New Host, new possibilties...

[Ra1nfade]

I recently found a new host and wanted to see what battery/driver recommendations come from the community before I make up my mind. The host is a Maglite XL100. It has a 5 mode end clicky switch (on/off and possibly strobe would be the only ones i would use) and i 3 AAA holder inside. I wanted to make this a 1W 445 build since there is ample room for a chunky heat sink and the pill that is in the host would suffice for mounting the driver to. I would like to use that AAA holder and drop 10440's in since it would be most logical and have not decided what driver to use yet. ANY advice from the community would be greatly appreciated:yh:

 

[Ra1nfade]

:update

I made the heatsink for my host and started working on how to mount the driver with the stock pill here are some pics of the heat sink and the host. Its a standard reflector heatsink swap with a set screw for the AixiZ module.

The heatsink

The Heatsink in the Host without the cap

The host closed

 

[BShanahan14rulz]

What you think of the new Mag? Did it come with an optic or a reflector?

That heatsink looks like it fits nice and snug, nice work :beer:

 

[Ra1nfade]

Yeah it came with Maglite's Rebel LED optic and a pretty decent reflector. IMO its actually a really nice flashlight but i thought it would look cooler as a 445 Im working on a parallel setup for triple 10440s and it looks like i will most likely be using a rckster driver. Thanks for the props:thanks:

 

[BShanahan14rulz]

You might also consider seeing if 18650 will fit. Dimensions of standard 18650 cells is 18mmX65mm, or 18mmX68mm for protected 18650. At that point, you'd have more capacity than the 3xAAA paralleled. You would have to go with a boost-type driver to boost the voltage to the 445nm diode, though.

Good luck, and have fun!

 

[Ra1nfade]

After posting that I did some research and it does seem like the way to go. I was trying to make an attempt to see if i could get the stock battery holder to work with this setup since it comes with an end clicky switch already. The catch is the case of the host has no charge at all running through it and it is completely coated. The charges are fed through the battery holder positive and negative this is why I was trying to use this setup. But it seems like i am going to have to go bakc to the drawing board and engineer so kinks out for the 18650

Ill post some pics of the switch and the battery holder later when i get home thanks for the advice!:thanks:

 

[LarryDFW]

Ra1nfade;

The 18650 cell will give you more power and better reliability.

Ultimately, you will have a better host with a single higher power cell.

I have done some changeovers, but none where the negative polarity was isolated from the body.

LarryDFW

 

[Ra1nfade]

I am probably going to do the changeover but it is going to take a little bit of overhaul for this host since the polaritys are isolated to the battery holder... Which means rerouting the polarities to the case (-) and extending the host (more likely drilling the pill on the backside) The only thing is i want to use the stock end clicky switch because it came with that flashlight with a lockout mode (just in case i forgot to remove the batteries)

Thanks for the insight and i should have some updates on this build relatively soon i have my diode and driver coming in on friday. I'll have to order a boost driver for the 18650 changover though.

 

[Ra1nfade]

What boost driver would be recommended for a single 18650?

 

[Ra1nfade]

IT's ALive! :wave: It is finished! I dont have an LPM at the moment so im not sure kind of power its making but ill give you a run down on the mods to make it work. I used a 1W 445 diode and a garoq driver (borrowed from another host) 10440s and my Kustom heatsink The reused a pill from an 18650 build and it fits inside the host with the stock battery holder and is completed with the 5-mode switch which still works (with all five modes )

List of mods to stock components:

-Battery holder dremeled out to accept PCB 10440s
-removed stock pill and replaced with 18650 pill (stock one had a hole in it)
-removed the reflector and replaced a with a kustom heatsink, nothing unusual about that
-for now am using 2 10440s in series until i get an 18650 to replace it

if anybody wants i can break this done into what i did etc.. for a tutorial but here are some pics of the finished product. Overall i am very happy with this build (my first complete build form picking the host to getting it to lase ) and i think it makes a pretty nice looking lase as do all the maglite hosts

A special thanks to everybody who replied to this thread and helping with this build:beer: