Peak Rainier HAIII w/Cree MC-E

[MWClint]

This is kind of a sick mod, really simple as far as modding peaks go.

and it makes you go

on the IMR16340 it's pulling between 2.5-2.78 amps. I was a little worried
it was going to be overdriven, but this is right in the sweet spot for the mc-e.
update:hot off of the charger, it's drawing 3.35amps, but it drops to 3 after 30 seconds.
seems to spend most of the time at 2.8-2.9..then the cell is done at 2.5amps.

typical donut you get on smooth reflectors w/any multi die emmittor.
i do have some diffuser film from the rosco film sample pack that i may try,
or i'll stipple a spare reflector. They are just IMS 20MM's. It's just so
much light it's not a big deal anyway.

I did have to raise the mc-e up..the old lux3 was inset into the heatsink, so i just cut out a small copper spacer and arctic epoxied it down. doesnt have to
be any specific height..the rainier oring is thick and you can squish it down a bit.

I'm really surprised, the HAIII rainier weighs almost nothing even with battery.
It builds heat nicely, but no fear of overheating, short runtimes are a given
using a single 500mah IMR. The brass and SS rainiers are pretty hefty in
comparison, but i feel the HAIII is best suited to dissipating the high heat.

 

[BentHeadTX]

Amazing!
A true pocket screamer that won't explode! Great job!

 

[stefanj]

While ordering my Pacific- Curt was telling me about this Mod. Very cool!

 

[MKLight]

Is Peak or Curt doing these at their factory?

Thanks,
Mike

While ordering my Pacific- Curt was telling me about this Mod. Very cool!

 

[StarHalo]

Is Peak or Curt doing these at their factory?

+1, I'm already warming up the ol' Paypal..

 

[LED_Thrift]

Beautiful! What a great idea. The Rainier is such a small screamer. Are the four die wired in series or 2S2P? How much brighter is it now than the LuxIII?

 

[MWClint]

Beautiful! What a great idea. The Rainier is such a small screamer. Are the four die wired in series or 2S2P? How much brighter is it now than the LuxIII?

this is wired full parallel..at 3+ amps there's no comparison in overall light output to the luxIII.

I have stippled the reflector, but i went a little too heavy and now i just have
a wall of light.(actually it's a _room_ of light ) i ordered a stippled khatod
20mm to try..and still have some smooth ims spares to play with.

the led has been through at least 10 charges and i'd say it's fully broken in
now. it stays over 3.2 amps during the entire charge. :laughing:

i would guess about 4 minutes total runtime at this wasteful 3+amp current,
but ive been doing it in 30-45 second bursts. It gets hot, but your hand
takes the heat away no problem. Once i have a warm white mc-e on order i'll
do a death run with the cold white mce and see if i can do a full runtime test
in my hand. would be interesting to see how the mc-e reacts for extended periods at 3+ amps.

I think this light would be usable if i kept it around a spec 1.4amps(350mah per die) it would be plenty bright and good runtime on a single IMR cell.
DD on an IMR is really just a show toy. but it's fun.

tried a cr123a and it isnt bad, it became a low flood light that still puts out
a decent ammount of light and there's no heat concerns. direct drive on 3v
was giving me about 400mah total(100 per die). runtime is excellent.

2 nimh's in the 2AA peak body is drawing 120mah total..30mah per die.
excellent floody reading light.

a 2s2p would work with a pair of 14500's and the peak 2AA body. it would
be pulling max current and really straining the 14500s.

 

[MWClint]

ok, wanted to drop the current to a practical 2-2.2 amps for use with the IMR. My imr's come off the triton at 4.16v..and with a led vf of 3.7, i figured i needed a resistor around .25 - .3ohms.

so i grabbed 4 1/4 watt 1.5ohm resistors and wired them all in parallel,
giving me .3ohms. :thumbsup: 1 watt rating is slighlty undersized, but it is
working fine for this small voltage drop and short runtime.

removed the brass pill from the base of the light and covered the
resistor pill with heatshrink and stuffed it in the base of the battery tube.

the 4 resistors fit perfectly(total height of the pill needs to sit just below the
top of the foam.)

i re-stippled another 20mm ims reflector, this time it came out great.

it puts out a lot of light at a starting current of 2.25 amps, and now it can
run without heat issues for the life of the battery. i'd say a solid 10 minutes on DD.

 

[LED_Thrift]

That's a very nice beam - I really like smooth transition beams like this.

 

[Cuso]

You are one sick puppy . Gatta love that first picture of the emmiter head on, kudos to you. You still need to beat the master of Rainier mods though...

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=147334

I still have my CPF edition in pieces here waiting for the parts to do that...

 

[MWClint]

You are one sick puppy . Gatta love that first picture of the emmiter head on, kudos to you. You still need to beat the master of Rainier mods though...

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=147334

I still have my CPF edition in pieces here waiting for the parts to do that...

Whoa! Flupic'd
I was wondering if an Mcr-20 fit.
Great mod there!

 

[Cuso]

Whoa! Flupic'd
I was wondering if an Mcr-20 fit.
Great mod there!

It doesent, you have to bore the inside, but a little dremel can take care of that...:devil:

 

[MWClint]

did a runtime test.
got 7m:30 seconds constant runtime from 4.16v down to 3.65v

The cell has rested for a minute and now reads 3.73v...
so the IMR has some more life in it - maybe another minute, if you dont run it continuously.

heat was no problem..held it in my hand the whole time.
starting current cold at 2.25...went up to 2.47 as the led heated up..then gradually downward as the cell depleted. at the end it was pulling 1.65 amps.

It's now a useable light.

Cuso, you are a bad influence. now i want to stuff some real guts in there.
lovecpf

The darkzero bi-flupic mod would work well here. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=205201
and it's going to need a warm white mc-e.

 

[Cuso]

Cuso, you are a bad influence.

Yeah, i get that sometimes... You might want to also replace the lens for a decent UCL in 20mm flavor, its going to be thick enough for the reflector and you can use the factory o-ring and the bezel will sit flush...:thumbsup: