Bowling Pin 'Penguin' MOD - FULL DETAILS

Neg2LED

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Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

Hello,
just thought for some peoples convenience i would post the full details/pictures of the Penguin mod - all pics/stuff stolen from the china connection II thread - here. (haveblue: just trying to help!)
First, a pic of the light (pre mod)
bowling_pin_set_JPG.jpg


After:

Dissected:
bowling_pin_dissected.jpg


inside:
bowling_pin_sandwich.jpg

The Bowling Pin to 9LED to Lux conversion is easy...too easy. Put a quarter on top of the sandwich, drill two holes for the wires and attached wires to my Inretech Lux that I don't use because it was never bright enough running direct drive on my Minimag. Then the heat sink epoxy. I'll still have room for the Inretech optics so I might have to stack $$ on the quarter to build up space (and more heat sinking too.)

Beam comparison (before/after)
bowling_pin_penguin.jpg


Penguin Juiced:
bowling_pin_w._badboy_insides.jpg


all comparisons:
bp_juiced_mm_comparisons.jpg


Post by KD9UU:
Kenny,

I have no completed lights based on the bowling-pin however my first one is close to completion. I suspect the run-time would be pretty good in that the slightly modified bowling-pin circuit does not drive the Luxeon sssuper hard [says my fingers under the test star assembly]. Also the boost circuit will make the Lux light with as little as 1.5Vin [minimum my supply can adjust to]. I doubt a CR123 cell would ever drop that low before quitting. Beam-shot I'd expect to look like any other 1/2-driven Lux through a Fraen or NX05 optic. The following circuit I found on the net seems to match what is in the bowling-pin except that the pin's circuit does not have the schottky diode nor the output filter capacitor. click on multiple LED version diagram The output diode mentioned in the photo I'm linking to could also be a 1N5817, you can find those at Digikey . The output cap you can use a SMD-mounted or radial tantalum, I used a 22uf tantalum I had laying around. You can get that stuff at Digikey or.... I found some 10uf surface-mount caps on older higher-end motherboards, easy to harvest [the striped lead on caps I found corresponded with + polarity].

A side-note: when first experimenting with stock bowling-pin circuit direct-driving a Lux I noted that past a certain level of V-in the circuit would kinda lock up on me, that is it would all of a sudden make the Lux dimmer, then when decreasing the Vin the LED would turn OFF -- the only way to get the circuit happy again was to remove power, then it would again run the Lux dim at 1.5V, hmm. After I added some 2ohms resistance in series with the LED that voltage threshold was higher than a CR123 can put out. When I removed the 2ohms and went to adding schottky diode and cap at output I was still fine. There's a fair amount of room to play with inside the boost circuit's cylinder. I removed the circuit while modifying it then reinstalled [which involves resoldering the V+ spring in place, it was easy]. I put the schottkey diode in the circuitboard hole where the LED + wire used to be, then connected the additional cap between cathode of that and ground [emmiter of a nearby transistor].

The light I wish to compare this bowling-pin with is my Lux-modified Dorcy 1AA running off a 3V AA cell I harvested from a DURACELL CR-V3 [that brand CR-V3 uses 2) 3V AA in parallel, other brands may not]
P.S., the stock single LED Brinkman circuit in my above link shows value of R2 at 3.kohms, I think the pin uses 1K there, we could experiment with that value. If I have another pin circuit apart I'll also try a variable resistor at R1 which sets operating freq. of the oscillator [find brightest setting to run a Luxeon and replace with fixed resistor of same value], also of course add the schottky diode and filter cap shown in multiple LED diagram.

ok... i thinks thats all i can do... fee free to point out probs HaveBlue, and ill edit away!

neg
 

TrueBlue

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif...no problem Neg! I think you did a great job and I like to share information. We all have to be pioneers when it comes to these new fangled lights called LED.

I have always thought of this light in terms of modding potential and I think the case on the Bowling Pin is one of the best to put mods in. Why? Because it has enough mass to be a gigantic heat sink. It makes a first-class "door knocker"; I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end when you do the door knock swing. The head is large, very large so lots of electronics can fit in. It has a small form, OK not small enough for hitten lights, but very impressive if you carried it in your pocket to the local bar.

As you can see the light is very easy to take apart. I've done two mods to the Bowling Pins now. They were the Penguin with a Lux, Penguin Juiced with a Badboy 450 and in the next couple of days when the parts come in I'll have Raging Penguin with a Badboy 650. I'm sure I can get the massive heat sinking of the Bowling Pin to allow the Badboy 650 to run full on and not intermittent use that is strongly recommended.

Look carefully at the design and you'll see the potential modding capabilities of this light.

Oh, and the price is right too!

Again, good job Neg!
 

Neg2LED

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

yay! i was afraid you wouldnt like me doing this....
now im /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
neg
 

TrueBlue

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

Don't be afraid...be afraid of the dark and do something about the dark. I must be feeling philosophical today.

Some of you know about the Bowling Pin lights I sell here at CPF. For those that are waiting for more Bowling Pins I should have them any day now.

The reason I really like these lights are many. The first thing you notice is they are very heavy duty and very thick walled. I think they are must be made from a casting then lathed to their final shape. The thick walls on the BP make a great heat sink for the small and hot running emitters.

BP lights runs on a single, small and light weight CR123A, 3-Volt battery so it fits compactly in the hand. The tail either twists for on/off or you can use the tail momentary switch. The head on the Bowling Pin is large and allow many mods to fit with ease inside.

So I've done a few mods to the Bowling Pin. One was to use the stock electronics (a boost circuit) and place a 1-Watt Luxeon in it that I took out of the Inretech Min*mag conversion. It is called the PENGUIN.

Stage 2 was the conversion of a Badboy 400 with a Lux3S into the Bowling Pin and creating the PENGUIN JUICED.

Stage 3 was the successful conversion of a Bowling Pin and mating it with a Badboy 650 with a Lux3 and is called the RAGING PENGUIN.

I wanted the Raging Penguin to be able to run continuously with the Badboy 650 rather than the recommended BB light intermittent use. To do that I had to upgrade the Penguin Juiced Quarter (coin) heat sink to allow more area to touch the head and draw away the heat. The Penguin series lights use the thick walls to absorb, distribute and radiate heat away from the emitters and do it exceptionally well. Just simple crumpled aluminum foil, thermal epoxy to the Quarter with the foil wrapped around the emitter is all the Raging Penguin needed to release the heat in the head faster. I had to make sure the crumpled aluminum touched the sides of the Raging Penguin light.

In the case of the Badboy 650 I have run it continuously for 45 minutes and the emitter did not shut down. I know the additional heat sink is working well because within 30 seconds of lighting I can feel the heat working its way through the light and dissipating through the head.

I would do a runtime but I don't have a fresh CR123A battery handy.

The reason I didn't use a Madmax was I wanted to let this light shine. Madmax would have gradually dimmed but offer a longer life for the battery. Badboy would shine at 100% of its brightness until the converter couldn't keep the current flowing. I would quickly know when to feed the Penguin light a new battery. It wouldn't impress a newbie to LED lights if they turned it on and the light was dim.

Here are a couple of beam shots of the stock Bowling Pin, the Penguin Juiced and the Raging Penguin. I don't have the original Penguin beam shot because the light was sold and, hopefully, the new owner is having fun with it.

The Bowling Pin light still stands as my number one platform for modding lights.

raging_penguin.jpg


raging_penguin_heat_sink.jpg


Bowling_Pin_and_Penguins.jpg
 

Neg2LED

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

its not
, its [ image ] and [ /image ] - edit the posty!

neg
 

Neg2LED

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

p.s. how do you get the retaining ring out/in??

neg
 

TrueBlue

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

&*@#@*!!!...EARL! (URL!) I GOT IT. It was touch an go for a while. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

The retaining ring is removed easily because it has notches on both sides. I used a flat head screwdriver and rotated the ring out of the threads in the light. The ring might be a bit stubborn to come out because the manufacturer used some kind of brittle and crusty glue. In that case I used an old cloth to wrap the light in and with a couple of taps of a hammer the crusty glue let loose.
 

TrueBlue

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

I took some real life beam shots for the Penguin Juiced and Raging Penguin compared to the stock Bowling Pin. It took a while to get the settings right on the camera so what I see is what would photograph on the camera.

FYI, if anyone needs the camera settings it was Exposure Index (EI) 200, f2.8, 4 seconds. Or you could use EI 400, f2.8, 2 seconds, or EI 100, f.2.8, 16 seconds. Camera was preset to infinity. No flash, of course.

I sure hope I get image code right this time. On the previous picture mess up an "http" was sneaky enough to get into image code and the rest of the image code fell out of sequence. What a mess it was. It was pure frustration to figure the messed up code. Keep your fingers crossed! Here comes the image!

My wife insists she wants the Raging Penguin. The Bowling Pin case makes a great housing for modding.


bp_pj_rp_night_shots.jpg
 

Neg2LED

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

yep, you got it right.

well, if ya wife wants it, then darn well give it to her! she'll have fun killing possums with it.

im going to do a penguin style mod, probably with the stock converter first, then sometime ill upgrade to a BB400 and a Frean optic. i wish i had a frean/nx05 and a bb400. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif. i hate having no money. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif. (note the hint: chech the bio in my profile for my address, and TAKE THE HINT!! (ok, ill tell you now, im asking for a present /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif))

neg
 

MegaMe

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

hmm i noticed on the link that kenny put up of a similar circuit ( here) there is a circuit diagram of a similar circuit that he claims is suitable for luxeons - ie 350mA current: http://edusite10.tripod.com/led3/brink/2cellboost.jpg

now i dont know what what the inductance is of the coil on it or what the capacitance of the capacitor - i just thought it might be somewhere to start if you want to mod this circuit rather that buying a sandwich.

i suppose looking at it the disadvantages of modding this circuit - even assuming you could mod it to work at the current you want include - possible heat problems with the "low power" transistors... probably pretty poor efficency... maybe not well regulated - so brightness goes down with battery usage... however i thought it was interesting that you could put on a variable resistor - or i guess a switch with a couple of different resistances - to adjust brightness... im a n00b so correct me if im wrong but i dont think you can do that with a sandwich? - i suppose you could put a resistor in series with the led but they would have to be big 1 watt resistors or something and i cant imagine the efficencies all that great like that???

i dont know building a sandwich out of this sounds too easy to me - theres already a guide there to help you and everything /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif
 

TrueBlue

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

Welcome to the club, MegaMe!

In the large Bowling Pin sandwich there are not SMT or anything fancy. I would swear the parts could be bought from Rat Shack. Maybe just updating the Chinese components with Rat Shack part (yeah, Rat Shack parts probably come from China too) could give more performance.
 

Neg2LED

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

well i, for one, am going to try this circuit. see how if fares. also, you can vary brightness on a MM or a BB, there is a little trimpot you can turn to adjust the current.

neg
 

Neg2LED

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

well, my torches arrived, now waiting on arrival of 1w Lux - expected to arrive on saturday or sunday.

[pirate]
ar meharties, she is a great case for moddin. ar ar.
[/pirate]

now all i need is a bb400.... i need a present.... anyone got a bb400 they will give an amature never-modded-before modder to help him along? please? please please? please please please? i am so sad..... no bb400s for me. i dont want a bb400 with led, i want a bb400 sandwich that is emitter-less. thankyou, though i probably wont get the bb400, im just asking. why give me a emitter less bb400 sandwich? for the fun of seeing what i do to it. for the fun. thankyou.

neg

p.s. im BEGGING here people, and for me that is very weird.
 

TrueBlue

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

Don't beg, improvise!

I came across a brilliant idea (bad pun). I don't know if it would work but I'm going to give it a try. Last night I took apart an Xnova AA. It wasn't easy and I completely destroyed the light in my destructive process. So here I am looking at the small sandwich that is built to run on 1.5-Volts. The Xnova AA is quite bright. The light bulb in my head lights up (bad pun2).

Think of the concept of running the combination of an Xnova AA 1.5-Volt sandwich running with a Lux emitter in a Bowling Pin light massive housing. The 3-Volt power would be from the Bowling Pin CR123A battery. The combination could give brighter light or longer runtime. Perhaps both brighter light and longer runtime. The form factor in this combination would be quite small. And it would look cool.

I think even an Xnova BAAA smaller sandwich would work in the Bowling Pin.

The worst case is I would blow the circuits running 3-Volts.

I'm going to have to pursue this idea. It is time to put the Xnova AA sandwich on my variable power supply and ramp up to 3-Volts.

Hmmm? Any thoughts on a mating of the two lights?
 

kd9uu

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

I have a 3V AA lithium cell in my Xnova single AA light, it's very bright. I use it intermittently and all has been well. I have no dreams of modding that. I do want to try a Dorcy circuit in the Bowling-pin [cheap], or a BadBoy [of course]. The stock pin circuit with added schottky diode and a 22uf tantalum cap is not bad but whimpy vs Dorcy circuit at 3V source.
 

TrueBlue

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

Within 10 minutes I'm going to take the Xnova AA circuit where it has never been before. No, not the toilet but I'll hook it up to my variable power supply and run the power up from 1.5-Volts to 3-Volts, maybe 3.4-Volts. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

I'll have to get my spot meter out and take readings. I need to see if the little circuit can take and maintain more voltage. If it passes the test then the Xnova AA circuit might be a candidiate for insertion into a Bowling Pin with a CR123A battery.
 

Neg2LED

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

will an NX05 optic fit in the Penguin? im doing a similar mod, and want to use a McFlood, wich is the same size as an NX05, so...

neg
 

TrueBlue

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Re: Bowling Pin \'Penguin\' MOD - FULL DETAILS

The optic will fit with no problem. If an optic will fit a Min*mag then it will fit in the Bowling Pin light.
 
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