My 445nm 2D Maglite Build

ApexProxy said:

That's the way to go right there. Aluminum I assume then? It should be hefty enough to take quite a few joules of heat so your duty cycle should be pretty nice. You could run a 9mm at near(or over) 3W in that if you felt like it. That would probably be one of the best hosts for such a build because of the giant heatsink and high battery capacity capabilities.

Some day I would love to be able to make such a build but add micro fans inside for active cooling and likely run it on one of the 4D Mags.

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ApexProxy said:

Good choice. Though I would have to suggest you go with the stock lens over a G2. The stock lens is actually superior to a G2 by a couple miliwatts so there is no point. Make sure if you go with the stock lens that you add the holder. That setup will be just about the best you can get.

For heatsinking the driver, I would suggest using a sliver of copper or aluminum to bridge the space from the chip to the inside of the heatsink for the best connection possible. Place the rig inside the heatsink and measure the distance you need to bridge and then find a piece of metal that will fill that space as closely as possible without going over. Then thermal epoxy the metal piece to the driver chip itself. As long as the metal bit is large enough at maybe 1/3 of the size of the driver itself it should be sufficient for cooling the driver without having to thermal epoxy it to the heatsink. It would be even better if the metal chip was large enough to touch the main heatsink but it should still work well without. X-Drives are super efficient and really don't produce much heat so there shouldn't be a problem.

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ApexProxy said:

The driver is already attached to the diode and module so you don't really have the ability to place it anywhere but inside the 12mm hole that's drilled in the middle of the heatsink unless you want to get risky and desolder the driver and then solder leads on it.

I wouldn't say continuous duty cycle. I don't think that could be attained with a 9mm using anything short of a giant copper heatsink with good heatsinking fins. Your duty cycle should be quite long though. Into several minutes easy. The issue with hosts like a Mag is that the heatsink absorbs heat but there isn't really many places for the heat to escape. An optimal heatsink is designed with fins to allow the heat to dissipate into the air which most hosts lack so they build up heat until you need to turn them off and let them cool down.

If you are wanting the best possible duty cycle then make your driver heatsink as big as you can get to fit inside the main heatsink.

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Benm said:

I suppose the duty cycle would be pretty good considering the thermal mass of the mag 2D host and everything inside it (inluding batteries and all).

Perhaps its even possible to operate in continuously, depending on airflow around the host mostly. If you use it handheld and waving it around i suppose that the surface area of the 2D mag would suffice to cool 5 to 10 watts, but if you set it on a surface indoors, it probably will not.

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ApexProxy said:

The stock lens is nearly identical if not very slightly better than a G2 so there is no need for a G2 on a 9mm. If anything you would have a 3-element as well for improved divergence if you want to use it at further distances.

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ApexProxy said:

The disadvantage to a 3-element is a reduced output power. The lens sits further from the diode which means it misses a little more of the light that's emitted. A G2 and the stock lens have about an 8% loss where the 3-element has about 20%. You sacrafice a little power for a smaller beam.

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