Maglite SSC P7. How to. A sort of guide.

[AlexGT]

Right now it is being direct driven from a 1C li-ion, I couldn't catch the mailman who is delivering me 2 SOB 1500 to be run in paralell for 3 amps to the led.

I will try your settings for beamshots tonight.

AlexGT

 

[TranquillityBase]

Awesome tutorial Stefan!

I just ordered some P7 emitters. That driver solution looks great. I'll have to order a few.

Is the small light an Aleph 3?

 

[StefanFS]

Awesome tutorial Stefan!

I just ordered some P7 emitters. That driver solution looks great. I'll have to order a few.

Is the small light an Aleph 3?

Thanks,
no it's my Tiablo A8 running at 2.4A. It's mostly spill, but it lights up a big warehouse/convention hall!
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/194753

Stefan

 

[StefanFS]

I think I did my most successful SSC P7 Mag mod this evening. One red 1.25D FM Mag with UCL-lens, a perfectly cut H22A heatsink (down to 1/10 of a mm), teflon wire, a hand picked stock Mag reflector (I have dozens), a perfectly soldered 3A 5 mode driver sandwich. A perfectly soldered low resistance tail cap mod. AND a hand picked SSC P7 premium C-bin emitter, saved because of it's very low vf and very matched dice (even with the ultra low current continuity test on my DMM the dice are matched). Throw is 28 000 lux at one metre at 3A. The hotspot from a SSC P7 Mag is four times the size of the best CREE throwers that produce 20-25 000 lux in throw. The spill is three times the area and two to three times the intensity compared to those top CREE throwers. This little monster should run on one protected LiION D cell for ~90 minutes at top flux.

Stefan

 

[uluapoundr]

Stefan,
Nice lights! Your post has gotten me excited to do my own P7 Mag mods. I have 3 heatsinks ( 2 H22A and 1 Fenix), two P7 emitters and one on the way, 2 3D mags, Tenergy D cells on the way, Kai AMC boards on the way. I'll be sure to post some pics when I'm done. Thanks for sharing! Keep um commin! BTW, where did you get the mag reflectors from? I may need some spares too. I'm sure some of those Incan guys must have a bunch to give away. Aloha!

 

[StefanFS]

uluapoundr,
from www . flashlightking.com. But mostly as leftover reflectors from Mag mods. After a while you get piles of Mag parts laying around.
Stefan

Edit!

It's fun to build and you're going to love it when it's built!

 

[f22shift]

Stefan,
Nice lights! Your post has gotten me excited to do my own P7 Mag mods. I have 3 heatsinks ( 2 H22A and 1 Fenix), two P7 emitters and one on the way, 2 3D mags, Tenergy D cells on the way, Kai AMC boards on the way. I'll be sure to post some pics when I'm done. Thanks for sharing! Keep um commin! BTW, where did you get the mag reflectors from? I may need some spares too. I'm sure some of those Incan guys must have a bunch to give away. Aloha!

let us know how the kai amc board works with the 3 cells. i know they mention 4 cells in the description so i was wondering if it still worked with 3 cells

 

[StefanFS]

Post #1 updated with a small unscientific heat test.

 

[Northern Lights]

This is what you need. Two 1A simple AMC7135 drivers and one 1A AMC7135 multimode driver to control them.Stefan

I do not know enought about board electronics to get this.
What is the purpose of the controler board? That is to say I perfer only off and on, is the boards only purpose mode control or is it intrigal to the operation? The two simple boards provide the regulation, is that all that is necessary to operate the P7?

 

[Cheesy]

I do not know enought about board electronics to get this.
What is the purpose of the controler board? That is to say I perfer only off and on, is the boards only purpose mode control or is it intrigal to the operation? The two simple boards provide the regulation, is that all that is necessary to operate the P7?

Each board is contributing 1A of drive to the total 3A. If you remove the multimode driver you will need to replace it with another 1A driver or you will only get 2A.


Kev.

 

[Northern Lights]

Got it, now the equations make more sense to me too. Thank you very much.

 

[regor]

This is my first time posting a question, so bare with me please.
I am also planning on using your method to control the SSC P7, but my concern is when soldering in the multi mode board. Will I be able to actually get multi modes from the P7? I like the idea of at least a LOW and HIGH mode. Any ideas???

 

[StefanFS]

regor,
if you do it like described and use those drivers you will get different levels.
Stefan

 

[regor]

Stefan, Thank you for responding to my question about multilevel driver. I will follow your diagram description in your article. Thanks again!

 

[FireStik]

Great info, thanks for sharing!

Maybe I missed it, but have you tried the 4338 driver from KD? I just got some and plan on trying one on my Mag P7.

Here's the link: http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=4338

 

[StefanFS]

Great info, thanks for sharing!

Maybe I missed it, but have you tried the 4338 driver from KD? I just got some and plan on trying one on my Mag P7.

Here's the link: http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=4338

No you didn't miss it because I haven't mentioned those here. They are made from two sandwiched 1400 mA drivers, the ones I use with the multimode drivers in this thread. That's what's so great with these drivers, you can combine them in a number of ways to get the drive current you want. Your drivers should work great with 3 x C or D NiMH or one large LiION cell, they also work with 3 x AA but with less flat regulation. They will be burning hot on 4 NiMH cells, as that will be to much voltage.
Good luck,
Stefan

 

[Drewfus2101]

Stefan, maybe I'm missing something about the AMC boards and hopefully you can clear up my questions.

Right now I've running direct drive using 3 x NiMH, fresh at 3.6V, and at the tail cap the current is registering 2.1 amps.

When I get the time, I'm going to put together 2 of my 1400mA AMCs to get the 2.8A drive current.

This is where my question comes in: the AMCs are not boost boards, so how can I get more current using this board than when I was using DD without adding another battery? I've been planning on adding another battery, but I also know that 4.8V is pushing the boards thermal limits.

So you are running 3 of the AMC boards making 3.0A off of 2 x D size NiMH batteries??

I started building my 2.8A driver but had some solder flow too far and form a short and didn't have any more time to work on it so I just went DD to get it running. Pretty good for 2.1A, but I've got to go regulated.

 

[StefanFS]

Drewfus2101,

It sounds strange with only 2.1A from three D? NiMH cells in direct drive. When I tried DD I got over 2.5-2.6 even with only three eneloop AA in adapters and slightly more with different D size NiMH cells, between 2.7 and ~3.2A depending on cell age and condition. You can get even more current from one C/D-size LiION. These drivers work with what current the cell/s can deliver to it.

No, I'm running the 3A variety from one 5000mAh D-size LiION or three 9000 mAh D-size NiMH to get reasonable runtimes. 2 x D NiMH doesn't work with these drivers, voltage is too low.

Stefan

 

[Supernam]

Drewfus,

Didn't your test results for the AMC boards show that you need about 4 volts or more to hit the boards' max current?

 

[Drewfus2101]

Drewfus,

Didn't your test results for the AMC boards show that you need about 4 volts or more to hit the boards' max current?

Yes, 4.0 to 4.2 seemed to be about best between the 1050mA board and the 1400mA board. BUT we are talking about running two of the 1400mA boards in parallel, which changes a lot.

I actually had time last night to finish building my 2.8A driver but left my tools at another house so couldn't remove the Mag switch from my light so couldn't perform the same tests as I did with those AMC boards on this one. I'm curious to see what kind of efficiency numbers, input current and output current we will get with this setup. I'll be sure to post up when I get around to it.

Like Stefan has said, the AMC boards seem best with 1 Lithium Ion battery fresh off the charger, but can work with 3 or 4 NiMH batteries, although 4, while fresh off the charger, will push the thermal management limits. I'm going to run on 4 NiMH batteries but I'll let them rest after charging.