My XP-G2 on copper, running at 3A in a P60 host

This was a fun project. This light is built on one of Cree's new XP-G2 LEDs. I used a 3C tint, which turned out to be a very nice, neutral tint. I reflowed the LED to a solid copper star, then mounted the star to a solid chunk of copper. All the copper allows me to run the XP-G2 at 2X its rated power output. (I measured it at 3.02 Amps).


The optic is a 26.5mm carclo 10048 TIR from illuminationsupply. The host is a gray solarforce L2N.
(NOTE: the tail cap boot and o-ring are orange, for some reason my ancient camera made them red)

I'm very happy with the end result. The light has a searing bright hotspot. The XP-G2 seems to handle 3A no problem. I dont see any kind of tint shift at all. The neutral tint is very nice.

Picture links are broken

Whoops, I always copy the wrong links, should be fixed now...

Wow great job!

I'm a big optics fan and its always great to see mods with them.

How is the beam pattern is it pretty throwy with minimal spill?

Great mod... I had the same optics for a year now and was thinking about giving it a run in P60 size... but your idea of overdriven XPG2 is very inspiring... I might be a little more conservative with amperage, maybe 1.8A or max 2.1A...

Great mod!

yeap great mod,i will try to make a biger flashlight with 4 amps XPG2,i think will handle it fine.

Vinhnguyen54 has done testing of the XP-G2 on solid copper at up to 5 A or so. I bet your setup could handle at least another 33% (up it to 4 A).

So, the optic helps to focus the hotspot? Any problems melting it yet?

Very nice.

How does that beam profile look like with that optic?

Thanks everyone. The optic's beam pattern is not bad in my opinion. There is a square spill shape around the hotspot. There is also a ring around the square, but both of those are dim compared to the hotspot. There is no donut in the hotspot, which I like.

nicely done, netprince!

You know this question was coming: got any whitewall shots?

Also, is the optic being held on the LED using the solarforce's head?

I've wanted to source a khatod optic, but the fit of the carclo to the P60 dimensions makes it hard to ignore.

Nice work, I may have to pick up one of the newer generation solarforce hosts someday. I have an old skool L2 gunmetal gray, beat-up looking, works great.

The optic fits under the bezel, basically a drop in replacement for the glass lens. The optic has a tab on it that has to be filed down in order to fit correctly, and that is tricky seeing how sensitive the plastic is to being scratched. I also turned around the rubber gasket that holds the glass lens so that the optic isn't loose.

Here are some quick beamshots, the wall isn't white though:

[h=2]Some beamshots:[/h] -2 stops:



0 stops:



+2 stops:

I would like to ask a few questions if you don't mind?

Do have a photo of how your star is sitting on the piece of solid copper?
Do you still use the normal P60 reflector & pill?

Thank you!

JonK

Sent from my Awesome phone from somewhere in the mountains

Nice build, how do u like the sinkpad ? I'm doing a 10-14-16mm group buy

beautiful! Thank you!

Nice build!

I did a similar one a few months back. 3/4" copper with an XM-L at 4.2a and TIR. I used a Carlco TIR optic holder to properly position the TIR above the star. I found it gave a better beam than having the optic down on the star. It takes a little trimming to get the holder into the head though.

This picture is with an elliptical optic but I bought 4 different TIRs and can swap them easily, the elliptical make for a nice bike light.

That is an interesting optic! Do you have any beamshots of the elliptical optic?

Netprince,

Sorry, no beamshots at this time. If I have the time I'll take some comparing the various TIRs I have for this light.

The elliptical gives a wide, flat beam with a clean cut off on top and bottom. I like using it on my bike because it lights the sides of the road an doesn't blind oncoming cars.

Got a neutral xm-l2 and xp-g2 on 16mm copper some days ago. Used the xm-l2 in a standard p6o pill with a 8xAMC (3.04A) diver and a solarforce smooth parabolic xm-l refletcor.
Have tested the driver/pill/reflector on a regular xp-g on alu, but that one shifted to blue after 10-20 sek in max mode. After reading this thread i had to try the xp-g2 copper in this setup, had my doubts, but it worked like a charm. The xp-g2 will stay in this setup. This thing is a little beast with the xp-g2. Eyeballing it against others lights, it's in the same ballpark as my hound dog-xm-l on 2x18650. But neutral tinted, and a lot smaller

I'm trying an aluminum build attempt on this stuff at 3A rating. Instead of copper, I'm using a massive aluminum slug that extends all the way down to the tube. The drive is pending on arrival for the complete build to happen.