Mastercraft Maximum mod

[Spypro]

Hi !

I received this light from my father last Christmas. It is using a Luxeon K2 and I don't like it. The tint greenish and the output is "average". I want to mod it but I do not know which emitter would be the best. It is powered by 4 AA cells. I have some Energizer NiMH I could use to power it.
I took some pictures of the light to give you an idea:






The metal reflector gives a really tight beam of ~6 inches at 2 meters. As you can see on the pictures the K2 is glued with thermal paste on a metal "heatsink". There is a little board that that enable some functions: Press once for "High", press again for "Low" and again for "Off". I would like to change the board and the emitter. Do you think it is possible to mod that light with a Q5 and power it with 4 x NiMH ? I'm sure that I will have to use a "buck driver" because the voltage of the 4 x AA NiMH will be too high for the LED. I want to drive the LED at 1000mah. Modes or not I don't care. Any recommandations ?

Thanks !

 

[Spypro]

Anyone ?

 

[ambientmind]

i doubt that reflector would work well with a cree. from my experience at least, i have to drill out the opening and raise the cree higher into the reflector to focus it properly. if you have a multimeter, try to measure the actual current going to the led. if its under an amp, you should be able to replace the k2 with a seoul using the same driver board thats in there and get much better output. if the current is higher than that, i would try a rebel 100 bin. i've heard these can be run up to about 1.2 amps reliably as long as there is good heatsinking. using a soul or rebel would give you the best chance that beam would focus again with a different led. or if you really want to make it simple, wait for the new k2s to be available again and drop one of those in there. as far as changing the driver goes, you'd have to bypass those resistors on the switch board to make it direct drive to the driver and just solder on a driver board after the switch to power the led. for drivers to use, kaidoman, dealextreme, and the sandwichshoppe all offer an array of drivers that would work with this input voltage. good luck!

 

[Spypro]

Thanks for the advices !
The SSC P4 looks like a good solution. Will I fry the LED with 4 x NiMH ? I'm a little bit confused with voltage and all. I found this emitter on DX and It says "3.7v typical driving voltage". Since I want a driver board to have regulation, I don't know where to look at.

Thank again !

 

[ambientmind]

no, you wont fry the emitter with those batteries. the blue things with stripes on them in the picture of your switch are resistors which basically eat up voltage and current to ensure the proper voltage and current goes to the led. the only way you would fry the emitter is if it is getting to much current. seouls and k2s run off of almost the same voltage, but some of the k2s are driven at a much higher current. but if your light is very dim, its probably the 700ma version of the original k2 which only put out about 75 lumens on a good day. so a seoul should be fine. if you want to replace the driver, look for something with a voltage input capable of handling 6V and outputs no more than 1000mA on high. that should get you started.

 

[Spypro]

Thank for the advices !
Do you know a specific board that offers regulation, vIN of at least 6v and output of 1000mah ?