pointers for building downboy/ecan/McLux PR

[tylerdurden]

OK, I have a PR head, an ecan, and a downboy 1000. Still waiting for the Lux-III to arrive. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I'm pretty comfortable soldering on the BB400, but the DB seems a bit more delicate, so I have a few questions.

1) I need to run a wire from the GND on the downboy to the hole in the top of the ecan to ground it, right? Everything else must be isolated from GND, correct? Does this include the slug of the LuxeonIII? Is the isolation of the emitter's slug a requirement of using the DB or is that a requirement of certain Luxeon variants? I seem to remember that red, amber, and red-orange luxeons needed to be isolated, but I don't remember if that was just because they were using a sensitve buck circuit.

2) the wiring diagram for the DB [here] shows a LED cathode and an LED anode, while the others show LED+ and LED-. I just want to be sure. The red wire goes from the hole market "LED Cathode" to the side of the emitter with the hole, and the black wire goes from "LED Anode" to the side with the notch?

3) the PR board. The two pads are slightly different. This is just for convenience, right?

4) prepping the Ecan. There isn't much clearance between the bottom lip of the Ecan and the contact holes in the DB board. I've marked the relative positions of the three contacts and I'm going to file away some extra room there.

5) potting the DB in the Ecan. I'm planning on soldering the lead wires and the ground wire on, then super-gluing the board to the lip of the ecan, then soldering the ground wire to the ecan wall, then finally filling it up with AA. Should I let that cure before epoxying that in the head cavity or do it all at once?

Thanks. As you can see, my knowledge of electronics is a bit weak. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Hmm... after I typed all of this up, I found Don's build notes [here] that answers all of my questions. Never mind /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I'm going to post this anyway as the seed of a FAQ or how-to, as someone else may find it useful.

 

[McGizmo]

Tyler,

Good questions and the sink slug DOES need to be electrically isolated from the ground!! I don't think I mentioned this in my build notes (can't remember /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ).

- Don

 

[tylerdurden]

OK. Thanks. While I'm fitting all of this together to make sure I'm doing it right, I have a few more questions.

After looking at your PR build notes, I still am not sure which wire goes where on the board, because I just realized the pics in your notes that actually show the wires coming out of the board show a badboy, not a downboy.

Does the PR-board ring need to be glued down? It appears the luxeon will hold it in place if the emitter is epoxied to the head.

What is the purpose of the nail polish? Are there any particular colors that make the electrons "go faster"? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

It should be safe to test my connections using a old junky P-binned 1-watt emitter if I run 2xAA as the power source, shouldnt it? The DB should be in direct drive at that level. Until the Lux-III's arrive, I don't really have anything that isn't already in a flashlight that could take the full 1 amp. I guess the old 1-watters might survive for a second or two.

 

[dat2zip]

Excellent questions.

I'm working on a write up for the web site. It's in the works.

I'll answer your questions in a bit.

 

[jtice]

tyler,

Yes AA epoxy the led board when you AA the led down.

Use nailpolish EVERYwhere you think something has a chance of shorting. IE: over the led leads after its all sodered in. etc.


1) The Downboy and Wizard MUST have their own seperate grounds. (not one common ground like the Badboys)
ALWAY isolate the LED Slug from the sink,,, yes with the Badboys you dont HAVE to, but its good practice.

2) Well, yes you have the wires going to the correct places. BUT generally red is the positive. (side with the hole).

3) One side of the board has a "trace" that runs from the contact, to the notch made for the ground screw. You MUST chip or file that trace off. That is for the BadBoy (common ground). If you dont, POOF ! -- Also, make sure the board has alot of play, so you have space around the diameter of it, so you can move the led around the center it.

4) Yes, perfect, you must file away notches for each contact.

5) Do it all at once, that way you dont have 2 seperate AA curing spots. You might want to post cure it also. (bake it in the oven at 140 degrees F for 20 minutes)

 

[tylerdurden]

OK, thanks. Construction underway.

 

[Darell]

And speaking of nail-polish... I was just out shopping for a new supply yesterday (I use it for everything from marking my tools to repairing my pantyhose) and what I see is that 99% of the colors now are "metallic." They aren't called that, but they sure have flakes of something shiny in them. I wonder if it really is metal flakes? Probalby not, but just to be sure, I steered clear of them. Picked up a lovely blue and a shade of red that I've simply NEVER experienced before.

My wife is so proud.

 

[AlphaTea]

[ QUOTE ]
Darell said:
And speaking of nail-polish... I was just out shopping for a new supply yesterday (I use it for everything from marking my tools to repairing my pantyhose )...

[/ QUOTE ]

So, are you Darell by day and Dar-ell by night? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Please post pics! This I gotta see.

 

[tylerdurden]

Hang on, I'm confused:

[ QUOTE ]
tylerdurden said:

2) the wiring diagram for the DB [here] shows a LED cathode and an LED anode, while the others show LED+ and LED-. I just want to be sure. The red wire goes from the hole market "LED Cathode" to the side of the emitter with the hole, and the black wire goes from "LED Anode" to the side with the notch?

[/ QUOTE ]


[ QUOTE ]
jtice said:

2) Well, yes you have the wires going to the correct places. BUT generally red is the positive. (side with the hole).

[/ QUOTE ]

Right, the red wire goes to the side with the hole, the black wired goes to the side with the notch. But which is the "cathode" and which is the "anode"? I thought the anode would be the side with the notch (the "negative" side), but reading Don's notes, I think I may have it all backwards:

"The ground lead is then soldered to the LED cathode lead in the case of a BadBoy (shown) or in the case of a DownBoy, the ground wire can be soldered directly to the ground via in the PCB or to a ground lead already soldered to the PCB."

That seems to be backwards of what I thought. A clearer explanation would be GREATLY appreciated, as I don't want to blow this board or a LuxIII on my first try.

Thanks.

 

[Doug S]

[ QUOTE ]
AlphaTea said:
So, are you Darell by day and Dar-ell by night? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Please post pics! This I gotta see.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure someone will shortly /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[dat2zip]

The LED - is LED Cathode

The LED + is LED Anode (square hole in lead)

The Ground wire is common with Ground and LED - (LED Cathode) in a BB configuration.

For a Downboy. The GND must be wired to the metal housing and not connect to the LED -. These two must be separate in a Downboy (and Wizard) configuration.

In the ECan, the GND wire is soldered inside the well of the ECan to the ECan wall. You can drill a small hole in the side to make this easier. Only the LED +/- go out the top to the LED.

The battery return on the Ecan is the rim of the ECan and the battery plus contact is the round copper pad on the the backside of the converter board.

 

[kakster]

Sorry for the slight thread hijack, but where did you get the downboy 1 amp? did you have to solder those teensy SMD parts yourself?

 

[dat2zip]

kakster,

I offer a Dumb Downboy on the shoppe. It has no sense resistors loaded and you can specify any two resistors or none. Many people are getting this board and having both resistor locations loaded with 0.1 ohm resistors to make a DB1000.

In this way, I don't have to have inventory of every possible 1 resistor and 2 resistor combinations.

I'm guessing they will be driving a 3W full tilt.

Wayne

 

[tylerdurden]

[ QUOTE ]
dat2zip said:
The LED - is LED Cathode

The LED + is LED Anode (square hole in lead)

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I needed. Thanks.

 

[tylerdurden]

So far, so good. I've got the ecan filed, the wires soldered to the board, and the board superglued into the ecan. It passed the first test - I just hooked up a P4K and ran it in DD mode, driving it from 2xAA. It lit up just fine, and no smoke was produced, so I think I'm in a go mode for potting the ecan in the PR head. Unfortunately, I still don't have my Lux-III emitters yet.

Again, thanks for the help, everyone. I will post more pictures when it's complete.

 

[roguesw]

tylerdurden, i noticed that you have used a bare wire for the ground, just a note, make sure that it cannot come into contact with the head when you go to pot it, cos that will short as well, coat it with some nail polish, there was a note about using non bare wire a while back when i asked the question on using bare wire or not on DB's for the ground.
thanks for putting some pics up, maybe wayne will use it in his tutorial?
Cant wait for my replacement db to arrive,
Cheers mate, hope the build goes well
Des

 

[McGizmo]

Roguesw, the ground, is the ground??!? The E-can itself is grounded. In the case of the DB, the negative lead to the LED is not common or ground, but "ground" is still ground.

Tyler, Looks good!

- Don

 

[roguesw]

Don
forgive me, this is what happens when i work outside in the sun on the car and dehydrate, and then attempt to type
lol

 

[McGizmo]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Chop]

I'm glad this thread was started. I am also awaiting the arrival of my last order from the Shoppe. I'm gonna venture further into the world of reflectors. I'm hooked after the KL4 mod.

Anyway, it's my understanding that measures must be taken to avoid a short when the PR comes into contact with the leads on the LED. Is there a way to avoid any contact at all? In any case, is nail polish the best thing to use? I know my wife chips hers all of the time. Could I just use AA instead of nail polish?

Also, as far as isolating the LED slug goes, will the use of AA to epoxy the LED to the head be sufficient isolation?