StefanFS
Flashlight Enthusiast
I decided that my Tiablo A8 needed to get a new life. It was quite premium with UCL-glass, CREE Q5, FluPIC etc. But It was kept in a drawer, and chances were high it would stay there.
This is what you need. One Tiablo, some SSC P7 emitters, a few reflectors to test beam distribution and geometry, various tools and some drivers for testing.
Removing the old emitter and the old 'potted' FluPIC sandwich. I always take out the driver with contact ring through the holes for emitter leads, a thin screwdriver and a hammer to tap it out. When the driver is out turn the module around and tap the emitter star out if it overlaps the hole (if not twist the star out with pliers, Tiablo & LP uses quite soft thermal glue).
The reflector has been opened to a diameter of ~9 mm with a stepless drill bit (for metal sheeting). The height of the emitter in relation to the reflector is good as it is, it is approx. the same height as a CREE on a star. The only modification neccessary is to enlarge the reflector opening to ~9mm. Best focus is acheived with the op reflector. I tried a number of focus points with my smooth reflector without any luck, in the end the smooth reflector had too much material removed for it to work. Now it's scrap:mecry:. The emitter is centered and glued to the heatsink module.
I tested some of the available driver configurations/solutions on this one. In the end I decided to go with direct drive because I can use the stock two level tailcap switch that comes with the Tiablo A8. Why would I want even some measly tenths of a Volt or even a few mA to be wasted? One 18650 LiION will make this emitter fly at spec without losses in a driver! When/if good drivers become available I'll put one in this light.
This is the direct drive interface, just a stripped driver in the contact ring with + & - wires to the emitter.
One of my experiments, gives the emitter ~2.3A. Wiring diagram courtesy of member Netkidz. It works ok, but I want it all! All the magnificent 2.9A!
The stock tailcap switch, it has one 10 Ohm smd resistor for low level. On the Tiablo low is very low. That doesn't work for me since this light is supposed to be a light cannon. The only solution is to change the resistor to a 0.5 Ohm one. Now the levels are; hysterical & insane. Before they were low low & insane. On level insane the light do get hot, so holding it tighly in the hand is advised to help it bleed off some heat.
After I changed resistor the hysterical level is ~60% of level insane.
I think I got it pretty well centered in the reflector.
Here with my modded edc A9.
Some indoor wall beamshots
Inverted and processed for saturation in paint . net. The darker the brighter it is. The hotspot is massive and the spill is intense.
A ~25 meter dark corridor.
0.5 sec. exposure. f/2.8. Iso 100. WB daylight.
Update 2008-04-13
I decided to make the light 'regulated', I'm going to use this with one 18650 cell so NetKidz elegant AMC7135 based solution will work. It's one 1Ampere multimode driver with a slaved 1.4 Ampere board. I made a sandwich with the two drivers and some thermal glue between them. These drivers doesn't really even get warm unless you feed them over 4.8 Volt. Regulation with one 18650 cell isn't perfectly flat, but it's a lot better than direct drive. It was somewhat difficult to solder this sandwich. I also put in a single level click switch again. Link to the wiring diagram: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...d.php?t=192677
The difference in brightness between 2.3-2.4A and 2.8A is negligible to me. It's a few thousand lux in total output, but it runs cooler and longer.
Update 2008-05-03
I did a runtime on high, at 2.4A. It's a very impressive runtime with one AW 18650 2200 mAh LiION cell. About 50 minutes to 50%! This light need to be held in the hand for thermal transfer and cooling, but when held it never exceed 38 degrees Celsius
with an ambient temp of ~20 Celsius.
(I still plan to do outdoor beamshots as soon as possible)
Stefan
This is what you need. One Tiablo, some SSC P7 emitters, a few reflectors to test beam distribution and geometry, various tools and some drivers for testing.
Removing the old emitter and the old 'potted' FluPIC sandwich. I always take out the driver with contact ring through the holes for emitter leads, a thin screwdriver and a hammer to tap it out. When the driver is out turn the module around and tap the emitter star out if it overlaps the hole (if not twist the star out with pliers, Tiablo & LP uses quite soft thermal glue).
The reflector has been opened to a diameter of ~9 mm with a stepless drill bit (for metal sheeting). The height of the emitter in relation to the reflector is good as it is, it is approx. the same height as a CREE on a star. The only modification neccessary is to enlarge the reflector opening to ~9mm. Best focus is acheived with the op reflector. I tried a number of focus points with my smooth reflector without any luck, in the end the smooth reflector had too much material removed for it to work. Now it's scrap:mecry:. The emitter is centered and glued to the heatsink module.
I tested some of the available driver configurations/solutions on this one. In the end I decided to go with direct drive because I can use the stock two level tailcap switch that comes with the Tiablo A8. Why would I want even some measly tenths of a Volt or even a few mA to be wasted? One 18650 LiION will make this emitter fly at spec without losses in a driver! When/if good drivers become available I'll put one in this light.
This is the direct drive interface, just a stripped driver in the contact ring with + & - wires to the emitter.
One of my experiments, gives the emitter ~2.3A. Wiring diagram courtesy of member Netkidz. It works ok, but I want it all! All the magnificent 2.9A!
The stock tailcap switch, it has one 10 Ohm smd resistor for low level. On the Tiablo low is very low. That doesn't work for me since this light is supposed to be a light cannon. The only solution is to change the resistor to a 0.5 Ohm one. Now the levels are; hysterical & insane. Before they were low low & insane. On level insane the light do get hot, so holding it tighly in the hand is advised to help it bleed off some heat.
After I changed resistor the hysterical level is ~60% of level insane.
I think I got it pretty well centered in the reflector.
Here with my modded edc A9.
Some indoor wall beamshots
Inverted and processed for saturation in paint . net. The darker the brighter it is. The hotspot is massive and the spill is intense.
A ~25 meter dark corridor.
0.5 sec. exposure. f/2.8. Iso 100. WB daylight.
Update 2008-04-13
I decided to make the light 'regulated', I'm going to use this with one 18650 cell so NetKidz elegant AMC7135 based solution will work. It's one 1Ampere multimode driver with a slaved 1.4 Ampere board. I made a sandwich with the two drivers and some thermal glue between them. These drivers doesn't really even get warm unless you feed them over 4.8 Volt. Regulation with one 18650 cell isn't perfectly flat, but it's a lot better than direct drive. It was somewhat difficult to solder this sandwich. I also put in a single level click switch again. Link to the wiring diagram: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...d.php?t=192677
The difference in brightness between 2.3-2.4A and 2.8A is negligible to me. It's a few thousand lux in total output, but it runs cooler and longer.
Update 2008-05-03
I did a runtime on high, at 2.4A. It's a very impressive runtime with one AW 18650 2200 mAh LiION cell. About 50 minutes to 50%! This light need to be held in the hand for thermal transfer and cooling, but when held it never exceed 38 degrees Celsius
with an ambient temp of ~20 Celsius.
(I still plan to do outdoor beamshots as soon as possible)
Stefan
Last edited:
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