Overdrive 5W Luxeon on 2 Alkaline Cells
- Thread starter MR Bulk
- Start date
Well, I can't take credit for the regulators, a friend of mine put those together. Very complex converters, using current and voltage tracking regulation. I need a 4" magnifier just to see the circuitry. There are like three inductors, multiple transistors, ICs, and and bunch of resistors and diodes on each circuit card the size of a dime. He made these at home; a true master of miniaturization. Looks like a small city with all the parts on each board.
I just hooked them up together, which wasn't really that easy either. Looked to be a simple mod, but physical dimensions control it all in the end. I used a piece of 1" PVC under the circuit cards for support. The wire hook ups all needed to be below the height of the inductors, so they could contact the heatsink. Took a lot of time, but with three nice regulators like these, I think it was well worth it.
Right now it's running the D cell test, still putting out 1700 Lux at one meter after 90 Minutes and pretty much starting to flat line the output now as the big D cells settle in for the long run.
I just hooked them up together, which wasn't really that easy either. Looked to be a simple mod, but physical dimensions control it all in the end. I used a piece of 1" PVC under the circuit cards for support. The wire hook ups all needed to be below the height of the inductors, so they could contact the heatsink. Took a lot of time, but with three nice regulators like these, I think it was well worth it.
Right now it's running the D cell test, still putting out 1700 Lux at one meter after 90 Minutes and pretty much starting to flat line the output now as the big D cells settle in for the long run.
Ok, I did some run time test, but with questionable batteries. I could not find any good D cells, until I discovered a hidden pack of 2 D cells that was covered in dust. They are Energizer D cells with expiration of '05, but were the only D cells I could find that had a voltage over 1.5V to start with (1.55V and 1.51V). Here are the results:
The C ells were even harder to find; I had to sort through many cells to find three in near new condition; (1.45, 1.35 and 1.39V). Not exacatly new, but still should have some life left. Here are the results:
Notice the big waver about 25 minutes into the run, could be switch contact farts, or other flakey connection. But, with these not being new cells, who knows.
I'll try to grab some new D and C cells on the way home tomorrow, and redo these test for better data. Until then, this is it.........
The C ells were even harder to find; I had to sort through many cells to find three in near new condition; (1.45, 1.35 and 1.39V). Not exacatly new, but still should have some life left. Here are the results:
Notice the big waver about 25 minutes into the run, could be switch contact farts, or other flakey connection. But, with these not being new cells, who knows.
I'll try to grab some new D and C cells on the way home tomorrow, and redo these test for better data. Until then, this is it.........
RickLux
Newly Enlightened
Wow Lambda nice bright light on 2 cells. I run my iretech helios on 3 lithiums ( surefire ) nice and bright. What kinda of lumens you think you are getting ?
Floating Spots
Enlightened
That should be darn bright!!!
I have one of Lambda's Megaclops and on fresh alkalines it starts at 1.02 amps and quickly drops to 890mah. On NiMh it is at 820mah. And I can't describe how DARN BRIGHT it is. Goosed to 1.1 amp constantly, it should be a scorcher!!!
Once again, excellent work!!!
I have one of Lambda's Megaclops and on fresh alkalines it starts at 1.02 amps and quickly drops to 890mah. On NiMh it is at 820mah. And I can't describe how DARN BRIGHT it is. Goosed to 1.1 amp constantly, it should be a scorcher!!!
Once again, excellent work!!!
Still wanting a super bright, over driven 5W Luxeon flashlight that uses common D and C cells, I ended up going off the deep end and building this:
All three regulators are tucked into the barrel of a 2D Mag and positioned so that the backside of the Luxeon heatsink contacts them for cooling. This tri-power set up is well regulated, pushing ~750ma on 2D cells, and well over 1.1 amp when supplied with 3C cells.
I don't have any run time info yet, as the completed light is set aside waiting for the thermal epoxy to set up completely.
While not the most elegant of solutions, it does the job well, and dividing the chore up among three regulators also divides the heat up and spreads it out for better transfer to the heatsink.
The big test for durability and run time comes later, but right now this looks like a keeper. Megaclops brightness with extended runtime (hopefully) compared to using 6AA cells.
I'll try and post D and C cell run times later, depending on just how long it takes to run the batteries down........
All three regulators are tucked into the barrel of a 2D Mag and positioned so that the backside of the Luxeon heatsink contacts them for cooling. This tri-power set up is well regulated, pushing ~750ma on 2D cells, and well over 1.1 amp when supplied with 3C cells.
I don't have any run time info yet, as the completed light is set aside waiting for the thermal epoxy to set up completely.
While not the most elegant of solutions, it does the job well, and dividing the chore up among three regulators also divides the heat up and spreads it out for better transfer to the heatsink.
The big test for durability and run time comes later, but right now this looks like a keeper. Megaclops brightness with extended runtime (hopefully) compared to using 6AA cells.
I'll try and post D and C cell run times later, depending on just how long it takes to run the batteries down........
