CreeUV driven by a MiniPro in an ArcAA head

Here's a sneak peak at my next mod.

Parts: ArcAA host head (bored), CreeUV emitter, copper heatsink, driver (MAX1797 - minipro based).
Labour: lots

So far it's a work in progress. I am waiting on a few parts to finish the job.



Paul

Re: Sneak peak - my next mod

Looks nice! I want one!!

Re: Sneak peak - my next mod

Cree UV eh?

Looking forward to seeing the finished light Paul :thumbsup:

Re: Sneak peak - my next mod

Looking good!
Your mods are always nice, chimo! :twothumbs

Re: Sneak peak - my next mod

mosport said:

Cree UV eh?

Looking forward to seeing the finished light Paul :thumbsup:

Click to expand...

Yep - a CreeUV.

I have had a couple of these kicking around since a recent group buy. I had been pondering what to put them in. These CreeUVs are very, very bright. The MiniPro driver should push it along fairly nicely at about one watt from a AA battery.

I may make the pill portion so that it is easily removable and make another Luxeon pill for this head as well. (that will leave me with one spare head ). I have the grounding path solved for the Cree but I will have to make a grounding ledge for the Luxeon pill.

I still have to polish the reflector (not much use in doing that until the dry fitting is completed).

Paul

EDIT: Thanks GreenLED.

Re: Sneak peak - my next mod

Got the parts in. Not quite finished it yet.

OK, I have finished this one. It's very bright (for a UV) - it comes very close to my 2xAA version. Here are some shots next to a ArcAA head modded with the newer Nichia CS LED. I have the parts to make one more.

Here is a die pic with an almost dead battery.


Beamshot next to the white CS head.


Shot of a highlighter (before/after)


Head shots.


Paul

Can't belive I missed this one! Nice work Paul!!!
How did you get the negative to make contact? Was it just the copper heatsink touching the inside of the head? What happened to the cree led in the 2nd to last pic? Looks like the dome is cracked or is that silicone/epoxy oozed over it?

Thanks Isaac,

I hadn't noticed that in the pic until you pointed it out. I left the hole as small as I could - it looks like tolerences were a little too tight and the glass dome had moved just a bit and caused a little distortion in the silicone filler. When the head is tight, it goes away (see the pic below).



I just widened the hole a bit to reduce stress on the dome.

The copper heatsink does form part of the neghative path. The Cree emitter is actually soldered to the heatsink - including the cathode contact. The plated copper "reflector (Cree terminology for the silver part the dome sits on) - is actually soldered to the heatsink as well. Pressure from the battery pushes the assembly forward and ensures a good contact. There is a small solder wick braid soldered to the bottom of the heatsink and to the driver board.

The driver board is a double sided minipro board with the outside copper removed. A small hole drilled through at the proper location for the anode contact to be bridged.

Paul

Great Mod! I put mine on a McModule in a Pelican M6 (~) body. Not as small as yours though

Paul, cool, glad you were able to fix it and it and permanent damage wasn't done! Nice work, I did the arc led swap, but couldn't build a circuit board that small!! Neat idea on the solder braid! I saw from the photos and thought it was solder on the cree led to the heatsink.

Do you still do mods on Arc AA's?