LED or drop-in recommendation needed for Aspheric Maglite Mod

So about two months ago I made my own P7 4D Maglite and I've been hooked ever since.

For my next build, I want to do a Silver 2D (or 3D) Aspheric Mag. I have the lens on order and I'll get it in about a month or so. From what I understand, this is a drop in part with no modding needed. (http://www.dealextreme.com/p/50mm-18mm-2-80-degree-glass-optics-12834)

I don't really care if the LED i use is a drop in or if I have to build everything custom. I was going to use the Mac's Cree XM-L drop-in but I don't think that's focus-able.

I'm looking for any recommendations for what LED looks best with an aspheric lens, keeping in mind that I'll probably be using 3D Ni-Mh batteries (or some 18650 in parallel if i get the 2D size light). I'll also need whatever recommendation to allow the head to be focused in and out.

Any recommendations at all would be greatly appreciated. SST-50, SST-90, etc... Focus-able drop in preferred LOL

The der-wichtel SST-50/90 kits work nice, and the heatsink mounts in the tube, so you'll be able to turn the head up and down to focus it. With the driver from that, you could do 2x 18650 or 2x 26650 cells in series, in a 2D with just a spring modification (just had to turn the spring upsidedown on my buddies 2D mag I put together for him)

If you run the 3D and 3x NiMH then I think you can direct drive a SST-90 IIRC, however I could be mistaken. If youre going to do the direct drive, then either britelumens heatsink, or the DW heatsink (which can be purchased alone, not just in the kit) would work. I dont know if you would need the high or low version of the DW heatsink for that lens.

For an XM-L you'd have find a flat heatsink and use a star, I havent seen any post-style XM-L heatsinks around. (H22A's flat top heatsink maybe? the post is kinda small at 14.5mm, but since youre not using a reflector you could put a 20mm star on it anyway) And there are a variety of drivers for the XM-L and P7 that you could use in the XM-L light. (Der-Wichtel makes one, single and multi-mode, and plenty of AMC7135 based ones on DX if you do end up making a holder and using 2x Li+ cells in parallel or the 3x Ni-MH)

As far as which LED, if you wanna go for just a ton of light, the SST-90 would be the choice, if you want something that wont overheat so quickly, then the SST-50 (underdriven if desired) or XM-L would both be a good choice.

I think I'll go with the SST-50. I was not aware that if you used an aspherical lens, you don't use a reflector. Thanks for letting me know that...

What driver will you use? And how come you chose the SST-50 instead of the XM-L? I'm also planning to build an Aspheric maglite too.

der-wichtel makes a 5A driver for the SST-50 kit he has. I was planning on using that. From what I was reading, I didn't see any drop-in type kits for the XM-L that let you be able to focus it. I was also considering at T-6 because I heard you could overdrive that to 5A.

After looking at all of the options, it seemed like the kit for the "DL" series light I'm getting would be the one that would need the least amount of machining (maybe none at all). I'm not even sure I'm getting the DL series mag-lite yet either. I just rolled the Amazon dice...

I also don't want the light to overheat. I'm kind of all over the place with so many different options available. I spend most of my time just reading the forums but I usually wind up with more questions than I started with.

All I know is, when i finish this mod, the silver mag-lite is going to look AWESOME with the aspheric lens on it LoL!

DW makes adjustable drivers now, so if you want to use the driver with other leds, that's fine too .

MC-E and P7 are poor choices for Aspheric use because the focussed image has a black cross on it.

The XR-E is the best, because it emits the light in a narrower angle than most other LEDs.

You can use a Reflector plus Aspheric to make use of all light - the Aspheric focusses the centre part of the light - the Reflector focusses the light from the LED that spreads wider than the lens.

And for the DX lens, proper focuspoint for the LED is about 5mm below the edge of the flashlight body. Easiest way to achieve focus is to make your own heatsink from a cylindrical piece of aluminium with a diameter of 34.1mm. Then just mount a starbased Cree XR-E directly on the flat surface.
The lens will not fit behind the lensholder on the bezel, unless you cut the top rim off the reflector and make a thin spacer out of it. But thats fairly easy to do with a Dremel-tool.
XR-E always gives the best reach with an aspheric due to high surfacebrightness, and the other LEDs you are mentioning will loose a lot of effect because of a wider angle of dispersion, wich makes their lumens go outside of the lens, creating scattered light to the sides of the hotspot.
Go for a 3D with a nice driver, a low heatsink and an XR-E R2.... That´ll do the trick!

Man, now I'm getting so realllllllly good advice. Sounds like the XR-E is what I'm going to choose...

I already got a 2D Rebel Mag so I'll have to find a way to make it work...

I appreciate everyone's feedback very much

If going with a 2D, you could replace the D-size cells with 3 C-size cells if you modify the tailcap-spring. That would make driver selection easier since you could use a simple linear regulator like the AMC7135. If you still want to use 2 D-size cells you could go with this driver from DX

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/aa-and...3-7v-led-emitters-3-pack-1-5v-4-2v-input-4735

If you want more power, just add another driver in parallell.
Or you could buy a more expensive option from The Shoppe.

Scattergun,

How does that driver you linked work? It's a "step up" driver and constant voltage instead of constant current?

I ordered http://www.dealextreme.com/p/cree-xr-e-r2-wg-emitter-on-premium-star-15943

WG seems to be "Cold White".

Can anyone tell me what current the XR-E R2 can run at? I see that it runs around 3.7V but I wanted to install a constant current driver. The ones I have right now are 1400mA and 2800mA. I'm not sure what it runs at or what you can push it to...

Scattergun,

After reading the dx driver reviews, I don't think I'll order a driver from DX. I know you suggested the sandwhich shoppe as an alternative. I'm going to be using two "D" NiMh 11000mah batteries from MaHa. I guess I would need a buck-boost circuit from the shoppe. I'm still not sure (after 2 hours of forum browsing) if I need a buck-boost circuit that's constant voltage 3.7V or if I should go for one that's constant current. I want to get the most out of the diode.

With a nominal 2.4V battery source, I'm not sure which driver from the shoppe would be my best choice for the XR-E R2 I ordered from DX.

You can run the XR-E as high as 1400mA but 1A is recommended maximum.
If you are to use a driver from the Shoppe to be used with two D-cells I´d recommend this:

http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.com/product_info.php?cPath=48_49_61&products_id=1107

And you will be needing a boost circuit to get a voltage suitable for the XR-E. The constant current regulators are basically a circuit limiting current to a fixed voltage, and you don´t have enough voltage from your two D-cells (2,4Volts).

Rezolution said:

. . . . . I'm going to be using two "D" NiMh 11000mah batteries from MaHa. I guess I would need a buck-boost circuit from the shoppe. . . . . . .

Click to expand...

Two NiMH cells will deliver a maximum of 2.8 volts under load, so you only need a Boost Driver to drive any White LED.

Rezolution said:

. . . . . I'm still not sure (after 2 hours of forum browsing) if I need a buck-boost circuit that's constant voltage 3.7V or if I should go for one that's constant current. I want to get the most out of the diode. . . . . .

Click to expand...

All LED Drivers are designed to supply constant current - if you feed an LED with constant voltage, the current through it may double as the LED warms up. All Drivers specify the maximum and minimum voltage they can supply from a certain input voltage, while maintaining current regulation, so that you know what diodes and how many you can drive with it.

Scattergun said:

You can run the XR-E as high as 1400mA but 1A is recommended maximum.
If you are to use a driver from the Shoppe to be used with two D-cells I´d recommend this:

http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.com/product_info.php?cPath=48_49_61&products_id=1107

Click to expand...

I'll be ordering this driver today, thanks for the helpful advice.

So from reading all the information on the driver page, do you know if it's preset to drive the LED at 1A if I supply 2.4V to it? I don't see any instructions for it on the website. I just see a comment that says " Output adjustable: Set by two SMT (0603) resistors"

That particular one is set at a fixed current of 1A. You can order it with other resistors for other currents.

Sweet, that looks like it's exactly what I need. I'm pretty excited about this aspheric project... I can't wait to get all the parts.

The final challenge will be trying to figure out how to make a heat sync for it and how to pot the driver. I saw your earlier recommendation for 34.1mm chunk of aluminum.

Easiest way is just by making it on a lathe, then drilling a hole to one side of it for the wires to go through. Then glue the driver to the underside of the heatsink.

I'm actually tihinking of direct driving this with a single 18650 battery. They only problem is, I don't have a data sheet to tell me what happens with this on a fully charged 18650 (4.2V).

I know this is supposed to run at 1A @ 3.7V, but does anyone know how many amps it pulls at 4.2V?