5-Watt Cyan Direct Drive Legend LX Mod - Pics

[MR Bulk]

Impetuous newbie modder that I am ("I Yam whut I Yam"), I could not resist putting my newly-received 5-watt cyan Luxeon into a Legend LX and driving it directly off two fairly used 123 lithiums. I followed McGizmo's advice and modified the stock reflector, because the collimator actually gave a much more diffused and image-laden beam:

As it turns out, this was actually an underdriven mod, as evidenced by a cool and happy junction temp that never got above 97 F, and yet it still threw out an impressive 699 footcandles and handily outblasted several 1-watt Luxeon standard bearers:

I can only imagine the volume of light this thing will put out when OVERdriven at 7.5V (coming up next!)...

 

[vcal]

Really impressive-on a measly 6 volts!

 

[McGizmo]

Charlie,

Looks great! 7.5 volts? You maniac!!! I hope there is some battery resistance and that the voltage drops under load. In your beam shot, I like how the secondary, wide angle, direct beam fills in around the other beams. Keep us posted! :-)

 

[Slick]

Swweeet!! You don't waste no time Charlie..

I guess I better order some.

 

[mc]

Very nice, life is good!

The Legend LX just took a new and exciting turn for LED technology.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[vicbin]

Really nice works !!

Thank you for sharing it, imho this kinda attitude makes CPF shines !

Many thanks too and credits for Don(McGizmo) for sharing the LS 5W experience.
5W Cyan Mods in SureFire Hosts: Reflector Applications

Vic

 

[Roy]

Have you thought about converting a LGI?

ADDED:

DUH!!!!!! LGI is 4.5vdc!

 

[lambda]

I wonder what the neighbors think when they see all those lights shinning on the walls.

Very nice Mr. Bulk!

Can't wait to see what you do next; did you say 7.2V ?

The envy is really kicking in here now.

 

[WayneM]

Sooooo.....
While waiting for my 5 Watt whites, I have tended to generally ignore the colors.

However, since it may be a while till the whites get here, the cyan is looking pretty darn good.

Where is the current best (only?) place to get them? And how much?

 

[lambda]

Originally posted by WayneM:
Sooooo.....
While waiting for my 5 Watt whites, I have tended to generally ignore the colors.

However, since it may be a while till the whites get here, the cyan is looking pretty darn good.

Where is the current best (only?) place to get them? And how much?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Future Active is the only game in town for 5W Luxeons.......

 

[Doug Meister]

Anybody - HELP, I'm trying to get into modding but dont know exactly what to do yet.

Is this 5w LS like those sorta back ordered?

What does it look like?

How do I mount it to a heatsink? Like what surface gets mounted? Arctic Silver epoxy?

If this can be direct drive from 6v and over driven on 7.5v what about direct drive from say 4 D cells? Oh - that IS 6v.

OK, if I wanted to use 5 cells (7.5v) and not tempt fate too much and not over drive it - what can I do? A resistor? What value and wattage?
<font color=blue>--Ðøug

</font>

 

[lambda]

Originally posted by Doug Meister:
Anybody - HELP, I'm trying to get into modding but dont know exactly what to do yet.

Is this 5w LS like those sorta back ordered?

What does it look like?

How do I mount it to a heatsink? Like what surface gets mounted? Arctic Silver epoxy?

If this can be direct drive from 6v and over driven on 7.5v what about direct drive from say 4 D cells? Oh - that IS 6v.

OK, if I wanted to use 5 cells (7.5v) and not tempt fate too much and not over drive it - what can I do? A resistor? What value and wattage?
<font color=blue>--Ðøug

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Lots of questions, let's start with the basics.

Yes, 5W are being released slowly, but some are around.

However, if you've never built a mod before, you might consider building a 1W Luxeon mod first. The 5W could be like flying the 747 the first day of flight school.

The 5W might be a fisrt mod, but you need to have some knowledge of heat sinking; it is four Luxeons cramed into the same little case.

Yes, I recommend Artic Silver for mounting Luxeons to heat sinks.

First, you need to goto www.lumileds.com and read the technical documents on the Luxeon. It will answer your questions about how to mount the part.

As far as the battery, that depends on the Luxeon you get. Rated 5.4 - 7.8 V; this rating means that the Luxeon will vary in voltage requirement from 5.4 to 7.8. This is not its operating range, but a range in which it will need to be supplied a specific voltage to operate at spec of 700ma.

A Luxeon with a 5.4V spec would fry on 7.2V, where a 7.8V Luxeon wouldn't even be operating as bright as it should.

No, you can't order by voltage (yet) but have to figure out what you've got after it arrives.

Basically, there is no 'one' way to do it, the batteries required will depend on the Luxeon you're using.

Any clearer?

 

[sflate]

If I have several Luxeon's laying around, what is the easiest or best way to rate their voltage spec? I'm not as concerned with what the voltage actually is but I'd like to know which is higher and lower voltage.

 

[lambda]

Originally posted by sflate:
If I have several Luxeon's laying around, what is the easiest or best way to rate their voltage spec? I'm not as concerned with what the voltage actually is but I'd like to know which is higher and lower voltage.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">That's easy; use a 2AA cell battery pack and light them up, the brightest will have the lowest forward voltage drop.

 

[sflate]

It can't be THAT easy!! Do I have to heatsink them at all first? If not, how long can I run them with the 2 AA's safelty? (I guess I only need a few seconds) If I DID want to measure the voltage, how would I do that? Sorry, I know this is off-topic, but I've wondered this for some time and this thread happened to bring it up.

 

[MR Bulk]

Originally posted by Doug Meister:
Anybody - HELP, I'm trying to get into modding but dont know exactly what to do yet.

Is this 5w LS like those sorta back ordered?

What does it look like?

How do I mount it to a heatsink? Like what surface gets mounted? Arctic Silver epoxy?

If this can be direct drive from 6v and over driven on 7.5v what about direct drive from say 4 D cells? Oh - that IS 6v.

OK, if I wanted to use 5 cells (7.5v) and not tempt fate too much and not over drive it - what can I do? A resistor? What value and wattage?
<font color=blue>--Ðøug

</font>

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Actually the best way for me was to get my hands on some mods first, way better than trying to figure it out via just written posts. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, what is the real thing in your hands worth?

 

[lambda]

Originally posted by sflate:
It can't be THAT easy!! Do I have to heatsink them at all first? If not, how long can I run them with the 2 AA's safelty? (I guess I only need a few seconds) If I DID want to measure the voltage, how would I do that? Sorry, I know this is off-topic, but I've wondered this for some time and this thread happened to bring it up.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Well, if you want to get real picky, then you need to measure the forward voltage drop when you have exactly 350ma flowing through it.

Luxeon emitter can handle 100ma without heatsinking. Most won't pull much beyond that with 2 AA cells.

 

[BuddTX]

This is the light I am waiting for, in white. Has to be hand held and fit easily in the pocket!

 

[MR Bulk]

Originally posted by BuddTX:
This is the light I am waiting for, in white. Has to be hand held and fit easily in the pocket!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">*Sighhhhh* -- if I could just get my hands on a white or two, then you'd have that light.

 

[Doug Meister]

Lambda,
>> Basically, there is no 'one' way to do it, the batteries required will depend on the Luxeon you're using. <<

What if I get a Luxeon with a 5.4v rating - then how many cells should I use? 3 is only 4.5v and 4 is 6v.

I'm going to have to get some 1w LS and fool around. But I'm thinking that I need a real good multi-meter, and thats out of my range. Too bad that I'm not still working at Hughes. We had some really nice HP meters.
<font color=blue>--Ðøug

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