Inside the L0P: Modification is imminent. (picture)

I have a layout for the circuit that I used before in my L1P mod but made smaller to fit the L0P. I've tuned it down to put out a true 1 watt drive to the lux. This will be interesting for sure. It will draw about 950mA from a AAA NIMH or Energizer lithium, no alkalines allowed. This will be my EDC for a very long time! I estimate runtimes to be between 30 to 50 minutes at full brightness, especially with an Energizer lithium.

I've done some looking at the data sheet for the Energizer Lithium AAA and it looks like I'll be able to crank up the output power to 1.5 watts to the lux for an estimated 20-30 minutes. The cell has a continous current capability of 1.5 amps and a capacity of 1250mAh.

Occording to the L92 Energizer lithium data sheet, it will run at .95 Amps discharge rate for over an hour to .9 Volts. So .9 volts * .950 Amps - 15% efficency loss equals .726 watts to the lux near the end of the batteries life. Wow! That's better than I thought it might be.

Now, if someone can just come up with a simple, 2-stage mod...

PP on standbye. Maybe a S-bin lux1 and a higher drive...WAHOO

VWTim said:

PP on standbye. Maybe a S-bin lux1 and a higher drive...WAHOO

Click to expand...

Did some shopping for an inductor tonight and found the perfect one. With it I'll actually be able to crank up the drive pretty hard. So if you are interested in short runtimes with a lot of power, I should be able to crank up the drive to 1.5 watts. The draw on the battery would be 1.5 amps. The Energizer lithium has a continuous current output rating of 1.5 amps. I suspect the runtime would be slightly less than a half an hour, 20 minutes at the worst. Shorter periods of on time would equal longer battery life by virtue of not heating the cell as much.

They pot the circuit with epoxy, which is fine with me because I'm not going to use any parts off their circuit anyways. So I cleaned out the circuit with my dremel. No damage to the LE, so it was a success. Now comes the wait. The board manufacture has a 3 day delivery to my door from date of order for the boards. The inductors will take about 4 to 5 days, so I'll have something to compare to the L1P in a week or less. Actually, I may be able to get something done sooner by hand cutting a board, but I'll have to see what I can come up with for a worthy inductor.

MillerMods said:

Shorter periods of on time would equal longer battery life by virtue of not heating the cell as much.

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Really?
Are those 1.5V Lithiums any different in this aspect than the normal CR123 batteries?
Because with CR123 you actually get longer runtimes when the cells are heated in a reasonable (non-dangerous) manner, for example by the heat of the LED.

bernhard

Kiessling said:

Really?
Are those 1.5V Lithiums any different in this aspect than the normal CR123 batteries?
Because with CR123 you actually get longer runtimes when the cells are heated in a reasonable (non-dangerous) manner, for example by the heat of the LED.

bernhard

Click to expand...

Hmmm... Got me there, I was making an educated guess based on resistance goes up with heat. Is this different with Lithium battery chemistry? Does the chemical reaction become more agressive with heat? Really it will all come down to what the runtime is anyways. That would be great if what you're saying is the case.

Look here:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/88983

But the cells used were CR123 and not the 1.5V Lithiums ... so ... ??? :thinking:

bernie

Very interesting indeed. I'll let you know how it pans out.