My first mod, Energizer DB 8AA

Last week i finished my first 5W mod. The donor light is a DB 8AA. The light it self does not provide substantial amount of heatsinking so I got to (kind of) made my own. The heat sink consist of Arctic alumina, 3 plates of Wayne J heat sink, a few copper plates and a few aluminum plates.
the cosmetic is not pretty, obviously and the beam is not registered a very high amount of lux-es. However, this thing lit a small room pretty nicely. This light use 7AA battery and one 2.2 Ohm resistors to limit the current to 870 mA. Slightly over driven but still safe, i guess.
Picture /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Cosmetic blemishes


Beam shot 1


beam shot 2



Because of inadequate heatsinking, this light should be only operated intermittently. However, I tried running it for 30 minutes with no problem. Lux reading? 1800 lux maximum. It should be more, but the plastic lens scratches so much like the picture of new plastic lens for Mag D in flashlightlens website. i wonder if flashlightlens can provide UCL lens in place for the plastic. The plastics seemed to be held permanently and removing it forcefully will break the cap, i am afraid.

thanks for looking over.

As always, open to suggestion. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

All right shiftd, nice mod! Congratulations, pretty exciting creating your very own "baby", eh?

What bin is that Luxeon?

Is this using the 5W LS you got from me? If so, I'm glad it found such a unique application. Decent hotspot.

Wilkey

Thanks Mr Bulk & Ginseng
The luxeon, while it is the same batch as the one I bought from Ginseng, it is a different luxeon.
It was binned V3, bought from elektrolumens as a package.
Ginseng, the luxeon that i bought from you was meant to be used in other mod that uses 3*123 battery.

Way to go, shiftd.

If you like your Modified light better than the original then that, I think, would be a successful Mod.

Referencing Mr. Bulk's comment: Building it, firing it up, and owning it must be nice.

Thanks for showing your light. Now, there is another ModMan to watch. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

thanks for your kind words, Icebreak.
Certainly, i like this mod better than the original incandescent bulb, partially because i dislike incandescent to begin with; also, that because the color of the led is very pleasant, it is white /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
thanks again

very nice!

that beam looks smooth /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

any other 5w mods you can compare it to?

Unfortunately, no /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
That is my first 5W light, which is why i am so excited about. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

the actual beam is smooth, no ring, but not completely round. I think that is because the reflector was cut so much and not the same depth (i cut the reflector by kitchen scissor) that the beam is not so perfect.

Beams not perfect? I'd be proud to have it, nice work, especially for a first effort. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

The beam is not perfect, but close. It is a lot better than mag and others that have a lot of rings.
thanks freewheelin'

A quick update. And also some question of preferance matter.

I was measuring the current consumption for the LS for various battery set up. here is what I found.
7 NiMH + 2.2 Ohms resistor == 800 mA == 1800 lux
7 NiMH + 1.1 Ohms resistor == 1200mA == 2130 lux
6 NiMH + 2.2 Ohms resistor == 520 mA == 1300 lux
6 NiMH + 0.0 ohms resistor == 980 mA == 2030 lux

Question: which set up do you prefer and why? I need to run the lux safely but yet bright. Any suggestion?

thanks

Looks like the 6 NiMHs w/ no resistors is the better deal to me...

Falcon, I recall someone burned his lux when he uses 6 rechargeables. Do you think it would be ok?

Eh, I myself wouldn't worry... I've been doing what Charlie has told me not to do, and that's sticking freshly charged NiMHs (fresh off the cooker charger) into his LGI. And it's still kickin'...

My Helios is also running off of 6AA NiMHs... I'm running a V3U 5W direct-drive with 6AA NiMHs in a Mag 2D, and although it runs hot after 15 minutes, it's still fine...

If you're a little hesitant, just add something minute, like .5ohms to the light...

Alright
thanks Falcon. Btw, the V3U that you got, is it coming from WayneJ? Mine also V3, but dunno the last alphabet.

Yep... The V3UW was the one I ordered from Elektrolumens...