Mattaus
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hey ho all,
Given the long weekend here in Australia and CPF being down I used the time I had spare to complete a mod I started planning over 6 months ago. It was always ambitious for me as my only modding experience prior to this was the usual XM-L + 2.8A Driver + H22A Heat Sink mod. A very basic but great mod to start out with. On a camping trip in the middle of last year I was proudly showing off my Maglite only for a mate to whip out his HID mag which promptly made mine look....horrible. It kick started a planning process and what I've arrived at is this:
I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out. It looks nice and as close to stock as I could get it, but at the same time is seriously bright.
It's a 3D mag running a pcb-components.de 'Senser Extreme' Boost Driver modified to provide 3.05A to 7 series connected XM-L-U2 emitters. This setup is controlled by the stock switch and 'Nano Dim V2' dimmer module (another pcb-component.de product) connected to a 10Kohm pot. The whole rig is powered by a custom built battery pack that utilizes parts taken from a Mdocod battery adapter, some PVC tubing and a 2000mAh LiPo 3S battery pack capable of up to 25C discharge. Given this puppy steps 11.1V up to nearly 25V it pulls over 8A from the pack...yet to do any measurements though. The lens is borofloat because of the heat which you can clearly feel holding the front 15cm from your hand. The optics are a Cree 7 point 12 degree optic.
Lastly the pot cover was custom machined for me by BVH for free as part of his offer a while back. I fits beautifully and I couldn't be happier. I wanted minimalist and that's what I got. I installed the blue trit vial myself.
The most important part however is the 100% pure copper heat-sink custom machined by Norcimbus. Norcimbus did an absolutely fantastic job and when I opened up the package at work the shine dragged everyone from their desks just to see what I had! I designed the heat-sink to fill the entire head of the stock maglite and it fit like a glove. The 4 screw points help with keeping pressure in the head, though given the tight fit they were maybe not necessary (but don't tell Norcimbus because I think they were a pain to drill!!!!).
Everything is connected with high temp silicone wire. There's barely any room to move inside the body and head the tolerances are that tight. Anyway....more pics. Sorry if they are a bit small. I had so much I wanted to show but needed to keep the pic sizes and number down:
I had to modify the driver to output 3A....I was pretty nervous doing this as it's a $50+ driver. I had to mount that 0.1ohm resistor on top of one that was already under the inductor (which had to be removed to get to it). The only issue with this driver is that no matter what brightness I have set before switching it on, it flashes at full power very quickly (not even half a second) before settling to the pre-set level. It's not too bad, but I have hurt my eyes more than once now...and scared the poo out of a few people I forgot to tell:
Modifying the mag tube, making a collar for the pot (hand filed) and installing BVH's cover:
Modifying the stock switch, installing and wiring the PWM board and installing the whole lot into the mag tube (No idea why but I put grip tape below the PWM board for some reason):
The Norcimbus heat sink, drilling and taping the mag head for the screws, and test fitting:
Wiring and installing it all up (thermal paste is holding the driver in place), the LiPo pack:
Beam shots:
XM-L @ 2.8A left, my mag on the right.
Same as above:
The video below was shot on an iPhone 4S, and the patio light was on. Stock LED MagLite first, then a modified 2.8A single XM-L on low before turning that up high. You can tell when mine turns on It throws damn far as well but only because of pure grunt, so in the yard shot it looks almost like 100% flood. It's not. The iPhone auto balances it's metering as soon as mine turns on, so it tones down the difference considerably.
I'm so happy it's finished, my colleagues at work were impressed. I sunk a lot of time and money into this project so for it to turn out better than I hope is very rewarding.
Special thanks to Norcimbus and BVH for their work, I could never have machined that stuff on my own.
Thanks for looking!
- Matt
Given the long weekend here in Australia and CPF being down I used the time I had spare to complete a mod I started planning over 6 months ago. It was always ambitious for me as my only modding experience prior to this was the usual XM-L + 2.8A Driver + H22A Heat Sink mod. A very basic but great mod to start out with. On a camping trip in the middle of last year I was proudly showing off my Maglite only for a mate to whip out his HID mag which promptly made mine look....horrible. It kick started a planning process and what I've arrived at is this:
I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out. It looks nice and as close to stock as I could get it, but at the same time is seriously bright.
It's a 3D mag running a pcb-components.de 'Senser Extreme' Boost Driver modified to provide 3.05A to 7 series connected XM-L-U2 emitters. This setup is controlled by the stock switch and 'Nano Dim V2' dimmer module (another pcb-component.de product) connected to a 10Kohm pot. The whole rig is powered by a custom built battery pack that utilizes parts taken from a Mdocod battery adapter, some PVC tubing and a 2000mAh LiPo 3S battery pack capable of up to 25C discharge. Given this puppy steps 11.1V up to nearly 25V it pulls over 8A from the pack...yet to do any measurements though. The lens is borofloat because of the heat which you can clearly feel holding the front 15cm from your hand. The optics are a Cree 7 point 12 degree optic.
Lastly the pot cover was custom machined for me by BVH for free as part of his offer a while back. I fits beautifully and I couldn't be happier. I wanted minimalist and that's what I got. I installed the blue trit vial myself.
The most important part however is the 100% pure copper heat-sink custom machined by Norcimbus. Norcimbus did an absolutely fantastic job and when I opened up the package at work the shine dragged everyone from their desks just to see what I had! I designed the heat-sink to fill the entire head of the stock maglite and it fit like a glove. The 4 screw points help with keeping pressure in the head, though given the tight fit they were maybe not necessary (but don't tell Norcimbus because I think they were a pain to drill!!!!).
Everything is connected with high temp silicone wire. There's barely any room to move inside the body and head the tolerances are that tight. Anyway....more pics. Sorry if they are a bit small. I had so much I wanted to show but needed to keep the pic sizes and number down:
I had to modify the driver to output 3A....I was pretty nervous doing this as it's a $50+ driver. I had to mount that 0.1ohm resistor on top of one that was already under the inductor (which had to be removed to get to it). The only issue with this driver is that no matter what brightness I have set before switching it on, it flashes at full power very quickly (not even half a second) before settling to the pre-set level. It's not too bad, but I have hurt my eyes more than once now...and scared the poo out of a few people I forgot to tell:
Modifying the mag tube, making a collar for the pot (hand filed) and installing BVH's cover:
Modifying the stock switch, installing and wiring the PWM board and installing the whole lot into the mag tube (No idea why but I put grip tape below the PWM board for some reason):
The Norcimbus heat sink, drilling and taping the mag head for the screws, and test fitting:
Wiring and installing it all up (thermal paste is holding the driver in place), the LiPo pack:
Beam shots:
XM-L @ 2.8A left, my mag on the right.
Same as above:
The video below was shot on an iPhone 4S, and the patio light was on. Stock LED MagLite first, then a modified 2.8A single XM-L on low before turning that up high. You can tell when mine turns on It throws damn far as well but only because of pure grunt, so in the yard shot it looks almost like 100% flood. It's not. The iPhone auto balances it's metering as soon as mine turns on, so it tones down the difference considerably.
I'm so happy it's finished, my colleagues at work were impressed. I sunk a lot of time and money into this project so for it to turn out better than I hope is very rewarding.
Special thanks to Norcimbus and BVH for their work, I could never have machined that stuff on my own.
Thanks for looking!
- Matt
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