Streamlight 2L3W red/orange
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IsaacHayes
Flashlight Enthusiast
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red! everything is red! lol
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AHHHAHAHAHAHHA!!! I LOVE IT!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin07.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/caution.gif !!!
EVIL!! EEEE VEEEEL!!!
I'm playing with my 60lumen 1W R/O 2C Mag right now hehe. I wonder what the difference would be with a luxIII r/o... I'm being tempted!! Perhaps a smaller flashlight? Hmm. Pocket rocket!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Hmmmmm!!
Still waiting for someone to pop one into a Mag reflector and compare it to any other mag reflectored luxeon...
red! everything is red! lol
[/ QUOTE ]
AHHHAHAHAHAHHA!!! I LOVE IT!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin07.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/caution.gif !!!
EVIL!! EEEE VEEEEL!!!
I'm playing with my 60lumen 1W R/O 2C Mag right now hehe. I wonder what the difference would be with a luxIII r/o... I'm being tempted!! Perhaps a smaller flashlight? Hmm. Pocket rocket!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Hmmmmm!!
Still waiting for someone to pop one into a Mag reflector and compare it to any other mag reflectored luxeon...
greenlight
Flashlight Enthusiast
very red! What do you use a super-bright red flashlight for? Halloween?
WildRice
Flashlight Enthusiast
I have one of the LUX III R/O from the GB, still thinking of going 3D (I have an extre hotlips) or going in a dorcy 'AA' with a NX-05 and Li-Ion with a dropping diode (stable at 1.4A) not sure yet. I think I may end up going for the smaller pocket 'flame thrower' tho.
Jeff
Jeff
IsaacHayes
Flashlight Enthusiast
evan: DO IT!! AFAIK there aren't too many of us that have R/O mags to do comparisons. My S bin R/O is amazingly bright. Probably on the border of a T. Perhaps you'll get lucky and get a H2G (high flux, low Vf! woo!)... Still wondering what the best simple power source would be. I'm thinking 3 sub-c's in a 2C maglight. Decent runtime, super throw. That or coscto light, or small 3xAAA nimh but not too sure on the runtimesm, but it would be a pocket rocket!
greenlight: I've used my 1W R/O 2C mag to spot animals at night as it doesn't scare them like white/green/cyan/blue does. They will look right at you and not run away. Their eyes light up red too. Easy to spot how many animals in your backyard there!
greenlight: I've used my 1W R/O 2C mag to spot animals at night as it doesn't scare them like white/green/cyan/blue does. They will look right at you and not run away. Their eyes light up red too. Easy to spot how many animals in your backyard there!
Issac,
The power source is a bit tricky. 3 cells with a downboy is probably a good thing. I'm going for the linear regulator route, as it'll be nearly as efficient (and probably moreso at the extremely high currents), and quite cheap to build.
The only thing about using 3 NiMH cells is that when you get to the 3V level (dead cells), you will still draw a substantial amount of current. You won't see significant dimming until the cells are drawn down to something like 2.4V - at that point, you're flirting with reversing one of the cells.
I need to test my regulators with low input voltage to see how they behave below 3V. The '334 controller needs 1V to operate, and the MOSFET I'm using has a Vgs(on) = 1.8V. Theoretically, it should stop conducting right around the 2.8V level, but I need to test with a load that draws significant current at those voltage levels. If it cuts off like I hope, then this regulator design would be safe for NiMH cells.
The power source is a bit tricky. 3 cells with a downboy is probably a good thing. I'm going for the linear regulator route, as it'll be nearly as efficient (and probably moreso at the extremely high currents), and quite cheap to build.
The only thing about using 3 NiMH cells is that when you get to the 3V level (dead cells), you will still draw a substantial amount of current. You won't see significant dimming until the cells are drawn down to something like 2.4V - at that point, you're flirting with reversing one of the cells.
I need to test my regulators with low input voltage to see how they behave below 3V. The '334 controller needs 1V to operate, and the MOSFET I'm using has a Vgs(on) = 1.8V. Theoretically, it should stop conducting right around the 2.8V level, but I need to test with a load that draws significant current at those voltage levels. If it cuts off like I hope, then this regulator design would be safe for NiMH cells.
IsaacHayes
Flashlight Enthusiast
Evan, ah, forgot about drawing down the cells. I though I read someone used 3xAA NiMH and it was about right.. That's why I was thinking of this. Your regulator would cut off when the cells get down to .93v right? I thought that was too low? Hmmm. I guess with voltage so close to the Vf of the led that only a small amount of time the regulator would be wasting a small amount as heat...
BTW nemul: what power source does the SL 2L take? does it have a circuit?
BTW nemul: what power source does the SL 2L take? does it have a circuit?
IsaacHayes
Flashlight Enthusiast
<off topic again> Just want to note that for those of you reading what I said about 3 sub C's in a 2C mag won't work. You can do 1/2C's. But you'd have to do all of the same. So 4 1/2C's would work. Don't think that is applicable for this application. Better to do 2NiMH and some sort of boost circuit for a 2C...
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Just tested my circuit. I'm impressed and somewhat dissapointed at the same time. What's impressive is that the circuit passes significant current down to 1.75V input. Of course, that means that it won't automagically reduce current when the input drops below 3V (protecting rechargable cells), but it does mean that you could run a very low Vf R-O down till the batteries reach the Vf, or you could run a R-O at a lower current (resulting in a lower Vf) with the same results.
With no regulator (direct drive), these are the reasonable power options:
2 alkalines: Current drops immediately, starting at about 1A, dropping steadily over the life of the batteries (maybe 1-1.5 hrs for AA, 3-4Hrs for C, 10Hrs for D cells). If 200mA is the cutoff current for replacing batteries, then that happens at about 1.05V/cell. Start out at ~130 lumens, decreasing steadily (this is compared to the 190 lumen "spec").
2 NiMH cells: Current starts out at 800-900mA, hanging out at 700mA for the majority of battery life. Current is nearly 0 at 2V, so batteries are safe from deep discharge/reversal. 2000mA AA cells should get 2.5 hrs or so of life, 4000mAh C cells, over 5 hours, and 11Ah D cells, 14+ hours. So 80-90 lumens for the majority of battery life.
2 Lithium AAs:
Will perform almost identically to the NiMH cells (!). Current might be a bit higher. Will also last for something like 2.5 hrs (but probably will be brighter).
1 Lithium 123A:
Pretty much identical to the Lithium AAs. Current will be around 800mA for the majority of battery life. Should get about 1.5hrs of battery life.
With this linear regulator, you have the following power options:
3 alkalines: regulator keeps output at 1.4A until batteries drop to ~3V. Alkalines will be "dead" at 0.8V/cell, so at 2.4V. Current will still be around 650mA at that point. Initially, the huge current draw from the cells will cause the terminal voltage to drop to about 4.1V, efficiency will be around 70% (not too bad - though about 1.6W is going up in the regulator), increasing as the battery voltage drops (which will happen rapidly). AA alkalines will be killed off in about 1/2 hour (maybe a little more). D alkalines will last probably 4 hours.
3 nimh: regulator keeps output at 1.4A until batteries drop to ~3V (which is essentially dead for NiMH cells). You'll have to be careful to not deep discharge the cells. Some NiMH cell makers say 0.8V is the cutoff, but you'll still be drawing 600mA at that point...
Initial cell voltage will probably be 3.8V under that load (76% efficiency, 1.2W in the regulator), but, will drop to 3.6-3.5V for the majority of battery life - meaning efficiency is around 80% (0.8W in the regulator). 2000mAh AA cells should last ~1.2hrs; 5Ah C cells, ~3 hours; and 11Ah D cells, ~7.5 hrs.
3 lithium AAs: Will have the flat output of the NiMH cells, but will be a bit more wasteful with the regualtor (even worse than the alkaline cells initially). Should run for 2 hours.
Li-Ion rechargables (123A, etc) - should be similar to the NiMH cells - protection circuit will prevent overdischarging.
With 3 alkaline cells, a buck converter (if one can handle 1.4A with reasonable efficiency) would be best. You might get 45 minutes or a little more from AA cells in that case. 3 Lithium cells with a buck converter would easily get you 3 hours.
The boost converter presents an interesting challenge. To drive a R-O at 1.4A (~4W total) from 2 NiMH cells with a boost converter, at 85% efficiency, you'd need a converter that could handle 2A switch currents. Can any of the boost converters we know about do that?
With no regulator (direct drive), these are the reasonable power options:
2 alkalines: Current drops immediately, starting at about 1A, dropping steadily over the life of the batteries (maybe 1-1.5 hrs for AA, 3-4Hrs for C, 10Hrs for D cells). If 200mA is the cutoff current for replacing batteries, then that happens at about 1.05V/cell. Start out at ~130 lumens, decreasing steadily (this is compared to the 190 lumen "spec").
2 NiMH cells: Current starts out at 800-900mA, hanging out at 700mA for the majority of battery life. Current is nearly 0 at 2V, so batteries are safe from deep discharge/reversal. 2000mA AA cells should get 2.5 hrs or so of life, 4000mAh C cells, over 5 hours, and 11Ah D cells, 14+ hours. So 80-90 lumens for the majority of battery life.
2 Lithium AAs:
Will perform almost identically to the NiMH cells (!). Current might be a bit higher. Will also last for something like 2.5 hrs (but probably will be brighter).
1 Lithium 123A:
Pretty much identical to the Lithium AAs. Current will be around 800mA for the majority of battery life. Should get about 1.5hrs of battery life.
With this linear regulator, you have the following power options:
3 alkalines: regulator keeps output at 1.4A until batteries drop to ~3V. Alkalines will be "dead" at 0.8V/cell, so at 2.4V. Current will still be around 650mA at that point. Initially, the huge current draw from the cells will cause the terminal voltage to drop to about 4.1V, efficiency will be around 70% (not too bad - though about 1.6W is going up in the regulator), increasing as the battery voltage drops (which will happen rapidly). AA alkalines will be killed off in about 1/2 hour (maybe a little more). D alkalines will last probably 4 hours.
3 nimh: regulator keeps output at 1.4A until batteries drop to ~3V (which is essentially dead for NiMH cells). You'll have to be careful to not deep discharge the cells. Some NiMH cell makers say 0.8V is the cutoff, but you'll still be drawing 600mA at that point...
Initial cell voltage will probably be 3.8V under that load (76% efficiency, 1.2W in the regulator), but, will drop to 3.6-3.5V for the majority of battery life - meaning efficiency is around 80% (0.8W in the regulator). 2000mAh AA cells should last ~1.2hrs; 5Ah C cells, ~3 hours; and 11Ah D cells, ~7.5 hrs.
3 lithium AAs: Will have the flat output of the NiMH cells, but will be a bit more wasteful with the regualtor (even worse than the alkaline cells initially). Should run for 2 hours.
Li-Ion rechargables (123A, etc) - should be similar to the NiMH cells - protection circuit will prevent overdischarging.
With 3 alkaline cells, a buck converter (if one can handle 1.4A with reasonable efficiency) would be best. You might get 45 minutes or a little more from AA cells in that case. 3 Lithium cells with a buck converter would easily get you 3 hours.
The boost converter presents an interesting challenge. To drive a R-O at 1.4A (~4W total) from 2 NiMH cells with a boost converter, at 85% efficiency, you'd need a converter that could handle 2A switch currents. Can any of the boost converters we know about do that?
IsaacHayes
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hmm. Unless alkalines last forever like they do w/1W R/O, I want to avoid them and have free power.. So boost seems to be the plan for me... Perhaps Wayne can comment on the NextGen.. NextGen1500 or 1400 would be nice! Still wish there was a cheaper alternative...
Thats why I wonder about Chevrofreak's costco mod. Can the stock circuit take that? Perhaps it's made with large inductors/etc?
Thats why I wonder about Chevrofreak's costco mod. Can the stock circuit take that? Perhaps it's made with large inductors/etc?
greenlight
Flashlight Enthusiast
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nemul said:
personnel entertainment! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
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I hope they like it!!
nemul said:
personnel entertainment! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
[/ QUOTE ]
I hope they like it!!
DragonFlame
Newly Enlightened
Guys, I know it's a little off-topic but not too much:
Do you know where I could get a color filter for the Streamlight 2L3W? (of course, I was thinking of a RED filter, especially with ep3 of Star Wars coming soon /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif )
Do you know where I could get a color filter for the Streamlight 2L3W? (of course, I was thinking of a RED filter, especially with ep3 of Star Wars coming soon /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif )
IsaacHayes
Flashlight Enthusiast
nemul, I checked ebay, and I see Mark Hannah does have them for sell. Thanks for the heads up!
DragonFlame, do your self a favor and put a luxIII R/O in there. You know you want to! You can then really impress people with your control of "the force"! But to answer your question you're not going to get much at all in red light with a filter over an LED. A red filter on an incandecent will give you much more red light...
DragonFlame, do your self a favor and put a luxIII R/O in there. You know you want to! You can then really impress people with your control of "the force"! But to answer your question you're not going to get much at all in red light with a filter over an LED. A red filter on an incandecent will give you much more red light...
IsaacHayes
Flashlight Enthusiast
Yeah, I'll probably wait or buy direct from him latter. I don't really have the cash or time right now, or a host & power options figured out! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
