can my tri lux mag be improved?

current setup

Pewter Mag 2 D cell Maglite
Perfect D trisink
3 X 3Watt Lux stars wired in series bin SYOK
1 Fatman Regulator @ about 1 amp
2X d cells rated @ 10,000 mAh
dimmer option enabled

can i get mor juice out of this setup safely?
if so how?

Not really............More drive current will increase brightness, but you'll only get a relatively small improvement.


Best mod - (But not a cheap quick fix) would be to swap out the emitters for UX1K's.


Tim

Turbo, remember my post regarding heat distribution & build up...
1A is pretty much the max you want to drive these things. It's like 12W of power consumption there.

Like Timson said, go for a better Luxeon. T-bins are relatively cheap these days.

The combined vF of three K bins in series is somewhere around 10.5 volts. (I'm not looking at the chart). If you are only supplying 3 volts to the Fatman that will make it very inefficient and coupled with the "S" rating probably does not do too well in the lumen department. Try upping the voltage by using one of Modamag's adapters so you are closer to the vF and you may see some improvement.

Did you try those particular S-bins before you used them in the tri star? In my experience, a lot of times the difference between S bins and T bins can be pretty impressive. I mean, if I compare five different random S-bin stars, they range from 'not too bad' to 'are you sure that's really a Lux III?' while pretty much all of the factory fresh T-bins I've used have been quite nice.

Plus, if you can remove and replace the emitters from the star bases, you can get like three TV1Ks for $30 shipped. You can even get TX1L stars for $30 shipped.

Personally, I think that would be your biggest improvement per dollar spent.

3xlux 3 = about 11.1W.. divide by .9 to cover driver losses = 12.33W.. the maximum input current on the fatman is 2.2A.. meaning.. you need at least 5.6V to operate all three luxes at full power! you are not even close to full power.. with 2xD you are only at 2.4V.. which is barely enough to turn on the fatman (actually it's not even rated that low).. so.. reverse-engineer the math..


2.4V x 2.2 x .9 = 4.75W .. you are at about 42% of the power you should be!

So.. the problem is in the max input current of the fatman.. boost the input voltage to sovle it.

what you need is a sixpack of NiMH (AA) in a series config and you can get about 2 1/2x the power of the design you already have running.

The problem is.. that with a boost ckt it will draw the batteries down farther than they should and fatman does not have a shut down ckt. built in.

take some more voltage (like 6V lantern or just 4-6 cells in series and apply to your light, you will se how it is supposed to look!

-awr

What about throwing in 3C's? I run my PTS on 3C DD, I've never played with any drivers.

VWTim said:

What about throwing in 3C's? I run my PTS on 3C DD, I've never played with any drivers.

Click to expand...

Andrew said the same thing I did, but with the theory behind it. Up your input voltage and you will see the results you are looking for. How you do that is up to what you want to get into.

It would be easy enough to just try 3 C cells.

you need 4+ cells.. 5.6V or more.. in a 3D host you could use a 'mag charger' battery. but in a 2D host.. best bet is the 6AA-2D adapter like modamag or fivemega sell.

-awr

Definitely go with a 6 AA adaptor setup to run nimh AA batteries.
That should put you where you want to be as far as performance goes.

Ya, either get the voltage up so that boost circuit can work at 100%, or go with a different setup.

Direct driving 3 NiMH C's with a K vf would be simpliest. Then use the fat man in something else. I get ~ 1hr 40mins full brightness with mine.

so a 6 AA adapter and better binned stars will work?

anyone have a link to where i can get both?

I will try the 3 C's tonight tho

thanks guys

PhotonFanatic will be able to supply you with your stars and either your 6xAA or 8xAA adapters might not be readily available but can sometimes be found on the Custom and Mod B/S/T forum... That's where I got mine.

Talk to Modamag for the adapters. He keeps them in stock and they work good on non-high current mods. I run one in my Mag74. If you want a real nice one capable of "pack" charging, Fivemega might have some in stock. I'm using one of his 9AA->3D in my Mag85.

While were on the subject I'm doing this same mod with 8 AAs and I was wondering if anyone new what resistance to dial in on the fatman for pure 1 amp power to the LED's? In the technical it says 13.50K but according to candlepower forums various views some seem to think higher. Please help with this conudrum of conudrums!!!

the tech. is correct.. i tried to figure out a formula based on the resistors involved (trust me i know the circuit better than likely anybody besides george)... and it's not possible.. there are other forces involved.. feedback of the controlling ckt.. etc.. george figured out a 'best fit' formula that does work..

I usually set my fatman to 1120mA or so.. that i think it 15.0kohm.... the math is weird.

One very interesting point.. there is a 1% tolerance.. maybe even 1/2 or less.. 0.1ohm resistor between the LED- and the GND.. if you want a perfect measurment of current.. 'tack' a small wire (like i use 30ga wire-wrap wire) onto both sides of that resistor and measure the mA.. 100mV = 1000mA.. just multiply by 10!

I have done the resistance set and double-checked and been within 3mA.. the presets work pretty darn well... I also have never seen a swing of more than 3mA in the operation of a Fatman.

-awr

update: Modamag's6 AA adapter works awesome. much noticeable improvent in light output and reduced weight! now i wonder what the runtime will be?

Cool. Glad you got it running at Spec!!

Runtime? Well do a test and post back!!

well 2 10,000 mAh D's, should last longer than 6 2300 mAh AA's, correct?