Northern Lights
Flashlight Enthusiast
July 2007, a man who suffered memory disabilities due to an older industrial accident met a stranger on the shoulder of the road. As the man stepped from his car the stranger shot him in the face with firearm loaded with a shot shell. The wounded man tried to flee but floundered and collapsed, now blinded for life, in a dark overgrown alley behind vacant industrial property.
Responding to the report of suspicious activity, that is where my people and I found him; I was first to reach him. His face was gore and he was in pain, scared and blind. Always tell someone who is blinded every detail of what is occurring around them. I was now in charge of the investigation. I had a small army, a task force of talent on loan from larger organizations.
I had many lights. I used every 5761 and LED light and every battery I had in the next twelve hours. Fortunately the sun rose because I had run out of batteries.
My victim disappeared into oblivion…
I decided to build a long running bright floody LED by modifying a venerable Maglite. The needs of that night prompted a desire in me to create a solution. A crime scene light with variable output, high lumen output over a wide area and long runtime.
I looked drooling over the CPF posts of mods by Icarus and my friend LED Zeppelin. I read every one of their posts and tutorials. I cataloged every battery and compared that to all the Maglite possibilities for a host. I looked at the drivers, boost and buck.
Links:
Quad Cree Q5 Which host design?
2D Maglite mod questions
I calculated the available watt-hours for every combination of number of LEDs, batteries and host size. I figured for a specific purpose flood I could go up to a 4 D size light.
Fact: Multiple LED lights are best run in series. Parallel guarantees the lowest powered LED, even if the same bin will die. I had built TM-800x3 mods with Cree Q2 and SCC P4 and had seen those results.
I began collecting the parts for a quad but then realized easily I could go penta-P4. I acquired a Shark and Remora. I got those nice Fraen plastic faceted Cree reflectors. Now they sell for a dollar, I paid $6 to an Aussie for them. (Got some Fraen cheap if you need any!)
Before long I realized I could get 6 LEDs and MCR-17XR reflectors in that thing so I got the reflectors and accumulated the parts and upgraded to Q2 but before I had the battery and driver figured the Q5s were here, I upgraded to Q5, before I finished getting the parts the R2 became available…
Wait, Wait…
The R2 barely has anything over the Q2 so I used and sold off the P4s and Q2s and kept the Q5s.
I inquired about some things from Icarus and LED Zepplin. I acquired the (Links
P Perfect Emitter Sink2 Tri/Quad PES - D like the ones in the Sandwich Shoppe but in pure COPPER!! Links:
Electrical conductivity of metals
Better than pure GOLD. That sink has pre-cut grooves. If I machined them off I then lose metal so I put a copper plate on it that went over the shoulder in the bell, more area to sink with some thermal grease too. I carefully cut it out and used a Dremel sanding drum to make it perfect fit and round. I thought about solder but Arctic Lumina worked very well in securing the two together. I no longer could use the center hole but could only use the two offset holes for the leads. This is a problem in assembly because you twist the head onto the main body.
I then realized that with a little milling of the head I could get another, the seventh Cree XRE Q5 LEDs into the light. At close to 1 Amp powered up that is 225-228 lumens. 1500-1600 Lumens and it also has maybe a long run time. I ended up with 5 each WC bin and 2 each WG bin, the colors even things out, more natural when run together like that.
Links:
Quad Cree Q5 Which host design?
The 5761s I use are 854<900 torch lumens in output. WOW!
One problem was figuring the driver for it. Until the Blue Shark there was no way to get that type of forward voltage from less than a 25-volt battery pack.
I acquired the upgraded shark, 22 volts from 20.
Months are rolling by here and a neurological injury I suffered prevented me from using my right hand for tedious soldering of small parts. The blue shark came out, exactly what I needed to handle the necessary 25 Volts. This is shark #3; never opened the others and I had to twice sell sharks. I began to believe I was a fishmonger.
I worked up the power formula for powering this brute. I decided with the Blue Shark I could use 4 AW C-cells and boost them with the shark. 3.3 Ah that with efficiency losses could run the light for 2 hours.
I figured the efficiency at 95%. 4 cells, 3.6 volts each at 3.3 Ah is 47 watt/hours. The shark runs the 7 Cree at 1 amp. Vf is 3.5 and that is 23.3 watts/hour or @ 2 hours run time on High. Obviously medium if at 50% I have 4 hours, at 33%, low I get 6 hours. Well, this will do for long run.
An Englishman made me a tail cap switch with Judco switches and they are reverse clicky, ideal to change modes in a shark. I used a C-cell tail spring on top of an insulating sheet. (Automotive gasket paper works great and in different thicknesses.)
I emptied the 3-cell light of its factory switch. The C-clip I retained. A Plexiglas disk with a center contact rides on the clip. A PVC pipe is the sleeve and 4 of the 54mm, 26540 AW cells fit perfect sitting on the C spring and Plexiglas plate. A divot in PVC pipe holds the switch cover over the port of the old switch.
A screw under the head is the perfect ground as it will not lose or weaken contact with the aluminum body.
The shark rests on a new LED Zeppelin Shark Sink, now available from the Shoppe. The new Sharks also have a copper sink on them.
I soldered up the daisy chain of LEDs and coated the solder joints with Arctic Alumina to insulate them from the reflectors. I place them on a cardboard template. If you glue them to the sink first it does what it is supposed to do and takes the heat away. You cannot solder it without using too much immense heat that way. I premeasured out the connecting leads to allow a little bend in them. I also coated the bottom of the LEDs to isolate them from the sink. I smeared Arctic Lumina on cardboard and dipped the reflector bases in that to further protect against shorting.
To get the LEDs cemented in place I temporarily cemented the LED into the reflector relying on the seat of the steel ring. I put them face down on the bench and cemented the bases and then with the sink in the head, fit it down onto the group of 7 LEDs.
The window is the UCL, extra thick one as it is the perfect thickness to hold the reflectors down onto the LEDs on the sink.
I put a plug on the LED leads.
Once secure I remove the sink and reflectors.
In theory this is how to put it together. Screw the bell down to seat then back up the number of turns that will seat the sink and then a 1/8 more out. You can determine this before you glue it all up using the sink in place. In my case it was 2.5 turns. Plug the sink into the leads and counter turn the sink 2.5 turns. Now screw it into the head and when seated set the head back that 1/8 turn seating it and cinching up everything. Put the reflectors in and drop on the window and bezel.
I had to disassemble it once to tend to a poor solder joint. I ended up using a gasket under the reflectors to insulate them from the LEDs.
Now it is a horrendous 1600-lumen light (well almost, @ 1575-1596). It blows away the 5761 in Litho reflectors and 5761 in a 7.2V Mag Charger. It blows away MTE P7 my 1.5D C bin P7. It blows away the one million CP spotlight (antique that it is).
It cost just at $400 in parts. I spent close to another $100 in consumables in developing my techniques and buying and selling LEDs and Sharks.
Shown with
1.5 D P7, Modes, Charging Jack, Electronic GID & more (link)
and a Shyguang Nuwai TM-800x3 tri-LuxIII modded to a SSC P4
Click pictures for larger more detailed view:
I considered selling it for $500 until I remembered why I built it.
My victim disappeared into oblivion because a VA social worker placed him without notifying the authorities. I searched and I found him.
He asked me to find the shooter and put the shooter in prison for as long as he will be blind.
Many years ago I took an oath, he falls under my sworn promise to protect, I owe him. I will try.
He now resides in perpetual darkness; I will keep the light… maybe.
Thank you.
LED Zeppelin
DAT2ZIP
Plasmaman
Missionaryman
JimJones
FireCop
I especially appreciate your kind thoughts and support when my injuries took my steady hands away. You all gave me hope and the drive to finish the project by your kind words and faith in me. Maybe I can pass what you gave me on to one even more in need.
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