Heatsinking converter board

[Billson]

I recently modded my XM2 by installing a DB1000 and was wondering if it should be heatsinked/potted? At present, the converter is sort of just suspended by the wires inside the module. I didn't bother potting it since there's no chance of it being touched and moved in there but upon reading some posts in this forum lately, I found out the converter does produce heat but is it enough heat to damage the converter board if I leave it as is?

If it indeed needs heatsinking, would simply filling the cavity with thermal grease do it?

 

[gadget_lover]

I was told that you should use a non conductive heat sink epoxy to attach the board to the flashlight or e-can. I was told that at 1000 ma the converter gets too hot.

Daniel

 

[lgl_olephart]

If I didn't misread a previous post, it seems that the DB produces about 25% of the heat in your application.

Ya need to do something to deal with it.

 

[Billson]

Would filling up the hollow areas with thermal grease be enough to sink the heat away. I'm thinking that using epoxy might actually insulate the converter board thereby trapping the heat inside instead of drawing it away.

 

[shiftd]

Billson, last i know the XM2 is enclosed completely from outside air, which means even if you let the converter board to be open inside the flashlight, the heat would not go away simply from convection, no air flow. However, if you fill the gap with thermal epoxy, the epoxy will help the transfer of heat to the heatsink by means of conduction, which in this case, a lot better than the heat transfer by convection.

 

[Billson]

Actually, I wasn't aware that the converter produced any heat so I didn't bother trying to sink it away. I thought that most people filled the modules with epoxy simply to pot them and not for heat-sinking purposes. At least I haven't fried it yet.

 

[LEDependent]

Just got my DB1000 (THANKS WAYNE!!!) for my XM-2, and I filled the can with Ceramique, not epoxy. A previous thread mentioned having to Dremel out the can as a result of a dead converter potted in Alumina Epoxy. Also, I considered attaching a small copper block onto the converter itself, but I did not have the right materials/tools to do this. I'm sure it would help stabilize the board, though.