E-sink wiring hints?

[Flatscan]

I received 2 new E-Sinks from the Shoppe today, so I have all the supplies for building an E-Sink/E-Can pill. However, I hadn't thought through wiring in such close quarters.

I've thought up a number of orders that I can build the pill, but all of them have drawbacks.

Here is the order that seems the best to me:<ul type="square">[*]solder ground wire to E-Can (already done)
[*]solder wires to the emitter
[*]AA epoxy emitter to E-Sink
[*]solder ground wire to converter board, then solder emitter wires; nail-polish bottom of board
[*]super-glue and AA epoxy converter board into E-Can
[*]solder ground wires together
[*]fill E-Can most of the way with 2ton epoxy, and while still wet,
[*]AA epoxy around the E-Sink/E-Can lip
[*]press E-Sink and E-Can together, twisting to take up some of the wire slack
[*]postcure entire pill[/list]
The big problem with this approach is that the emitter wires need to be long enough to allow working inside the E-Can, but need to be short enough to fit comfortably inside when completely assembled.

The most important consideration is soldering wires to the emitter. I don't want to put solder blobs everywhere or burn the emitter, both of which are likely to happen if I wire the emitter last.

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[darkzero]

I build my e-sinks a bit differently and is probably more difficult for others.

First I cut the leads on the emitter very short and fold them down the side of the emitter. I cut my leads short to the point where they won't protrude past the base of the emitter. Then I pot it to the e-sink with the holes aligning with the emitter leads.

I solder the appropiate leads to the board then I pot it in the eCan (after making sure it works first) using Devcon and AO powder but I don't fill it up to the top. I then cut to length leaving 6mm of wire from the very top of the eCan. I strip the wires just short of 1mm, tin the leads, and feed the wire throw the holes with eCan of course checking to see if they line up correctly where I stripped them. I then trim the leads if necessary (if they are too long and stick out past the emitter).

If everything checks fit fine I then pull it back out, put some AA epoxy on the lip of the eCan and pot it to the eSink. After it cures I then solder my connections. Soldering these connections wil be hard if your not good at soldering if it an eSink for a SE since it recessed. It's a bit easier doing it this way with a eSink made for a HD since it's not recessed. I never post cure.

BTW, I use 26awg teflon wire but you can also use #30 wire wrap wire. Since it's very thin it will make the connection easier to solder.

Sorry I don't have any finished eSinks to get you a picture with. This is all I have right now:

 

[Rothrandir]

i always hook up everything in the ecan, then run the wires up through whatever i'm working on (mclux head, esink, whatever you're doign), and solder them around the emitter leads.

here is a picture of my "special" ecan /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

the ecan has been shortned from the top and bottom, to make it work better with pilas (which are slightly longer, and have no positive nipple /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif .
a groove was also machined to facilitate the ground wire for a more robust connection.

after all that is done, pot the electronics, run those 2 wires through the holes on the esink, and solder to the luxeon (which should already be epoxied on the heastink at this point).

when i solder to luxeons, i do much the same thing as darky i think, except i trim off half of the tabs, then lay the wires on top of the tab (as close to the emitter itself as you can possibly get!), then bend the tab around the wire. this should hold the wires in place while you solder.

this does several things. it makes sure you have a great connection, it ensures that it doesn't short out on whatever heatsink you might be using, it ensures that the wire length is ideal every time, and it ensures that there is no way in hell you're going to get one of those wires disconnected by accident /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif (or even on purpose?! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif)

 

[Flatscan]

Thanks for the hints, guys.

While I was building my bike headlight mod, the wire connecting the two emitters was too stiff and was pushing them apart, so the epoxy wouldn't set properly. While trying to bend it to a better angle, I broke one of the tabs off. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif I successfully soldered the broken large tab onto the small tab that was left (after epoxying the emitters first, obviously).

I think I feel confident enough to try soldering those connections last. I'll post my results back here.