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New GDUP LEs no Potting ?

litetube

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Jan 25, 2008
Messages
643
Location
New England
Sooooooo.....

Is it just me or does it seem like the cans on the new round of Gdups are EMPTY?

I thought you were supposed to fill these xr-cans up to the MPCB with thermal epoxy? Mine looks empty . Do I use this thing and risk overheating or try to squirt AA epoxy in there with some kind of little syringe (where do I get one of those?) although I shouldnt have to do that for the cost of this little sucker. Or am I mistaken here? (that happens all the time)

anyone else notice this or Wayne, any thoughts?
 

dat2zip

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Jan 5, 2002
Messages
3,420
Location
Bay Area
Sooooooo.....

Is it just me or does it seem like the cans on the new round of Gdups are EMPTY?

I thought you were supposed to fill these xr-cans up to the MPCB with thermal epoxy? Mine looks empty . Do I use this thing and risk overheating or try to squirt AA epoxy in there with some kind of little syringe (where do I get one of those?) although I shouldnt have to do that for the cost of this little sucker. Or am I mistaken here? (that happens all the time)

anyone else notice this or Wayne, any thoughts?

There is no need to fill the GDuP with thermal epoxy. All is well as is. Since the MCPCB is only peened into place it is possible to replace, repair the LE sometimes. I've corrected a few boards that were not soldered down all the way. If it was filled with epoxy the repair process or upgrade is near impossible.

The GD design doesn't need the thermal fill. Other configurations do require the additional thermal epoxy to help the regulator dissipate the converter board heat.

Wayne
 

litetube

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Jan 25, 2008
Messages
643
Location
New England
Thanx for the quick response Wayne!! Also thanx for getting these out so fast to us.

So, if everything is working fine on the LE then it wouldnt hurt anything if I did indeed fill up the can with AA? If it's working now it should continue doing so and some extra heat dissipating can't be a bad thing right? The reason I ask is I plan on using High continuous and tailstanding the light standalone. It gets warm in the hand on high. Is High for short burst duration only?

also wondering when I get ino that cycling stage , that is a reset ? what gets it to stop, just turning off the light and waiting a few seconds? how am I getting into it in the first place? is it ok to use that mode? My kid likes it :laughing:
 
Last edited:

dat2zip

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Jan 5, 2002
Messages
3,420
Location
Bay Area
Thanx for the quick response Wayne!! Also thanx for getting these out so fast to us.

So, if everything is working fine on the LE then it wouldnt hurt anything if I did indeed fill up the can with AA? If it's working now it should continue doing so and some extra heat dissipating can't be a bad thing right? The reason I ask is I plan on using High continuous and tailstanding the light standalone. It gets warm in the hand on high. Is High for short burst duration only?

also wondering when I get ino that cycling stage , that is a reset ? what gets it to stop, just turning off the light and waiting a few seconds? how am I getting into it in the first place? is it ok to use that mode? My kid likes it :laughing:

The light cycles if you turn the light off right away. Internally it keeps track each time you do this and counts how many times you have done this in a row. If the count gets to 15 or more times then it enters calibration ramping the light on/off 5 times. If this happens wait till the light ramps up/down 5 times and then turn the light off. This will reset the internal counter and skip calibration. If you want it to calibrate wait let it ramp up/down 5 times and then it will slowely change the brightness of the LED and if it calibrates all three levels successfully it will end calibration ramping the LED up/down 5 more times. After that it will go to low level.

Since it stores the count in EEPROM it retains this count forever. That means if you cycle the light three times and then put it down. The internal count is 3. If you pick the light up a week later and cycle it three more times the count is now 9.

So, if you cycle it round once or twice and then set the light down you have not reset the count. If you cycle round a couple more times you will have gone past 15 without knowing it. To avoid this ensure that one of the times you actually leave the light on a few seconds to ensure you reset the count.

To avoid this in the future you need to turn the light on for more than 1 second to reset the internal counter.

Wayne
 
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JohnTz

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Jan 29, 2008
Messages
412
Location
chicago
Hi Wayne,
Is there any form of temp protection on the LE? Will it shut itself down before it overheats?
 

TranquillityBase

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Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
3,741
There is no need to fill the GDuP with thermal epoxy. All is well as is. Since the MCPCB is only peened into place it is possible to replace, repair the LE sometimes. I've corrected a few boards that were not soldered down all the way. If it was filled with epoxy the repair process or upgrade is near impossible.

The GD design doesn't need the thermal fill. Other configurations do require the additional thermal epoxy to help the regulator dissipate the converter board heat.

Wayne
No epoxy, no shock isolation...

Potting epoxy serves for more than thermo transfer.
 

litetube

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Jan 25, 2008
Messages
643
Location
New England
well yeah that is what I was thinking also. It encapsulates the board and makes everything more of a solid unit , thoough it does sacrifice the ability to ever open it up again I dont see myself ever attempting that . So how would someone suggest getting the AA into the can via the largest hole? any type of basic inexpesive syringe available
 

TranquillityBase

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Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
3,741
well yeah that is what I was thinking also. It encapsulates the board and makes everything more of a solid unit , thoough it does sacrifice the ability to ever open it up again I dont see myself ever attempting that . So how would someone suggest getting the AA into the can via the largest hole? any type of basic inexpesive syringe available
You can mix the epoxy in a plastic bag, then snip the corner of the bag, and squeeze the mix through that hole.
 
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