Q5 at 2.5 amps?

[bstrickler]

I'm curious as to if its safe to run a Q5 at 2.5 amps to push more lumens out of it.

I'm not too worried about burning it out sooner than normal, as long as it doesn't burn out in like 3 hours. I'm going to be replacing it in the future with an MC-E to make it a brighter pocket light.


Thanks,
Brian

 

[old4570]

Safe ? For who ? You ? Yes ... For the Cree Q5 ... No

Still , how are you going to shove 2.5A to a Q5

 

[znomit]

JTR1962 has done output measurements way up there on R2s
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2990597&postcount=303

It doesn't really make a lot of sense pushing it that hard.
You're only getting around 10 lm/W for the extra drive power.

Going from 2 to 2.5A is an extra 2.5W but only adds 30lm, which isn't a lot on top of 400.

 

[liveforphysics]

I couldn't tell the differnce from 1.5Amp to 2Amps with my own eyes. The meter could see the difference, but my eyes didn't.

It's a lot of extra wasted energy in exchange for a little extra light that you likely wouldn't notice.

 

[bstrickler]

Safe ? For who ? You ? Yes ... For the Cree Q5 ... No

Still , how are you going to shove 2.5A to a Q5

By using ShiningBeams 3-mode P7/MC-E driver. I bought 2, with my *minimal* past experience with P7 drivers, (fried em both. 1 was human error, 1 was a bad driver) to hope to ensure I would get at least 1 good one. With the extra driver, I figure I'll just run my old Q5 flashlight til I get the $ for the MC-E and wire it up.

Also, I forgot to add: I won't feel as guilty when ripping the Q5 off the flashlight if I destroy it in the process, since if I do fry it by the time I get the MC-E, I won't need to bother figuring out what to use it for later.

JTR1962 has done output measurements way up there on R2s
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2990597&postcount=303

It doesn't really make a lot of sense pushing it that hard.
You're only getting around 10 lm/W for the extra drive power.

Going from 2 to 2.5A is an extra 2.5W but only adds 30lm, which isn't a lot on top of 400.

Thank you for that info. That was useful and educating. Gonna have to read over it after I get some sleep.

With knowing that information, I may just use the medium and low settings on the driver, then, and flip past the high mode, unless I need it for seeing further or something.

I think the driver that was in the flashlight was putting only 400 mA to it, so it wasn't getting anywhere near the current it was designed to handle (measly 114 lumens). The medium mode on the ShiningBeam P7 driver with my P7 was much brighter than the Q5 with its 3xAMC7135 driver (335 lumen for P7 @ 1A), and the low (~50 lumen @ 140 mA) was noticably lower (but not my a whole lot) , which shows the Q5 wasn't getting as much power as it should have.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[old4570]

By using ShiningBeams 3-mode P7/MC-E driver. I bought 2, with my *minimal* past experience with P7 drivers, (fried em both. 1 was human error, 1 was a bad driver) to hope to ensure I would get at least 1 good one. With the extra driver, I figure I'll just run my old Q5 flashlight til I get the $ for the MC-E and wire it up.

Also, I forgot to add: I won't feel as guilty when ripping the Q5 off the flashlight if I destroy it in the process, since if I do fry it by the time I get the MC-E, I won't need to bother figuring out what to use it for later.



Thank you for that info. That was useful and educating. Gonna have to read over it after I get some sleep.

With knowing that information, I may just use the medium and low settings on the driver, then, and flip past the high mode, unless I need it for seeing further or something.

I think the driver that was in the flashlight was putting only 400 mA to it, so it wasn't getting anywhere near the current it was designed to handle (measly 114 lumens). The medium mode on the ShiningBeam P7 driver with my P7 was much brighter than the Q5 with its 3xAMC7135 driver (335 lumen for P7 @ 1A), and the low (~50 lumen @ 140 mA) was noticably lower (but not my a whole lot) , which shows the Q5 wasn't getting as much power as it should have.

Thanks,
Brian

Hmmm , Id be interested to see what you actually get ..

Its a 2.5A driver , but I often find that the driver is limited too a certain level , it just depends on if the LED will draw said current ..

Ive used SSC P7 drivers with Cree , and I find its much about what the LED will draw , you would need a buck boost driver to push current .

Still , let us know how it goes with this driver , I have 1 myself , but feeding a SSC P7 .

 

[bstrickler]

Hmmm , Id be interested to see what you actually get ..

Its a 2.5A driver , but I often find that the driver is limited too a certain level , it just depends on if the LED will draw said current ..

Ive used SSC P7 drivers with Cree , and I find its much about what the LED will draw , you would need a buck boost driver to push current .

Still , let us know how it goes with this driver , I have 1 myself , but feeding a SSC P7 .

Considering I managed to break the emitter last night (was trying to pull it out, but the board bent, and the emitter popped off, and the lens popped off the emitter, and the emitter wouldn't light anymore), I'm going to have to re-do it with my other light, somehow.

I will have to pop the driver off the other light I have, and try to get the ShiningBeam driver to wire up to it. (I need to get some 24-26g wire for it to fit properly)

~Brian