Wondering if I can drive a p7 under mA rating?

greyghost_6

Newly Enlightened
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Jul 3, 2009
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Bloomington, IN
Looking at the P7 on DX sku.12721 and was wanting to mount it to an existing flashlight (not changing the driver). I know nothing about the driver my light has, but I know it is 3.6v. Can I solder it to my light even though the drivers mA rating is probably 800 or 900mA? I dont necessarily want or need the 900 lumens, i just want to replace the existing Luxeon "Lumileds" emitter. Thanks guys I know SOMEONE has to know something about this.
 
Looking at the P7 on DX sku.12721 and was wanting to mount it to an existing flashlight (not changing the driver). I know nothing about the driver my light has, but I know it is 3.6v. Can I solder it to my light even though the drivers mA rating is probably 800 or 900mA? I dont necessarily want or need the 900 lumens, i just want to replace the existing Luxeon "Lumileds" emitter. Thanks guys I know SOMEONE has to know something about this.

Yes, You can :)
At 800mA, You will see about 250~ lumens :candle:
 
I´ve been eyeballing one of these things as well.. but I was thinking of driving the P7 from a SKU 7880... will the 700-800 mA from this 1AA-driver manage to light up the P7??
 
Welcome to CPF, greyghost_6.

You posted this in the Buy/Sell/Trade section, which is not the right place for it, so I'm moving it to H&M for you.
 
Sabrewolf has done it. Exactly what you are contemplating.
You can search "threads started by" and you'll see.
 
Ok, Thanks guys! Finally I get the ok to buy! I bought the P7 with a reflector and new lenses that should fit in the host im trying to mod (MATCO 3-watt) Ill post some pictures of before and after and some beamshots before and after. The stock lumen rating stated 70 lumen so im hoping for much better output!
 
Looking at the P7 on DX sku.12721 and was wanting to mount it to an existing flashlight (not changing the driver). I know nothing about the driver my light has, but I know it is 3.6v. Can I solder it to my light even though the drivers mA rating is probably 800 or 900mA? I dont necessarily want or need the 900 lumens, i just want to replace the existing Luxeon "Lumileds" emitter. Thanks guys I know SOMEONE has to know something about this.

Certainly... In fact many lights (especially the pocketable 2xCR123 sized) COMPLETELY lack sufficient thermal cooling to sustain a P7 or MC-E driven at its fullest. yeah you can rig up a DD circuit, emit 700 emitter Lumens... only to have it drop significantly after 20 seconds as heat builds and the cell depletes. So to a certain extent you reach a point of diminishing return.

its certainly NOT a bad idea under driving a P7 IMHO. A cool/long running, stable (near linear-regulated) output floody 200 Lumens OTF can be very useful.
 
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CPF'er Justin Case has underdriven P7's (IIRC) and has gotten good results. Check his threads from a few months ago if you're interested, he's got comparison beamshots to P4's, albeit from SF 2.5" turboheads.
 
Ok here are some body and beam shots before my mod:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17769255@N02/sets/72157621207738850/

3706548176_fd9b78d489.jpg
3705737719_7c050c3153.jpg
3705739017_175288c7a5.jpg
3706546800_2fb1ae8869.jpg


After shots are coming, just waiting on the parts!
 
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