Hi everyone,
After nine months, it was May 2004 of my first mod CMG Infinity Mod, this is my second mod, the 8 mm LED 222 bulb hosting by a Tektite Tekna Splash-Lite. The rationale behind the picking 222 bulb and Splash-Lite is:
- About A year ago after reading ads and reviews about those LED, LS replacement bulbs, I was dying to have one to place in every old flashlight to see the effect. By looking at the price tag of around $39.00 each, I decided to make one myself. I started with 222 bulb because I owned a Splash-Lite that hosted a 222 bulb.
- I liked the Splash-Lite form factor pretty much. Tiny, light weight comparing with other CR123 type lights, dive rated 100 ft and most important was the reasonable price of $14.95 selling at the Tektite official website.
Why did I choose the 8 mm LED instead of the Luxeon? That was a compromise of choosing Splash-Lite as the host. Because almost 99% of the Splash-Lite were of plastic, when considering the heat factor I could only drive the emitter at a lower power rate. It was some kind of waste to using a Luxeon. I found this High Power 8mm 13Lumen LED on Ebay. I thought this was an ideal LED that I needed to put in the bulb, cheap (about $1.50, even cheaper on sales), IF 150mA, PD 500mW, pure white and 55 degree view angle(means no need of optic lens). CPFer Djpark made a very nice Arc-AA 8mm mod last year. The 8mm LED he used was from Korea and mine was from Hong Kong. I expected my LED performed better because it was a newer product.
By using the 8mm LED, I got another advantage over the Luexon was the form factor of the LED. The shape of the LED made it easier to compose and stuff the parts into the bulb base. Adding the better discharge character of lithium battery, I used the Zetex maximum efficiency circuit to reduce the parts to the minimum.
I only had some 0.1, 0.05 and 0.025 ohm resistors on hand. I used different composition of these resistors to obtain the desire resistance. Sadly while I was continuing to switching those resistors, I burnt or broke the leads of one IC, two transistors, three resistors and one LED. Finally when I figured that the 0.1 ohm and 0.05 ohm in series were the ideal resistance, I damaged another LED and IC. I soldered all things together again. Because of each of the parts were different in electric character even they were the same model, the 0.15 ohm was not the ideal resistance now. My object was to draw 250mA from the CR123. According to the measurement of my Infinity mod, with this circuit I would have 3.4V output, average 2.7V(with load) input, estimating 90% efficiency and 250mA input, I would get 180mA output to slightly overdrive the LED. But with these specific IC, transistor, inductor and LED, the 0.15 ohm was a bit too high; I only got 210mA from a fresh battery. But I got a cooler pill and longer runtime. So I didn't make more change. I will use the ZLT-CCR-2 circuit by MrAl with a variable SMD resistor in my future mod to avoid this problem. Compare to the Tektite LED replacement bulbs and the Tekna Splash-Lite LS , the mod bulb is not bad though.
Now here are the photos:
A view of the composed LED and parts, the LED was protected with paper and Scotch tape while assembling.
Different viewing angle of the composed LED.
Composed LED stuffed and epoxyed into the 222 base.
The red lines are the positions of two rings made by paper clip to keep the top of the LED away from the Splash lens.
8mm LED bulb inserted into the Splash-Lite reflector.
Beam-shot comparison:
Left: CMG Infinity Ultra G with fresh Energizer e2 L91
Right: High power 8mm LED 13 Lumen Tekna Splash-Lite with little use Panasonic CR123
Normal exposure, closest to my sight sense.
2 scale under exposure
The photos can not show the actual scene of both light. The Infinity has a very large and bright side spill while the 8mm LED Splash-Lite also has a even larger but dimmer side spill. The edge of the Splash side spill is brighter than the inner part due to the structure of the transparant bezel.
Runtime test:
I used the CMG Infinity Ultra G with a fresh Energizer L91 for reference. The Infinity only turned on a few seconds every hour to compare to save the battery at full power.
In the first 3 hours, the 8mm LED Splash was brighter and had more overall output than the Infinity. Close to 4 hours, Splash was still brighter at spot, but had less overall output. I got the output comparison by turned on both light in a completely dark room, shot one light towards the ceiling and blocked the other with my body alternately, looking at the bed, carbenet and corners of the room to see the difference. From 4 to 4.5 hour, the center spot was going from as bright to dimmer than the Infinity. The Splash suddenly dead by about 5 hours.
The CR123 for runtime test was used to do the resistor finding earlier. During the test, I started with 0.05 ohm. It drove very high current and produced so much heat that I couldn't do the measure. I also had the battery accidentally shot circuit in a second a couple of times. So this battery was not fresh, however I believed that a fresh Panasonic CR123 was not a good lithium battery when compared to my pretty much used Tekcell CR123. The used Tekcell and another fresh Panasonic both supplied 210mA to the same bulb. The Panasonic CR123 is very cheap, I spent US$1.99 for 10 pcs plus US$10.00 S&H. I will buy some other brand CR123 for test later. I read the 123 Battery Shoot-Out but I didn't see the Panasonic. The Panasonic performance disappointed me when comparing with the fresh half CR-V3 in my Infinity mod that drew 0.52A and lasted at least 3.5 hours before it dropped to the level of the Infinity Ultra.
Please don't criticize on my non-technical test, numbers, etc. I am thousand miles away my home. Right now the only simple tools I have are a 20/80 Watt iron-gun, a DT-830B DMM($10 on Ebay?), an unknown brand miniture dremel, one magnifier and some clips, screw drivers to do my projects. Camera? Borrowed and returned. I just want to share my interest and fun to the others. Thank you all to seeing this post.
Parts I used:
<ul type="square"> [*]IC: ZXSC300E5CT-ND $1.00 x 1 from Digikey [/list]<ul type="square"> [*]Transistor: FMMT617CT $0.648 x 1 from Digikey [/list]<ul type="square"> [*]Inductor: Series CR43, Sumida 8.2 uH 0.84A $1.24 x 1 from Digikey [/list]<ul type="square"> [*]Resistor: 0.1 ohm 1% $0.4 x 1 from OsCommerce [/list]<ul type="square"> [*] Resistor: 0.05 ohm 5% $0.6 x 1 from OsCommerce [/list]
Total: $3.888
The values are subject to change by the seller and not include the S&H.
After nine months, it was May 2004 of my first mod CMG Infinity Mod, this is my second mod, the 8 mm LED 222 bulb hosting by a Tektite Tekna Splash-Lite. The rationale behind the picking 222 bulb and Splash-Lite is:
- About A year ago after reading ads and reviews about those LED, LS replacement bulbs, I was dying to have one to place in every old flashlight to see the effect. By looking at the price tag of around $39.00 each, I decided to make one myself. I started with 222 bulb because I owned a Splash-Lite that hosted a 222 bulb.
- I liked the Splash-Lite form factor pretty much. Tiny, light weight comparing with other CR123 type lights, dive rated 100 ft and most important was the reasonable price of $14.95 selling at the Tektite official website.
Why did I choose the 8 mm LED instead of the Luxeon? That was a compromise of choosing Splash-Lite as the host. Because almost 99% of the Splash-Lite were of plastic, when considering the heat factor I could only drive the emitter at a lower power rate. It was some kind of waste to using a Luxeon. I found this High Power 8mm 13Lumen LED on Ebay. I thought this was an ideal LED that I needed to put in the bulb, cheap (about $1.50, even cheaper on sales), IF 150mA, PD 500mW, pure white and 55 degree view angle(means no need of optic lens). CPFer Djpark made a very nice Arc-AA 8mm mod last year. The 8mm LED he used was from Korea and mine was from Hong Kong. I expected my LED performed better because it was a newer product.
By using the 8mm LED, I got another advantage over the Luexon was the form factor of the LED. The shape of the LED made it easier to compose and stuff the parts into the bulb base. Adding the better discharge character of lithium battery, I used the Zetex maximum efficiency circuit to reduce the parts to the minimum.
I only had some 0.1, 0.05 and 0.025 ohm resistors on hand. I used different composition of these resistors to obtain the desire resistance. Sadly while I was continuing to switching those resistors, I burnt or broke the leads of one IC, two transistors, three resistors and one LED. Finally when I figured that the 0.1 ohm and 0.05 ohm in series were the ideal resistance, I damaged another LED and IC. I soldered all things together again. Because of each of the parts were different in electric character even they were the same model, the 0.15 ohm was not the ideal resistance now. My object was to draw 250mA from the CR123. According to the measurement of my Infinity mod, with this circuit I would have 3.4V output, average 2.7V(with load) input, estimating 90% efficiency and 250mA input, I would get 180mA output to slightly overdrive the LED. But with these specific IC, transistor, inductor and LED, the 0.15 ohm was a bit too high; I only got 210mA from a fresh battery. But I got a cooler pill and longer runtime. So I didn't make more change. I will use the ZLT-CCR-2 circuit by MrAl with a variable SMD resistor in my future mod to avoid this problem. Compare to the Tektite LED replacement bulbs and the Tekna Splash-Lite LS , the mod bulb is not bad though.
Now here are the photos:
A view of the composed LED and parts, the LED was protected with paper and Scotch tape while assembling.
Different viewing angle of the composed LED.
Composed LED stuffed and epoxyed into the 222 base.
The red lines are the positions of two rings made by paper clip to keep the top of the LED away from the Splash lens.
8mm LED bulb inserted into the Splash-Lite reflector.
Beam-shot comparison:
Left: CMG Infinity Ultra G with fresh Energizer e2 L91
Right: High power 8mm LED 13 Lumen Tekna Splash-Lite with little use Panasonic CR123
Normal exposure, closest to my sight sense.
2 scale under exposure
The photos can not show the actual scene of both light. The Infinity has a very large and bright side spill while the 8mm LED Splash-Lite also has a even larger but dimmer side spill. The edge of the Splash side spill is brighter than the inner part due to the structure of the transparant bezel.
Runtime test:
I used the CMG Infinity Ultra G with a fresh Energizer L91 for reference. The Infinity only turned on a few seconds every hour to compare to save the battery at full power.
In the first 3 hours, the 8mm LED Splash was brighter and had more overall output than the Infinity. Close to 4 hours, Splash was still brighter at spot, but had less overall output. I got the output comparison by turned on both light in a completely dark room, shot one light towards the ceiling and blocked the other with my body alternately, looking at the bed, carbenet and corners of the room to see the difference. From 4 to 4.5 hour, the center spot was going from as bright to dimmer than the Infinity. The Splash suddenly dead by about 5 hours.
The CR123 for runtime test was used to do the resistor finding earlier. During the test, I started with 0.05 ohm. It drove very high current and produced so much heat that I couldn't do the measure. I also had the battery accidentally shot circuit in a second a couple of times. So this battery was not fresh, however I believed that a fresh Panasonic CR123 was not a good lithium battery when compared to my pretty much used Tekcell CR123. The used Tekcell and another fresh Panasonic both supplied 210mA to the same bulb. The Panasonic CR123 is very cheap, I spent US$1.99 for 10 pcs plus US$10.00 S&H. I will buy some other brand CR123 for test later. I read the 123 Battery Shoot-Out but I didn't see the Panasonic. The Panasonic performance disappointed me when comparing with the fresh half CR-V3 in my Infinity mod that drew 0.52A and lasted at least 3.5 hours before it dropped to the level of the Infinity Ultra.
Please don't criticize on my non-technical test, numbers, etc. I am thousand miles away my home. Right now the only simple tools I have are a 20/80 Watt iron-gun, a DT-830B DMM($10 on Ebay?), an unknown brand miniture dremel, one magnifier and some clips, screw drivers to do my projects. Camera? Borrowed and returned. I just want to share my interest and fun to the others. Thank you all to seeing this post.
Parts I used:
<ul type="square"> [*]IC: ZXSC300E5CT-ND $1.00 x 1 from Digikey [/list]<ul type="square"> [*]Transistor: FMMT617CT $0.648 x 1 from Digikey [/list]<ul type="square"> [*]Inductor: Series CR43, Sumida 8.2 uH 0.84A $1.24 x 1 from Digikey [/list]<ul type="square"> [*]Resistor: 0.1 ohm 1% $0.4 x 1 from OsCommerce [/list]<ul type="square"> [*] Resistor: 0.05 ohm 5% $0.6 x 1 from OsCommerce [/list]
Total: $3.888
The values are subject to change by the seller and not include the S&H.
