Extra heatsink for a P60 in a G2

I have a nitrolon G2 and have just got a great solarforce drop in - But it gets hot.

There is a little space between the drop in and the head (where the label is) so I was wondering:
a) If I can heat sink it by wrapping copper wire around it
b) Would it do any good!

If you can get the drop in to contact the metal sleeve in the body more heat will transfer thru the nitrolon. Your grounding the dropin to the sleeve by the spring already, Right?

nein166 said:

If you can get the drop in to contact the metal sleeve in the body more heat will transfer thru the nitrolon. Your grounding the dropin to the sleeve by the spring already, Right?

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Yes I think so as it lights and works pretty well - just don't want to fry it. After 5 minutes on high if I pop the head out its too hot to touch but its cool within a minute or so.

jezzyp said:

Yes I think so as it lights and works pretty well - just don't want to fry it. After 5 minutes on high if I pop the head out its too hot to touch but its cool within a minute or so.

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Just a thought.. what if you packed a bit of heat sink compound around it to fill voids, etc.? Recently ordered this stuff the jars is reported to leak in transit but so what.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4593

Keep up the good work.

I solved my heat sinking, to some extent, by replacing the Nitrolon head with a 6P head, this for my G2Z. Being more functionally impressed, I do not mind the contrast between the dull black and the shiny 6P head.

Bill

jezzyp said:

I have a nitrolon G2 and have just got a great solarforce drop in - But it gets hot.

There is a little space between the drop in and the head (where the label is) so I was wondering:
a) If I can heat sink it by wrapping copper wire around it
b) Would it do any good!

Click to expand...

Yes adding metal there is better than nothing. But all the gaps in there will hurt you. I'd use the smallest copper wire you can find and cover as much as you possibly can. I would also add some thermal grease or glue in between the copper wire as well. If you can pack all of that in there and get it to contact the body you should be much better off.

I just ordered a drop-in for a friend with a G2 and I plan on having him do something very similar to this. I'll post about it if it turns out well. I only wish I had a thermocouple or IR thermometer to run some tests.

Heatsinking compound actually isn't that thermally conductive. It works fine for small distances but it is nowhere as good as metal for larger areas.

Copper wire should help a little, but getting a metal body/head would still be the best choice. You can cover part of it in rubber if you want to.

Have you considered just packing the area between the LA and the head with aluminum foil? I tried it for the same reason on one of mine and it seems like the head heated up faster but didn't get as hot to the touch, so I'm guessing it helps.

Mitch

Could everyone post their drop-in model? I just got DX sku#6090 for my G2 in hopes that I won't have the heat issues that people are getting with the big dog drop-ins that draw an amp or so. The DX 6090 draws under 600ma.

Wattnot said:

Could everyone post their drop-in model? I just got DX sku#6090 for my G2 in hopes that I won't have the heat issues that people are getting with the big dog drop-ins that draw an amp or so. The DX 6090 draws under 600ma.

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I just tested that drop-in and it is a good one. But you can not strictly look at current draw at the batteries as the only factor as to how much heat the emitter will generate.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/193269

Thats part of my review. They are having some problems in that forum and my original thread got deleted.

It may only draw around 600mA from the batteries, but that is at 8V. That is still 4W of power going into the driver. The emitter is still running at just shy of a full amp and a little over 3W. And yes it will generate quite a bit of heat.

I let mine run for about 15 minutes (6P) and the body of the flashlight got noticeably warm.

I was using CR123's, not RCR123's so it was probably around 6 volts for the near dead ones and 6.5v for the others.

Thanks for the info. After hunting around for a couple of weeks, I still feel this probably the best bet for the G2 . . . that is unless you don't mind paying a lot more for an M60L or LL !!