MC-E thoughts on Magmods

[Firecop]

I've made a couple P7 Mags running off 4 "C" NiMh using the 1.4a drivers in parallel, giving 2.8a at the emitter. I love the light, but I've found that it gets quite warm (okay, hot) after a while. Since I often run my lights over an hour at a time, I was thinking about a better thermal solution...

Does anyone have any thoughts about running 3 of the new MC-E emitters in series? If each emitter was wired internally for parallel, then daisy-chained together, I should have to supply ~10 volts at about 1.4a, right?

The big question is that of heat: would running 3 multi-emitters (even P7s) at a lower current produce less heat/lumen than a single emitter driven harder?

TIA for the help-I haven't played with the new Crees.

 

[effulgentOne]

The more power you use to drive a single LED, the brighter it gets, but it also gets less efficient.

Running three emitters, each at one third the current, will be brighter than running a single emitter, because each LED will be seeing less current, so they will be more efficient, even though the power input is about the same. The heat produced will be less, but not noticeably. This effect is not unique to any type of LED, and so applies to both P7s and MC-Es.

 

[datiLED]

You might want to consider running three MC-E LED's, each with it's own converter underdriving it at 1A (parallel drivers). Three GD1000 drivers, or Wiz2 driver boards at 1A would be a good choice.

Another option would be using a Tri-Flupic. It has three independant outputs, and would provide you with multiple levels.

Either of these setups powered with 3 NiMH D-cell batteries, would give you fantastic runtime (for a powerhouse), and the heat issue would be greatly reduced.

 

[Firecop]

ooooh...great idea! I think that may be the winner...