3C Mag LED Mod Options. Want bright LS.

[jtice]

I am wanting to mod a 3C Mag. I wanted to know all of my options though.

Can I purchase a BB or MM board, and have it run a 5W LS LED? Will 3C batties do that? Will they run at least a 1 or 2 Watt LS?

I am wanting to do the brightest mod I can, with very good "throw",,, but would like to do it as cheaply as possible.

 

[BuddTX]

Mr. Bulk's Space Needle II is housed in a Mag 3C light. It has such a nice feel to it.

I do not have any info on doing it yourself however.

 

[jtice]

Yea, I have seen his Space Needles. thay are AWSOME !!!!!!!

I want to build one similar to it,,, hopefully cheaper also,,, I want one of his,,,, but I really cant spend upwards of $100 for a light,, right now anyway.

 

[Shark]

I think you can run the BB 700 or BB750 on 3 C cells to drive the 5W LS but you may want to email dat2zip to get all the details.

 

[dw_1984]

I just noticed that Wayne updated the converter board pages. Apparently for the BB700, the input voltage range is ~4.0-6.2V for a 5W LS.

For 3 Cells, your only choice may be alkalines. I'm not too sure about this but that's my (possibly incorrect) interpretation of the BB700 page.

I would also suggest e-mailing Wayne to confirm.

Good luck!
Daniel

 

[jtice]

I will probably go with one of the BB boards,,,, where can i find LS led's ?

I think I can buy them from his site,,, but I dont know what I need really.

Oh, and are there any good reflectors? I dont know if the stock Mag reflector will do a good enough job of focusing the light.

What baord and led do you recommend?

 

[dw_1984]

Well, only the BB700 seems to be in stock at the moment. I think the BB750 is adjustable but don't quote me, I've seen pictures of it and I remember there is a trim pot on it. I would personally go for the BB750 because it's adjustable.

A good place to guy LS is ElektroLumens. He's got a package for $30USD for a 5 Watt White Luxeon Star (bin code may be W2 which is pretty good), a heatsink, and a NX-05 optic. You probably won't be using that optic so just set that aside.

From my limited tests, the Mag reflector seems to work fairly well. You may have to trim it down so that it will fit in your mod. Also, the 30mm optic that EL also sells has good potential. Ask around and see what they say but I think the modified Mag reflector is more popular.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

 

[hotbeam]

BuddTX: The SNII is housed in a 2C, not 3C /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

dw_1984: The Elektrolumens package I received was a V3U. If it was a W??, the $30 kit would be $50! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jtice]

I want to buy a 5W LS LED from here .
And I'd like to buy a converter board from here .

I have heard of a BB750 being adjustable... but I dont see a 750 one the site. What's up with that?

What board would you recommend to use with the 5W LS LED?
I plan on driving it with a 3C Mag, with 3C's in it, (at first) then I might break down and put those expensive 123 cells in it later.

-- Oh, I also have a 2D Mag... are the heads of the 3C and 2D similar enough, so that I can easily take the module out of the 3C and slap it in the 2D? -- Im thinking of running the 3C Mag off 3C batteries... and being able to swap the module to the 2D Mag, but put 6AA's in the 2D mag.

 

[dw_1984]

My mistake. Slip of the finger. Yeah it was a V3 5 watter.

Jtice, I think the interchangeable heads would be a good idea. There are some "newer" style C's and I hear (haven't personally held one) that they are slightly different. I'm pretty sure the old style Cs and Ds will work fine.

I believe the BB750 is out of stock. It was there about a week or so ago. Are you putting the board in the head too? Or are you leaving the board in the body of the 3C?

Because for your 2D, you could run the LS direct drive with the 6AAs but if you do choose to use the board, I think you could only use Nimh or Nicads because the combined voltage of alkalines would exceed the max Vin of the LS. I personally don't know how the board will react to this, maybe another member does.

GL!

Daniel

 

[jtice]

dw 1984...... Im not sure whare the board is going yet,,,, where ever it fits. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Mainly, at fisrt anyway,,, I want to install it in my 3C Mag, and drive it form the 3C batts. That should be fine, seeing hows thats 4.5V Well, slightly less really...

Im just not sure what fits what,,, what handles what, and all that. Im thinking, If I want BRIGHT,,, I should get a LS 5W and the most mA board I can find... right?

Oh, and whats the differene between the star, and the emmitter?

Oh, (I'll run out of questions SOME day) What is the highest mA board, that is adjustable?

LOL,,,, tell me what to buy people, I'll slap it in my Mag,,, I trust you all,,, really I do!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

 

[dw_1984]

I'm doing a Mag mod as well and what I did was remove the switch assembly and shorten that olive-green coloured thing. This gave me more than enough room to cram a board in there.

As to what board to use, I believe the BB750 is adjustable. The only problem is dat2zip's out of stock. I just checked and he's also out of stock of the BB700s so you may have to wait a while. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

If you want VERY bright, then direct drive it but from your posts I assume you like the constant brightness factor (I do too). So I believe what you're looking for would be a 5W Luxeon w/ a BB750 (when it becomes available again).

And the difference between a star and the emitter is that the emitter is only the actual LED while the star is the emitter mounted onto a star-shaped (not really but close) board that acts as a heatsink and provides more contact points.

Check ElektroLumens LED page for more details:
http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=elektrolumens and click on "Luxeon Star LED" button. He sells both but he's got a special package for the star.

Hope this helps.
If any other members want to chime in to correct anything I said please do. I'm far from perfect.

Cheers,
Daniel

 

[jtice]

dw 1984.....
EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT !
Thats exactly what i needed to know.
I think I'll do what you said... 5W LS,,, and BB750.
Now , If I can pull off putting it in there correctly ill be in shape,,, how hard was removing the switch?
Are you using the stock reflector?
How are you actually mounting it in there?

I think I have most the info I need for this,,,i think,

Them being out of stock on the 750's doesnt bother me much, I still have to purchase a BB400 Q3L to put in one of my minimags, LOL. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[jtice]

I was just informed that,,, I will have to get just the emitter, and not the star led. So that the led will fit all the way up inside the reflector enough.

 

[dw_1984]

Removing the switch is fairly simple but you need to find the right tools. I used a pen (didn't exactly want to shell out $5-10 for the spanner) and a hex key (don't know what size...trial and error).

There are instructions here too but I'll give 'em to you here.
1. Completely unscrew the head off and remove batteries.
2. Remove the bulb by turning that brass thing that holds it in place.
3. Look down the tube of the Mag from the side of the head and you will see a brass retaining ring with two small holes on opposite sides. Take the pen and put it into one of those holes. Turn counterclockwise (I think). The ring should fall out.
4. Remove the rubber switch seal (the button you press). Now hopefully you'll have an assortment of hex tool. It's just a matter of finding out which one fits down the hole in the middle of the button and turning it counterclockwise. After this is done, it should be free with a few taps from the battery end.
DON'T LOSE THE PARTS!

You could remove the emitter from the star. I've done it and it's fairly simple but do it at your own risk. There are some posts here that detail the entire procedure. Just search for something like "removinng emitter from star".

There's one problem with using the EL heatsink. It holds the LED a little high. There are two ways around this. Cut the reflector's end until it will fit over the LED OR if you have access some metal working tools, cut down the heatsink diameter so that it will fit into the head where the barrel stops. By doing this it will allow you to only cut the stock reflector to where the "stalk" ends.

If you have any questions, send a PM or an e-mail and I'll send you some pictures of my half-finished experiment. I don't exactly know how to post pics here...yet.

GL,
Daniel