XP-G triple question

Inspired by richpalm's post here, I decided to make my own triple XP-G in a Solarforce host. By the way, his copper slug method is spectacular!

So, anyway, I put a 1400 ma 7135 driver in the bottom of the slug, wired parallel to give each neutral bin emitter ~450 ma. My triple runs surprisingly cool at this current - I like the light output, but it could always be brighter, right?

My next thought is to hook up a 2.8a 3-mode driver...but...I have two questions/concerns:

1. I'm worried about running the triple on high for any length of time. Wired in parallel, each emitter would see almost 1 amp of current - is that too much on a large copper slug in a smaller flashlight?

2. Every ~17mm dia. driver I can find runs 10% / 30% / 100% in their three modes; where can I find a driver that can deliver about 50% in the mid-mode?

In an ideal world, I would like to be able to run my light for as long as my battery lasts; this would make a great fire scene investigation light. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Firecop said:

Inspired by richpalm's post here, I decided to make my own triple XP-G in a Solarforce host. By the way, his copper slug method is spectacular!

So, anyway, I put a 1400 ma 7135 driver in the bottom of the slug, wired parallel to give each neutral bin emitter ~450 ma. My triple runs surprisingly cool at this current - I like the light output, but it could always be brighter, right?

My next thought is to hook up a 2.8a 3-mode driver...but...I have two questions/concerns:

1. I'm worried about running the triple on high for any length of time. Wired in parallel, each emitter would see almost 1 amp of current - is that too much on a large copper slug in a smaller flashlight?

2. Every ~17mm dia. driver I can find runs 10% / 30% / 100% in their three modes; where can I find a driver that can deliver about 50% in the mid-mode?

In an ideal world, I would like to be able to run my light for as long as my battery lasts; this would make a great fire scene investigation light. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Click to expand...

I'd love to see pics of your wiring and slug up close. That linked thread shows some great pics, but I'd like to see how you did it as well.

Also, I really wish there was a 50% medium driver that was popular because I prefer that 50% as well. I'm pretty sure they make them because I think I've seen a drop-in for sale that had that medium mode! Good luck with your new build upgrade to 2.8amps and pics please!

Thanks! Feels good when I get this kind of feedback.

What I finally ended up doing was piggyback 4 more 7135's on to one side of the board, giving 12 chips total and 4.2A capability. Hear me out... now the high mode is very bright and gets hot pretty fast. But now the mid setting draws ~1200 ma, still giving me lots of light and heat isn't so much of an issue. This is with an AW IMR 18650. And I'm fussy-my night vision is NFG.

So mid now is a nice setting and the high is a wow turbo mode, like a top fuel dragster... lots of flash and drama, but not practical for long term use. I don't use low-too dim for my poor night vision. I'd like to see the Shiningbeam driver do mid and high, and that's it.

Whatever you do, watch the heat on high. Either at 2.8 or 4.2A, it's gonna get warm. Go to Illumination Supply and grab some of his copper tape and wrap the dropin with it to the point that you can press-fit it into your host. I also put thermal compound on the dropin before I press it into the host. Heat transfer is almost immediate.

May I suggest using a 4000 or 5000K triple for your purpose? Much better color with no distracting blue tint. And go to LED Supply for it... get one each of the Carlco optics (only $1.50 ea.) and see which one you like the best. I settled on narrow and medium frosted for most of my lights.

Oh, you are gonna put it in a Solarforce, right? <g>

I'd like to see pics also.

One of these days I'm gonna do a super-post on how I do up the triple along with the L2P pimping-out process, but I had a bad crash and I'm using the "closet backup" machine right now.

I've built a bunch of these. I love doing the work... got 13 of 'em now! You might wanna consider building one up with a single mode driver like you did and use it for a dedicated fire scene light... no modes to switch, no headaches, KIS.... off-on. Then go get the stuff and build another hot rod light.

That's what's so great-between the hardware store, LED Supply, Illumination Gear, Shiningbeam and Solarforce, you can build them cheap and have a really nice light. All pimped out with optional bezels, switches, glow rings, lanyards, etc. you can do it for ~$75. And there is no reason to muck around with the likes of KD and DX-everything is available from stateside CPF dealers... get your parts in 2 days, not months!

BTW, if it weren't for the knowledge I've gained here at CPF, along with the great dealers I've used, I wouldn't have been able to build these at all. It's way, way overdue for me to give everyone a big round of thanks!

Rich

richpalm, you've just described my light - 4000k neutral triple from LEDSupply with the Carlco optics. I'll try to get some beamshots tonight at work.

This is not really along the lines of what you were asking, but it might be worth considering anyway. I've seen some of your other builds so I know you're aware of the potential Vf problem when LED's are wired in parallel. One LED always ends up with more current than the others... If you bought one of the Indus 3-Up stars from LEDSupply, I'm guessing you already have 3 sets of wires going through the center for your parallel setup. You could easily run them in series from the same 1,400 ma driver. The 30% output would be about as bright as 100% is now. Like richpalm said, that level of power isn't practical for long term use. But it would be nice to have on demand for a couple of minutes at a time.:devil:

Ma_sha1 had a light like this recently discussed in another thread. He was using XM-L's but basically the same thing. The idea comes from a Download thread called Poorman's Mutli-Lux. The basic premise is since input and output current are the same in a linear regulator like the 7135 and since current is everywhere the same in a series circuit, only 1 LED of the 3 actually needs to be regulated. You would need a different battery setup. You didn't say what light. But 3*AW IMR-26500's fit in a 2D Mag with a mod to the tailcap spring. Three 26650's in a 3D with tail cap spring mod would be an easier fit. An XP-G has a Vf of ≈ 3.5 volts @ 1.4 amps, so with about 5 volts going to the 7135, it might get a little hot. The SnowplowTortoise heatsink would take care of that problem.

FWIW:shrug:

Thanks for the thought, Al...I may have to try that. Unfortunately, the Solarforce housing I am using is good for 1 18650.

I took some beamshot photos last night - I'm realizing that tint has now become a big appeal for me. All photos were taken at ~6ft, white balance set to daylight and 1/30 f5.6 All neutral tints are 4000K. Oh, the wall is painted white, with a concrete dedication left in the middle when the city remodeled our office.

Here's the lights, taken left to right:


This used to be my primary dig light - it's a 3D Magmod running an SVO tint P7 from 4 "C" cell NiMh batteries. I can't remember the bin, but it's been around a while:


This is 2D Magmod running 3 XP-Gs (2 neutral, 1 cool) off a blue Shark from 6 AA NiMh. I used 2 Caralco optics (narrow) and one flood optic of unknown type. The beam is perfect for what I do - my new main light:


A C8 pushing a neutral XM-L through a 2.8a driver from IlluminationSupply (a great supplier, BTW) This is on "high":


This 5-XRE head from DX has a fantastic hotspot, but the tints and ringy beam make me not use it unless I absolutely have to:


I really don't use this EagleTac M2C4 P7 much...I don't know why:


Finally, this is the triple XP-G pill in a Solarforce host a la richpalm. I'm running the neutral tint emitters in parallel off a 1400 ma 7135 driver:



I hope you guys like 'em; all my co-workers think I'm nuts...until it comes to a large fire, then they're begging to borrow my lights!

Firecop said:

I hope you guys like 'em; all my co-workers think I'm nuts...

Click to expand...

Yeah that's the kind of reaction I usually get. I always wonder what the person telling me I'm nuts does for a hobby.:laughing:

Thanks for sharing the pics. The beam on the triple you've been talking about looks really nice. I didn't realize it was a P60 type light. You probably would be better off with the 2.8 amp driver with the LED's in parallel. You could use a Solarforce L2-ECR extension tube with 3*IMR-16340's. But it's probably too much heat and you'd get much better runtime from the single 18650.

What's the size of that 'Hospitality Center' sign that's ≈ 6 feet away? What TIR is that, Carclo frosted narrow? Let us know how it turns out.

I'll need to measure it, but IIRC it's ~2' square. The Carclo is the narrow, not narrow frosted. It's really floody, but has little throw. I used the new C8 on a car fire Sunday night - it works quite well; I'm very impressed by the neutral tint emitter.

Would the triple xpg board still function if the LEDs were wired in series instead of parallel if run off a single 18650? Let's saying using a shining beam 2.8 amp driver? How would that affect output?

Those drivers require a higher voltage than what the led needs to operate. If I were to have run them in series, the voltages add together, requiring three LIon batteries to operate. By running them in parallel, they share the current output of the driver. When I first started playing with flashlights, it took me a while to wrap my mind around this-

Series - voltages stack, current is constant throughout the series.
Parallel - current stacks, voltage is constant from the battery.

So, in a long, drawn-out answer to your question, no, it wouldn't work. You would have to use a boost board like the Shark or the maxFlex.

Firecop,
would the triple xpg board work wired in series with the 2.8 shining beam driver if i ran it from 3 18650's? or would that fry the driver?
thanks

That would almost definitely fry the driver to run 3x18650 in a series with an AMC7135 driver. They are meant to handle 6V max.