Need help with Maglite

[trimixdiver]

Hi people I have a mag-lite that has been shaved for a lens (3 mm think) I like to drop in a light something like this ...
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k208/Teckdiver/Mag%20-lite%20Mod/sku_35244_1.jpg
And I have a Canister for my battery just woundering if I can use these babys ...how many will I need to burn for 2 hrs?
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k208/Teckdiver/Mag%20-lite%20Mod/sku_3287_1.jpg
Basicly I'll like to use this for signaling buddy , can you guys please help me choose the wright DIY part .

Thanks.

[jspeybro]

Let me make it easier :-) there's a button above the textbox where you type your message to add images inline if they are stored on a server:



The led module may need some modifications to fit the maglite, a lathe will be easiest for that, but since I never used this module, there are other experts here to help you with that.
For the batteries, there are some battery holders on DX for 2 of these batteries that you can then connect with some wires and/or a connector to a switch and the led module.
You probably can also replace the driver to if you want it at its full potential.

Johan

[trimixdiver]

You mean like this?



This is what I have at the moment , I plan to use my DIY mag lite but like to use the battery , what burn time will I get with those lights, also apart from shaving the light are there any other mods needed?

[350xfire]

You cannot use that battery pack unless you regulate voltage down to 2 LiIon or 7.4 volts (8.4 full charge).
You will need to shave off the lip at the top of the module to around 50mm, increase the ID of the top of the mag head and deepen the mag head to allow the module to sit in there deep enough. Then a spacer heatsink to make contact with the housing.

With an 8-cell 2S4P pack you should get 4-5 hours.

[trimixdiver]

deleated

[Klem]

I have some experience in putting those DX 5*XR-E heads into Maglites

Personally, for the power this drop-in draws you are not mandated to use a canister, but if you have one and want to use it then 'all good'.

The head needs work; the threads machined off and the cables affixed to the driver. The Maglite needs work; the inside of the head needs to be inletted to allow the LED emitter to sit within the head, allowing just enough space for the lens, but not too much space that the lens is not pushing against the bezel O ring with enough force to seal properly. This also ensures there is enough metal-to-metal contact for the emitter to dissipate its heat through the head to the outside.

Read this thread, concentrating on how the drop-in goes in the head and how it is all sealed;
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...highlight=klem

There are two ways you can use this drop-in;
1. Use the existing driver and simply solder two wires to the emitter. This is the simplest and cheapest way, but be aware it will not be the 1200lumens the website claims. They claim the maximum potential lumens for those 5 LEDs but the cheapy driver is just not efficient enough.

2. Cut out the existing driver and buy a better one so you can not only maximise the potential of that rig but have more control over lighting. Using a programmable driver such as a Taskled will also mean you can forgo the need to include a protection circuit in whatever Lithium battery pack you build.

[350xfire]

I have some experience in putting those DX 5*XR-E heads into Maglites

Personally, for the power this drop-in draws you are not mandated to use a canister, but if you have one and want to use it then 'all good'.

The head needs work; the threads machined off and the cables affixed to the driver. The Maglite needs work; the inside of the head needs to be inletted to allow the LED emitter to sit within the head, allowing just enough space for the lens, but not too much space that the lens is not pushing against the bezel O ring with enough force to seal properly. This also ensures there is enough metal-to-metal contact for the emitter to dissipate its heat through the head to the outside.

Read this thread, concentrating on how the drop-in goes in the head and how it is all sealed;
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...highlight=klem

There are two ways you can use this drop-in;
1. Use the existing driver and simply solder two wires to the emitter. This is the simplest and cheapest way, but be aware it will not be the 1200lumens the website claims. They claim the maximum potential lumens for those 5 LEDs but the cheapy driver is just not efficient enough.

2. Cut out the existing driver and buy a better one so you can not only maximise the potential of that rig but have more control over lighting. Using a programmable driver such as a Taskled will also mean you can forgo the need to include a protection circuit in whatever Lithium battery pack you build.

What he said!!! With 4 18650 you should get just over 2 hours.

[trimixdiver]

How do I weld the battery's in serious , can I just solder these?

[350xfire]

In series you do + to minus and plus to minus and so on... Think of a maglite where the batteries go in one after the other with the + towards the head... You can probably solder a wire to the batteries, but you need to be careful not to overheat and ruin the batteries. Sounds like you should just pay the price for a professionally built pack with protection circuitry.

[Klem]

How do I weld the battery's in serious , can I just solder these?

No welding around lithium batteries please! Use a soldering iron.

If the battery heats up too much then you will damage it. Worse case scenario it catches on fire but you need some serious heat for this to occur (like throwing a battery in a campfire and waiting till it explodes). Get some coarse grade sandpaper and scratch-up the ends of the battery terminals. That way the solder will take quicker and that means less chance of battery damage. The batteries will act as a heat sink which you need to be mindful of. Large batteries take a second or two to heat up for the solder to take, but are big enough to dissipate the heat without noticeable damage. For your 18650's short, quick soldering is the go. If in doubt let the battery cool down before you try again.

Noticeable heat damage to a lithium battery will be less capacity than the others in a pack, and that means the pack capacity will be dictated by the damaged battery if using a protection circuit. The protection circuit will stop power when the damaged battery depletes to the cut-off voltage first, even though the other batteries may still be fine.

[DIWdiver]

Actually, welding is the only manufacturer-approved method for permanent connection to the terminals. Er, make that SPOT-welding.

There are some DIY battery welder plans around, but unless you are going to make a bunch of packs, it's easier, cheaper, and probably safer to have them professionally done. There used to be a shop in the next town over from me that would do this, but I haven't been there in many years.

If you know what you are doing and have the right equipment, you can solder batteries. If you don't, then I would plan to ruin a few before you get it right. There are a number of tutorials on how to do it, just search the web. If you do plan to solder them, you might consider getting some battery tabs. These are the same things the pros use, and are available from some hobby places (I forget where I saw them) pretty cheap. They are good because they take up less space than wires, and they have very low resistance.

[trimixdiver]

Klem are you still making light heads with battery pack,canister?

[HotWire]

Most diving lights tend to focus a tight beam to pierce the water. The LED assembly you show will tend to have more flood than focus. Result: You won't be able to see as far underwater as you like. Of course the clarity of the water would have an effect on that. How do I know that? I had a ****Fire light that never worked right. I bought a similar LED assembly and installed it. Now it works fine. Nice and floody and *bright.* My light is not a diving light, so I can live with it. It's nice to have it working again.

[Klem]

I find the beam from the DX 5*XR-E quite focussed. In fact probably one of the most focussed LED beams that is not an aspheric. The XR-E is a focussed LED to start with, and 5 with this reflector is a pretty good compromise between throw and spill. Any particulate in the water will spread a beam but my experience is that this is a good all rounder for a daytime primary torch.

DIW is semantically correct however I stand by what we all knew I was talking about...don't weld those batteries in your garage, solder them. You can choose batteries with tabs however price may be an issue here. I don't go looking for tabs and concentrate on issues such as capacity/dimensions, price, and if it's lithium and going to be made up into a pack it will need to be an unprotected battery.

The DX 5*XR-E drop-in is designed to be used with a 2-cell Lithium battery so that 12V NiMH in your photo is pretty much redundant for this head. 12V exceeds the upper limit by a fair bit so you will damage it if you do. You can buy a ready-made 2-cell pack complete with protection circuit that will fit in that canister, or you can build your own. If you want to get into a new skill then by all means build your own, otherwise a ready-made one is the most expedient solution here.

Is that the canister in the photo?

[Klem]

Klem are you still making light heads with battery pack,canister?

It depends...for this head you can use a 2D Maglite as in the link I gave you...no canister needed.


Or you can use a canister like in this photo;



If you want to use the Maglite/no-canister design you need to consider what switch you will use. If you go canister and use the one in your photo you may as well use the existing switch.

It also depends on personal preference.

[trimixdiver]

Yes that is the canister I like to use , the inside Dia is 50mm, deep is 170mm can you get a pack ready made to fit inside?
Will I get more burn time with ultrafire 3800 mha ?

[Packhorse]

Will I get more burn time with ultrafire 3800 mha ?

If you are referring to 18650 ultrafire 3800mah then the answer is.....NO. While they may be named 3800mah you would be lucky to get half of that.
DX have some Sanyo 2600mah 18650's that I recently purchased. I have not tested them yet but the initial charge from 3.80volt took about 2000ma so I am guessing they probably really are 2600mah. I think 3100mah is about the max for a 18650. But if you want it then you have to pay the big $$ to get them and only buy name brand cells.
I have no issues with the 2400mah Trustfires. They seem to be about 2200mah-2400mah

[Klem]

Yes that is the canister I like to use , the inside Dia is 50mm, deep is 170mm can you get a pack ready made to fit inside?

To answer your other question...Yes, you can find a ready-made 2-cell Lithium pack with a protection circuit to fit in that canister.

The identifier '18650' batteries refers to their diameter and length. 18mm in diameter and 65mm in length. I'm thinking 4 in a square formation will need no more than 40mm of internal canister diameter. You can stick with one layer (about 70mm) or even go two layers for more burn time. You'd need to search around a bit if you wanted to go two layers as this is not a usual shape for a commercial pack. That is one reason why we tend to make our own, to suit.

Something like this...
http://www.batteryspace.com/Li-Ion-1...2P-Square.aspx

If you live in the US then this would be a reasonable deal, however be careful of this site if you live internationally...they 'charge like wounded bulls' for postage. You can find similar on other sites like Battery Junction and Fleabay.

[trimixdiver]

Hi Klem, I'm in Brisbane...
I plan to use my mag lite with the drop in module as above , will mod the rest of the drop in see how I go with the wiring and spring I was told I need a spacer for the heat , not sure yet how I will do this until I have the drop in , then will get those battery's (2 packs ) will I need just 1 PCB ?
Will I be able to join the 2 packs together ?

[Klem]

If you use a 2D Maglite without a canister then two D-cell size lithium batteries are the go. They are designated 32600 and found on the KD site.

If you use a Maglite head with that canister in your earlier photo then you can use 2-cell 18650 packs. You only need 1 pcb for your lithium power supply but coupling together two ready-made packs in parallel, each with their own PCB is doable. I used to do this when firing up HID ballasts that spiked in current demand at the start. Two packs in parallel means half the current draw for each and so the cut-off current ceiling of each packs PCB was never reached.

Off-the-shelf packs normally come with a pcb, and in any case will tell you in the product description. If you want to make your own then I recommend 8* 18650 (unprotected) plus a 2-cell pcb. The wiring is pretty straight forward.

[trimixdiver]

Email sent

[trimixdiver]

Why not use protected batteries , they are easier to get most here mention unprotected could someone please explain this ?
I noticed that there are so many brands /types of lion batteries ..
which ones to choose

[jspeybro]

for a battery pack, it is better to use unprotected cells and add a seperate protection circuit to protect the entire pack. If all cells have protection circuits, they will switch off at different moments in the discharge cycle, since not all batteries are exactly the same. This will cause more current being asked from the remaining batteries which may or may not be a problem depending on the setup.
I can also imagin that charging could be interfering with all the different protection circuits although in the end you'll most likely end up with a charged batterypack.

so to avoid these complications, we use unprotected cells with 1 protection circuit to protect the complete pack.

[trimixdiver]

Thank you for your complete answer makes sense now.

Are these batteries any good ... Was thinking of getting 8 off to make a pack with a PCA , any thoughts on burn time?
UltraFire*18650 lithium-ion*rechargeable*batteries. Rated at 3000 mah. (3.7 volts).

[350xfire]

Thank you for your complete answer makes sense now.

Are these batteries any good ... Was thinking of getting 8 off to make a pack with a PCA , any thoughts on burn time?
UltraFire*18650 lithium-ion*rechargeable*batteries. Rated at 3000 mah. (3.7 volts).

DX sells real Sanyos. Those are supposed to be great. I have had good results with the green colored DX ones. They are either Ultra or Trust Fires

[trimixdiver]

Are these batteries safe to use?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2x-Panaso...item415d195006

or these
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....X:eRTM:AU:1123

[Packhorse]

Both are good manufactures. Panasonic cost more but higher capacity. Although the Sanyo's are already welded up in a pack you could probably rewire it into a more suitable configuration.

[trimixdiver]

Which PCA board would you recommend for the Sanyo battery pack?

[350xfire]

Take your pick from the offerings in the 8.4v category (8.4v is 2S LiIon full charge). Match your discharge rate.
http://www.batteryspace.com/pcmforli...terypacks.aspx