XPG Mule Build - Fail

I nearly got this mule build just right!
I thought I'd try mounting wires to LED through bottom of star to enable easy
use of different optics nad reflectors. Turned out pretty easy.

Drilled the star.
Notice 3 small solder balls around LED. (as received them)
Ball further away removed easy with a pick. Other 2 stayed. I suppose I should remove with iron?


Tried some heatshrink on end of wires but too thick so used some kapton tape instead.


Lapped the star then soldered wires.


Test fitting to mule sink. The star wants to sit fairly centered.
Solder joints were a bit "blobby" so filed them down a bit.


Use some plastic film and finger to spread the thermal goo around nice and thin.


Clamped. 2 small pieces of cardboard were a good fit to keep LED centered.


Fail, Part 1. Or should be Part A!
The Arctic Silver I received yesterday from Cutter was not quite up to the job.
After a length of time I should not admit to, I realized this 5 minute epoxy was not hardening.
It was checking the "5 minute" detail when I clicked.



Great customer service from Cutter, I emailed late last night and Elaine has already responded advising she'll resend.

Fail part 2: after cleaning my thermal "paste"off and using some older Arctic Silver 2 Part I had a satisfactorily centered LED
attached to the sink. Trying a few optics I overcooked it using my variable power supply.
Stupid late night mistake, in hindsight I won't use that power supply again (without a resistor in series) on smaller LEDs.

No biggy, I've already removed LED star and cleaned sink ready for new build.

What failed? The driver being fried by the power source? You wouldn't really need to remove the star from the slug unless you've got some of it inside of the lead wire holes. That could be where the short happened.

I used AA epoxy to avoid electricity flowing along the epoxy. If not, I'd wire it through the side and solder from the topside instead of coming from the bottom like what you did there to avoid shorting anything out.

Tiresius said:

What failed? The driver being fried by the power source? You wouldn't really need to remove the star from the slug unless you've got some of it inside of the lead wire holes. That could be where the short happened.

I used AA epoxy to avoid electricity flowing along the epoxy. If not, I'd wire it through the side and solder from the topside instead of coming from the bottom like what you did there to avoid shorting anything out.

Click to expand...

Failures clearly explained.
1: 2 x Part A.
2: blew the LED.


I got a sudden spike from powersupply trying to up the current a little, got a lot, overdrove the LED.
No short. Checked many times before powering up. Still no short after removing from sink.
I'm blaming myself, although I have no way of knowing if that LED was bonded to star correctly.

Short would not blow LED anyway. It would have caused heat and some of or all of current would have been though the short.
LED would not have got current or all of current (until maybe the short "blew" then current went to LED)
I was testing around 1.5 - 2Amps, had lot's of light. If a short, there would have either been less light or more current.

$9 for LED, wire, thermal adhesive down the drain. I'm not crying.

More successful afternoon today. Mounted a Copper Noctigon 21mm star XML T6 3A LED on copper mule sink.
XML-10R Reflector from Cutter fits but needs to be installed with the Z32 bezel on. I used a small o-ring instead of the Z32 parts,
bezel ring screws on bit further than normal. Reflector seems secure. 3A 105C driver.
Beam is good, fairly similar to Cree 10 degree optic.

Install reflector, no lens.


Complete.


On Low.