My second Maglite P7 mod

I just finished my second Maglite single P7 mod. The first one didn't want to work right but this time I used the driver board from 'Der Wichtel' and now it works fine :huh:.



I used this parts for my mod:

- 2D Maglite
- SSC P7 DSWOJ emitter
- DHS heatsink HAIII
- driver board from 'Der Wichtel'
- mdocod 6AA>2D battery adapter
- 6 Eneloops
- M*g MOP Cam/Camless Aluminum Reflector 52mm/15mm
- UCL® Lens
- some teflon wire
- Alumina Adhesive
- Arctic Alumina

The first step was to modify the cklicky module to get some space for the driver board and the heatsink. I use a dremel and afterwards some fine sandpaper to smoothen it.
After that I soldered the driver board with some teflon wire to the cklicky module.

Now I only had to glue the emitter on the heatsink and solder he wires from the driver board to the emitter. After reading the instructions on the Artic Silver website it was very easy to use he Alumina Adhesive. So no problems with glueing the emitter on the heatsink. Now only solder the wires on the emitter and put the heatsink in my Maglite. I don't know but somehow the heatsink didn't fit in my Maglite. But after I used some sandpaper to take a little bit of the anodizing off it just fits fine in the Maglite. I put some Arctic Alumina around the heatsink and put it in the Maglite.

The last think to do was to get the Eneloops in the battery adapter and put it also in the Maglite. That's where I found another minor problem. It was very hard to screw on the tailcape. So I used the dremel and shortened the spring a little bit.

So I think that's enough for the writing here are some pictures of my Maglite P7 mod:



the driver board




the modified spring


I will modify the black Maglite to use it as a bikelight.

Beamshots will follow.

Regards,
rayman

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod

Great write up, really it's a tutorial! :twothumbs

Just one thing, you may want to cover up the bare wires+driver to stop them touching the inside of the maglite and shorting out?

You could use electrical tape or maybe a large bit of heat shrink tube.

Ant idea of the current draw on the 6AA's?

So what are you going to build next?

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod

The inside of the Mag tube is anodized, so a short could only happen if the wires touched the retainer-ring for the switchassembly. Not that big of a chance, but still I´d isolate the wires as suggested.

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod

Looks nice. Are you stuck in high mode? If so, that's not to bad. If you have a DMM, check the current at the tailcap. You need Excel to see this but here's a post with some good data on that regulator. He got 80.8% efficiency on high @ 7.5 volts. For 6*eneloops, the relevant data is 1.64 amps on high, 876 ma on medium and 209 ma on low. P7's are so bright, you might easily mistake the 876 ma (400 lumen) mode for high.

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod

Essexman said:

Great write up, really it's a tutorial! :twothumbs

Just one thing, you may want to cover up the bare wires+driver to stop them touching the inside of the maglite and shorting out?

You could use electrical tape or maybe a large bit of heat shrink tube.

Ant idea of the current draw on the 6AA's?

So what are you going to build next?

Click to expand...

The current should be 2.8A. I'm thinking of building a Tri-P7 Mag but don't really know right now because I have lots of parts for another single P7 Mag left .

Al Combs said:

Looks nice. Are you stuck in high mode? If so, that's not to bad. If you have a DMM, check the current at the tailcap. You need Excel to see this but here's a post with some good data on that regulator. He got 80.8% efficiency on high @ 7.5 volts. For 6*eneloops, the relevant data is 1.64 amps on high, 876 ma on medium and 209 ma on low. P7's are so bright, you might easily mistake the 876 ma (400 lumen) mode for high.

Click to expand...

I think so too that it's just the medium mode because it's only a little bit brighter than my Jet-III Pro. I already wrote KD a message that my driver board is broke so I hope they answer fast.

rayman

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod

I had the same problem with my reflector except mine was worse as I used a 3.6mm lens. I just dremeled it down and its perfect.
Someone else mounted the lens on a drill and used a file.
Picking up a mini lathe today so now that stuff will be easy

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod

Packhorse said:

I had the same problem with my reflector except mine was worse as I used a 3.6mm lens. I just dremeled it down and its perfect.
Someone else mounted the lens on a drill and used a file.
Picking up a mini lathe today so now that stuff will be easy

Click to expand...

I think I'll try it tomorrow with a dremel and sandpaper.

rayman

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod

I was roaming around a local B&M store today looking at their D mags and was wondering if a 2D Mag would be sufficient for modding.

This thread answers that question

Nice work.

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod

I have some questions.

As I see this mod as a tutorial I'm about to mod my next Maglite.

It will also be a 2D Maglite. But this time I'll use 0,65mm teflon wire. The 1mm was somehow hard to handle.
I also want a driver with only one mode to get all out of the P7. So which driver board would you recommend me?

And I don't know which P7 to use, ether the DSW0J or the CSX0I. But I think I'll buy me the DSW0J.

rayman

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod (planning the second one)

With the DSW0J, you'll have more lumens out of your M*g !!

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod (planning the second one)

Today I modified the reflector so that there is no gap between the bezel and the head. I used three sheets of sandpaper and it took me three hours but it is totally worth it :huh:. Pictures are in the first post. No I only what on the driver board.

rayman

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod (planning the second one)

'Rayman' I have one question. I made almost the same Mag (2D, blue, CSWOI). I always thought that red wire (in driver board) is positive, black is - and P7 leg with hole is +. Or I was wrong or I have bad LED because all I saw was a short blink of one wire inside P7...

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod (planning the second one)

The one with the hole is negative. Hope you didn't fry your LED.

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod (planning the second one)

phantom23 said:

'Rayman' I have one question. I made almost the same Mag (2D, blue, CSWOI). I always thought that red wire (in driver board) is positive, black is - and P7 leg with hole is +. Or I was wrong or I have bad LED because all I saw was a short blink of one wire inside P7...

Click to expand...

I look at this thread when I was soldering my P7. So I hope you didn't damage your P7. And if you broke your emitter just keep on trying. I tried solderign a single contact for hours and I hadn't any sucess. And then somebody told me to use flux and now it's very easy.

rayman

Re: My first Maglite P7 mod (planning the second one)

spencer said:

Hope you didn't fry your LED.

Click to expand...

I didn't (I'm lucky guy). I rewired it and... hoooly sh.it, it is bright. Very bright!:devil: And beautiful SWO... I don't care about donut hole right now (I use Mag SMO reflector).

Just finished my second Maglite P7 mod. The new driver board of 'Der Wichtel' works so much better. I reallly like my Maglite now :thumbsup:.

rayman

Hey nice mod - Again.

You got there before me, I'm thinking of making a mag 2D with the same set up.

How is this driver better than the first one you used ??
Have you any idea of the current draw at the tail cap and /or the current to the emitter.
So many questions....and of course, beamshots please ?

Essexman said:

Hey nice mod - Again.

You got there before me, I'm thinking of making a mag 2D with the same set up.

How is this driver better than the first one you used ??
Have you any idea of the current draw at the tail cap and /or the current to the emitter.
So many questions....and of course, beamshots please ?

Click to expand...

The driver from 'Der Wichtel' is a single mode driver but it doesn't get hot as the KD driver does. You have adjust the current with a poti on your own using a multimeter but because of 'Der Wichtel's description it's quite easy. I used the KD Super Ouput driver before. I bought two and both didn't work right. If you want multiple modes just ask 'Der Wichtel' he also sells PWM-dimmer which can be programmed like you want you only have to ask him :huh:.

Beamshots are follow tomorrow .

rayman

Nice and clean job...:thumbsup:

rayman said:

The driver from 'Der Wichtel' is a single mode driver but it doesn't get hot as the KD driver does. You have adjust the current with a poti on your own using a multimeter but because of 'Der Wichtel's description it's quite easy. I used the KD Super Ouput driver before. I bought two and both didn't work right. If you want multiple modes just ask 'Der Wichtel' he also sells PWM-dimmer which can be programmed like you want you only have to ask him :huh:.

Beamshots are follow tomorrow .

rayman

Click to expand...

What was your KD Buck driver doing wrong? When my 2 Li-Ion's are fully charged (8.4V) the driver will go to low after a few minutes, but when the batteries are used a bit, it works fine. It seems like the driver doesn't like voltages above 8V or so. I'd love to try out the 'Der Wichtel' buck driver, but it is not quite small enough for the M*g C bodies.