. i believe he said he's lost like 50% of capacity with 100 cycles.. i think his test is pushing 2.5 or 3C.. but i forget.

I estimated that i'd lose 400 of the 500 cycles if i push my 14500s to 2.6C vs 1.5C.. but at like $3.50 each that's a non-issue for me.

I still think that it's not a bad idea to use one protected cell per stack in a series-parallel arrangement.. logically nothing tragically bad can happen.. just ends up being a tricky problem to solve at some point why it doesn't work just right.. and matching things up nice could be an issue (you'd like it to shut down vs run badly when one stack faults).

I actually far prefer to use unprotected cells and a shutdown ckt in the light.

-awr