Triple Neutral XM-L Mag @3A+Voltage Monitor,overheating protection,0-100% dimming,usb

Yeah I finaly finished THE perfect flashlight for me. Not the cheapest one but its exactly how I want it. :twothumbs




Features:

3xXM-L neutral white LEDs running @3A with ~2500 ledlumen
Overheating protection kicks in at 65° heatsink temperature and limits the output to 50%, at 70°C it limits to 25% output, at 100°C it turns off
Voltage monitor shows green, red and blinking red - it turns the XM-Ls off before the cells getting damaged
2 illuminated buttons for stepless dimming 0-100%
Saves the last brightness
USB programmable to configure the overheating protection, the dimming speed and the voltage monitor
Runtime ~1 hour at full power on 12 black eneloops


Here is the complete build log. :wave: Feel free to ask qusetions about anything you wanna know or some translations of the german manuals. All measurements are Millimeter(mm)! 1" = 25,4mm

Parts List:



1: O-Ring from DW triple kit
2: Reflectors from DW triple kit
3: Heatsink from DW triple kit
4: Mag 4 D
5: Triple XM-L T5 star from DW triple kit
6: Mirco 2800mA driver @3A mod
7: LED Stripe V3 PWM Dimmer (build-in voltage monitor, overheating protection)
8: Thermal pads for mounting the driver
9: SMD sense resistor for mod the driver to 3A (the shop sends them for free when you buy a micro 2800mA)
10: red and green illuminated buttons for 0-100% dim
11: Some ordinary resistor for the leds in the buttons (depends on your battery setup and the brightness of the buttons you wanna have, max 20mA)
12: 2 color led for battery status
13: 10k-ohm potentiometer (not in use)
14: USB TTL-RS232 module for programming the LED Stripe (yes I got a different module but mine is now out of stock)
15: temperature sensors I will use only 1 of them


Heatsink for the driver.



Temperature sensor installed.



Apply some Arctic Silver 5. Less is better! On the complete star is as much thermal paste as 1/20 of a waterdrop. The best way to get the thermal paste smooth and without gaps is to wrap your finger in clear plastic foil that you normaly use for food.



Make sure you tighten the star really good for better thermal contact. If you dont wanna vaporise your drop-in into metal steam... ...dont use a 670Nm impact wrench.



LED star installed.




3A driver mod. The smd component with "1R00" is the sense resistor that needs to be soldered in paralell with the other sense resistor. I soldered it right on top. Actually this was my FIRST smd soldering. OMG THOSE THINGS ARE DAMN SMALL!
Then the 0-ohm resistor on the driver needs to be removed too to activate the pwm mode.


There was the 0-ohm resistor that needs to be removed to activate PWM mode. Somehow I cant get the camera focused on it. :mecry:



0-ohm resistor on a Eneloop AAA



The hole in the middle has no purpose. I only made it for better machining on the lathe. There need to be some holes for the 4 cables going through and it needs to be screwed to the heatsink.



The driver will sit somewhere like this on the headsink.



Length of the DW heatsink.



Top of Mag body to switch.



Outside diameter of the DW heatsink.



Inside diameter of the DW heatsink.



Inside depth of the DW heatsink.



Thermal pad on the back of the driver.



Temperature sensor + and - soldered to battery + and - on the driver. This saves 2 cables going to the mag switch and through the driver heatsink. And of course a little of Arctic Silver 5 between led heatsink and driver heatsink.



Now the head is done. Something went horribly wrong with the holes for the screws for the driver heatsink. I dont know what happend...:shakehead They were so close to the edge that I had to file the heads down on each screw. The screw for the driver fits fine.





The hole for the battery monitor led must not be centered! Bore it slightly of center to get a lot easier installation in the final assembly.



















The dimmer connected to the USB TTL-RS232 module. There is no space for it inside the mag.
Before you connect the USB TTL-RS232 module make sure you have NO OTHER POWER OR LOAD connected to the dimmer and ALL 4 MICRO SWITCHES are in position "0".
Ask me if you are not sure about the connection and how to program it.



All cables connected to the buttons. It is a lot easier when you choose very inflexible cables.



Some testing...




Yes this is a wood stick screwed to the dimmer. You can do that better... ...the dimmer just needs to be held inside the mag tube.





Bridge B1 which you can see at the left side needs to be closed to set the dimmer from 200Hz to 2000Hz. Switch 2 and 4 need to be on "1" to activate the battery monitor and the overheating protection.









There need to be a small tube around the button that its not getting pressed by the heatsink when inside the mag.







These are automotive connectors used by Mercedes-Benz. If you want I can look up the Mercedes part numbers that you can buy them at your Mercedes-Benz dealership.





The "#" numbers are the same as in the manual of the dimmer module.

#2 - Temp. Sensor
#4 - GND
#5 - Vcc (+)
#12 - Taster #2
#13 - Taster #3
#14 - PWM
1 - +Vs
2 - GND
3 - Vout
4 - Led (+)
5 - Led (-)
6 - PWM
7 - V (+)
8 - GND
9 - A (Led+)
10 - button -
11 - button +
12 - K (Led-)
13 - button -
14 - K (Led-)
15 - button +
16 - A (Led+)


Beamshots + Video:

Video download here (I wanted to upload it to Youtube but Goggle wants my phone number to reactivate or create a new account. Screw you Google you never get any personal information from me! :nana: )

The camera just dont gets it how it looks to the eye. I did my best to set the camera in a way that you can still compare the shots and it looks very close to reality

Triple XM-L Mag: (high - very low)



Energizer XM-L mod: (high - med - low)



Wolf-Eyes Krait R5: [flood](high - not so high - med - low) (low is much too dark on the pic...)


Fenix LD01: (high - med - low)

Looks very promising

A build log would be very interesting plus a list of parts...I'm keen to see how this turns out.

Parts list would be nice. I have been itching to build one of these also. Most interested in the driver used and the Voltage monitor.
Looks like some nice parts.

Looks like a Der Wichtel kit with the voltage monitor from a recent thread.. Is it Der Wichtel driver too?

Heres the parts list :wave:



1: O-Ring from DW triple kit
2: Reflectors from DW triple kit
3: Heatsink from DW triple kit
4: Mag 4 D
5: Triple XM-L T5 star from DW triple kit
6: Mirco 2800mA driver @3A mod
7: LED Stripe V3 PWM Dimmer (build-in voltage monitor, overheating protection)
8: Thermal pads for mounting the driver
9: SMD sense resistor for mod the driver to 3A (the shop sends them for free when you buy a micro 2800mA)
10: red and green illuminated buttons for 0-100% dim (I will look if I use these or the potentiometer)
11: Some ordinary resistor for the leds in the buttons
12: 2 color led for battery status
13: 10k-ohm potentiometer (not in use)
14: USB TTL-RS232 module for programming the LED Stripe (yes I got a different module but its now out of stock)
15: temperature sensors I will use only 1 of them

Thanks, the bad frag. Thats a nice list. Maybe you could give us some beamshots when you get it all together.

moderator007 said:

Thanks, the bad frag. Thats a nice list. Maybe you could give us some beamshots when you get it all together.

Click to expand...

+1....and maybe a build guide for the newbies out there *cough* me *cough*

Mattaus said:

+1....and maybe a build guide for the newbies out there *cough* me *cough*

Click to expand...

At least you will need a lathe, small tap drills and a lot of other tools... If you have all that you can build it from my pics that I will take.

Sadly it wont be finished this weekend because tomorrow I need to do other non-flashlight related stuff that wasnt planned.

And of course I will take some beamshots. :naughty: I hope the picture isnt just white. :devil:

Heatsink for the driver.



Temperature sensor installed.



Apply some Arctic Silver 5. Less is better! On the complete star is as much thermal paste as 1/20 of a waterdrop. The best way to get the thermal paste smooth and without gaps is to wrap your finger in clear plastic foil that you normaly use for food.



Make sure you tighten the star really good for better thermal contact. If you dont wanna vaporise your drop-in into metal steam... ...dont use a 670Nm impact wrench.



LED star installed.




3A driver mod. The smd component with "1R00" is the sense resistor that needs to be soldered in paralell with the other sense resistor. I soldered it right on top. Actually this was my FIRST smd soldering. OMG THOSE THINGS ARE DAMN SMALL! Big respect to all you out there who do this all day.

And then the 0-ohm resistor on the driver needs to be removed too to activate the pwm mode. This resistor is only 1/3 of the sense resistor but I got it of the driver. I'll show in another pic where and how small it is.


...btw I already tested the half assembled head on a car battery. This thing is super bright and it has awesome throw...

Great pictures!

Wish I had the money, and more, the patience, to wait for all this stuff. (shipping)

Used to do small soldering as a job long ago, so I'm good at that part, but I think most of us need a machine shop-free solution.

Awfully nice job you're doing there!

Rich

Nice build, I like the heatsink...which part needs to be thrown onto a lathe?

The driver heatsink is the only part that needs to be done on a lathe. You only have 15,57mm Mag tube from the heatsink to the switch when the head is completely screwed down on the body.

If you dont wanna use a lathe you can use a sharksink-D and glue some aluminum or copper on it to make it fit for the bigger driver. (23mm instead of 19mm) Then you cant screw the mag head all the way down. (your Mag will be 7,43mm longer)

If you still want to have the head all the way down you need to cut the DW heatsink.

There are 2 ways with some compromises to build it without a lathe. :wave:


There was the 0-ohm resistor that needs to be removed to activate PWM mode. Somehow I cant get the camera focused on it. :mecry:



0-ohm resistor on a Eneloop AAA



The hole in the middle has no purpose. I only made it for better machining on the lathe. There need to be some holes for the 4 cables going through and it needs to be screwed to the heatsink.



The driver will sit somewhere like this on the headsink.



Length of the DW heatsink.



Top of Mag body to switch.

What's OD and ID of the rear of the heatsink?

All in mm as usual :wave:

The_bad_Frag said:

All in mm as usual :wave:

Click to expand...

Thank you, unfortunately I'm not going to be able to fit my driver inside with those specs. My driver is just shy of 33mm...

Then you need to cut the heatsink. I think I will be able to work at bit on my light tomorrow. Now I need some sleep. :tired:

The_bad_Frag said:

Then you need to cut the heatsink. I think I will be able to work at bit on my light tomorrow. Now I need some sleep. :tired:

Click to expand...

I figured that, I can only imagine how severly my heat management will suffer from loss of mass.

Today only a little update.


Thermal pad on the back of the driver.



Temperature sensor + and - soldered to battery + and - on the driver. This saves 2 cables going to the mag switch and through the driver heatsink. And of course a little of Arctic Silver 5 between led heatsink and driver heatsink.



Now the head is done. Something went horribly wrong with the holes for the screws for the driver heatsink. I dont know what happend...:shakehead They were so close to the edge that I had to file the heads down on each screw. The screw for the driver fits fine.