3D MagLite Luxeon Direct Drive Mod

[lambda]

Just as an update; I've had the chance to test several other puke/pea green Luxeons, and all of them seem to be of lower internal resistance than the first one. The first one I moded with just seems to be a fluke. These others require either a 1 ohm or 2 ohm resistor to keep current under 700ma with fresh batteries.

I know that sounds like a lot of current, but the Luxeons don't get hot when mounted on the heatsink, and the current falls fairly fast (few minutes) to 600-650ma, and 10 minutes later is usualy in the 500 - 550ma range. This is using brand new D cell Energizers (average 'new' voltage 1.57V); different batteries may get different results.

The original 'jolly green giant' flashlight with the puke green Luxeon has been run for 48hrs at which time it was still drawing about 70ma, with cell voltages around 1.1V. Still bright enough to be useful, and casts a visible spot at least 50ft.

 

[Bushman]

is there any projected release date on the lambertian white luxeons??

 

[Quickbeam]

Lambda, FYI, I'll be adding a link from my Mods page to your pages so people perusing my mods can check out yours as well.

Very nice!

 

[lambda]

Quickbeam,

Thanks; that's the whole idea, to share the knowledge. Now, if I could only make my pages look as good as yours, but I'm stuck creating them in 1995 Lotus, then hand editing for the web.........

 

[Wits' End]

I have to look at my old Mag lights again but can you improve the heatsinking ability of the existing structure and put the LS into the PR base? Like the pro-series "bulb"?
Does "direct" driving produce too much more heat to sink to the existing structure? If you have to heatsink it can you just shape a washer or do the heatsinks perform that much better. You can probably tell I'm no electronics wizard but I have at least two 2D Maglights (I'll change to 3C) and I think with these instructions I could make good lights out of my unused Mags. One more question(maybe more), please don't laugh, when putting a higher value resistor in the circuit do you loose more battery power to heat? I see some mention that the higher, 3 as opposed to 1 ohm will extend the battery life at the sacrifice of light output. How much loss in power does this cause? Does using the higher resistor value lessen the need for heatsinking.
I would sacrifice some light output for a simpler mod. Thanks for any help.

 

[lambda]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by witsend:
I have to look at my old Mag lights again but can you improve the heatsinking ability of the existing structure and put the LS into the PR base? Like the pro-series "bulb"?
Does "direct" driving produce too much more heat to sink to the existing structure? If you have to heatsink it can you just shape a washer or do the heatsinks perform that much better. You can probably tell I'm no electronics wizard but I have at least two 2D Maglights (I'll change to 3C) and I think with these instructions I could make good lights out of my unused Mags. One more question(maybe more), please don't laugh, when putting a higher value resistor in the circuit do you loose more battery power to heat? I see some mention that the higher, 3 as opposed to 1 ohm will extend the battery life at the sacrifice of light output. How much loss in power does this cause? Does using the higher resistor value lessen the need for heatsinking.
I would sacrifice some light output for a simpler mod. Thanks for any help.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

For the Pro series bulb type mod, check out the Brinkmann lights; all metal bulb socket post, where the Mag is mostly plastic. The heatsink is the only way I've tried overdriving the Luxeon, but Wayne has gotten by with making his own heatsinks out of alum and limiting current with a couple ohm resistor. Sure, anytime the resistor gets bigger, more energy is 'wasted' in the resistor, but at reduced current draw, the batteries last longer. I don't have any run time data on the difference between resistor values (we're talking close to 2 days burn time on a set of batteries) and that gets boring just watching. Even with a 2 or 2.5 ohm resistor the ls must be well heatsinked; any smaller resistor and you better have good heat conduction to the flashlight body.

Also, as far as the heatsinks I've been using, some members have found their old Maglites to have a body dia over 1.36", which is too large to use with the heatsink. So before ordering heatsinks, check your Mag if its an old one...