Hydra Revisited - 3X3W

Finally having a 'day off', I built this updated version of the Hydra:



It has three independent 700ma converters driving three 3 watt SY0J Luxeon stars. The stars are mounted on a 1/4 inch thick aluminum plate that is bonded to the head. Power is from 2/4/6/8 AA cells or 2 D cells.



The three small reflectors provide a large hot spot compared to a single 3W ProMagnum.



While the Hydra lacks the long throw of the ProMagnum, its three Luxeons produce more overall total lumens. For use within 100ft radius, the Hydra throws a wide, but well defined bright hot spot.



This is the ideal light for when long distance throw isn't needed, producing a very bright and large hot spot. You don't need to pan this light around to see, it just lights up the whole area.

Notes: I built this light while watching three movies and an episode of StarGate Atlantis. This flashlight has about 9 hours of labor into it including design, building the converters, making heatsink, wiring, etc. So this is not someting that I would consider making for others; well, of course, if money is no object then maybe /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Wow that's nice!

How does that compare in throw and overall spill with the Elektrolumens Tristar? And what kind of runtime are you getting with your current configuration, is it in a 4d or 3d body?

I don't have a TriStar to compare with, so can't answer that one. Run time is yet to be established, but it draws ~3 Amps with NiMh cells. So with eight 2100mAh NiMh I would expect around two hours of run time. This is built into a pewter colored 2D cell Mag. Battery can be 2/4/6/8 AA cells or 2D cells.

And as far as the throw, I just came back inside from playing with it in the dark. I would extend the working distance to 250 feet or more, no problem. Very bright and large area light. The beam produced is much better than I envisioned, so I'm very happy with this mod. And the color tint of these SY0J from Klaus are just pure snow white.

While this can be used with D cells, the 3+ Amp power draw will make their cell voltage drop fast and not provide the constant light ouput that NiMh cells can.

This lights up a bigger area than my X3T 6AA direct drive mod can, and does it with constant output. It was a lot of work building three converters and making them play nice together, but the results are worth the effort.

Great Job Kevin. You should have more days off like this.

Kevin,

Great light! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

While it produces more area light, how does it compare with DD X3T on throw?

By the way, PM sent.

Alan