Techjunkie
Enlightened
I'm dubbing this one my LED USL. It's basically an unregulated NiMH version of my XX-Ray.
I wanted a beater-light version of my XX-Ray that I could grab for "whenever" without worry of damaging my shelf queen. With no delicate drivers that might die of abuse or expensive IMR batteries that would be damaged by full depletion, this unassuming beat-up black Mag 3D cranks out ~3000 Lumen of neutral white LED light and should have about an hour of usable runtime!
I took one of my first hotwire creations, The Bully, which I haven't been too enamored with for its lack of runtime and output compared to the 4D 20AA Mag mod that superseded it, The Bruiser, and reinvented it as an LED torch.
16 Duraloop AAs and 5 neutral white MC-Es crammed into one ordinary looking 3D is about as ultra-stealthy as you can get with LED, I think.
By my calcs, the 16 AAs rated at 2000mAH at 1.2V each offers 38.4 Watt-Hours of output (the original XX-Ray only had 23.7 WH of power). Under 3A load, the Vout of each battery sags to 1.1v, making the total Vf 17.6v for most of the discharge. The 5x MC-Es initially draw ~45W, but that draw wanes as the batteries sag further as they continue to discharge, hence the 1 hour runtime estimate.
The first composite pic shows how it's possible to stuff 16AA into a 3D with some major modifications to switch and tail cap (not to mention boring the ID). Pay no attention to the mismatched battery shrink wrap. I had to re-wrap most of my Duraloops (Duracell Pre-Charged from Japan) after damaging their shrink on some early modding experiments. Shrink on the threaded "guide" rods keeps that from happening again.
It's the middle one in this next pic I call my MC-E Madness collection.
That unfinished 3C to the right of it will become the XVII-Ray as soon as the warm white CREE XRE comes in to fill the center spot. I'll power that one with 2x Sony 26650VT batteries from a 36V Li power tool pack.
I wanted a beater-light version of my XX-Ray that I could grab for "whenever" without worry of damaging my shelf queen. With no delicate drivers that might die of abuse or expensive IMR batteries that would be damaged by full depletion, this unassuming beat-up black Mag 3D cranks out ~3000 Lumen of neutral white LED light and should have about an hour of usable runtime!
I took one of my first hotwire creations, The Bully, which I haven't been too enamored with for its lack of runtime and output compared to the 4D 20AA Mag mod that superseded it, The Bruiser, and reinvented it as an LED torch.
16 Duraloop AAs and 5 neutral white MC-Es crammed into one ordinary looking 3D is about as ultra-stealthy as you can get with LED, I think.
By my calcs, the 16 AAs rated at 2000mAH at 1.2V each offers 38.4 Watt-Hours of output (the original XX-Ray only had 23.7 WH of power). Under 3A load, the Vout of each battery sags to 1.1v, making the total Vf 17.6v for most of the discharge. The 5x MC-Es initially draw ~45W, but that draw wanes as the batteries sag further as they continue to discharge, hence the 1 hour runtime estimate.
The first composite pic shows how it's possible to stuff 16AA into a 3D with some major modifications to switch and tail cap (not to mention boring the ID). Pay no attention to the mismatched battery shrink wrap. I had to re-wrap most of my Duraloops (Duracell Pre-Charged from Japan) after damaging their shrink on some early modding experiments. Shrink on the threaded "guide" rods keeps that from happening again.
It's the middle one in this next pic I call my MC-E Madness collection.
That unfinished 3C to the right of it will become the XVII-Ray as soon as the warm white CREE XRE comes in to fill the center spot. I'll power that one with 2x Sony 26650VT batteries from a 36V Li power tool pack.
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. I don't think the same bulb could handle two of the IMR cells charged to 4.2V, but I've never tried as I'm on my last (only?) 5761 and don't want to waste it. 
