Nereus
Enlightened
I finished this mod 2 years ago, but now that I have learned to post pics it is time to report about this mod to fellow CPFers. The specs are:
- Welch Allyn 10W HID bulb overdriven at 11W
- WA B10N008 ballast running at 11 V input voltage (see next point)
- LM2670 dc/dc step-down converter set to 11v, installed to the tailcap
- 12 AA nimhs (yes, that's 12, not 8 AA nimhs in a 2D body :green: )
- Modamags light stipple aluminium reflector
- UCL lense
- Glow powder + epoxy mix behind the reflector
- Body inner diameter sanded 1 mm larger to accept overly fat Energizer 2500 nimhs - awful job! :green:
- Tailcap inner diameter sanded 3 mm larger to accept the step down converter.
- Due to step-down converter nimhs, alkalines or primary lithiums can be used.
Here is a general pic of the mod. There is a tiny 4 mm tall microswitch under the mag switch rubber. I threw the original switch to thrash bin because it is too bulky.
Here is the business end. Yes, I removed the glass cover of the HID bulb
Watching carefully you can see a reflection of me and my camera (Anyone recognising what camera I am using will get this mod FREE :nana: )
12 AA nimhs AND WA ballast AND a step-down converter in a 2D mag = mission impossible?
There is no battery holder. Instead, I glued small sticks (is this the correct word here?) to the inside surface of the battery tube (and yes, guys, before you ask I can tell that there is a PENCIL at the 6 o'clock position
). They keep the batteries in place. You can see 3 contacts coming to the tailcap. On right and left there are plugs for the ballast input. Up there you can see red two-pin BEC socket that comes directly from the microswitch under the rubber cover shown above. The microswitch drives a low on-state resistance mosfet in the tailcap to turn the flashlight on/off.
Not a very good foto, but it shows you the bottom (front end) of the battery tube. That is just the ballast back side there to which I glued contacts for the batteries.
This is how you install the batteries - you simply slide them in. The four sticks (?) hold them in the correct place.
Here is the tailcap bored (=sanded) out to accept the step-down converter. You know guys, boring is BORING without lathe Tailcap outer surface took some damage during "boring" process.
Here is the converter unit (quite ugly, I admit - but it is inside the light and works great!)...
...and this is what it looks like plugged to its place:
Here you can see the contacts of the converter unit. On right and left there are two plugs for the ballast input. The red BEC socket up there gets the signal from the microswitch.
Here you can see the coil and input and output capacitors of the converter:
Here you can see the other side of the coil and the LM2670 converter (TO220 package):
What else could I tell... The LM2670 converter is surprisingly efficient, I measured the efficiency to be 91%. Here is the datasheet: http://www.ortodoxism.ro/datasheets/nationalsemiconductor/LM2670.pdf . The converter squeezes absolutely everything out of the nimhs: the runtime is exactly 143 minutes of flat, constant full brightness (Energizer 2500 nimhs). Then the output collapses totally in only 1 minute and the light turns off. After that the nimhs are so dead that you can't even turn the light on! :green:
Thanks for looking!
-N
- Welch Allyn 10W HID bulb overdriven at 11W
- WA B10N008 ballast running at 11 V input voltage (see next point)
- LM2670 dc/dc step-down converter set to 11v, installed to the tailcap
- 12 AA nimhs (yes, that's 12, not 8 AA nimhs in a 2D body :green: )
- Modamags light stipple aluminium reflector
- UCL lense
- Glow powder + epoxy mix behind the reflector
- Body inner diameter sanded 1 mm larger to accept overly fat Energizer 2500 nimhs - awful job! :green:
- Tailcap inner diameter sanded 3 mm larger to accept the step down converter.
- Due to step-down converter nimhs, alkalines or primary lithiums can be used.
Here is a general pic of the mod. There is a tiny 4 mm tall microswitch under the mag switch rubber. I threw the original switch to thrash bin because it is too bulky.
Here is the business end. Yes, I removed the glass cover of the HID bulb
Watching carefully you can see a reflection of me and my camera (Anyone recognising what camera I am using will get this mod FREE :nana: )
12 AA nimhs AND WA ballast AND a step-down converter in a 2D mag = mission impossible?
There is no battery holder. Instead, I glued small sticks (is this the correct word here?) to the inside surface of the battery tube (and yes, guys, before you ask I can tell that there is a PENCIL at the 6 o'clock position
). They keep the batteries in place. You can see 3 contacts coming to the tailcap. On right and left there are plugs for the ballast input. Up there you can see red two-pin BEC socket that comes directly from the microswitch under the rubber cover shown above. The microswitch drives a low on-state resistance mosfet in the tailcap to turn the flashlight on/off.
Not a very good foto, but it shows you the bottom (front end) of the battery tube. That is just the ballast back side there to which I glued contacts for the batteries.
This is how you install the batteries - you simply slide them in. The four sticks (?) hold them in the correct place.
Here is the tailcap bored (=sanded) out to accept the step-down converter. You know guys, boring is BORING without lathe
Tailcap outer surface took some damage during "boring" process.
Here is the converter unit (quite ugly, I admit - but it is inside the light and works great!)...
...and this is what it looks like plugged to its place:
Here you can see the contacts of the converter unit. On right and left there are two plugs for the ballast input. The red BEC socket up there gets the signal from the microswitch.
Here you can see the coil and input and output capacitors of the converter:
Here you can see the other side of the coil and the LM2670 converter (TO220 package):
What else could I tell... The LM2670 converter is surprisingly efficient, I measured the efficiency to be 91%.
Here is the datasheet: http://www.ortodoxism.ro/datasheets/nationalsemiconductor/LM2670.pdf . The converter squeezes absolutely everything out of the nimhs: the runtime is exactly 143 minutes of flat, constant full brightness (Energizer 2500 nimhs). Then the output collapses totally in only 1 minute and the light turns off. After that the nimhs are so dead that you can't even turn the light on! :green:Thanks for looking!
-N
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