Mini Palm Modded with SSC P4

A few of us have been discussing the MINIPALM and talked about modding one. The conversation started here.
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/164849

I got another MINIPALM from GOLDENGADGETS and an SSCP4 EMITTER from PHOTONFANATIC.

Removed the original LED and used THERMAL EPOXY to mount the emiiter to the board. It took about 3 tries to get the wires soldered on right. This is very small and my eyes just arent what they used to be, even with glasses. Put everything back together and noticed the head wouldnt screw down all the way. After playing with it for a few min It finally screwed down but the last couple of turns were hard. All it is is the led hitting the collimator lens. Fired it up and took a few beam shot pics.

Its alot whiter than the original led but the beam is different. Its not just a big square hot spot like the original was. It seems to have alot more side spill. Compared it to a "VIPPA" I had modded with a SSC P4 and the beams were almost identical. Now the VIPPA just gets warm when its on, since modding the MINIPALM it gets VERY WARM after about 5 min. I started a run time test but Ive had to restart because of a bad battery(I think)

Ill post the results of the runtime test when its done.

Im hoping I can get longer runtimes with the SSCP4.

EDIT - 30min of runtime, new Duracell has dropped too 1.17 volts, VERY WARM. Still full brightness.

EDIT - 30 more min of runtime, battery has dropped too 1.04 volts. WARM 85 % brightness.

EDIT - 30 more min of runtime,battery dropped too .99 volts. 50 % brightness

EDIT - 30 more min of runtime, battery dropped too .75 volts. 40 % brightness, light would not come back on. Stopped test here.

Looks like the SSC P4 is about the same as the original led that was in it. I guess the driver runs both leds the same. The SSC is brighter for the first hour but the original led stayed full brightness for almost 2 hours.

So in my opinion its not worth converting the MINIPALM to an SSC P4 unless you change the driver. And I wouldnt know where to begin to do that.


NOTE: I am in no way an expert at this. I barely know what Im doing. So if anybody has any suggestions or just wants to critique me feel free.



Mini Palm from GOLDENGADGETS and SSC P4 from PHOTONFANATIC

bEAM SHOT OF MINIPALM BEFORE MOD.

MINIPALM WITH BOARD AND LED REMOVED

bEAM SHOT OF MINIPALM ON THE LEFT, MODDED MINIPALM ON THE RIGHT.

The seoul SSC P4 has different dimensions than the Lux 3. The SSC LED also sits higher on the die which is proabably why the head would not screw down all of the way. I have thought about the KLC8 which is closer in dimensions to the lux 3 would work better for this mod.

Yeah a better board and maybe a 14500 would make that SSC much brighter. Nice job by the way!