6 AA battery holder Mod, for use with 5 watt Luxeon Star

[ElektroLumens]

Here is a 6 AA battery holder, which I modded to fit inside a 3 'D' cell aluminum flashlight.

One of the batteries can be replace with a dummy batter with a resistor, or a resistor can be put in line,and use the 6 AA batteries.

This is just the right size to slide right into any 3 'D' cell flashlight. Expended batteries are easily replaced.

Now all I need is the 5 watt LS.

I will mount the 5 watt the same way I do the 1 watt, and see what happens. Hope it's today!

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com

 

[Deleted member 684]

The thin black wire looks easily snaped tho... maybe you can kinda reinforce it somehow? Tape it to the side of the body to prevent dangling?

 

[ElektroLumens]

Originally posted by Nerd:
The thin black wire looks easily snaped tho... maybe you can kinda reinforce it somehow? Tape it to the side of the body to prevent dangling?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Right, the wire is a possible trouble spot. Well, look at the aluminum for the ground contact! This is just a quick throwing together of parts, to see if it will work. Anyway, it works.

Once it's inside the flashlight, it should be safe.

Wayne J.

 

[Glow Bug]

Where'd you get the holder?

 

[Doug Meister]

Wayne J., what value of resistor are you going to use with the 5w LS ??
<font color=blue>--Ðøug

</font>

 

[ElektroLumens]

Originally posted by Glow Bug:
Where'd you get the holder?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Got it from a vendor in British Columbia. I'll look up the invoice, and give you the information later.

Wayne J.

 

[ElektroLumens]

Originally posted by Doug Meister:
Wayne J., what value of resistor are you going to use with the 5w LS ??
<font color=blue>--Ðøug

</font>

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I think it would be about 3 or 4 ohms, with 9 volts in. That's 9 volts in, 6.8 volts out, and 700mA. The formula is: [ohms = (vb-vf)/lf]

Wayne J.

 

[Lucien]

Hmmmmm, with the AA cells being shorter than D cells, would it be possible to cram regulating circutry into there?

Just a thought, I guess there's already quite a bit of space in the head.

 

[ElektroLumens]

Originally posted by Lucien:
Hmmmmm, with the AA cells being shorter than D cells, would it be possible to cram regulating circutry into there?

Just a thought, I guess there's already quite a bit of space in the head.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">It seems like there would be room, on the side of the batteries, or in the spacer at the top. In the past I had designed and made a voltage step down regulator, using the LM2595, a older but very simple switching regulator. I am pretty sure I can redesign the board to fit inside the body with the battery holder. I would prefer to use 12 volts, but it would work fine with 9 volts in.

This is not, however, a current regulator, so it would need to be adjusted for each Luxeon Star, to get the correct current flow. I just placed an order for a bunch of these chips.

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com

 

[Lucien]

Actually I did mean in the spacer at the top

Originally posted by ElektroLumens:
...but it would work fine with 9 volts in.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">If you're using 6 alkaline or lithium cells... 6 NiMH would only be good for 7.2V.

Is there such a thing as a circuit that can do both buck and boost conversion? I'm wondering that even with alkalines the voltage would slowly drop.

Interesting stuff though, I think I'm waaaaay overdue for picking up an electronics book.

and I wonder if its possible to cram another 3 AA cells in there

 

[ElektroLumens]

Originally posted by Lucien:
Actually I did mean in the spacer at the top

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by ElektroLumens:
...but it would work fine with 9 volts in.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">If you're using 6 alkaline or lithium cells... 6 NiMH would only be good for 7.2V.

Is there such a thing as a circuit that can do both buck and boost conversion? I'm wondering that even with alkalines the voltage would slowly drop.

Interesting stuff though, I think I'm waaaaay overdue for picking up an electronics book.

and I wonder if its possible to cram another 3 AA cells in there

</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">There is buck/boost circuits. Takes a higher current, drops it down to whatever, and then back up. Gives constant current output, till the batteries dead. Star at 12 volts, and the output is 6.8. When the batteries are at 6, output is still 6.8V, etc.

No room left for another battery.

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Can that mod be done for a 2D in series/parallel??

Of course, if the runtime curves for 2D are nearly as good as lithium AA, it wouldn't be needed.

Just a thought.

 

[ElektroLumens]

Originally posted by Charles Bradshaw:
Can that mod be done for a 2D in series/parallel??

Of course, if the runtime curves for 2D are nearly as good as lithium AA, it wouldn't be needed.

Just a thought.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">If you use a 4AA holder, it will fit into a 2 D cell. The brightness is way brighter than a 1 watt, even at a underdriven 6 volts. That whould give you a smaller flashlight, reasonable brightness, and a couple of hours of bright light. If your going to only use 4 AA's though, there might be other options, smaller flashlights that might work well, seeing that the emitter will not get very hot.

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

I saw the runtime on the D cell alkalines and a 1 watt LS. It is superior to AA Lithium done calculating series/parallel. I am basing this on the 2 AA Lithium runtime graph I saw somewhere for the Arc LS.

Thanks

 

[PsycoBob[Q2]]

Wayne J,
You wouldn't happen to have any of those holders that you'd be willing to sell, would you? I'd be interested in 2 of them, as my local stores don't carry anything useful.

 

[ElektroLumens]

Originally posted by PsycoBob[Q2]:
Wayne J,
You wouldn't happen to have any of those holders that you'd be willing to sell, would you? I'd be interested in 2 of them, as my local stores don't carry anything useful.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I probably do. Email me. [email protected]

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com