After months of planning and buying I have finally finished my SBT-90 build. I must say the most challenging part of the build is packaging.
Parts List:
Original switch housing - I removed the plastic bulb/led housing with a grinder to allow for the SBT-90 heat sink. (See later pics)
The switch assy. separates from the outer plastic housing above without hardware removal (just push).
The switch itself separates from the blue plastic which contains the ground screw.
In order to use the driver with the stock switch assy. I had to isolate the positive switch terminal from the battery terminal (refer to DIWdiver's schematic). The two outer contacts are bent to make contact with the push button switch, the positive terminal of the battery, & the light source. I simply straightened the side which would normally contact the positive terminal of the battery.
After placing a small amount of solder on the contact which mates to the positive terminal of the battery to ensure a good connection and carefully soldering all the wires between the LED, driver, & switch assy. I was finally ready to apply power to the LED. (It's not the best job I know.... But it was difficult to get all of this stuff to fit into such a small housing.)
The heat sink is not perfectly flush with the maglite housing but after installing the reflector and lens without the base everything fits nicely. The reflector base is used with the COTS maglite to vary the height of the lamp relative to the reflector and produce a different beam pattern.
So after the build was finally finished I charged the feilong batteries with a ultra fire WF-188. Unfortunately I fell asleep and when I woke up one battery was charged and one was not. The battery that did not charge only has a potential greater than ~3V briefly, after applying a load it drops down to 1.5V. I'm not sure if the battery was DOA or if the charger is to blame. Either way with one good battery I was able to get over 5A of current flowing through the LED.
Beam Shot
So I have now ordered two new batteries from China. Once they arrive I will post updated current measurements along with beam shots.
Parts List:
- Maglite D switch assy. I bought a $50 torx set but it was no help so I finally drilled out the original switch assy. It's good the new switch assy. came with the appropriate torx driver.
- SBT-90 emitter.
- DIWdiver's IS1006-1025 driver.
- Thermal pad for the driver.
- Heat sink for the driver. I used a bench grinder to shape the aluminum (length, width, & height) to fit inside of DW's heat sink and attached DIWdiver's driver with Artic Alumina.
- DW's heat sink.
- 16mm aluminum reflector
- Feilong batterys/battery
- Battery charter
Original switch housing - I removed the plastic bulb/led housing with a grinder to allow for the SBT-90 heat sink. (See later pics)
The switch assy. separates from the outer plastic housing above without hardware removal (just push).
The switch itself separates from the blue plastic which contains the ground screw.
In order to use the driver with the stock switch assy. I had to isolate the positive switch terminal from the battery terminal (refer to DIWdiver's schematic). The two outer contacts are bent to make contact with the push button switch, the positive terminal of the battery, & the light source. I simply straightened the side which would normally contact the positive terminal of the battery.
After placing a small amount of solder on the contact which mates to the positive terminal of the battery to ensure a good connection and carefully soldering all the wires between the LED, driver, & switch assy. I was finally ready to apply power to the LED. (It's not the best job I know.... But it was difficult to get all of this stuff to fit into such a small housing.)
The heat sink is not perfectly flush with the maglite housing but after installing the reflector and lens without the base everything fits nicely. The reflector base is used with the COTS maglite to vary the height of the lamp relative to the reflector and produce a different beam pattern.
So after the build was finally finished I charged the feilong batteries with a ultra fire WF-188. Unfortunately I fell asleep and when I woke up one battery was charged and one was not. The battery that did not charge only has a potential greater than ~3V briefly, after applying a load it drops down to 1.5V. I'm not sure if the battery was DOA or if the charger is to blame. Either way with one good battery I was able to get over 5A of current flowing through the LED.
Beam Shot
So I have now ordered two new batteries from China. Once they arrive I will post updated current measurements along with beam shots.
- New batteries on order
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