Another Novatac P7 mod, with current measurements

After seeing darkzero's Novatac & HDS SSC P7 D2Flex Mods thread, I knew I had to build one. I obtained a damaged Novatac head so I could get a light engine to mod (thanks to the CPF member that sold this to me!), a P7 DSWOI (from photonfanatic), a d2flex from taskled.com, and a McR-20 reflector from the Shoppe.

I decided on the D output and I voltage binned P7 as I would be driving it with IMR123 cells most of the time, so this would give me the highest output and best use of battery.

The reflector had to be machined to fit in the Novatac head and bored open a little more to fit the P7.

I just took this light camping last weekend and WOW!!! It is a blazing wall of light. You can see the beam profile below.

Enjoy the pictures and the current measurements at the end of the post.


This is the original beater Novatac I obtained for the mod. Notice the damage to the signal contact and threads. If you look closely at the full image, you can see that the vias are still intact.


This is the d2flex and contact board ready to be installed in the heatsink.


The body on the left is the original beater. The threading was so chewed up that I was unable to remove the retaining ring manually. It was put in a lathe and cut down to the retaining ring, which then popped off and allowed us access to the light engine for modding. I wish I had taken pictures of the removal of the contact board and potted contents of the light engine. It involved the use of my little Dremel drill press to literally eat out the inductor and other circuitry that was potted inside.

The body on the right has the finished P7-d2flex light engine installed. Note the amount of signal contact surface that was removed. This was due to the damage it had incurred. Thank goodness there was enough of the contact still glued to the contact board and the via had not been damaged. I was concerned that there might be a chance for the signal spring to lose contact with the smaller signal contact, but so far I have not been able to make it happen. Unfortunately this will keep me from using Hogo's 18650 mod with a 17670 tube.

The light engine in front is the original LE from the light the P7 LE is installed in, which will eventually be reinstalled when I get another body for the P7 LE.


Down the barrel of the Novatac P7.


Down the barrel comparison of a stock Novatac (sans lens and bezel ring) to the Novatac P7.


Side shot of the two.


Beam comparisons of the two. Both lights are on max driven by AW RCR123 batteries.


These are the batteries and Harbor Freight DMM used to obtain the battery current measurements.


Thanks for looking!

EDIT:
Note that the current on level 5 when using an AW RCR123 is out of spec for the cell. The max discharge rate for the cell is 2C, which would be 1.5A. Thanks for bringing that up jar3ds. :thumbsup:

Very nice mod! I have to ask.. do you know what happen to the original one? It looks like something exploded inside.

Thanks jojobos... it's amazing the amount of light that little thing gives off... very easy to impress people with.

From what I was told the previous owner had tried to get the retaining ring out and the damage occurred with that end in mind. I have no idea what tools were used. I couldn't get the retaining ring to budge, even after getting the body red hot with a torch. It was a sad thing seeing the body being chewed up in the lathe so I could get the LED module out. I'm just glad I didn't have to fabricate a new contact board... I don't think I have those skills... yet!

very cool, thanks for sharing.

is this the only beamshot available from this type of mod?

Good work blue crow! :twothumbs

Moddoo said:

very cool, thanks for sharing.

is this the only beamshot available from this type of mod?

Click to expand...

Actually that beam shot wouldn't be accurate. That beamshot is of the first P7 HDS I did using the stock B42 driver. In that pic the P7 is probably not even getting 1A. Reflector is a sputtered McR-20. On the right is a stock Surefire L4.

I've never taken a beamshot other than on white walls to show the beam. Perhaps the owners of some of the ones I have done will see this & can post some "action" beamshots? :wave:

I've got beamshots here of one but using a sputtered Novatac reflector rather than the sputtered McR-20 I normally use & tghe driver is a D2DIM (same brightness as a D2Flex would be). It's taken next to a Diamond Dragon though & is not really a fair comparison.

Not sure if bluecrow is using a sputtered McR-20 or not. Without the right amount of sputtering there will be a void in the center. The sputtering will make it more flood though.

I will try to get some beam shot and outdoor examples over the next few days.

I use the McR-20 without sputtering so far. The beam is quite nice with a few artifacts from the multiple dies. I have yet to do any sputtering so I'm going to practice on some Mag reflectors first...

This is a very cool mod. I like the size, form, fit facture.

You are at around 335 Lumens out the front...:twothumbs

I made my Lego Surefire Backup w/ 6P bezel and Malkoff MC-E direct drive P60 drop-in.

As tested by MrGman it got 330ish out the front w/ IMR 16340 and 3A plus at the tail:thumbsup:

Small P7 lights can generate massive heat and at 3A plus it is impressive. Here is what MrGman got with my lights as tested in his home sphere.

1. Nailbender P60 P7 direct drive w/IMR 18650 in 6P hosts = 356 Lumens
2. " " " " w/ 2 Surefire primaries 6P hosts = 450 Lumens
3. " " " w/ Fivemega 3C body w/ 3 "C" NiMH = 550 Lumens

4. Nailbender Using the same Bin P7 in a Mag 1D Mag Hosts on direct drive w/ IMR 18650 = @ 704 ish Lumens
5. " " " " This time w/ 3 "C" tenergy it was 870 Lumens.


Conclusion: The P7 is awesome and at first we thought the IMR 18650's wouldn't hold thus we were getting sub 500 lumen readings, but then we used it in a 1D Mag hosts and finally we got good results. Note: the lumens were down to 550 ish after 3 minutes w/ IMR.
The Mag P7 w/ 3 "C" NimH Cells had big cells that can handle the current and heavy duty dedicated heatsink thus more lumens.

FYI: I used to think if the light gets hot, it must be decipating heat effectively, but from doing these tests the P7 Mag produced the least heat at 3 minutes and yet was the highest lumen provider. The smaller lights got hotter and yet produced less lumens. :sick2:

I learned more current = not more lumens, but 100% more heat.
Malkoff MC-E direct drive in the same 6P hosts had 4.5A of current at the tail with IMR 18650, but only made 440 ish lumens, but a second was down to 406 lumens.

If the most a single cell IMR 16340 P7 light will give is up to 350 lumens, why not put a driver at 1.2~1.5A and call it a day.

The MC-E P60 from DX If I recall had about 2.2A at the tail, but with IMR 18650 made 348 out the front. Almost the same lumens (356) as P7 P60 at 3A~3.3A.

Bottom line you have an awesome EDC and the Multi-Levels allows for great runtime on a single cell P7.

good mods

you need better wires to take real measurements of amps


aurora c6 p7 1x18650

awesome mod & thanks for the detailed write-up!

but i'm confused... i see your using a RCR123 (AW) ... per your chart i see its driving the P7 w/ 2590ma from the RCR123... isn't that way past the 2C recommended discharge rate for these cells poof?!?!?!

Thanks!

mispost!

Very nice mod...! :twothumbs

jar3ds said:

but i'm confused... i see your using a RCR123 (AW) ... per your chart i see its driving the P7 w/ 2590ma from the RCR123... isn't that way past the 2C recommended discharge rate for these cells poof?!?!?!

Click to expand...

It definitely is, which is why I don't run it on high with those cells... other than to take measurements and a quick look around. I should probably put a note up there huh! :thumbsup:

My son just woke up and asked me to use a light to go to the bathroom... this mod was sitting on the desk so I gave it to him and said be careful... he flipped it straight to level 5 with an AW RCR in it!