P7 or other LED upgrade for SPY 007?

[Edwood]

I remember it being mentioned before, but would love to have my SPY 007 have a P7 in it.

Would it be thermally feasible? I know it's probably not possible to drive it to full 2.8A spec, but even halfway there will be significantly brighter.

After seeing quite a few successful P7's run off of a single CR123 cell, two cells would be even more ideal with the 007.

One issue with such a bright LED, is that the lower levels are still very bright. But that's where the awesomeness of the 007's UI comes in. User definable levels, and many of them, all at the quick flick of the clicky knob.

Just a thought, I know you're really busy getting P4 based 007's out the door, Dave. But a P7 (or other more powerful emitter) could make for an unbeatable combo (My 007 doesn't like getting beaten in output by the puny Orb Raw NS on a full charge.)

-Ed

 

[Data]

I built a 005 with a P7 in it months ago. The emitter is surrounded by a McR-18 bored out to fit over the silicon cap. The combination does throw a very large spot and it has enormous spill. The STFu with a firmware change may power the emitter to 2 amps with rechargeable batts and about 1.5 amps with primary bats ( I have tested the primary configuration the most ).

I really do not know if it would be desirable over a very high power P4 or XR-E. The single die emitters have so much more throw when saddled with the 18mm reflector.

For a pure flood light the four die seoul or cree emitters can't be beat.


Dave

 

[Edwood]

Hmmm. That is true. The reflector is too small for the huge P7.

Perhaps the Osram Diamond Dragon would be a better choice? I have yet to see that emitter in action personally, but I hear it throws like crazy.

Although, Osram's binning policy sucks.

-Ed

 

[tino_ale]

Since Edwood mentions "other LED upgrade", I'd like to ask if it would be feasible to upgrade the SPY with a high CRI led like the Nichia Don uses in the Sundrop.

Yes the output is not as high as with a P4 or XR-E, but the color rendition is said to be so much better I would think it's a reasonnable offset.

Dave could you tell us more about how is assembled the LED in the SPY? I have never even tried to open it up and I have no idea how the SPY is arranged inside. Is the LED emmitter on a separate removable heatsink? What should be done to swap emmiter?

Unless I knew exactly how to make such a swap and had all needed parts, I will never attempt such a modification on my SPY, but I generally like to know how my gear is made. Unless you don't want to publish such information to protect your design, could ou post some sketch or blueprints of the spy inyards?

 

[Data]

Since Edwood mentions "other LED upgrade", I'd like to ask if it would be feasible to upgrade the SPY with a high CRI led like the Nichia Don uses in the Sundrop.

Yes the output is not as high as with a P4 or XR-E, but the color rendition is said to be so much better I would think it's a reasonnable offset.

Dave could you tell us more about how is assembled the LED in the SPY? I have never even tried to open it up and I have no idea how the SPY is arranged inside. Is the LED emmitter on a separate removable heatsink? What should be done to swap emmiter?

Unless I knew exactly how to make such a swap and had all needed parts, I will never attempt such a modification on my SPY, but I generally like to know how my gear is made. Unless you don't want to publish such information to protect your design, could ou post some sketch or blueprints of the spy inyards?

The sundrop would work in the SPY with an STFu. I specifically designed the SPY so that it is easy to upgrade the emitter. Having said that if you open up the SPY, its warranty is voided. If you modify your SPY and then later need to send it back to me I will still fix it but there will be a charge.

There is a video on my youtube that will give you some idea as to what is involved. It is not a current video as it was made years ago. The biggest difference is that there is no longer a copper finger attached to the converter board. That old converter needed to be cooled and that finger was designed to touch the body of the light and help keep the power IC cool. The STFu is a completely different animal.

Milkyspit has modded several SPY's and he would probably be the best rout for anybody that wants to have an expert do the emitter upgrade. dat2zip still offers an upgrade of he converter board to the new STFu board and I am sure that would be desirable if you are wanting to upgrade an old vintage DB based SPY.

Cheers
Dave

 

[X_Marine]

Great videos Dave..
Now I'll be in here another hr watching all these goodies. :tinfoil:

Thanks
X/BillyD..

 

[Edwood]

Since Edwood mentions "other LED upgrade", I'd like to ask if it would be feasible to upgrade the SPY with a high CRI led like the Nichia Don uses in the Sundrop.

Yes the output is not as high as with a P4 or XR-E, but the color rendition is said to be so much better I would think it's a reasonnable offset.

The high CRI Nichia 083 has a lot less light output than a P4. It's Vf is around 350mA, so the SPY's converter's output is total overkill.

How if you wanted an "uber mule", you might be able to fit three of them in the SPY. That would make for a higher Vf. Milkyspit would probably be up for that challenge. Ideally, you would want to use bare Nichia 083 emitters, but good luck finding those. You'd have to desolder them from Don's McPCB's, or maybe convince him to sell you bare emitters.

-Ed

 

[Edwood]

Great videos Dave..
Now I'll be in here another hr watching all these goodies. :tinfoil:

Thanks
X/BillyD..

Heheh, yeah, I watched all of Dave's YouTube videos. It's what tipped me over the edge in buying a SPY 007.

I have never seen such attention to detail on this scale.

-Ed

 

[X_Marine]

Heheh, yeah, I watched all of Dave's YouTube videos. It's what tipped me over the edge in buying a SPY 007.

I have never seen such attention to detail on this scale.

-Ed

I have to admit although I have watched a few of the progress that he posted, it wasn't until I was watching this tut on assembling and he says something about "I have become an expert on these" that kinda caught my attention. So when it finished I checked who did the vid and walah the big catch. He really has a nice collection.

Makes me mad at myself that 35yrs ago all I got were Polaroid Pics of most of the Jags, Ferrari's etc. that I used to refinish and make parts for. :shakehead Ah wth, one of these days I'll scan what I do have before they fade away.. lol

Thanks
X..

 

[tino_ale]

Hi guys,

I have an original SPY 007 from the first wave. IIRC max current is 1200mA.

I've never been overly pleased with the tint of my light, and since time has passed and I now own a metal lathe, I am slowly but surely moving on the idea of a LED swap.

Any recommendation anyone ?

My requirements :
- need to work with the existing board (no mod of the electronics at all)
- My favorite beam pattern so far is the XR-E with a McR-17 reflector. Relatively narrow but almost no hotspot to speak of. I would like that.
- I want either hi-CRI or neutral white LED. Neutral/vanilla tint preferred.
- High efficiency. Not looking for the absolute max lumens.

I can turn/adjust down whichever reflector is suitable. I also can make the aluminium or copper disc on which the LED will sit. But I've lost contact with the latest LED technologies lately. I want either hi-CRI or neutral white LED. Neutral/vanilla tint preferred. Purple/blue/pink/green tints, no way.

Any recommendation welcome!
Thanks

 

[Data]

Wow, this is an old thread.

It is great to hear from you again. Nice new lathe you have there. You should have a lot of fun playing with that. Can't wait to see what kinds of cool things you make.

I recommend you get a Cree XP-G2 emitter and whatever neutral color temperature you prefer between 4000 and 5000 K. That will give you tons more light then the old emitters.


Cheers
Dave

 

[tino_ale]

Ok I've done a little bit of search and indeed, the XP-G2 seems to be the way to go.
I wanted high CRI but Nichia 083 and 119/119V emitters can't take high enough current for the SPY007. The XP-G2 can, and it has an above average CRI.

Now I need to check if the Haiku reflector can fit in the SPY head (after some machining). Also need to find a way to make a heatsink that fits in the SPY head, the emitter is darn small ! I'll probably end up turning down a MCPCB with the XP-G2 emitter soldered to it.