what p7 light to mod and make perfect?

[aussiebuddha]

As I understand, there are no single decent p7 lights out there, except perhaps the wolf eyes, thats quite pricey (for me at least)
all the cheaper china lights seem to have a problem or two.

I'm wondering.
Is there any p7 china light i can buy, and with a little modding make perfect?

 

[PhantomPhoton]

My personal opinion is no. Save your cash and buy quality. The only possible lower cost mod is if you have the knowledge and skills to modify a M@g to use an SSC P7. Wayne from Elektrolumens has P7 M@gmods but they're still $100+.

 

[aussiebuddha]

no, sorry can't do those prices, any other ideas guys?

 

[Gunner12]

What is your idea of perfect?

 

[aussiebuddha]

1) get the full potential of running at 2.8A regulated
2) no thermal issues, so good heatsinking.

Those 2 would be a must to make it "perfect"

 

[Gunner12]

The main problem would be getting 2.8 A regulated. But you can probably get 2 something amp by direct driving the P7 off of a 18650 battery.

Some of the lights also have good heatsinking, so you might get what you want by just removing the driver and direct driving the LED.

 

[David Gretzmier]

my idea of the perfect p7? take 4 of the small head, single 18650 cheap china 2-mode 40 buck ones, duct tape them together and you have a 160 buck crazy bright thing. or, maybe not.

 

[PhantomPhoton]

Just save up some money until you can afford quality... then instead of wasting $50 on a light that will last 2 months, for $150 you get a light that lasts 20 years.
There are few P7 lights in existence right now, so modding options are limited. Wait a couple months and there will hopefully be more than the cheap DX garbage.

 

[yellow]

wait till the new quad-die Cree comes out,
use it together with the existing and poven SHARK driver vom sandwich shoppe.
Working with the p7 is waist of time and effort.

 

[LEDninja]

It is not worth it. The early MTE 5 mode tops out at 2.2A (I never got that, just 2.1A). People who have cleaned up the mess (bypassed the dropping resistors, upgraded the wires to the LED, fixed the poor ground from the circuit board) as well as those who bought 1 or 2 mode pure DD lights found they are TOO HOT TO HOLD. Cannot run the P7 full out in small bodies. So it is a no win situation.
If you try to mod a light and kill it you would really have wasted your $45.
My advise is either put up with the less than perfect lights as is or do your own m@gmod.

yellow,
aussiebuddha can not afford an Elektrolumens m@gmod at $129.99. Can you build him your version for less?

 

[AvPD]

I'm after a good P7 as well but my "solution" is to wait for the Cree MC-E to come out as there may be good quality torches with that LED. If nothing else, it should be able to be directly driven from two serial Li-ions which makes modifying my 2xD Mag a viable prospect.

 

[20vturbo]

Two Li-ion direct drive is too much. I used 3 nimh D cells direct drive and got 3.5A and then it smoked the LED. It cost me a about $80 to mod a m@g with 5 modes and regulated I made two one for my dad and one for me they both drew 3.0A and both have been on high till the batteries started to die and no heat problems.

 

[AvPD]

The Cree MC-E has the option of driving the diodes serially so hopefully they will act like regular direct-driven LEDs and draw 700mA each, but perhaps the above scenario will happen if they're fully charged...
For those who already bough a 2xD it could be an option as KD's drivers don't cater to higher voltages.

 

[aussiebuddha]

i have considered building a p7 mag,
main problem is the D or C factor. nobody used those lights, and i certainly don't want to buy batteries just for one light :-/

 

[yellow]

yellow,
aussiebuddha can not afford an Elektrolumens m@gmod at $129.99. Can you build him your version for less?

imho if one does not want to purchase speciality lights, or likes individual ones, start modding!
But wont be much cheaper, if the result is at least acceptable and, with just few attempts because it is so easy, better than most ppl around might have.
(PS. the time I was ready to pay this price for a light is long over, may it be "special, or not)

one needs:
* Host light (?)
* quad-die led (???)
* SHARK (20,--), or other step-up regulator (www.taskled.com)
* McR 27 mm reflector from Sandwich shoppe (18,--) for smaller lights, or the one of the host light
* small parts (thermal paste, epoxy glue, small switches)
* MUCH thoughts in mounting/heatsinking plate (at least: massive!) (... with a Mag, there are ready made options available (~ 20,--))
* work (uncalculable)
makes a good 100,--
everyone might decide if thats worth to get a working 4-die light
(if the modder chooses the right host light, offering acceptabel/good machining, a good,thick mounting plate for the led that is in good contact to the light body and a nice deep reflector, its just: open light, get any crap out, mount in led, solder driver in, assemble --> ready. For the cost of the light + led and just few work that needs no special equipment
Led-light modding is just a breeze)

imho modding a light is some kind of hobby and more or less the only way to get something fitting into ones thoughts.
But "cheap" is not involved in the vocabulary of a modder
Thats why I advise Fenix when single emitter output is enough. There simply is no way to get to their quality and package at the price.
Quad dies are, up to now, not offered in acceptable models. If this is a must but modding is no option - wait a bit, they will be offered soon I am sure (as soon as the Cree with dies connected in series is here).

 

[yellow]

Two Li-ion direct drive is too much.

two Li-ion is too much for the P7, but not for four white led wired in series!

say: one white led = one Li-Ion
means
four white led in series with 2 Li-Ion in series = way too low voltage.
Possibly the dies will glim, but they wont be harmed in any way.

Series + 2 Li-Ion + Step-up regulator = all dies see the same current = perfect
(SHARK and Taskleds drivers are able to draw the 2 Amps, needed with 2 Li-Ion cells)

 

[20vturbo]

A Cree MC-E or 4 leds in a series / parallel configuration would work on 2 li-ion but not a P7.

For the price and what you get the M@g mod does a great job and theres always the pride in knowing you did it yourself. Theres also accessories
for the M@g you can add later orange peel reflector, glass lens, GITD epoxy ect. If you don't want to use C or D cells then what batteries do you want to use? My P7 on 18650 only drew 2.1A direct drive, not very impressive compared to the cree P4 @ 1.4A that it replaced with a much better beam.

 

[aussiebuddha]

any batteries, just not C or D.
who uses C or D these days except mag?
everyone is using lithium 123 18658 17670, etc or commodity AA and AAA.

 

[StefanFS]

One MRV or Tiablo A9 with OP reflector. One SSC P7 emitter. Two AMC7135 based drivers for a total of 2.4A (for heat reasons, 2.8A is too much). The Tiablo needs to be modded with a one level switch if used with a multilevel driver.
Stefan

 

[freedom2000]

HI,

Please have a look here to see how I have moded my 50$ trustfire SSC P7 2*18650 flashlight

It now has modes which is very handly to increase lifetime of the bat and it can be driven to full 2.9A.

Is there a "secret" ?

Yes it is driven by 8 AM7125 linear regulator.
Alimentation is performed by 5.2 V battery ... achieved by a combo of one NiMH + one Li ion ...

Cheap, efficient... But be carefull it can be dangerous at least for your cells...

JP