The NiMH XX-Ray, an LED USL (3000 Lumen)

Techjunkie

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
943
Location
in the brightly lit suburbs of NYC (Long Island)
I'm dubbing this one my LED USL. It's basically an unregulated NiMH version of my XX-Ray.

I wanted a beater-light version of my XX-Ray that I could grab for "whenever" without worry of damaging my shelf queen. With no delicate drivers that might die of abuse or expensive IMR batteries that would be damaged by full depletion, this unassuming beat-up black Mag 3D cranks out ~3000 Lumen of neutral white LED light and should have about an hour of usable runtime!

I took one of my first hotwire creations, The Bully, which I haven't been too enamored with for its lack of runtime and output compared to the 4D 20AA Mag mod that superseded it, The Bruiser, and reinvented it as an LED torch.

16 Duraloop AAs and 5 neutral white MC-Es crammed into one ordinary looking 3D is about as ultra-stealthy as you can get with LED, I think.

By my calcs, the 16 AAs rated at 2000mAH at 1.2V each offers 38.4 Watt-Hours of output (the original XX-Ray only had 23.7 WH of power). Under 3A load, the Vout of each battery sags to 1.1v, making the total Vf 17.6v for most of the discharge. The 5x MC-Es initially draw ~45W, but that draw wanes as the batteries sag further as they continue to discharge, hence the 1 hour runtime estimate.

The first composite pic shows how it's possible to stuff 16AA into a 3D with some major modifications to switch and tail cap (not to mention boring the ID). Pay no attention to the mismatched battery shrink wrap. I had to re-wrap most of my Duraloops (Duracell Pre-Charged from Japan) after damaging their shrink on some early modding experiments. Shrink on the threaded "guide" rods keeps that from happening again.

800x600composite.jpg


It's the middle one in this next pic I call my MC-E Madness collection.

MC-Esupertorches5.jpg


That unfinished 3C to the right of it will become the XVII-Ray as soon as the warm white CREE XRE comes in to fill the center spot. I'll power that one with 2x Sony 26650VT batteries from a 36V Li power tool pack.
 
Last edited:

Techjunkie

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
943
Location
in the brightly lit suburbs of NYC (Long Island)
...just charged up the 16 Duraloops (+ 2 extra) then conditioned them down to 1.36V each using six at a time for one minute in a Mag61 to get them to that steady sag/discharge state. See SilverFox's discharge curve chart here.

Loaded them up and whoa! This sucker's bright. Even brighter than the regulated Li XX-Ray. Definitely some overdrive going on here with the batteries this fresh, but luckily, no shift to blue. If anything these 4A tint MC-Es are more toward pink than the warmer 4B tint MC-Es in the original XX-Ray.
 

lolzertank

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
555
Location
The Land of Silicon
WOW!!!! Maybe you could cram in 2 more MC-Es with 17mm optics instead of the DX penta reflector. That would be a XXVIII-Ray!

I'm only building a 12 Rebel Mag in a 3C... :(

Which tool pack did you get the 26650s from?
 

Techjunkie

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
943
Location
in the brightly lit suburbs of NYC (Long Island)
Which tool pack did you get the 26650s from?

The eBay seller that I got them from said they came from Ingersoll Rand industrial tools. Unlike the Lithium Manganeese Emoli 26700 cells in Milwaukee cordless V28 pack, these Sony cells are Lithium Nickel Cobalt Manganese. They are just as safe, provide up to 50A output, and pack a little more capacity (2500mAH). Search for "safe lithium" here at CPF and I'm sure Sony 26650VT will come up in more than one thread. The problem with those as I see it is you need an expensive charger to automatically stop the charge at 4.1V. I babysit mine on a cheap 4.2V cut-off charger, stopping to test frequently to avoid overcharging. Using these instead of the 26500 IMR cells offered by AW means having to use a 3C Mag instead of a 2C, but I can't complain, as these longer Sony cells cost me less than $4 each. (I'm sorry I only bought 8 of them.) Oh, also, two of them drive a Philips 5761 to the max without :poof:. I don't think the same bulb could handle two of the IMR cells charged to 4.2V, but I've never tried as I'm on my last (only?) 5761 and don't want to waste it. Edit: Well, that last comment was wrong. I just popped my 5761 with two batteries that were rested for over a month after charging and measured 4.09V each. Now I remember why I switched from hotwires to LEDs.:ironic:
 
Last edited:

scion

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 30, 2009
Messages
50
Dude, You got some awesome lights here man!

This is inspiring! lol.

I like your custom work with the cell packs! nice touch!

I would really love to customize some maglites i got here at the house without changing the cells. I want to remain them at 3D Cell maglites.
 
Top