1D Maglite at 3300 lumens with pix>

[chuck614]

Here are some pix of a 1D Mag I recently pieced together. The host was cut, finned, and bored by Jesus. The boring however, is not necessary to accomodate the batteries.

The front end is a UCL lens with FM LOP reflector. The Osram 64447 rests in a KIU high temp socket, which sits atop a hard-wired Mag switch.

The batteries are e-flite lithium polymer rated at 7.4V/800mAh each. Wired in series, they measure about 15.6V at the bulb hot off the charger. What is notable is that these batteries will discharge at 8C continuous (10C burst) or put another way, 6.4 amps continuous (8 amps burst).
The Osram 64447 is 65W/12V nominal. Driven at 15V, it puts out 3327 lumens at 5.6 amps; well within the batteries' capacity. I have driven it with a 7.4V and 11.1V wired in series for 6231 lumens at 6.4 amps, but the larger battery will not fit in the 1D host. A 2D is quite spacious, however. (Lumens are from Lux's charts)

The beam shot is about 6 feet from a white wall with a 12 inch ruler taped to it for scale. The axial filament of the 64447 gives a smooth beam with the LOP reflector. I have also tried a 35W Hikari up to 22.2V. While bright, the filament artifacts are distracting.

A dedicated charger/balancer for these batteries is only $20.
Pardon this clumsy post. I have never posted pix before and promise to never do it again! Moderator: if the pix are too big, I'm sorry.

 

[mr.squatch]

Hey that's pretty cool. Never seen anyone use that battery configuration. More info on the batteries? Link to em somewhere? Congrats, its hard to do anything new anymore around here


g

 

[choppers]

That is sweet!!! Great work.....the 1D sized mags are my favorite...what was the total cost of this project?

 

[Flash Harry]

This is a clever mod. I can see there will be a lot of interest in this sort of thing especially as you have great pictures in your post.

I have to do one.

 

[07accordEX]

ooh nice, I never thought about using airplane/heli batteries, defiantly have to look into that for my new build

 

[Gunner12]

According to my calculations, 8 minutes 30 seconds of runtime at the most(I didn't factor in resistance). A true "WOW" light.

Great mod, now comes the critical question:

Does it burn paper?

 

[Patriot]

Very cool arrangement Chuck!

If you get the chance, a link for those batteries would be great.

Thanks

 

[Gunnerboy]

chuck614,

That is one cool mod! :twothumbs Clever! Nice pix too.

This is giving me ideas. :devil: Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,
Gary

 

[EvilLithiumMan]

Great mod. Great pics. There is a wide selection of LiPo packs at www.batteryspace.com . I have thought often using LiPo in a mod, but never thought to run a pack this small. You did a wonderful job, congrats!

 

[jasonck08]

Wow... beautiful mod....

 

[Stereodude]

Does it burn paper?

The all important question. :naughty:

 

[chuck614]

Very cool arrangement Chuck!

If you get the chance, a link for those batteries would be great.

Thanks

Thanks for the interest. The batteries are widely available at RC hobby stores that carry the popular e-Flite Blade helicopter, or online at
www.e-fliterc.com. It is important to get the 800mAh series, as they are the smallest and have the dedicated charger/balancer. As far as I know, they are the only LiPo's that will fit in the barrrel of a D-size Mag. The 7.4V batteries are part no. EFLB0990 and sell for about $27. The 11.1V is part no. EFLB0995 and are about $37. I see them on eBay, too.
The 11.1V are too wide to place two side by side like the 7.4V, but there is ample room to stack them in a 3D. They are about 1/2 inch longer than a regular D cell. The charger has ports for both 7.4V and 11.1V sizes. It is 12V DC input and sells for $20.
Connectors are the small-ish JST type, but they seem to handle the current just fine. I have cycled the batteries about six times now with no problems. Run time is, well, short. I would like to see some of you guys work with these batteries, too. LiPo's that are of much greater capacity are out there, but begin at 34mm width--slightly too large for a D Mag. Good luck!

 

[Probedude]

A source for inexpensive lipos is also:
Hobbycity (out of stock a lot and ships from HK)
http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/...ucts.asp?idCategory=86&curPage=2&v=&sortlist=

and this place
www.commonsenserc.com


Question: what do you use for an on/off switch when it's been jumpered around?

 

[chuck614]

The Mag switch still functions. The wires are soldered to the negative and positive metal contacts in the switch, and have the two JST connectors soldered at the other end. I have since lost the instructions illustrating how to do this. Another member may be of some help. The KIU high temp socket wiring instructions are attached to his sales page.
:thinking:

Oh! I just remembered. One wire is soldered to the center spring on the bottom of the switch (easy) The other is soldered to the metal band under the bolt on the "ground" (blue) side if the switch. I pressed a hot nail into the switch body and melted a little groove in the plastic for the wire to run through. Some guys use a dremel. It's simple.

If somebody could figure out how to make a carrier for these LiPo's that would allow the use of AW's soft starter, they could make millions!
:twothumbs

 

[Probedude]

The Mag switch still functions. The wires are soldered to the negative and positive metal contacts in the switch, and have the two JST connectors soldered at the other end. I have since lost the instructions illustrating how to do this.

Oh, gotcha. I thought the switch was jumpered around.

If somebody could figure out how to make a carrier for these LiPo's that would allow the use of AW's soft starter, they could make millions!

You could just wire off an JST connector off the soft starter - no need to add a carrier.

I've got a ton of lipo packs around here for all my RC planes - was thinking of using a few for my LED lights but you beat me to it!

Here's just some of them from almost a year ago.
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2425100&postcount=21

 

[jasonck08]

Great idea! Lipo packs are so cheap, and provide an excellent amount of current. I just might grab a couple 1300mah 7.4v 25-30C packs for $13 each from hobbycity.com

Also, what charger do you use? Link?

And I forget what the C thing means, when batteries say 25C do you just take the mah of the pack and multiply it by the capacity of the cell (1300mah for example) then you get the max amps?

Also you should consider getting a couple of These that way you can make sure your packs do not become unbalanced. This little thing plugs into your battery and lights up green if things are fine and red if voltage drops lower than 3.3v (it can damage the cells if it drops any lower).

Also check these 350mah 11.1v packs out! They are only 20x20x41mm. You should be able to easily cram 3 of these in a 1 D mag. then you can overdrive a 24v bulb to 33v's

 

[chuck614]

The 350's are really small, but even at 20C, they only discharge .350x20=7 amps. You would not be able to drive the big Osrams with that; they draw over 11.5 amps at nominal voltage. The 350's might do well with a Hikari or one of the WA's though. If several of us keep looking, we ought to be able to compile a list of LiPo's that will fit in the barrel of a Maglite. Hopefully we can find some that will give us over 10 amps, if even for a short time.

 

[Northern Lights]

The 350's are really small, but even at 20C, they only discharge .350x20=7 amps. You would not be able to drive the big Osrams with that; they draw over 11.5 amps at nominal voltage. The 350's might do well with a Hikari or one of the WA's though. If several of us keep looking, we ought to be able to compile a list of LiPo's that will fit in the barrel of a Maglite. Hopefully we can find some that will give us over 10 amps, if even for a short time.

I would love a list like that. I have spend hours on the web trying to find a lipo to fit and have the Ah I need. This one was the first that had promise. Right now I am hoping to use Powerex 2700s on a 19 volt application, needing 7.43 amps. The difference is 1100 Ah of power and I am not sure the Powerex will perform well at the 7.43 amps.

 

[jasonck08]

What is the max width that the Lipo's can be to fit in the tube of a mag. I don't have a mag on hand, but how many mm's across is a mag? Most Lipo's are 33-35mm's in width...

Also three 350ma 11.1v Lipo's in a series puts out 33.3v. @ 15C thats a max of about 175 watts @ 33v's so thats 5.25a, that's enough to overdrive a 120-150W bulb. Runtime wouldn't be long as 350ma x 11.1 x3 = 11.65Whr's. Enough to power a 150W bulb for like 4-5minutes . But who says you need to use a 150W bulb? You could use a 50W 25v bulb and overdrive it to 33v and it would last about 10-15min.

 

[Alan B]

A123Systems LiFePO4 cells will produce more current than LiPos, and are just larger than C diameter, and a bit longer than C. So will fit in D tubes. They are also safer.

-- Alan