LS in plastic?

[pedalinbob]

Im considering an LS 1w in perhaps a pt-20, or rage.

i would drive it at spec, on perhaps 2aa lithiums.

do you think the heatsinking would be adequate withthe aluminum body? i would have the LS mounted on a larg-ish heatsink...but it will reside in a plastic body...

thanks,
Bob

PS i completed my first real mod last week: a 3d mag with 2 LS/o direct drive 3d's/4.5 watts.
i must say, it is incredibly bright, but does get a bit warm after 2 hours.

 

[Rothrandir]

several people have used luxeons in plastic bodies. (i can't stand plastic bodies

)

if you use some resistance and keep it at or below specs, you should be fine, especially if some heatsinking is used.

congradulations on your first mod by the way...beamshots?

 

[Doug S]

Bob, you may be able to drive a red/red-orange/or amber to spec with two cells but it is unlikely that you could with a white unless you found one with an unusually low Vf. To drive to 350mA with two cells you will need a stepup converter. On the thermal question, the thread below is *not* the short answer but may provide some insight:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=000880#000000

 

[Lux Luthor]

I've put luxeons into Rage. Not an easy mod, but not too bad if you're good with tools. It has to be resistored down, or it gets too hot. Just keep the current down, and it's fine. I've also put red and amber HDs into Blast (with and without optics). Heat in this case is a non-issue.

If you do either of these, I would use a HD with reflector. SE won't focus right, and NX-05 optics gives a flood beam (unless that's what you want).

 

[jeff1500]

I've been thinking about this too. I wonder what would happen if you mounted the LS on a piece of aluminum flat bar and then had the bar poke out through the flashlight body to the outside?

 

[Lux Luthor]

[No message]

 

[Hemingray]

One of the little "micro-puck" voltage boosters from LED Supply at http://www.ledsupply.com/02009a.html
does the job nicely with 2 D cells and a 1 Watt
Luxeon (white, cyan, green, blue). Current to the LED is limited to 375 mA, and input current from the D cells is 450 mA or less. The output
follows the battery voltage, so it will dim down as the batteries deplete. Light output from 2 NiMH D cells is only slightly less than from fresh Alkalines. This will work all the way down to about 0.8VDC input, with reduced brightness.
3V maximum input, so don't go dumping 4.5 or 6V
into it..

I saw these and just had to try them out, and I am pleased with the results. The micro-pucks are very small, potted in epoxy and very easy to use.

/ed in NH

 

[Lux Luthor]

There's a thread on the micropuck in the Manufacturer's Announcements forum here.

 

[S4MadMan]

Hey Lux, great name.

 

[highlandsun]

Hm... I measured about 760mA max from a 3.6V LiIon AA into a 1W white LS, direct drive. I guess I can just run these without any kind of regulation, just a heat sink.

 

[Lux Luthor]

Originally posted by S4MadMan:
Hey Lux, great name.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">You should have been around when I was using Gene Hackman's picture as my signature.

 

[hotfoot]

Originally posted by Lux Luthor:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by S4MadMan:
Hey Lux, great name.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">You should have been around when I was using Gene Hackman's picture as my signature.

</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I remember that!

Kinda miss it now...

 

[Hemingray]

I find that a TO-220 heatsink about 1 X 1-1/2 inches with 1/2 inch side fins is adequate for heatsinking a 1W Luxeon driven at 350-375 mA,
either by 3D and a resistor or a "micropuck".
Just stick it on with some arctic silver and you gain about 3X the heatsink area. This will fit inside most of the Ray-O-Vac 2D or 3D "industrial flashlites. Of course, a 5 watter in a plastic body is asking for a meltdown...

/ed brown in NH, so cold today that we don't need heatsinks...