Sold/Expired Tri-EDC Light Engine Upgrade with Programmable Driver

The Tri-EDC is a powerhouse triple LED light that packs amazing punch for its size. The one limitation I find with the light is the available UI. I want more from a light than Low-Medium-High. Rather than just upgrading a driver I wanted to see if there was a way I could produce a light engine upgrade that was worthy of offering for sale.

I would like to present you with an upgrade light engine for Tri-EDC. This is a tellurium copper based light-engine with copper mPCB and a very flexible custom programmed 3.04A driver.

The key features of the light engine are:
- Tellurium copper body machined by Jeff Hanko.
- Noctigon triple copper mPCB with direct thermal path.
- 3.04A custom programmable driver.
- Carlco frosted narrow optic.

Jeff Hanko has produced a beautiful replica of the stock Tri-EDC light engine body. The choice of metals for best thermal management was copper, but it is highly reactive and long term oxidation of the contact surface was a concern. Tellurium copper is an alloy of copper with better machining properties and higher corrosion resistance. This is a solid chunk of metal with some good weight to it – it should allow the Tri-EDC to be pushed harder and longer at higher current levels.

Here are a few videos of how the parts were made:
http://youtu.be/GvWW6qTyg98
http://youtu.be/ihe-7NMNwdM


The Noctigon XP Triple is an advanced copper mPCB. The mPCB is made of solid copper, uses heavy copper traces and direct to copper bonding of the LED. This provides a direct thermal path for heat transfer. The LEDs are also aligned much more nicely on this mPCB so that they fit perfectly in the Carclo lenses.

The 3.04A custom driver is a NJANG 105C driver utilizing 8 x 380mA bin AMC7135 chips. The driver has been reprogrammed with the 'lucidrv' firmware by Dr.Jones. This firmware offers 16 levels of output, beacon, strobe, 2 mode groups with up to 7 modes per group, multiple memory options and a straightforward configuration menu. The programming instructions are posted further down in the thread and can also be found on his website http://drjones.dyndns.info. Although they look complicated at first glance, once I started to program a light I found it very easy to use and had the programming down within 10 minutes. At 3.04 Amps this driver is also more powerful than the stock 2.8 Amp driver. Please note: use only 18350 IMR cells with this drop-in.

Carlco frosted narrow triple optic. I've never been a huge fan of plastic optics. I find them to be very spotty with almost no spill. The frosted narrow version of the Carlco optic still gives a nice spot but has a bit of diffusion property that provides for a nice spill. For me, this optic changed my viewpoint on triples and made them really useful.

I am offering two different Cree LEDs in this run which are the XP-E2 and the XP-G2. Each LED is offered in several different tints. The XP-E2 gives a tighter spot with more throw and is offered in R2 and R3 flux bins. The XP-G2 gives a bigger spot which is not as bright as the XP-E2 in any one spot but has more total lumens.

The light engines are shipped with the default programming:
Group 1 - Moonlight Low, Low, Med, High, Strobe (Hybrid Memory)
Group 1 - High, Med (Normal Memory)

There are 13 light-engines available. The cost of the light engine is $90 each. Shipping is additional at $5 for CONUS orders and $10 for international.

1 - XP-E2 Cool R3 5700K wyldthng PAID SHIPPED
2 - XP-E2 Neutral R2 4000K H-nu PAID SHIPPED
3 - XP-E2 Neutral R2 4000K Barbarian PAID SHIPPED
4 - XP-E2 Neutral R2 4000K Mtbmurf PAID SHIPPED
5 - XP-E2 Neutral R2 4000K Colonel Sanders PAID SHIPPED
6 - XP-E2 Neutral R2 4000K JMP PAID SHIPPED
7 - XP-G2 R5-3C ~5000K LightJunk PAID SHIPPED
8 - XP-G2 R5-3C ~5000K eala PAID
9 - XP-G2 R5-5C1 ~4000K senna94 PAID SHIPPED
10 - XP-G2 R5-5C1 ~4000K emu124 PAID SHIPPED
11 - XP-G2 R5-5C1 ~4000K euroken PAID SHIPPED
12 - XP-G2 Q2 90+ Hi-CRI ~2700K Barbarian PAID SHIPPED
13 - XP-G2 Q2 90+ Hi-CRI ~2700K Colonel Sanders PAID SHIPPED

Please claim your light engine by number and send payment to SLONGTEMPS (at) GMAIL (dot) COM. Please use the purchase option and make sure your shipping address is correct as I will only ship to registered PP address. Also, please put the number of the light engine in the PP notes.

And now some pictures. I apologize for the quality as I only had my phone available at the time.

The copper light-engine bodies:



The Noctigon after re-flowing the LEDs. Solder flux has not yet been cleaned off.


Completed driver installs:


Completed light engines with Carlco optic:

lucidrv programming instructions

This is the successor of lupodrv with a somewhat more intuitive programming UI; it also features two mode groups.

Two mode groups: You can have two mode groups for different situations (e.g. one for indoors with moon and low modes, and one for outdoors with high/med). Each group is fully configurable with up to 7 modes and it's own memory type (see below).

Mode locking: Select any mode and use it for a second, then activate mode lock (see below). Then that mode is locked, it won't change to next mode any more (unless you unlock it again). Good for tactical or signaling purpose.

Programming: You can change any mode to a different brightness, strobe or beacon; you can change the number of modes (1-7) in each group, and you can change the memory type for each group (see below)(no-memory, classic memory, short-cycle memory).

Configuration menu (programming mode): Select a mode and use it for at least a second. That mode is then the selected mode for some of the actions below. Then enter programming mode by 8 rapid taps (half-presses; the light must be <0.2s on each time). You have to be quite fast, however it's no problem if you tap a few times more.

Shortly after those rapid taps a blinking signal will be shown. This serves two purposes: It indicates that the light is now in its configuration menu (programming mode) and awaits further input, and it also serves as battery level indicator: The number of blinks indicates battery voltage, about one blink for every 0.1V above 3.0V without load (~12 is full, ~4 is pretty empty). If you let them pass without tapping the button again, the config menu is exited without any change.

If you want to change the configuration, you need to 'input' more taps while the blinking signal is active, the number of taps specifies the action. Note that the timing is more relaxed in the config menu; you have to be swift and uninterrupted, but by far not as rapid as the 8 taps above. However you must hit the exact number of taps.

Once you entered the config menu (by 8 rapid taps) and see it's signal, tap the button a number of times to do the following:

• 1 tap: Mode lock; lock the selected mode (see above). If locked, unlock.
• 2 taps: Switch between the two groups (also lifts a mode lock).
• 3 taps: Set brightness. The light will ramp the brightness up and down twice in 16 visually linear steps (the output doubles/halves every 2 steps). Tap once when the desired brightness is reached to change the selected mode to this brightness (constant brightness).
• 4 taps: Change the selected mode to strobe.
• 5 taps: Change the selected mode to beacon (a blink every ~10s)
• 6 taps: Delete the selected mode.
• 7 taps: add a mode; the new mode is inserted at the position of the selected mode. Example: If you have 3 modes, L/M/H (with M selected), then add a mode, the result is L/M/M/H, i.e. the selected mode is doubled, and the first of them is selected. It can then be changed by entering the config menu again.
• 8 taps: Set the memory type for the active group to no-memory.
• 9 taps: Set the memory type for the active group to classic memory (cycle through all modes).
• 10 taps: Set the memory type for the active group to short-cycle memory (after memory kicked in, skip to first mode; see above).

Battery monitoring: Whenever the battery falls below 3V under load, brightness is reduced (about half). The reduced load usually brings up the voltage a bit. When it drops below 3V again, brightness is halved again - and so on, down to a very low level. It will not switch off and leave you in complete darkness though.

PWM frequency is 18 kHz.

Note: The brightness ramp hast 16 steps, from #16(100%) downwards the output halves every 2 steps. The lowest modes however deviate from that due to limited PWM resolution, also the actual output on the lowest modes depends on hardware variations like LED forward voltage.

The levels (in %) are: ~.2 .7 1 1.5 2 3 4 6 9 13 18 25 35 50 70 100

New features for lucidrv drivers sent since September 2013:
Disable programming (proglock): Solder a connection from the 4th star (the rightmost one on the images below) to the outer ring to disable programming (some conductive paint etc. might work, too). Mode locking and switching between mode groups (1 or 2 taps in the config menu) will still work, but all config options below that won't. Remove the solder bridge to enable configuration changes again.

Damn that is some nice work! I will take number two (2). Now I have to find a Tri-EDC light! LOL!

I will take #9 - XP-G2 R5-5C1 ~4000K



Thanks!!

10 - XP-G2 R5-5C1 ~4000K AVAILABLE

Thanks !

Oh man SOYCD you have been on a roll lately providing amazing mods. What a quality offering, and a great price!

Shine-

Will that fit in a Mac edc SST50? Just curious. I am waiting on an SST50 that I had purchased from one of our fine CPF brothers.

Similar question to Rush - I only have a Brass Knurly EDC. Do you know if this engine would work in that light? If so, I'll take #11. This looks like a very nice piece of work Sean!

I'll take #11 please. PP to follow this evening hopefully sooner.

Very cool offering - agree the Tri-EDC UI is lacking. Programming options on these look incredible.

RUSH FAN said:

Shine-

Will that fit in a Mac edc SST50? Just curious. I am waiting on an SST50 that I had purchased from one of our fine CPF brothers.

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dlmorgan999 said:

Similar question to Rush - I only have a Brass Knurly EDC. Do you know if this engine would work in that light? If so, I'll take #11. This looks like a very nice piece of work Sean!

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Hmmmm..... I am really not sure if there is a difference in head size of the non-triple lights. Maybe someone who has both can help out.

Take a look at this picture http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...All-Shipped*&p=3357715&viewfull=1#post3357715. I think the SST50 looks to have a longer head even though the body is the same size.

LupinIII said:

Very cool offering - agree the Tri-EDC UI is lacking. Programming options on these look incredible.

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Thank you.

For the record, here are the settings I am running in mine:
Group 1: Modes 1, 3, 7, 10, 13, 16 (Hybird memory)Group 2: Modes 11, 16, 7, 1 (no memory)

If find these settings provide great versatility. Group 1 is great around the house and at night. Group 2 is a more everyday type setting with the first level set always coming on at a usable medium level.

The settings work out approximately:

I'll take no:7.

PM sent.

Sean,

Could you program and set mine up identical to yours prior to shipping it?

Thanks!

8 please.

That's awesome. Can you sell me a tri Edc to go with it?

I'll take #3 & #12

gunga said:

That's awesome. Can you sell me a tri Edc to go with it?

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I wish I had a Tri-EDC to sell with every drop-in....

LightJunk said:

I'll take no:7.

PM sent.

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eala said:

8 please.

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Barbarian said:

I'll take #3 & #12

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I've noted these in the post - will update paid status later on.