McLux-PR X3T Direct Drive

Yes I had two X3T binned 5W HDs, and one of them is on auction right now in a Space (make that Super) Needle. But the other I stuck in a PR head Don sent me and ran it through a BB750. Nice output, but still no brighter than any regular Bin Coded 5W due to the regulation constraints of the BB750.

While sitting in my workshop puffing away on a nice La Gloria Charlemagne, I was turning the 2-cell McLux tailpack over and over in my hands until I tried dropping in three CR2s. They fit. Normally CR2s are like $6 or $7 apiece at Wal-Mart, so a Direct Drive mod using them would not be that cost effective. But with Battery Station now selling their DP-branded version for a buck-quarter each, I figured what the heck -- and I gutted the PR head of its BB750 and wired everything up as Direct Drive, with a RAM switch installed in the tail. Hey, way brighter. WAAAAAY Brighter!

Then the unthinkable happened -- the light started flickering, and I pressed the Ram switch on and off a couple times and it started off okay again, then flickered again, then finally stopped working altogether! Oh, NO! My beloved X3T!!!

I took everything apart and checked for continuity/shorting in the wiring and solder joints and stuff, and all was okay. Hit the precious X3T with 6V from the power supply and it lit up nice and bright. Soooo -- I checked continuity in the RAM switch and...THAT was the culprit. It had toasted out!

Stuck in a good ol' reliable Kroll and all was fine again. Whew...

Here it is soaking up some Hawaiian sun next to its cousin, a Space Needle II with the new VXOW 5W HD emitter (Thanks Howie!):




Then the obligatory beamshot (X3T DD McLux-PR still on the right):



Just to be fair, the Space Needle II's beam focus was adjusted out slightly to approximate the size of the X3T's. Still not that fair a comparison as the Space Needle had fresh 123s while the X3T had to make do with some half-used CR2's until I get my shipment of 50 of those $1.25 ones from Kevin.

And yet the lux reading with those half-spent CR2's was still:




I feel this light would easily break 3,000 lux once I get fresh batteries in it (they tested at around 2.95V each). With McGizmo's installed cell-clip and the overall smooth-beamed high brightness from the excellent Pelican reflector, this X3T McLux-PR has now become my EDC. For a few days anyway, until I grow tired of it and -- auction it off...

Thanks for reading!

DD /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif He'll never change..... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

that is one of the funniest comments I've read in a while, perfect, you can't get really, really bright unless your DD.

Great light Mr Bulk. Ahhh, DD and its a X3T. If I end up gutting the BB from the McLux-PR that Don made me, who am I suppose to blame? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/whoopin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

VXOVs to your satisfaction Charlie? Even on the photo, you can see a very very light hint of blue when compared next to your X3T. Well.. the VWAV is white/white. No hint of blue. Only wished they were XWAT /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Don, I yam whut I yam...a DD'ing fool!

keithr, yeah bright is what I'm all about, runtimes and all that other stuff be d@mned!

Dennis, Don pointed out to me afterward that if I had simply driven the light at 9V it would bypass the BB circuit and already BE in DD. But no telling what damage might occur to the circuit (then again gutting it pretty much takes care of that aspect unless you're super careful removing it).

Howie, I personally like the XO color bin better. HID-white as opposed to "daylight" white. I one wants the "warm white" tint, use an -- incandescent!!!

Nice one Charlie, I like it. DD brightness from a circuit lights size, cool! I know you're going to say run-time be damned but how are the CR2's for runtime anyway?

Darryl

Sonic,

Yeah you'll get to see it in person next time you're around. As for run time, I have no idea. I don't have any fresh batteries to try it with yet anyway...

I have also wondered about running 9V into a BB 5Wer.
Someone had one in b/s/t, and said they were doing that.

I guess as long as you had a really high Vf 5Wer, this might work.

Any thoughts guys?

[ QUOTE ]
MR Bulk said: feel this light would easily break 3,000 lux once I get fresh batteries in it (they tested at around 2.95V each). With McGizmo's installed cell-clip and the overall smooth-beamed high brightness from the excellent Pelican reflector, this X3T McLux-PR has now become my EDC. For a few days anyway, until I grow tired of it and -- auction it off...

[/ QUOTE ]

What happened to the other 7,000 lux [you got 10,000 on your SSN]? Is it just spread out over a wider surface area? I'm not fortunate enough to have a McLux, so I'm unfamiliar with the beam characterisitics.

When is the auction ... so I can get more familiar? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Edit: Also, how do you heat sink it? It doesn't look like you have room for the massive heat sink that you used in the Super Needle

FlashlightOCD, this McLux is using the Pelican M6 reflector.

What Dennis said -- the relatively small reflector (that is textured, no less) cannot capture all of the photons streaming out of the Luxeon to throw it forward in an organized beam, and thus a lot of it goes out as spill on the sides. Great for walking, not so great for metering. Also any time we break up the pure light with a less-than-mirror-smooth reflector surface, we are losing lux readings as well, but the benefit is a smoother, prettier beam (when, *ahem*, admiring it while shining at white walls which is about the only time we will notice it).

About the heatsink thing, the excellent design of the PR as well as the original McLux head utilizes the entire head as a heatsink (Luxeon is thermal-epoxied directly to the integral bulkhead forming the bottom of the head), and mass-wise this new PR head is actually greater than even the gigantic heatsink I put in the Super Needle.

WOW,,,, 10,000 lux in a M*g reflector, and only 3,000 lux in the PR relfector huh? Damn, hell of a difference.

I take it a 1 or 3W LS would get greater lux in the PR than the 5W?

What mA is running to the LS in this x3t DD mclux?

ticey, probably so as the single 1W/3W die will be perfectly centered within the ideal focal plane of the Magflector, not to mention the die is already pretty well centered under the Luxeon's own little high dome as well. Current to the emitter in DD using three fresh 123s is probably in the neighborhood of near-1.5A, maybe slightly higher due to the initial spike from fresh-out-of-the-box lithiums.