MiniMag-V

When i bought a 3D and 4D mag host recently a minimag came with it. Well I wanted to put an LDO^3 driver and use some of those AA primaries i bought in there but the voltage was a bit too low. I think i have a next-gen driver that would have worked, but instead i realized that a Lux-V should work out ok with an LDO^3 driver.

The results:


This is a groovy using the LDO^3 driver and a McR18 reflector.. output.. maybe 1000 lux center... guessing about 80-90L


This is the MiniMag-V using a LuxV driven to about 1A.. (varies to keep light output more constant.. outputs more mA if it's warmer). Notice the donut hole? neither do i. I'm using an IMS20 reflector, and de-tuning the reflector a bit it virtually eliminates the donut hole.

Trade-off.. not as much beam center lux.. but it does output more total lumen.. though as a 'tester' i used a lower output LuxV and is probably less than 100L.. i didn't want to blow an expensive luxV on the trial model.. now that i know it works i'll get some nicer LuxVs.. it is such a gimme mod!

Side by side:



The rest of the beamshots (incl. the 3-levels of groovy) are here

-awr

very very nice andrew, if you would bundle it into a drop in i think i might have to buy a few!

same exact idea, but using 2xLiON cells and an LDO driver instead.. is that a LuxV?

That MiniMag has great sidespill too. Any comparison shots to an L4 / L5

I have a Minimag with a McR20 that would love one of those.

How quick does it heat up at 1A?

Very nice mod.


Tim.

andrewwynn said:

same exact idea, but using 2xLiON cells and an LDO driver instead.. is that a LuxV?

Click to expand...

it's a WXOT w/DB917...
i'm waiting for AW to get the protected 14500's back in...

Wow that rocks! I gotta try that one day. List of materials please?

i used IMS-20, 2x 17500 LiON cells, an LDO driver from a groovy and luxV i got from photonfanatic.. i also put a kroll on the back, but that is optional.

-awr

What did you hose the LED and electronics in?

Nemul, what's the white stuff around the base of the LuxV?
Is that a regular emitter board from The Shoppe?

I've been thinking about doing something similar, but was actually going to use a solid Cu heatsink (if/when I find the right design).

it's AA epoxy, and yes it's a emitter board from the shop also AA'ed together...

Thanks, my friend! :twothumbs

At ~1A, it must get pretty toasty. Are you planning on using a finned head?

so far i use in 'controlled bursts'.. i would not expect the light to be all that happy after 10 minutes of continuous use.. a finned head woudl be a good thing for this light though.. it gets warm pretty quickly, but nothing compared to a Mag100.

-awr

yes it gets very hot, fast... but it's so cool see THAT much light coming from a AA mini...

nemul said:

... it's so cool see THAT much light coming from a AA mini...

Click to expand...

:devil::devil::devil:

This thread has re-sparked my interest in trying out the LuxV. I saw Nemul's mod a while back and thought it looked cool but as I already have a U-bin Lux3 in a mini I wasn't too excited by the idea of another expensive mag upgrade.

But not I'm thinking I'm gonna put a LuxV in an AAA minimag instead! As the batteries have to be smaller capacity I think I'll stick to a drive current of 300-400ma, but at that range it should still put out 60-90 lumens and run for an hour or so. Also by keeping the drive low I should avoid too much extra heat as the AAA mags are quite a lot lighter than the AAs.

Any comments/suggestions? I need to find a reasonable driver circuit I can fit in a 10mm light. If I remember SuperTex make a 350ma regulator for 5.5v+. Time to start the research...

Dammit why do I end up committing myself to building new lights that I don't need and cannot afford whenever I read this section? It's getting more expensive than finding flashlights to buy that I cannot afford in the general discussion areas!

What is needed is a cu or al as thick as possible to try and get rid of a lot of heat at 1.A.the emitter board you are using will make a nice plate to serve that roasted lux V on.but other than that it can barley move the heat generated by a luxI at 350ma.

here are good sinks for a 2aa mm.

best to have a solid heat sink.. my favorite being the solid silver ones that i use in the nanos or a couple of the groovies i've made.. however.. the emitterboard that i designed for my drivers does have a solid copper top and in the testing i've noticed very little difference in the heating... with a 6mm diamter slug and a 12mm diameter hole (in the groovy at least).. the heat has to travel a mere 3mm through a piece of copper that is an average of 24mm wide! it doesn't matter that it's thin.. the thermal resistance is quite low.. as anybody that's burned their finger on a big copper trace on a PCB while soldering can attest!

Not to belittle how much better it is to have solid.. just saying a good solid surface of PCB trace is an effective heat sink, more than it would seem.

-awr

Christoph said:

Click to expand...

that looks like a mini o-sink/hotlips.... if it's not, that would be a good idea!
who's goin make some?

The top of the mini was cut off and the sink pressed in but someone here makes some cu slugs I think.

C