Flashlight challange for the modders

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McGizmo

McGizmo

Flashaholic
Joined
May 1, 2002
Messages
17,304
Location
Maui
I've been thinking about a flashlight that I don't think I will have time to attempt. Perhaps one of you guys
might have the inclination and my only request is that I have a shot at buying one.
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The Light:

madmax driver coupled with PWM chip; momentary tail switch activation

single AA battery

7 ea. 3 mm LED's (ring of 6 with one in the center)

Body and head have the same OD which is roughly the diameter of the mini-mag barrel

The head is similar to the Inova where the 7 LED's are recessed in a slightly countersunk, flush aluminum face.

If any of you are game to try this, I will contribute a mad max, LED's and PWM chip. I can only make this
contribution to one of you and the components will be yours, no strings attached. My only request is that
you give it a serious shot and share the results with the CPF. Obviously it would be great if you would
entertain making a small offering of these to members if it were deemed viable.
 
Oooh, oooh! I'll try it, I'll try it! Send 'em to me!

I'll be posting pictures of my custom Opalec light for the forum to see in a couple of days. I made the casing Sunday, but it will need some tweaking and finishing to complete it. Maybe that will convince you?
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Doug.
 
I did not realize that one could combine PWM with Madmax circuit! Is that really possible? Is PWM connected to the output of Madmax or vice-versa?

- Vikas
 
Don is on the road and may be out of touch for a few days. But while we're all waiting - just who's Opalec light do you have there, Doug? My email has been a bit screwy lately, so I hope you haven't been trying to page me...
 
McGizmo,

I notice you prefer those 3mm LEDs (NSPW310, I think). Is there any particular reason for choosing these over using fewer 5mm ones, such as smoothness or beam angle?
 
Lux, not putting words into Don's mouth, but I think I can answer for him in saying that the 3mms are quite misjudged.

Apart from their wider beam angle, these little fellas are based on the same die as their 5mm brethren and are basically the same thing in a smaller package.

Folks wanting to grind down their 5mms to get more dispersion and those intending simple minimag AA mods should try the 3mms instead. Their wide angle and size make them an ideal drop-in replacement (ie. no re-boring of reflector) for the standard bulbs.

Less epoxy used in the packaging also means immediate less light loss and less effect that epoxy yellowing will have over time. Of course, the fact that it's smaller also lends itself well to packing more 'em in a tight space.

I'm using a great deal of the 3mms now - just bought 500 of the 310s. And I'm a very happy camper now
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Darrel, the Opalec I'm referring to is yours. It's about done, just needs a little tweaking. I'll try to get the preliminary pictures up tonight.
 
Thanks hotfoot,

I'm looking to make a small overhead not quite area light. Bare LS is wider than I want, so I figured 4 or 5 50 degree 5mms, but maybe a 7 3mm cluster would be better.

One thing I must say about multiple white LED clusters over Luxeons, is that they're extremely smooth beam with gradual rollof is very appealing for this kind of application.
 
Hi Guys,

I was out of town and couldn't visit or post th this thread. The day before I left, I tried hooking up a MadMax with the PWM chip from IC-LED and was not successful :-(

At that point, no one had risin to the challange so I figured I'd do a bench test and if successful, find the time upon my return to try to make the light myself. I still think the concept has merit but these two circuits will not merge as intended and I for one haven't a clue as to how to go about a unified PWM/ constant current or voltage regulated step up driver.

This is a case of "back to the drawing board" .

Lux,

As Hotfoot pointed out, the 312's (Leo likes to incorrectly call them 310's 🙂 ) have a very clean and even wide beam and likely put out more photons than the favored 500BS. The die used are the same in all the Nichia white LED's and there is less epoxy to be penetrated in the case of the 3 mm compared to the 5 mm. You may have seen PK's post on the 9 LED light I made that he now owns. He had some favorable comments on the beam from this light and I certainly took these as praise from an expert of the highest order.

- Don
 
MADMAX as currently implemented did not bring out the unused pin called enable. Toggling this pin will turn the converter IC on or off with a standard signal. This could be a physical mechanical switch or a signal from another IC like one of the outputs of the IC-LED.

The ideal way is unsolder Pin 5 of the MAX1674 and solder a wire to one of the IC-LED outputs.

Both the IC-LED and the MAXIM 1674 must have their respective VCCs tied to the battery plus terminal. Pin 5 is the ~SHUTDOWN pin and holding the input low (GND) will disable the output. Holding the pin to input battery VCC will enable the IC. Toggling this will PWM the IC on and off.

I think the IC-LED IC is inverted output:

LOW = ON
HIGH = OFF

Thus, Full power = No power.
DIM = Full Power.

It should work just the opposite as intended and shouldn't be a problem. I believe I read that the IC-LED is a microcontroller and if so can be re-programmed for the correct polarity.

-WayneY

PS Both VCC and Ground should be connected all the time to both the IC-LED and MADMAX unless true off is needed and a physical switch is added to disconnect the battery from both parts.
 
Yeah, I knew all that.....NOT! I'll just get into one of the MadMax's with my electgron microscope and re configure the pin connections and then take my trusty Junior Nerd Radio Shack chip programer with voice activation and reprogram the PWM IC and then have my trusty nanoroids get on the project and merge the two components. 🙂

Wayne and/or IC-LEDs, Can fab body but need brains........... If you build it, we will use it.

On a side note, after seeing the 5W luxeon with it's exceptional penetration coupled with good flood beam, PWM will not only assist in taming the heat and bringing the light level to required number of photons for the task at hand; it may in fact produce the most versitile single source flashlight going! I suspect that this 7 LED proposition may get put on the back burner for some time to come.

These are fun and exciting times for illumination.

- Don
 
Well, Don, if you send me the components, I'll undertake this minor job while you work with those big nasty 5W jobs...
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