How many HS's for Tri - LuxIII ??

How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

I'm going to be building a tri-lux3 in a mag body soon.
I have one of the 1/4" thick HS's from Elektrolumens. I'm wondering if I'll need to double up another one or not?

So sould one be ok, or is two really needed? Or would one with a 1/8" thick one added to it be sufficient??

Thanks in advandce.

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

The conservative way to heat spread (which is really what is going on - as the mag body is where the heat dissipation is) is to make the heat sink thickness equal to the distance from the center of the heat source to the actual sink.

Stated more clearly, if it is 10mm from the center of the Luxeon to the wall of the mag, you would target a thickness equal to 10mm. This design "concept" tends to make for rather thick heat spreaders and may be overkill, but I use it in my home made lights "just to make sure I have some headroom". Of course, I also use 50 watt resistors in 2 watt applications. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

You need to find the heat management thread posted about Barbolight U-09.

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

ok lets look at this from a CPU heat sink persepctive. the elektrolumen sink is the base and the mag body is the fins. the thicker the base the more heat can be soaked up. then the body or fins move the heat to the air and thus cooling the lux

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

Tell us more about your mod. I also would like to do a tri-mod in a Mag.

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

The *only* thing you need to be concerned with is whether the EL heatsink makes snug contact with the internal walls of the OAC/D. It is sufficiently thick enough to do the job but if you can't get heat away from that to the body, you could have a 10-stack and it would not do any good.

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

Hmm. Ok. So 1 of the 1/4" thick heatsinks AA epoxied to the body of the mag should do it? I always use AA epoxy if the HS isn't super tight fit. Only mod I didn't, I used AA grease but the HS was hammered in it was so tight.

But I figure, the more HS's, (thicker), the more surface area to the body of the mag light... So 1 Should be fine? I'd like as cool as possible. So (one 1/4") plus (one 1/8") should be plenty adequate????

Sunspot, check this thread out for ideas: HERE
I would use multi-stranded wire though as it's easier to work with and takes solder better. Also, the heatsinks EL is offering now are double the thickness than what flash.... used.

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

Just an idea I had, if you are looking for more surface area contact to the mag body...you could thermal epoxy a hotlips style heatsink to the EL disc heat sink. You could also have one machined with the dimensions of those two pieces combined...depends on how much you want to spend I guess. I realize there is space around where the emitter is on the hotlops style, but you could just fill that in with epoxy, let it dry and level off the top, then epoxy the disc down on top of that. The hard part would be centering the disc i'd guess, but not impossible

Btw, at one point I saw on ebay an auction for a heatsink that was pre set for 3 stars, holes drilled for mounting with plastic screws and a base that was shaped like the bottom of a bulb to just plug into a mag D bulb socket. 3 wires came up out of the center from the positive contact and you were to ground the stars to the heatsink body with supplied metal screws. I'll see if I can find the email form the seller with dimensions.

Found the heatsink listing
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4342693081

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

Isaac, the ideal case is where you have to lightly sand the internal diameters of your OAC/D to fit the heatsink snugly. That means the space between the body and the heatsink is limited to the absolute minimum, therefore giving maximum contact. Coating the inner part of the body with a bit of AA is great, so as long as you are not using AA to fill in visible gaps btwn the body and the heatsink.

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

I also noticed that the EL heatsink doesn't fit C-cell Mags.

The C-Cell is an interesting beast, because when you look down into the head without the reflector installed, it looks like the diameter is the same all the way till you hit the bottom (the beginning of the threads). It looks like 48mm to me, but someone with digital calipers would be in a better position to measure it.

Fabricating a heatsink would simply involve chopping a rod of 48mm diameter aluminium to the correct height to seat stars and their SO20XA reflectors, and boring a hole in the center for the wires to go through. I estimate this to be around 10-15mm thick. No fancy machine work, the trick would be in the measuring of the diameter and the height, then finding suitable bar stock and lopping it off.

Hotbeam, would you be interested in doing anything like this? I'm lathe-challenged and thus not in a position to build one for myself. I think the rest of the folks here might be interested.

I spoke to Kiu about his tri-sink, and he mentioned that no future plans for D-cell tri-sinks exist (or I'd have bought one on the spot, instead I chose to buy two Turbosinks to play with). He also mentioned that thermal management in a C-cell might be tricky, but I think with this kind of heatsink it shouldn't be a problem. It uses the head directly as a heatsink.

My game plan is to get 3 T_0K stars and slap them on the aluminium followed by SO20XAs (17's spread the beam a little too much for my taste), direct drive off 3 NiMH for a wicked sick amount of light in a tiny little formfactor. 4500mAH NiMHs should provide 90 minutes of partying, on top of that!

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

Ctechlite: using a hotlips and flat HS would result in less area to the maglight, or at least a longer thermal path to it. As only the center of the hotlips would touch the flat disk. Better to have a thick disk directly in the mag tube.
The Ebay HS won't work for my project because I'm using the Tri-Lens from Fraen and that take up all the space in the head. You have to use a HS in the body for it.

Howard: Agreed. But usually the fit is just right without sanding in my cases, so I leave the ano and use AA epoxy. I figure anodizing is better than a gap with AA epoxy filled in.

KevinL: I know C cell heads are too small for the tri-lens fraen to fit, but what about 3 20mm IMS reflectors? Will those even fit a D head???

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

Yours truly is about to find out, the hard way... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

By my estimate there should be more than enough room. I am aware that one can pack as many as 4-5 SO17XAs into a Mag head, and given that the SO20XA is only slightly bigger.. if you need the links, see the MicroFAQ (in sig) for details. It's under the LED section.

I managed to get in touch with the person behind the eBay auction and guess what: he is one of ours, a fellow CPF member! We've exchanged a few emails and he has been exceedingly helpful. I'll let you guys know how my heatsink turns out when it arrives.

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

Cool. I see Orion has used a D head for the 3x20mm. I don't know if C will work or be deep enough... I know for the Fraen tri-lens you need the HS & lux's on the body tube.
But for 3x20mm IMS a HS in the lip of the head probably is the way to do it. What is that guy's CPF name?

Perhaps he could make a nice flat plain HS for the head that we could epxoy in and drill our own holes accordingly. A genearic HS for the head...? Let me know what progresses...

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

Got my sink today and all I have to say is..../ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wow.gif! I'm impressed, it's everything I imagined it would be and everything I need to do what I have in mind.

b2eze (the CPF'er behind the ebay auction) was a real gentleman who helped me put together something custom for my C-cell Mag, I asked for a 1/4" aluminium sink. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif I didn't buy the sink in the auction, because I thought it might be a bit too thin. C-cell heads are deep enough, because they are much deeper than D-cell heads (I have some of both to compare). The whole setup fits very well. If you guys need the sinks, drop him a line.

Details and pics will follow shortly.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: How many HS\'s for Tri - LuxIII ??

Keen! I started on my Tri-mod yesterday. Got the dual HS's in and wires soldered. Got to AA the emitters today.

Hmm. C cell for tri-mods would work if the sink is in the head... With 1/4" HS, the Lux, and 20mm IMS you're clearing the lense? I don't think it will work in a D size head that way though /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Waiting for the pics! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif