Maglite Mod

[Hmmm]

I'm planning on modding my 2C maglite and putting this inside the head : http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.35242.
I'm also planning on making an addon attachment that will fit over the head out of aluminum by making a wooden version of it and sand casting it. The outer four spots will have 2x cree r4s and 2x Ssc P7s and use this lens:http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4584
These are some views of my plan:

the fins are .25" wide and .25" deep. The Design is 2.5" deep, 5.25" wide, and 3.75" tall

I was also thinking of putting a 50mm fan on it to help it cool down

 

[SmurfTacular]

I don't quite understand.

Are you going to try to fit that inside the Maglite head?
Is it going to replace the head?
Is it going to go in front or over the head?
Why two R4's and two P7?
Why not four P7's or four R4's?
Whats going in the middle?
Is that heatsink going to used with the DX drop in?


Also, I think the fan would be completely redundant. Two P7's and two R4's produce heat, but not that much. Especially considering that you plan on using a massive heatisink with heat fins. Where would the air blow? If the air isn't blown to the outside than it serves no purpose as it is not pulling heat away from the heatsink. Also, the fan would drain the batteries.

Don't mean to butcher your potentially good idea, just think you should be more clear. Maybe you should render a model that has the Maglite along with your heatsink; so you can be more clear as to what your are talking about. Also, I would not use P7's with an aspherical project, they are one of the worst emitters for aspheric mods

 

[Hmmm]

sorry, I wasn't very clear. The maglite head would fit inside the main hole. I chose two r4s and two p7s because I already have 2 r4s and 1 p7 and I do not want to but a lot of new parts as well as I would use the two r4s set with the 5 degree beam to give me more of a spotlight, because the main head and the p7s would be more of a flood light.

 

[SmurfTacular]

Two P7's and two R4's can easily be thermal managed with a regular multi LED heatsink that fits inside the Mag head. Like this one from the shoppe would be great.

Also, don't you think your heatsink would look kinda funny on a 2C Maglite? Also, what kinda of batteries do you plan on using? You wont get much of a runtime if your using two 18650's or two 26500's. You wont even be able to get close to fully powering those LED's on two alkalines. You should do your mod on a 2D or 3D at least, and use lithiums.

If you really want to use that heatsink, you should take full advantage of the heatsink and use high powered LED's. Five SST-90's would be awesome. And that heatsink should be able to handle the heat.

 

[Hmmm]

What I'm thinking of doing instead of using an internal battery is attach my two macbook pro batteries to it.

Ugg, I think I'm going to go overkill, my parents didn't want me to spend so much money on a flashlight. I'm going to wait for the CSM 360s to drop in price and get one of those.

Edit:
I just found Bridelux, which seems to have realy good deals in how much the effiency and lumens compared to price
This Led seems like a good deal for the price
http://www.newark.com/bridgelux/bxra-c4500-00000/high-brightness-led-arrays/dp/60R6542
and I could power it with 2 10.8 volt batteries in series with a boost driver
or this
http://www.newark.com/bridgelux/bxra-c2002-00000/high-brightness-led-arrays/dp/60R6541
which could be powered by 2 10.8 volt batteries in series with a buck regulator.
Would either of these work?

 

[SmurfTacular]

So your going to power your 2C Maglite with two laptop batteries? Do you still plan on this being portable? Your way over thinking this. If this is your first build you should start small. Really. I don't want to sound pessimistic but I really don't think you should pursue this project if this is your first build. Please, just go with the basics for now and build a P7 3D Maglite. Once you built that, then you can pursue more complicated builds, like this one.

 

[DM51]

Please resize your photos to comply with Rule 3.

I'm moving this to the H&M section.

 

[Hmmm]

I think I'm going to just go with this trustfire light: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.30683,
it can take high enogh voltage to be howered off of my laptop batteries, or some 18650 batteries. I'm getting in to aluminum casting and instead of casting muffin pan ingots, I can try casting my flashlight design, modified to fit over the DX flashlight. I'll add my ssc p7 I currently have aswell as my two cree r4s to it. Then eventualy I would add two of these leds: http://www.newark.com/bridgelux/bxra-c2002-00000/high-brightness-led-arrays/dp/60R6541.
I would also use it as my bike light. The laptop batteries are relativly small and would fit in a pants pocket. However they hold alot of power, 60wh each

 

[alpg88]

 

[HarryN]

It is easy to imagine that just because lots of people are putting massive amounts of power leds into a mag head that getting rid of the heat is "not a problem. " If the goal is just to turn it on for 1 minute, or in moving air, then it is easy. In order to run in a continuous mode, then 15 - 20 watts is really the upper limit of most LED lights, hand held, in still air.

Sure, you can run them harder, but after a few minutes, the output has dropped off dramatically.

I like that you are pushing your homebuilt into new areas of shapes and construction methods. Don't worry about perfection, just keep having fun experimenting with the hobby.

Honestly, I am not much of a dealextreme fan, but their stuff certainly is low cost. Personally, I would use a taskled.com or one from the shoppe, but there are many driver options in the electronics thread.

Bridgelux and other brands listed in the LED thread section is quite a valuable resource for LEDs and optics.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[Hmmm]

This is a redesign based for the dx flashlight. I made it thinner, at 1.6125" thick, the fins on the top are 1/8" deep, instead of 1/4", it will have the dx flashlights main head fit into the hole. Cree r4s will go in the outer two edge holes and a ssc p7 will go in the center hole. At a later time I will add two of these leds: http://www.newark.com/bridgelux/bxra-c2002-00000/high-brightness-led-arrays/dp/60R6541

Once I have cast my flashlight, I will post pictures. I am finishing setting up my foundry, it should be done within a week or so.

 

[SmurfTacular]

I am very curiously confused with your build. You seem to be persistent so I'll let you go through with your initial plans. But you still leave me with more questions, like how do you plan on regulating those LED(s)? Or do you plan on having them direct driven? Witch would impossible considering that the fV on a R4 is 3.6V and the fV of the LED pad thing is 16.2V. Also, if you do plan on regulating the LED(s), would they have different modes? If you don't mind, I suggest not buying this LED pad thing, and instead, buy an SST-90; they are manufactured by a reputable LED brand (Luminus). They also have the same lumen output and about the same price. They are also alot smaller in size.

Once I have cast my flashlight, I will post pictures. I am finishing setting up my foundry, it should be done within a week or so.

Please do, I would love to see updates in this thread

 

[Hmmm]

I plan on the two batteries in parralel and series, parralel for the ssc p7, and the 2x cree r4s and then driving with this driver: dx # 26110. I would drive the ssc p7 with one of those drivers with a resistor removed and replaced to allow the ax2002 to drive with 2 amps or I would put two of them in parralel. I have a Kadidomain P7 Super Driver, but it doesn't work well, it won't allow the led to very bright.
I was wondering what type of connector should be used, I'm thinking an RCA cord maybe or a 4 pin molex connector

Edit:
An sst 90 looks much better, and then I can wire both batteries in just parralel

 

[Hmmm]

Update

Just got my Trustfire tr1200 in the mail. Unfortanitly one of my 2 18650s got deep discharged somehow so I don't have enogh of them to power the light . It will work however off of one of my parents Macbook Pro batteries. I think the battery is made of three cells, which makes sence considering the rated voltage is 10.8, it has 6 pins on the back for ballancing. For use i'm going to wire it in paralel, but for charging it will be wired normaly and placed in the MBP. I want to be able to power it off of the battery without modifiging the actual light. My plan is to put in two dummy cells and to get a peice of aluminum rod, drill it out, tap threads the same as the threads on the flashlight, and then just put a connector on the end and it can be screwed on in place of the normal tail cap. I made another design for the flashlight end, which one I build will be determined by what my high school has when I go back to school in about a month. My idea for attaching the base flashlight to the outer shell is to cut on a metal lathe threads on the outside of the flashlight head and threads inside on the additional head. I'll have the two flashlight pieces not be electrically connected. I'll just put a plug on both the addon and the base flashlight.

 

[Hmmm]

I'm thinking about how I could charge the battery without using the laptop however Since there are three cells would they need a special balancing circuit or could I just make three Max1555 circuits and use one to charge each cell.

 

[LumenHound]

So your going to power your 2C Maglite with two laptop batteries? Do you still plan on this being portable? Your way over thinking this. If this is your first build you should start small. Really. I don't want to sound pessimistic but I really don't think you should pursue this project if this is your first build. Please, just go with the basics for now and build a P7 3D Maglite. Once you built that, then you can pursue more complicated builds, like this one.

Hmmm, I like your enthusiasm but I think SmurfTacular has given you some sound advice here.

 

[alpg88]

I'm thinking about how I could charge the battery without using the laptop however Since there are three cells would they need a special balancing circuit or could I just make three Max1555 circuits and use one to charge each cell.

laptop battery already has balancing\protection circuit built in

 

[Hmmm]

Then what are all the extra pins for?