2C Mag w/ 3 Warm White MC-Es

2xTrinity

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This is my latest creation. 3 MC-Es directly driven off of two LiIon C-Cells. (2-series, 6-parallel die arrangement) This was mainly an excuse to test out the MC-E, and use up some spare parts I had lying around (a tri-star mag heatsink, a tri-reflector, and a 2C host).

I also used a power mosfet to bypass the stock magswitch and cut the resistance. At some point I should be able to update the circuit with a thermal circuit breaker to turn OFF the light using the mosfet if the body gets too hot.



3MCEShootout

This is next to my P7 Ultrafire C2.

I'm actually just running cheap unprotected cells from DX (these) -- as the light is direct drive, the output dims to nothing sharply as the Voltage of the cells drops to ~3, time to be recharged. I'm using my pricier AWs in my incan, as those require low-voltage cutoffs for safe operation.



3MCEShootout

3MCEShootout
EDIT: the emitter tint is 6A, not 7A

The P7 Ultrafire C2 isn't really for output comparison, more to show the beam angle and color. It's also direct drive off a 18650 and it's only drawing ~1.8A as its Vf is high.

Also shown is an ROP with MOP, also drawing comparable power -- around 4.2 amps off the battery.




3MCEShootout

This is the ROP with Fivemega MOP cammed reflector defocused to just short of "donut hole" territory shown on the ceiling. This is how I use the ROP most of the time, as a flood rather than as a thrower. It appears my ROP has finally been de-throned as my portable flood light.

Color temp and CRI appears almost identical to my 3500k CFLs at home (eg toggling between ceiling bounce and room lighting doesn't change the color of anything in an obvious way)


Since this project worked fairly nicely, at some point in the future (when I get some more "funds") I want to build a similar MC-E array into a mag with variable output and thermal negative feedback (eg temp goes up, output goes down). That will probably have to be a D-host in order to fit all the circuitry. The ability to crank out nearly 2K lumens, or dial that down to like 10 lumens with insane runtime is something very attractive for a light to take camping, for example -- eg if we need to find a lost item in the dark, I can turn on the sun, or I can simply enjoy a super efficient moderate-output flashlight.
 
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Gryloc

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2xTrinity,

The pics are working for me. Nice work! I understand that you may have used spare parts and a plain host, but to me, it is still awesome. You could put crappy and outdated electronics professionally into a piece of work, but it can still be crap. This turned out nicely, and the light performs well!

How about beamshots across your yard or a field comparing the same three lights fully charged? I am interested on how wide that beam ended up with the stippled and tiny tri-reflectors designed for the XR-E.

Also, can you confirm the approximate current going to each die? With that, you can estimate the lumen output. See how your warm white dies compare to that of the WW XR-E tested by jtr1962 on post #139:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/89607&page=5

This WW XR-E is of the 7A tint, but that is pretty close. I am assuming that your WW MC-Es probably consist of P4-bin equivalent dies. What bin of MC-E did you purchase?

I read about this in another thread, and hoped it would be revealed soon. Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,
-Tony
 

2xTrinity

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What bin of MC-E did you purchase?
Color - 6A
Flux - J, or minimum 320-370lm @ 350mA (series).

With a Vf of around 3.3 (checked on my power supply) that works out to between 70-80 lumens/watt, from what I remember about the same as the P4s

Also, can you confirm the approximate current going to each die? With that, you can estimate the lumen output. See how your warm white dies compare to that of the WW XR-E tested by jtr1962 on post #139:
For the majority of the runtime current is very close to 4.2A total, or 700mA to the dice. For the first second on fully charged cells it's as high as 5.4A or around 900mA each, but that settles almost immediately. The photo was taken with cells that were all around 4.0V, not 4.2 (unloaded) so it should be a better estimate of the "steady state" output than the initial spike.

I'm very much counting on the internal resistance of the batteries for this to work, as these lights have quite a low Vf. A single MC-E would probably be more severely overdriven by 2 LiIons, but by having 6-parallel strings, the cells sag just enough under the load to keep things under control. Likewise If I were to run this on D-LiIons, or 3s4p, or 4S3P with 3-4 C LiIons it would probably also be run much harder.
 
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saabluster

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I also used a power mosfet to bypass the stock magswitch and cut the resistance. At some point I should be able to update the circuit with a thermal circuit breaker to turn OFF the light using the mosfet if the body gets too hot.
Excellent work 2xTrinity. I'm very interested to know how exactly you did the mosfet thing. Could you do us a "how to"? Also with a setup like that how much power could you then run through the switch if you wanted to?
 

TexLite

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Jun 30, 2007
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Nice work 2xTrinity,

I love the tint,

The wood looks great with the MC-E's.

:thumbsup:

-Michael
 
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