My 4D Maglite mod - SST-50

[GBD]

I had some free time this morning, so I did this build pretty quick.

I had a few SST-50s around, and I figure ill pop one in there and save the SST-90s for something else.

I modded a incan mag's holder to just expose the switch, then soldered some wires to it, shortly after, I made a pretty simple pill that just slides in (tight fit, but still removable) and it houses the driver and is also the heatsink for the LED itself.


IMO, the stock plastic lens and plastic reflector are pieces of shit, I desided to discard them and opt for an aluminum reflector and a glass lens.

Screwing everything together the LED just sits right through the reflector:


and were done!

Now some shots:

control: 1/8" exposure

Low mode: 1/8" exposure

High mode: 1/8" exposure


Against a white wall.. maybe 2 feet away


In comparison to an XM-L, the beam of the SST-50 with reflectors approximatly the same depth (but wider for the mag), the XM-L has the tendancy to flood around its hot spot, resulting in less throw and more flood, the SST-50 however, retains a nice tight beam.

While the camera fails to do justice to it, the hot spot of the SST-50 is a bit brighter (say 200 lumens or so?) but the XM-L floods alot better. The SST-50 is pretty good for a nice thrower.


Thats all for now, later on when night comes I will post some outdoor shots.

Cheers.

 

[lazeerer]

Nice. Whats the Driver.?

 

[GBD]

Some cheap DX one (the red "sst-90" driver with the stacked PCBs).

works awsome for driving an SST-50... for a 90? not so much. (delivers around 4A-4.5A or so on high IIRC)

 

[LaZeRz]

Cant wait to see your sst-90 build, dont those beasts go up further then 2000 lumens?

also, how do you plan to drive the sst-90's

 

[GBD]

Im still working on a prototype design for a synchronous buck to run of 3 18650s. I think I will just go for a simple bare bones design for on/off, just so I won't need to mess with uCs for any modes.

Im not too sure how I will layout the PCBs and parts so I can cool down the driver, but I will probably just use TO-220 packaged switching devices and heatsink them on the insides of the host (will mill out flat parts) and then have the control/drive boards seperate and fucking off above the TO-220s... we will see when we get there)

I have done quite a bit of boost before that way.. but this is probably the first time I try this with a buck only driver.

Yes, the SST-90 should push 2200 to 2300 lumens out of the bulb.. then minus the losses from the optics, reflector, etc.


EDIT: Its probably 2-3 hours away from darkness here.. so I will post some outside shots.

 

[LaZeRz]

Cant wait to see your beam/spill shots!

 

[GBD]

So much for beam shots today... damn nieghbors have thier backyard light blasting away.. gets in the way of the camera... another day I guess

 

[LaZeRz]

pesky neighbours always interfering with peoples plans

 

[freeloader700]

beamshots now?

and the sst-90 driver from DX really only puts out 4.5A ? they advertise it as 6.5A.

if thats the case thats good to know because I am planning on doing a build like this without the reflector and using an aspherical lens.

and you can make a heatsink and pill for this?