flashlight noob..... want to mod maglite and mag imitation

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kris23

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hello CPF people! :D did i post under the right category?

well ive been around here before but ive been holding off registration because of age restriction in old "terms of use" thing..... me being 16 and afraid of being banned from places.... :p well apparently it seems to have been changed and i am here and excited to learn to build a better torch....

im pretty adept in computers and overclocking so i know about cooling and the different interface materials and so on.

i also know a good deal about electronics.... enough to build boards from schematics if needed... or if its cheaper to make.

ok to what i wanted to know about, i have myself two flashlights, a maglite 3D light and this ripoff 3D flashlight called "snap-on xenon flashlight" its anodized red and not even on the manufacturers site.....got it from costco if you understand what im talking about.. obviously not xenon as the bulbs are not even as intense as the krypton ones in the mag... reflectors melted too... :(

i also plan on getting a 6D mag just to have one, always wanted a flashlight big enough to double as a club and excel at that. :crazy: ill eventually mod that too.

alright, so i want to make a flashlight, both the mag and snap-on have identical parts, similar size, inner diameter, they basically can use the same lenses, reflectors, springs and screw heads and stuff... there is only very few changes between them, but those are what matter and the reason i wanna mod them.

i wanna use SSC P7 C bin LEDs, 3 if i can, ive been browsing kaidomain and dealextreme for stuff and came across a few things.

http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=3960
would a P7 fit into this 3 LED reflector if i used a stepper to widen the holes a couple mm?

is an aspherical lens good? is it worth the cost?
http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=4167

does a lens like this color light in any way, are they good?
http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=4304

will the above lenses break easily if i try and smash the lights into someones head? :D

how big is this driver? they good? can it fit inside the mag body easily? how about a minimag?
http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=4338

are Li-ions worth it? what should i know about them? are they much better than something like NI-MH batteries like eneloops? is this below battery good? how long does it hold a charge?
http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=3985

thanks guys, hope to get started on this project soon and annoy my neighbors and friends!:devil: :poke:

EDIT: yup i think i posted in the wrong place.....
 
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I can't comment on the P7's since I have no been fortunate enough to build anything with them. However, on the aspherical front, I've done some work, and I'd say if you're building a triple-emitter light, an aspherical lens is not ideal. The optical properties of that lens want the light to be as close to a point source as possible and centered in the optical path. 3 LEDs would be outside the optical path. They'd all be out of focus, and might make a REALLY smooth beam, but I can't really picture in my head what the beam profile would look like.

A cool experiment would be a quad-P7 array, one in the center and 3 surrounding it, all looking through the asphere. You'd have the die projection in the center (with tons of throw) and if you use a cheap KD aluminum reflector bored out, you could probably have ridiculous flood surrounding your hotspot. Driving all of these at their max amperage would be quite the current draw, however. You're looking at 10A+ with 4 P7s. You could drive the center LED at max current and tone down the outer ones, and it would still be impressive.

The multi-coated lenses don't really change the tint enough to be noticeable, if at all. They will shatter if you hit them hard enough. They're just glass. The aspheric lenses will chip if you drop them on something hard, but they're not as fragile as the flat glass.

Good luck with your mods!
 
3 P7s might fit, but would be very close together.

Aspheric lenses are bad with multi-emitters.

That lens should be pretty good. The standard practice for bashing with a Mag is to hold the head and hit with the tail.

17mm dia. Mag yes, minimag no. (Even 3 of them will fit in a mag head, I built a driver similar to that but with single side-boards each with 2 AMC7135 chips for Crees) They'll only work within a voltage range of 3.6-4.5V

You'll have to rethink your driver if you want to use series Li-ion cells. AMC7135s are great for single/parallel li-ions or NiMH cells in series of 3. I think search for "Tri-FluPIC" for a driver.
 
alright thanks guys, so no aspheric lens for me unless i get 4 P7s huh? then maybe ill just go with 4 or 5 P7s and mod a reflector to fit around them all......

ill probably just be using NI-MH batteries because i already have 18 of them on hand as is.... nice batteries for stuff, i like them.

the most important thing though is heatsinking... how on earth am i going to cool this kind of stuff? seems like copper is a necessity and having the emitters on a star isnt a good idea at this point.
 
that triple SCC mag is actually what i wanted to do! very nice.....

now, just need to know where to get one of those heatsinks....

also, is the base of the P7 electrically isolated from the chips?
 
im wondering, since the mag is one of the most versatile, and modable lights available, ive been browsing and been considering the different options....

at this point in time, im still pretty open but if i was to make a light for throw rather than just general power, how are the different technologies in lighting?

what is the most powerful incandescent i can jam into a 6D without burning my hands?

how does one stick an HID of all things into a maglite? it looks expensive, probably more than LEDs

im asking about these as it seems that they arent as "delicate" as LEDs in terms of heat.
 
HID will likely be the most expensive technology. But it will almost definately grant you the greatest throw. Mac has built some Mini HID's out of Mag's basically making a 1D size Mag with a 10w HID ballast/bulb combo overdriven to ~13w by using 3 li-ion's in series. Some use 14500's some use R123's. I owned one of these at one time and it was a fantastic little light with decent runtime. But most small 10w HID's are in the ~$200-$300 range. I think a good P7 or Osram Ostar build will be your best mix of throw vs. financial economy. You may want to consider also a ROP (Roar of the Pelican) build. Search for those on the forums. They are nice but use incandescant bulbs. PLENTY of great options out there. Just have to figure out which on appeals to you.

And welcome to the forum!!!!

Shane
 
hey thanks! well im thinking i may just go with an incan build as im sorta strapped on cash and am sorta wanting a throw light now.....

but im seeing that there are bigger incan mods than ROP but i cant find those bulbs as the links all over CPF are dead
 
You can probably buy some of the bulbs elsewhere.

The ROP will be a good Incan mod to start with. It will be brighter then 1 Seoul P7 and throw further too.
 
yea and ive been thinking that the 3200-3300k color would allow better recognition of stuff so im thinking it would be better and i wont have to worry about frying some big expensive P7s....
 
so if i wanted throw, a smooth aluminum reflector is best right? i like the cammed ones at KD.

does a aspherical lens improve throw or sidespill? im thinking sidespill but im not sure.

so where can i get an ROP or Welch Allyn that can run off of 9.6v+..? im planning on jamming at least 8 eneloops in series into the mag so thats how much power ill be having......
 
ONE MORE THING! is the bi pin base for the welch allyn bulbs the same bi-pin that is used with low voltage lighting like MR16 bulbs and other similarly spaced pins?

if so... i just found myself a socket that works PERFECTLY with my snap-on flashlight. the thing fits great!
 
I the G4 bulb has a 4mm gap between the two connection pieces, so as long as the bulbs have the right distance between the connectors, they should work.

You don't need that adapter for the ROP mod.

The smooth reflector will have the most throw but it won't have the best beam pattern.

The aspheric lens that KD has doesn't work well with incans(most lenses don't). LEDs emit in a 180 degree angle, incans emit in a 360 degree angle so a lot more light will be loss. But there are ways around this. I'd recommend staying with the glass window for simplicity.

ROP is just the name of the mod, it's not the name of the company. The ROP mod uses the Pelican Big D bulbs.

6 NiMh D cells(good ones) would be fine for the ROP mod, and should get your around 2 hours of runtime with the high bulb.
 
yup 4mm exact...

IMG00093-1.jpg

just wanted to show off the work i did with my 2 AA Snap-On light, the ceramic socket fits perfectly! what can i power with 2.4-3V? and if not, what kinds of lithium batteries can fit into this to give me 6.0-9.6V?
 
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you guys think a 10w would work with this and 2 14500 batteries?
 
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