McGizmo Haiku driver swap!

jake royston

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I finally found a converter that was suitable for my McGizmo Haiku. I love this light so much, but the one thing that bothered me was the slow PWM rate on the low mode. I also wanted a higher high. This is not going to be a tutorial, but more of pictures and results, but unfortunately, i didnt take any before pictures, and i only have the one Haiku, so i have nothing to compare it to........

Anyways, i also wasn't a fan of the cool white tint, so i decided to use a Cree XPG Q4 80CRI:
https://illuminationsupply.com/indu...6.html?zenid=bcb7ef07af831d3f003e944ee94d2fb4

I decided to us the GDuP High output converter from the shoppe:
http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.com/product_info.php?cPath=48_49_61&products_id=1291

Yes, it is a bit pricey, but this was the only driver i could find that was 14mm in diameter, 3 speed, and had the 1200mA high mode i was looking for. I emailed Don about the converter he uses for XML, to see if i could use it with an xpg, and he recommended that i use this one.


Here is the new converter.
IMAG2009.jpg




Heres the new converter (right) next to the stock converter (left)
IMAG2012.jpg



after adding wires to the new driver (very carefully, the connections for the leads are very close together)
IMAG2013.jpg



After connecting the new converter to the contact pcb.
IMAG2014.jpg



New LED reflowed onto the board, and lead wires soldered on, I also added some arctic silver on the portion of the can where the PCB sits. When I first disassembled the light, i noticed that the board was not a normal white color, but a slight tan-ish yellow color, so i made sure to test it out before hooking it up to the converter, and it still works, so Im assuming its just a discoloration of the coating of the PCB.
IMAG2015.jpg


all done!
IMAG2021.jpg

IMAG2023.jpg


It does seem to be quite a bit brighter, but also has a lower bin emitter, im sure i used a cool white LED it would be much brighter!

And thats all! Still not dark yet, so ill get some beamshots a little later........


Thanks for looking!
jake
 
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bobjane

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I'd be interested to know if heat gets to be an issue.

Thought about doing something similar with the GDuP but when I saw that the MCPCB only sits on the edge of the relatively small heatsink, I decided not to.

Here's something you might find interesting. I believe they used a shorter reflector to free up space for a larger heatsink.
 

jake royston

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Apr 22, 2010
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Santa Clarita, CA
So far, it seems like the arctic silver is helping quite a bit, it gets warm when let on high for a couple minutes.

The cooling fins seem to help this issue as well, It doesn't take long for it to cool down.
 

mohanjude

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Mike

You get a sharp implement such as a needle or flat blade and gently prise the large outer O ring. Stick a piece of tape on the lens so you know which is the outside as there is a coating on the inside. The rest is easy to push out reflector.

Jake

Pretty clever stuff... I have been using the SVM Ti as a host as I love the magnetic UI with variable control. It would now be nice to use a high end Haiku for custom jobs and now with the driver swap... At nearly 50 dollars it is a bit pricey or but i think worth it. To supply the extra juice have you bored out the battery tube?

Mohan
 

jake royston

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Apr 22, 2010
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Santa Clarita, CA
Mike

You get a sharp implement such as a needle or flat blade and gently prise the large outer O ring. Stick a piece of tape on the lens so you know which is the outside as there is a coating on the inside. The rest is easy to push out reflector.

Jake

Pretty clever stuff... I have been using the SVM Ti as a host as I love the magnetic UI with variable control. It would now be nice to use a high end Haiku for custom jobs and now with the driver swap... At nearly 50 dollars it is a bit pricey or but i think worth it. To supply the extra juice have you bored out the battery tube?

Mohan

Nope, at least not yet, I wish I had a lathe so I could bore out my lights! Maybe one day I will........
 

mohanjude

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Jake

Your mod is cool anyway - maybe in the future I might be able to do it for you at no cost (boring the tube).

mohan
 

F250XLT

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Looks like a fantastic mod, well done :twothumbs
 

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond

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I finally found a converter that was suitable for my McGizmo Haiku. I love this light so much, but the one thing that bothered me was the slow PWM rate on the low mode.

Thank you! I am not the only person this has driven completely crazy! No one else seemed to see it when I mentioned it here http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...he-PD-lights&p=3906879&viewfull=1#post3906879

I think the GDuP is the perfect driver for the Haiku (and as we know would have been if Don and Wayne hadn't parted ways). My high level is set for 900mA and I can run it on a primary cr123 without any problems. The heat builds after a while, but it's really not that bad.
 

gunga

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Do you happen to know the ouput levels (lumens) from this driver? Is it programmable? No PWM? Looks very cool... I am not a fan of the levels on the Haiku, find the low is too high, and don't like the PWM. This driver looks very cool, I think I need to research it a bit.
 

jake royston

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the output to the led on mine is 20mA, 180mA, 1200mA. I requested for 10mA, 150mA, 1200mA, but i didnt sign in before adding it to my cart, so it was not ordered the way i wanted. You can request any output levels between 10mA and 1200mA.
 

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond

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The values on mine were ordered at 10, 220, 900mA. I found in the past that the 1200mA level is very hard to maintain on a regular CR123 cell - the driver just can't boost it up that much, especially if you have a LED with a higher Vf.

If you get the regular version rather than the high current one, you can go down to 5mA on the low side with a 750mA max.

The GDuP is programmable, but only by Wayne when you order them. It is not a user programmable device. There is a great thread here on the GDuP that goes through its entire developement and history up to the most current revision.

If you want to guesstimate the lumens you can just use the Cree spec pdf here: http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/xlampxp-g.pdf. On page 2 you get some good values at standard levels. If you go to page 6 you can use the relative flux vs current chart to calculate approx lumens for your flux bin level. Then use a .8 factor to calculate approx OTF lumens based on losses from optics, heat/junction temp, etc). This will give you a conservative estimate of OTF lumens.
 

jake royston

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Sorry, just saw the last post today.
The UI is the same as stock, and there is little to no noticeable PWM.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
 

gunga

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Just bumping this thread because I got my gdup today (8, 90, 750 mA levels).

Twas a bit difficult dealing with the stiff teflon jacketed wires I was using, but it seems to work very well. The memory mode is a bit different but works effectively. Love the new modes and levels! There is still PWM but it is very high frequency so I don't notice it at all.

Wish it was 4 levels, but I'm very happy so far, need to test it out at night.
 

gunga

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Overall happy with the mod. Love the new levels (around 3-30-240 lumens) and the smooth output. Do have a bit of pre-flash on low that is annoying, but improved when switching from XML to Nichia 219. This is a known issue with all gdup circuits. I confirmed this with Wayne from the shoppe.

The memory mode timing is quite good, just short enough to work quite well but not so short as to be difficult to engage (like the modern Mcgizmo 3S that requires lightening fast reflexes!).
 
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