worlds first triple MCE MR16 Maglite bike light

[trout]

Hi Trout,
I haven't taken delivery yet for my R2 quad build up which will be the first but this has already got me planning the second.
Have you any plans for this and the hiplflex?

Hi Irishdave
yes To be sure I have some plans and hopefully some parts from cutters coming soon .
I have to build one for a customer first .

 

[piesoup]

Hi Trout
That mag head you are using, is it an original Maglite?
I got order through from Cutters, R2s and MCEs so looking forward to building my lights!
Thanks

 

[trout]

Hi Trout
That mag head you are using, is it an original Maglite?
I got order through from Cutters, R2s and MCEs so looking forward to building my lights!
Thanks

Hi Piesoup
Yes it was a 2 D cell maglite before intensive tortureing on my old lathe.

another good thing is after you have used the head and tail
you can make an MR11 sized light from what is left over :thumbsup:

 

[Boco]

Nice work on the MR11 size light.. I started a D-sized project very similar to yours with P4s before stumbling upon your design. Thanks for the great photos they have been helpful

 

[trout]

The MK 2 Version

Following on from the mk1 I have been having a go at improving the light.
It seems that the MCE is a bit of a flood monster and seems to lack penetrating power with the optics and reflectors I have tried .
so it seemed like a good idea to mix in a couple of XRE R2 leds and narrow optics to try and fill in where the mce doesnt .


so here are the results .



I am driving the MCE with a Bflex so each emitter is getting 500ma on full
and driving the 2 xre with a 1000ma buckpuck .

here are the beamshots

The tree on the left is 35 metres away and the trees up the trail on the right are 75 mtres away

2 XRE R2 on their own

2 MCE boom ss on their own

and all 4 on together

 

[ifor powell]

Good job that realy looks to do the trick. I am very impressed I think I will have to try somthing similar but a bit more optics testing and thinking first.

Ifor

 

[trout]

Cheers Ifor
it does seem to address the MCE penetration problem .

When on the trails with the triple boom there is this darker area in front of the beam that you could not see into , This opens that up great .

I did think to try a polymer optics * 6 set up they will just fit nicely in a mag head .

I thought 2 mce and 4 R2s running from a HipFlex would be pretty darn good .
I had the optics ordered but they were out of stock.

 

[Tidra]

can you share the link of polymer optic you have in mind,...

Thanx
Iztok

 

[trout]

can you share the link of polymer optic you have in mind,...

Thanx
Iztok

Hi Iztok
I was thinking of 4 of these http://www.polymer-optics.co.uk/Cree XR-E Optics Range Brochure.pdf

and 2 of these http://www.polymer-optics.co.uk/Cree MC-E Optics Range.pdf

but ordered from cutters 6 of the xre ones which hav not arrived

 

[ifor powell]

I was reading the specs on the Ledil XPE optics last night. The 20 mm ones have realy good looking half angles (3.5) and the realy small 10mm ones look fairly respectable as well at 9.4. Bram has not got them on his list yet though but they may well be worth looking at for a good helmet light build.

Ifor

 

[irishdave]

Has anybody measured the vf of 2p2s MCE at the bottom end of the mA scale, say less than 100mA?

Is any body running 2 MCE 2p2s on a maxflex with a 7.4v pack?
How does it cope?

 

[thysmeades]

Hi Troutie, sorry if this is a dumb question, but please would you explain this statement in your very first post,

spec
3 k bin MCE running @ 600ma as "2 strings of 6 series"

What I can't figure out is, are there 3 LED's in this light, or 6?!

 

[znomit]

2 strings of 6 series

What I can't figure out is, are there 3 LED's in this light, or 6?!

Each MCE has 4 individual led dies inside it. 12 in total.

6 is a nice number to drive, so they are paralleled into two strings... bottom circuit here...

 

[FrontRanger]

Each MCE has 4 individual led dies inside it. 12 in total.

...

6 is a nice number to drive, so they are paralleled into two strings... bottom circuit here...

thysmeades, one more thing to add: If all the diodes were identical, each of the three circuits that znomit shows above would produce identical results. But they are not identical, so we choose a wiring configuration that achieves the most averaging. Two strings of six with no internal connections (as znomit has drawn on the bottom schematic) is the best for that. But you can do better than that if you consider that there is inter-die variation in addition to the intra-die variation. That is, you're not dealing with 12 independent elements, but with 3 groups of 4 related elements. It is better to use 2 diodes from each die on each string, rather than, say, 4 from one die and 2 from another. And if you want to be really picky, the optimal solution is, for each die, to group D1 and D3 on one string, and D2 and D4 onto the other string. This is because these pairs are laid out diagonally on the die, according to Cree's data sheet.

 

[znomit]

Two strings of six (with no internal connections) is the best for that.

Its been a while but I am pretty sure thats what I meant to draw.
It was in the "how do I arrange my dies thread" way back.

 

[FrontRanger]

Its been a while but I am pretty sure thats what I meant to draw.

Absolutely, you did draw that. There are many ways to satisfy that diagram, and I was just pointing out the statistically optimal way. I edited that post to try to make it more clear.

 

[thysmeades]

thanks guys, makes sense on the picture, but how to wire it up with the LED's in front of you is another story. If I was to do it like this, would I have to get the emitters on the individually wired star mounts. Like this from Cutter?

http://www.cutter.com.au/products.php?cat=Cree+MCE+Multichip


regards
Thys

BTW: on another totally seprate note, why can't I post pics? I would like to show my first project light on the forum.

Thanks
thys

 

[HarryN]

Nice light project AND thanks a bunch for the great beam shots.

 

[carl27]

Hi Trout amazing light, so amazing im interested in putting one together, is there a shopping list for the parts required? The cut down mag i already have from a mr16 build last winter, but it's now time to turn ledlovecpf

Thanks in advance...............

 

[terrik_zion]

Good heavens, that is a bright light. I concur, my first look I did a doubletake before confirming that indeed, you have successfully turned night into day! I am duly impressed. I myself am saving to build my first led bike light, it will be most intriguing.

Sidenote, this is my first cpf post, though I have been reading for years. Much of my research for my light was done thanks to everyone else's postings.