LED_ASAP
Enlightened
Modder\'s opinion on Arc AA
After a long wait, the first Arc AA that Kenji sent me for LS modding arrived at my door step. Here are my initial impressions from a modder's point of view.
Here is the business end of Arc AA:
After removing the foam ring, we can see the circuit board is only about Arc AAA-sized, which appears to be surrounded with a rather thick (2.5mm) wall.
The crimp seal is not as neat as the old Arc AAA. We can clearly see a miss pressed section in this image. This should be individual problem, though.
The disassembling process is very similar to that of Arc AAA. After prying open the crimp seal and a dunk in liquid nitrogen, the electronic part can be knocked out.
It is shocking to see that the AA "plug" is actually shorter than the AAA "plug", which means there is even less space for modding in Arc AA head than in Arc AAA head---a big disappointment from a modder's point of view. The much smaller space than that of an Infinity head means there is no room for a decent heat sink, and no room to use the much bigger components that I used to push the current higher in this Infinity mod. The maximum battery draw attainable would be at most the same as in an Arc AAA mod, i.e. 600-700mA, limited both by the capacity of the components and the heat sinking conditions.
One good thing Peter did was the curviture of the bezel---it fits the NX-05 contour nicely.
The diameter of Arc AA is slightly less than that of Infinity, so the chopped-down NX-05 that sits flush in an Infinity bezel actually protrude a little.
I don't have a completed mod yet to show the beam shots and compare the brightness, because I have to re-wind the Toroid inductor with a smaller core in order to squeeze things into that much smaller-than-expected space. I should have the first light within the next couple of days.
I expect that the AA mod will be brighter than an AAA mod even if the current draw is the same, because the NX-05 optic is more efficient than a half acrylic ball. But it will not be anywhere near the Infinity mod level.
In conclusion, Arc AA is an OK platform for LS mods, but it would have been a lot better if Peter had left more space in the bezel.
<font color="green">The much shorter "plug" size also hinted there is likely some change in the circuit, which in turn explains why people feel an Arc AA is brighter than an Arc AAA. My guestimate would be that Peter removed the Tantalum capacitor that used to sit on the LED leads and used a smaller-sized ceramic capacitor on the PCB. This substitution reduced the ESR and should result in a slight but notable increase in efficiency (and thus brightness). </font>
After a long wait, the first Arc AA that Kenji sent me for LS modding arrived at my door step. Here are my initial impressions from a modder's point of view.
Here is the business end of Arc AA:
After removing the foam ring, we can see the circuit board is only about Arc AAA-sized, which appears to be surrounded with a rather thick (2.5mm) wall.
The crimp seal is not as neat as the old Arc AAA. We can clearly see a miss pressed section in this image. This should be individual problem, though.
The disassembling process is very similar to that of Arc AAA. After prying open the crimp seal and a dunk in liquid nitrogen, the electronic part can be knocked out.
It is shocking to see that the AA "plug" is actually shorter than the AAA "plug", which means there is even less space for modding in Arc AA head than in Arc AAA head---a big disappointment from a modder's point of view. The much smaller space than that of an Infinity head means there is no room for a decent heat sink, and no room to use the much bigger components that I used to push the current higher in this Infinity mod. The maximum battery draw attainable would be at most the same as in an Arc AAA mod, i.e. 600-700mA, limited both by the capacity of the components and the heat sinking conditions.
One good thing Peter did was the curviture of the bezel---it fits the NX-05 contour nicely.
The diameter of Arc AA is slightly less than that of Infinity, so the chopped-down NX-05 that sits flush in an Infinity bezel actually protrude a little.
I don't have a completed mod yet to show the beam shots and compare the brightness, because I have to re-wind the Toroid inductor with a smaller core in order to squeeze things into that much smaller-than-expected space. I should have the first light within the next couple of days.
I expect that the AA mod will be brighter than an AAA mod even if the current draw is the same, because the NX-05 optic is more efficient than a half acrylic ball. But it will not be anywhere near the Infinity mod level.
In conclusion, Arc AA is an OK platform for LS mods, but it would have been a lot better if Peter had left more space in the bezel.
<font color="green">The much shorter "plug" size also hinted there is likely some change in the circuit, which in turn explains why people feel an Arc AA is brighter than an Arc AAA. My guestimate would be that Peter removed the Tantalum capacitor that used to sit on the LED leads and used a smaller-sized ceramic capacitor on the PCB. This substitution reduced the ESR and should result in a slight but notable increase in efficiency (and thus brightness). </font>
