need some resistance

p moore

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Jan 29, 2009
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42
I just put all the pieces for my P7 M@G C togther. I got the emitter from Fred at Photon fanatic. I turned it on and WOW! However, I noticed a little color shift. I quickly turned it off. Then checked the amp draw at the tail cap. I quit when it went over 3 amps:poke:didn't want to push it.

Two questions. What size resistor do you guys recomend? and can I add it to the tail cap, or do I have to disassemble the whole thing. I would like to run around 2.5 amps.

Thanks, Paul
 

Al Combs

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Jul 2, 2007
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I used a 0.1 ohm 5 watt power resistor that I Arctic Silver epoxied onto the back of the heat sink. It was an "I" binned emitter. I was getting over 3 amps initially without the resistor. Fresh off the charger now I get about 2.7 amps. I think it would be more work trying to isolate the tailcap spring than it would be to take the head apart and put a resistor there.

I took a voltage reading from a power supply at that was cranked up to read 2.8 amps. Then I put a 1 ohm 10 watt resistor directly across my 3*NiMH 10,000 mAh D cells to see the approximate output voltage of the batteries under load. Then I did an Ohms law thing to calculate the value of resistor needed to bleed away the excess voltage. And promptly came up with the wrong answer.:( It was trial and error for me. I had a bunch of power resistors lying around to figure out which one I needed.

Also when I was setting it up, I bridged the resistor with a bare wire clip just to see. There was a barely perceptible increase in output without the resistor. Even if you have an I bin emitter, yours might be slightly different than mine.

I'm sure you know this already, but a good constant current regulator is much better than a resistor. More money than a resistor, but cheaper than a new LED. They just didn't exist a year ago when I built mine. I don't know if TaskLED's hipCC will fit in a C MagLite. The board is 1.1" across. The Shoppe's Shark Buck will and they even make heat sinks for the C MagLite.
 
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p moore

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Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
42
I do have some of the DX 7882 boards comming. I was hoping for a simple fix today. Patients is not one of my virtues.

Does anyone have a couple of the AMC7135 1400mA Regulated Circuit Boards they could sale. I don't need a 20 pack when ever they come off back order.
 
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