MXDL mod for Super Bright Flashlight!

[Gazoo]

I have everything on the way to do this mod...looking forward to it.

 

[jayrob]

I have everything on the way to do this mod...looking forward to it.

Hi Gazoo, thought I would share with you that I did try the AMC7135 driver for running an LED emitter in the MXDL that I drilled out for an 18650. It works great! The emitters are isolated from the 'star' heatsink they are mounted on, so no problem with the circuit bypass problem using emitters. I have only tried the 350mA driver on a stock MXDL emitter so far. I am waiting on another Cree Q5 along with some 1050mA AMC drivers. It should be a better combination because the battery capacity is much larger with the 18650s!
Jay

 

[Gazoo]

Sounds good Jay and I am glad you are getting some use out of the AMC7135's... This is going to be a nice mod. I only have one LED flashlight and it is a minimag that I converted. It is much brighter than the minimag bulb so I can imagine how nice and bright this will be. If I recall, it will be something like 150 lumens my minimag puts out, vs 250 lumens this will put out.

And needless to say I did order and extra MXDL for the laser project.

 

[jayrob]

And needless to say I did order and extra MXDL for the laser project.

You should have received the heatsink by now. But you'll probably have to wait a couple/three weeks for the MXDL. Let me know how the heatsink fits when you get them both...
Jay

 

[Gazoo]

Hello Jay,
I probably received the heatsink yesterday, I checked my mail today and it was there. Thank you and thanks for the wrench too. I think when I do this I will put some arctic silver compound around the brass housing. There is a very slight gap there..... but there is with the cube that comes with the module as well. I will say I am very impressed so far and I am excited to get both MXDL projects off the ground ;D

My DX order shipped on the 17th. I know it is a waiting game as I have ordered stuff from them before..but it is worth it. Thanks again...you are the man..

 

[jayrob]

I got the AMC7135/1050mA drivers today.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1885
I am happy to report that this driver is excellent for the Cree Q5 using a single 3.6 volt rechargeable battery, such as a protected 18650. I'm sure there are many hosts that use a single 18650. In this case, I drilled out the body of the MXDL on my lathe in order for it to fit the 18650.

So, both mods work really nice. You can use the 5 mode driver with 2 X 3.6 RCR123 batteries. Or, the single mode 7135/1050 driver with an 18650! This second set up is just a little bit brighter visually, but you can barely notice it. However, it should give more run time because the 18650 battery is 2400mA capacity!
Jay

 

[Switch]

This is the torch I really want though !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79Aw8nH9IrM

The only use that I can think of for that is to start a fire Eighter that or use it as a weapon to blind attackers....
I don't really see it being used as a flashlight with 10 minutes of battery life.Besides, 4100 lumens is too bright anyway, what are you gonna use it for?Spotlight?

 

[amkdeath]

[quote author=Morepower link=1194770080/15#15 date=1195078684]This is the torch I really want though !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79Aw8nH9IrM

The only use that I can think of for that is to start a fire Eighter that or use it as a weapon to blind attackers....
I don't really see it being used as a flashlight with 10 minutes of battery life.Besides, 4100 lumens is too bright anyway, what are you gonna use it for?Spotlight? [/quote]


lol, that is a cool "torch"...

 

[amkdeath]

why wouldnt this work:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7426

looks smaller, and its cheaper, it outputs 3.7v at 1000mA

 

[jayrob]

why wouldnt this work:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7426

looks smaller, and its cheaper, it outputs 3.7v at 1000mA

Something doesn't make sense about their battery recommendation for that driver. They say it is for a single AA battery, so how could it put out 3.7 volts? In my last post before this one, I talked about using this driver as an alternative:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1885
This works great for a single 3.6 volt battery, such as a protected 18650...
Jay

 

[amkdeath]

[quote author=amkdeath link=1194770080/45#56 date=1201566053]why wouldnt this work:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7426

looks smaller, and its cheaper, it outputs 3.7v at 1000mA

Something doesn't make sense about their battery recommendation for that driver. They say it is for a single AA battery, so how could it put out 3.7 volts? In my last post before this one, I talked about using this driver as an alternative:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1885
This works great for a single 3.6 volt battery, such as a protected 18650...
Jay
[/quote]

i dont know if I need soo many drivers... how about this one here:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6190

 

[jayrob]

Haven't tried it, but it looks good for a single 18650. Just like the AMC7135/1050 driver I have tried. Except, it is a 5 mode driver...
Jay

 

[wooooooolazer]

This thing is quite bright, it didnt know its true potential unti li took it outside at night , ill take some comparision shots of before and after later, by the way does anyone know how to get rid of the dark spot in the center, ive tried everything, raising the led moving reflector but it continualy has a dark spot in the center of the main bright spot.

...lazer... ;D ;D ;D

 

[Gazoo]

My parts arrived yesterday and I picked them up at the Post Office today. I completed this mod, but have the same problem with the dark spot in the center. I think the LED needs to come up higher so most of it is above the hole in the reflector. I sent Jay a PM about this but I am sure he will see this thread. Anyway, I am very impressed by the brightness. It blows away my modded minimag LED flashlight.

 

[Gazoo]

Well Jay replied to my PM but it sounds like his LED fits better. I got mine to be much better but I will need to do some more work on it. What I did was unscrew the LED assembly almost all of the way. This will put the LED well up into the reflector. Of course what will happen is there will be a gap between the negative or positive battery contact, and the battery. I happened to have a spring I put in the tail cap just to see if the center of the light was better, and it was. It is brighter than the outer light just like it should be.

 

[wooooooolazer]

I do believe mine is better to, you dont need to unscrew it very far only a few turns and when i put the reflector on it makes the led fully flush and it still has the dark spot but only within 2 feet, after that it pretty much goes away. Plus since i only unscrewed it a few turns and protected batteries have a longer lenght it still makes perfect contact everywhere. I think the original led didnt have that problem since it sat higher on the star so it was higher into the reflector.

By the way i guess when they mean protected batteries there not kidding, they just instantly shut down, i thought something was wrong at first until i checked the bateries and one was zero.

...lazer... ;D ;D ;D