My P7 Dive Light

darkman0101

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 2, 2008
Messages
18
Well after months of doing a bit here - then not doing anything for ages - then doing another bit, I was forced to fast track finishing my P7 Maglite dive conversion.
I wanted to take it on my Poor Knights Live aboard over the last weekend.

After an initial leak test with no internals to 16.2M I took it out on a night dive of Middle Arch.
Must say that I am stoked with the results. It completely blew away anything else on the boat. I almost felt bad for my buddy and his (still impressive for the size) 120 lumen LED torch. His beam just disappeared when merged with mine.

If anything I really need to turn it down once a critter of interest has been spotted - as I found that the Morays didn't really appreciate being lit up with some 700 odd lumens of pure white light (they tend to get a bit snarky).

Anyway, I won't bang on about the details too much as Packhorse has brilliantly documented most of them, (BIG thanks by the way for all the guidance Packhorse).

Scope of project and Specs:
Design decision:
Decided not to go with a can light as I wanted the option for the light to sit in the kitchen draw when not in use for diving.

Specs:
Host - 4D Maglite cut down to ~ 3D size.
Emitter - P7 C Bin emitter (700-900 lumen)
Batteries - 2x 18650 protected Li-ion batteries in series
Driver - KD Super 3 mode 3A driver
Burn Time - 70mins
Max Depth Tested so far - 34.5m

Some pics (unfortunately no in water beamshots)

P1020675.jpg

P7 on Heatsink.

P1020650.jpg

Internals of light (minus the relay and reed switch, which are up near the light head).
Battery holder is MacGyver'ed up from two double AA holders.
Driver is heatsinked to buggery and sits in the tailcap to prevent overheating.

P1020668.jpg

P7 in light head.

P1020663.jpg

P7 Maglite in hand - despite the larger size, it isn't a problem to hold. Clips on to BCD when not in use.

P1020661.jpg

A beam shot just for interest sake.

Next project might be to make the same but in a canister light as I still have another P7 and heatsink sitting at home
 

DiveLightModder

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
2
Very nice!
I just posted a thread about building a P7 to slip into my Nocturnal Lights MR16 head. Then I saw this thread. I'd like to be able to drop the voltage of the 14.4 v pack to run an LED. If I could get that to work, and heatsink the LED I could probably get that light to run for 2 or more hours.
Nice work. I'm sure you'll see me around here looking for a way to mod my halogen light.
 

divinginn

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Apr 7, 2008
Messages
19
Location
georgia
still working on mine,just finished up the cannister,it is up and running just need to waterproof the glands and come up with a switch for it.What did you use for yours? I cant decide wether to use toggle or go with a magnetic switch.
 
Top