3-4 Watt Arc AA & Ultra G w/ 3 stage switch!

[4sevens]

Hi everybody,

I don't know if it's been done before, but this may be the brightest
Arc AA yet! I don't know if it's the brightest per volume though.

I'm half way through building a 4 watt light using the Arc AA host.
I don't have time now to narrate through the pictures so right now
you just have a picture journal that I'll periodically update.
Later I'll make a nice picture by picture step by step narriative.
I'm making a few of these for myself and also to sell a couple.
(maybe a CPF benefit auction ?)

If I do sell them, I'll probably package them with 4 batteries and a custom charger that charges 2 or 3 cells.


Now here are the nice details:

These will use my Lithium Ion 3.7v 700ma AA cells that I'm selling
on a groupbuy here: linky

They are direct driving a single TWOK Lux III at 1A !!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

They will have a two stage switch with the low set at 350ma which
make the runtime around 2 hours. (high will be about 40 minutes -
but must be hand held or submersed in water)


Heres the picture journal, enjoy!

PICTURES!!!

Current status/updates:

-Enlarged the hole for the led from 5mm to 8mm for the luxeon.
-Bored out the inside of the head so that the Lux will go as
far into the reflector as possible.
-Tested the light with a 3/8in aluminum rod that fits perfectly
inside the head that will serve to pull heat away from the lux and
into the arc head and body
-I got some jewelers polish (finest polish to make dull things very
shiny) and polished up the reflector with a dremel. It looks real
nice!
-beam shots are very flood like - i'll post picts tommorrow!
-some of the picts have a beat up/scratched up lux1 when I was try
just for fitting /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
-note I also have some ultra g's on order and plan on doing the same
to them! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif

-beamshots here: On the left is a Lux V at 1A with 2D mag at 1meter

Beamshots

 

[coachbigdog]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

WOW!Nice! How much will these go for? 1st male born child? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[NewBie]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

The 3.7V Li-ion cells drop from 3.7V at a 1A load very quick, to a lower voltage. Most K bins are sitting at 3.9V at 1A. As I recall, at these sorts of loads, the 14500 drop to less then 3.6V. Most TWOK's I've seen only draw 700mA at 3.6V. So, the cell is ~3.6V * 700mA which would be 2.52 Watts.

Could you explain how you managed to get 1A?

 

[4sevens]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

I don't know. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I just ran it through the DMM and it reads .95A.
Which means without the DMM it should be at least 1A.

The cell right off the charger is 4.1v. I haven't left it on more than 2 minutes because only the aluminum rod is dissipating heat and
I didn't want to damage the Lux.

By the way, these lith cells seem to perform really well.
I recently posted a runtime (i don't have the link handy) using
on single cell with a fatman driving a Lux V (S bin) at 1A for
exactly 20 minutes before flickering out of regulation. I measured
the current at the battery and it read about 2.0-2.2A. You do the math and it seems these cells can push out quite a lot.

I also momentarily shorted it through with a DMM and it put out 18A.
scary.

 

[4sevens]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

Okay, I guess this make me a flashaholic. I couldn't sleep so I got up and did beamshots /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

newbie: I also verified that it was pulling 1A through DMM.
remember I'm using unprotected Lithium Ions. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

on the left is a Lux V at 1A in a 2d mag focused as reference.

BEAMSHOTS!

 

[Nitroz]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

Nice! Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[4sevens]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

The finished product looks exactly like a Arc AA or Infinity Ultra G except for two things. Staring down into the light reveals a luxeon instead of a 5mm led. second, the reflectors will be super
mirror-like shiney. One more thing, they will be a two stage lights. Twist it until it comes on for low. Twist another 90 degrees and you have it on high!

 

[zapper]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

Nice work, don't stop because of numbers or technicalities. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif Finish your light then enjoy your efforts! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/party.gif Let us know how they turn out! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif I loose lots of sleep as well until I'm finished making or modding a new light! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sleepy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif

 

[Phaserburn]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

7777, these are very interesting lights; kudos! When building, will the cells have protection or will there potentially be any regulation?

 

[4sevens]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

Phaserburn:

Nope. no protection. no regulation.
Lithium ions have a very flat discharge rate so I'll
be getting pretty even light. besides why would I want to
lose 20-25% loss in efficiency(single cell lights)? That
translates into heat and shorter runtime. (1 hour becomes 45 minutes
and 2 hours becomes 1.5 hours) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

By the way, I heard from milkyspit that you liked the arc aaa by
led_asap! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[4sevens]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

Update:

I completed the mod and it works awesome! The two way switch worked
just great however, I put in 10k of resistance instead of 11 ohms.
oops. It was very dim. I just need to go in and fix that.

I did a runtime test on high by putting it in a bottle of water.
It ran full brightness for about 40 minutes which is right on par.
I did verify that the TWOK does draw exactly 1A. And it does get
very hot after a few minutes if you don't keep it in your hand.
In hand it get pretty warm almost uncomfortable, but I switch
hands every now and then and it's okay.

With the low mode, it'll draw between 330-360 and give over two
hours of good light.

 

[4sevens]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

It turns out the low mode is drawing 90ma but it's still brighter and better tint and has better spill than standard arc.
At 90ma, it'll run for over 7 hours. no too shabby.

On high, I sit it in a little cup of water (with the head exposed)
to have it shine onto the ceiling. Light fills the entire 12x12 room!

I'm now working on one with a 3 stage switch!

 

[4sevens]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

Runtime test...

I left it on low all night last night (7 hours)
and woke up with it still nice and bright.

The current on low is 60ma and on high is 580ma
with the open cell at 3.65v.

These cells are rated to discharge to 2.5v, but I've
marked one cell to always discharge until 0v just to
test the abuse characteristics /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The interesting thing about the difference between low/high
it really doesn't seem like it's 10x difference. I looks
more like twice the brightness - I guess our eyes
can deceive us since we see brightness logarithmically.

ONE MORE THING:
I need suggestions for the three stage version.
I'm thinking 90ma / 350ma / 1A

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif

 

[vacuum3d]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

4sevens, what are you using as a 2-stage switch? You have pictures? I bought an empty AA-Arc from cy, and I bought the 14450 from you. I want to make a similar mod as yours.

thx,
ernest

 

[4sevens]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

Strange. I keep replying to my own posts here.
hello. hello. hello.
echo. echo. echo.
anybody home? home. home. home.

oh well, I guess this is what you do as a journal.

Here is a pair of beamshots compared to a stock Arc AA.
Very neat. Low/high.

web page

I'm already into version 2 - the first version damaged the emitter
when the arc head was screwed in too tight. My design didn't
support the emitter and the pressure went
straight to the it and essentially almost pushed die through the
reflector hole! Yikes!

Version two fixed this problem by the heat sink extending around the emitter. I'm not very good with verbage - pictures show alot...
So basically with version 2, I had to drill down the cylinder on
both ends to allow on one end for the emitter to sit inside the
heatsink and on the other end let the circuit board sit without
touching the heat sink (except around the edges).

Thermal epoxy is put under the emitter and around the heatsink to contact the inside of the head.

version 1

version 2

vacuum: I made my own two stage switch. See my pictures. It's
basically a custom spring hovering above the normal contact.
The battery makes contact with the spring first and another 90-120
degrees turn more it contacts the normal connection.
The resistors are on the back of the board.

I'm still looking for suggestions for the three stages in this next
revision...

90ma / 350ma / 1A

which makes approx runtimes at
8 hours / 2 hours / 40 minutes.

 

[pokkuhlag]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

That's looking very nice. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I like the brightness of the flood and angle of the flood.

BTW, I received the package with SL jr yesterday. :P Thanks for the flyer about God, but the owner is already christian.

 

[4sevens]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

I'm now working on the same mod for the Infinity/Gerber Ultra.

Initial observations.
It's a bit bigger than the arc in length and diameter.
It's 1.0g vs .8g with the ARC aa.

I gutted the head and it's much roomier than the arc so I can
put a bigger heat sink inside. All these features are good since
We'll need alot of heat dissipation.

The reflector is shallower than the arc and bigger in
diameter.

I've enlarged the led hole to fit the lux and bore the
inside of the head to the bottom of the reflector. so far so good.

The reflector as well as the entire light is HA3 so I tried to polish
down the HA3 to no avail. This stuff is tough! Anyway, some pictures
will follow when I get around to it.

 

[Zman]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

With the extra heatsinking capability of the Infinity, now I'm more interested. Especially since some time ago, I think Darkzero used a CR2 and a Kroll on a modified infinity body..

 

[dabiscake]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

are you using the stock board from your Arc AA?

 

[4sevens]

Re: 4W Arc AA - Megalight in disguise!

I'm not using the stock board. I'm direct driving. with at 3.7v
lithium ion.

Update on the ultra G mod...
Here some picts of the ULTRA GLUX!
web page (also other picts)

before I gutted the ultra G head, I stuck a 3.7v lithium ion in it.
after 5 minutes. the led exploded and the room smelled like magic
smoke. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

That link also includes picts of the nicely polished UltraG reflector.
It's actually bigger than a SX017a (?).

Also, some picts of the ARC AA with super glow mixed into the epoxy.
check it out!