1.4W Qumefox Sipik HK21 18650 Host

[Mohrenberg]

That's awesome machine work. A lot of time put in to that one.

Are you just making due with dr. lava being out of stock or are you becoming a big fan of the njg-18 driver?

If your gonna start a new trend I better start making crap that's machined for that driver :crackup:

 

[qumefox]

It's flat black acrylic enamel applied before the final OD work was done.

And these heatsinks should work with almost any driver that will fit inside it, not just NJG-18's. There's no reason why you can't use a microboost or microflex in these.

And after pondering it a while last night, I think the easiest solution to the 'long protected cell' issue is to just machine about a mm off the top battery button inside the flashlight. I think it should fix the majority of issues without affecting performance or being a PITA to do, so all future hosts will have this modification done.

 

[DTR]

Well with the NJG-18 being a constant voltage driver it has some drawbacks compared to a flex but it is a great low priced alternative. Plus as you said the flex is not available so it does not leave you with a lot of options.

On the protected battery issue I was just making people aware of it but like Qumefox I only use the sanyo 18650 unprotected cells anyway so it should not be a problem for most. I find on a lot of my builds I am pulling a lot of current and the protection circuit on some will not allow for the current draw. The AW's are fine but some of the XXXXfire brands and others can have issues.

 

[steviedezie]

Hey DTR great review and build guide. I love that host. Unfortunately you and two others got the last ones qume had. I've been buggin him since for 2. I must learn patience. haha.

On another note, i've been using the njg-18 drivers for a while now and i noticed ALOT of batteries cannot support the massive current draw that it needs. I got some cells 18650 cells from lighthound and they work very nicely. It delivers the full 3.3A the driver needs to maintain 1.5W of power for my 445's. The sanyo's larry has for sale are the best though. You know i gotta njg-18 to push a 445 to 1.8W with the 405-g2. Im just waiting for qume to get me one of those host in Cu so I can try to maybe hit 2W with a 445.

 

[DTR]

Hey DTR great review and build guide. I love that host. Unfortunately you and two others got the last ones qume had. I've been buggin him since for 2. I must learn patience. haha.

On another note, i've been using the njg-18 drivers for a while now and i noticed ALOT of batteries cannot support the massive current draw that it needs. I got some cells 18650 cells from lighthound and they work very nicely. It delivers the full 3.3A the driver needs to maintain 1.5W of power for my 445's. The sanyo's larry has for sale are the best though. You know i gotta njg-18 to push a 445 to 1.8W with the 405-g2. Im just waiting for qume to get me one of those host in Cu so I can try to maybe hit 2W with a 445.

You pay for what you get with batteries. Go with the AW or Sanyo's. Less of a headache in the end. Also remember this host is not huge. A 2W build would have a short duty cycle.


I tend to stay away from setting a NJG-18 above 1.4A @ 4.1V. I have fried a few while trying to run them higher than 1.5A.:tinfoil:

Are you sinking the chips?

 

[qumefox]

If there was demand enough to warrant doing a batch, I /could/ make bigger heatsinks for these. It might look kind of funny though.

 

[DTR]

If there was demand enough to warrant doing a batch, I /could/ make bigger heatsinks for these. It might look kind of funny though.

I have to say the size is one of the things that I like the most about this host.

 

[steviedezie]

You pay for what you get with batteries. Go with the AW or Sanyo's. Less of a headache in the end. Also remember this host is not huge. A 2W build would have a short duty cycle.


I tend to stay away from setting a NJG-18 above 1.4A @ 4.1V. I have fried a few while trying to run them higher than 1.5A.:tinfoil:

Are you sinking the chips?

The drivers are heatsinked according to the diagram on SHIN's thread about these drivers. It was some LED forum that shows which components do what and then which one should be heatsinked. I used aluminum and copper pieces i cut off a computer heatsink and thermal expoxied to them. the sinks arent big but it does help stabilize these guys at such high currents. I've been running 1.5A on these guys all day long. (weeks really) and they work fine as long as the batteries can maintain the 3.3A current draw the drivers demand. I think 1.6 is probably as high as these will ever go unless you replaced the ss14 diode with like a ss24 diode (higher current capability). I will try to order some from Mouser and see if changing the diodes and maybe that black capacitor that reads 100 6V to a higher value cap at 10V maybe.

 

[DTR]

Yep I was the one that dug up that data sheet. I did one heatsinking the components and it was happy with 1.6A. I should have said without proper heatsinking. I did say that in this review though.

It is not the easiest sinking job due to the layout of the items that need to be sinked.

I would be interested to see what the results of changing the diodes or capacitor does. It would be sweet if we could get this unit to do 1.8A.

 

[steviedezie]

heck yea!!! I had to cut little small pieces and L shapes. Handy dandy dremel to the rescue!! painstaking task still.

 

[Mohrenberg]

It's flat black acrylic enamel applied before the final OD work was done.

And these heatsinks should work with almost any driver that will fit inside it, not just NJG-18's. There's no reason why you can't use a microboost or microflex in these.

And after pondering it a while last night, I think the easiest solution to the 'long protected cell' issue is to just machine about a mm off the top battery button inside the flashlight. I think it should fix the majority of issues without affecting performance or being a PITA to do, so all future hosts will have this modification done.

EEWWWW copper!
I refuse to work with that nasty shit any more. Not worth it.

 

[qumefox]

I donno. C145 doesn't really give me much more problems than 6063.

 

[CDBEAM777]

I have one of Qumefox's CU Tank 007 finned units waiting on a Lava V5 driver to be coupled to a 445LD.. Perhaps it is the retro ray gun look of the finned design that makes this unit look so good. I started the project just looking for a nice side I/O....but the original project has given birth to more projects !!!
Anyway...I have an idea that I have asked Qumefox to consider machining a custom Heat Sink. See attached pic and drawing. I want to increase the HS OD and I want to put two V5 drivers to a single 445 LD.
But to do this...more heat sink mass would be needed to dissipate heat from both the LD and the drivers. So, the CU heatsink would need to be enlarged. See the pic as to what this might look like.
So....since a larger heatsink would be on the business end of things....I thought...mmmm??? why not use this area for something else....like slip in a set of anamorphic prisms to correct the beam. I guess I want it ALL...2W AND a corrected beam.
This is currently just a concept....but I am sure it can be done !!!
See attached drawing. This will be a real PITA to machine from Copper...but again...unless the HS is made from Silver(haha)...Copper is the best for thermal managment here.
I know there are some excellent machinists here...Anyone up to tackling the attached drawing (the thread details need to be added) ????
I do not know what those thread sizes are on the Tank 007 ??? Some large size metric I imagine !!!
Thanx to those that have allready pioneered the two driver designs !!!!!
What do you gentlemen think of this concept ???

I hope this is NOT seen as a thread hijack !!!! I just thought it would be approporate here considering this is a thread about Tank 007 modifications !!!!

Thanx,
Bob

 

[steviedezie]

oh yea btw DTR let me give you +1 for the review and build guide and another +1 later for digging up that thread on budgetlightsforum...without that guide to heatsinking, I would never have dared pushed a njg-18 to such high levels!

 

[qumefox]

Yeah I got your email I just really have had zero time to really mess with thinking about it much. I work all day, then for the past few months, come home and stand in front of the lathe usually another 4 hours after that before I come in.

Hosts capable of holding corrective optics is something I plan on looking in to, however it's on the backburner until I have more money (and time ) to put into host R&D.

I do think you wanting 2W and a nice beam is probably asking too much though. Your going to lose a good bit through all the optics. I'm sure you could make it do 2W, but I doubt it would do it for long since you'd likely have to have the diode doing 2.3W+ to get 2W after optics.

I do think the tank007 hc-128, and the clones of them, are ill suited to 2W builds of any type though. For one, that's a lot to ask of a single 18650, as well as being a lot of heat to dissipate in a host as small as these.

Though just FYI, CDBeam's heatsink and host he got from me a few months ago is a different version from these production ones. His is one of the early prototypes that I initially made a few of. It's longer, copper, and has a bit more thermal mass, as well as a different focus ring design.

 

[CDBEAM777]

Chris...I agree...2.0 W is not sustainable....with 7% loss due prism optics....and another ....what....5% loss due colimination optics ...12% optics loss total ..the raw diode would need to output 2.275W to get 2W out the front end....Well, it would....but not for too long :yabbem:
So...then one would have to settle for for a single V5 maxed, or two V5 set @ 900 each to give 1800mA.....and live with the result.
I still really like the finned design....and will pursue the oversized version of CU HS to pack in the prisms. The prism area is 1" in dia...and a small sub-assembly would be inserted into the front of the HS. Chris...what is the thread size on my heat sink ???

Thanx
CDBEAM @ Terrawatt Labs