KevinL
Flashlight Enthusiast
"Yeah another mag mod".. yup /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif gotta love the heatsinking that platform provides. I had some TV1Ks, Hotlips and resistors sitting around and a good idea.. look what happened.
I'll cut straight to the chase. This is a variation of the time honored traditional Mag to Luxeon conversion as documented in the OA4D Cookbook. There are only two issues I have with an otherwise very fine light - one is the size of the light. Portability is an issue, 1.1kg (2.42 pounds) with cheap carbon zincs. Duracells FEEL noticeably heavier too. And with 4 D cells people look at you as if you're carrying a serious beatin' stick even though you're only trying to get more light. The second issue is that they run on primary cells and as with all resistored lights current does drop over time.
Consider both solved. Introducing the 4000-M. A small lightweight portable 450gm (1 pound) 2D Mag which taps into readily available AA cells - can be driven on alkaline and NiMH for guilt free lumens. All the power of a traditional Lux3 conversion in a much lighter package (even compared to a 3D using D cells). The bulk of the weight comes from the Mag itself. From 2.4 pounds to 1 pound, now.. THAT'S weight loss for ya /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
The "front end" of the light involving Luxeon, switch and resistor are basically the same as the OA4D Cookbook mod, with the exception that I am using less resistance this time around. Everything else involving chopping of bulb posts, soldering, mounting of the Luxeon and so on are the same, except this time I put two dots of superglue beneath the emitter pads before I smacked the Lux on, to eliminate any possibility of the pads shorting against the aluminium. Although this is not an issue with my existing TWOL light, I'm just making sure.
The REAL magic is at the business end. Here you see additional wires soldered direct to the switch.
The two-pin connector coming out of the rear:
Connector hooked up to the battery pack, a single stick of 4AA parallel in one single housing. Very nice, I just found the holder today.
Locked loaded and ready to go. The removal of the spring and the addition of a small block of blue packing foam prevents rattle.
Obligatory beamshot:
The 4000-M is a TV1K driven at one amp (clocked on the DMM) vs the TWOL at roughly 750mA. The TV1Ks are supposed to be yellow, but this one has just the barest HINT of yellow in real life and I can only see it when I compare it against the TWOL, which is my "reference white". I was worried about the TV1K turning out horribly yellow, but it seems that my fears have been unfounded. Lux3 bins really are better. In fact the TWOL is so cool that it appears to the camera as slightly blue, it isn't in real life. The hotspot is nice and white. This beamshot was taken without UCL as I don't have a spare one. Time to order one perhaps....
Lastly, thanks to oeo2oo for selling me the five TV1Ks cheap .. with so many there's plenty to go round. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
(edited to fix one pic)
I'll cut straight to the chase. This is a variation of the time honored traditional Mag to Luxeon conversion as documented in the OA4D Cookbook. There are only two issues I have with an otherwise very fine light - one is the size of the light. Portability is an issue, 1.1kg (2.42 pounds) with cheap carbon zincs. Duracells FEEL noticeably heavier too. And with 4 D cells people look at you as if you're carrying a serious beatin' stick even though you're only trying to get more light. The second issue is that they run on primary cells and as with all resistored lights current does drop over time.
Consider both solved. Introducing the 4000-M. A small lightweight portable 450gm (1 pound) 2D Mag which taps into readily available AA cells - can be driven on alkaline and NiMH for guilt free lumens. All the power of a traditional Lux3 conversion in a much lighter package (even compared to a 3D using D cells). The bulk of the weight comes from the Mag itself. From 2.4 pounds to 1 pound, now.. THAT'S weight loss for ya /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
The "front end" of the light involving Luxeon, switch and resistor are basically the same as the OA4D Cookbook mod, with the exception that I am using less resistance this time around. Everything else involving chopping of bulb posts, soldering, mounting of the Luxeon and so on are the same, except this time I put two dots of superglue beneath the emitter pads before I smacked the Lux on, to eliminate any possibility of the pads shorting against the aluminium. Although this is not an issue with my existing TWOL light, I'm just making sure.
The REAL magic is at the business end. Here you see additional wires soldered direct to the switch.
The two-pin connector coming out of the rear:
Connector hooked up to the battery pack, a single stick of 4AA parallel in one single housing. Very nice, I just found the holder today.
Locked loaded and ready to go. The removal of the spring and the addition of a small block of blue packing foam prevents rattle.
Obligatory beamshot:
The 4000-M is a TV1K driven at one amp (clocked on the DMM) vs the TWOL at roughly 750mA. The TV1Ks are supposed to be yellow, but this one has just the barest HINT of yellow in real life and I can only see it when I compare it against the TWOL, which is my "reference white". I was worried about the TV1K turning out horribly yellow, but it seems that my fears have been unfounded. Lux3 bins really are better. In fact the TWOL is so cool that it appears to the camera as slightly blue, it isn't in real life. The hotspot is nice and white. This beamshot was taken without UCL as I don't have a spare one. Time to order one perhaps....
Lastly, thanks to oeo2oo for selling me the five TV1Ks cheap .. with so many there's plenty to go round. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
(edited to fix one pic)
