Are you giving away another?
Nope, I am selling the second one. It will be polished (well shiny anyhow), aluminum, instead of gold.
I imagine there’s more than .1%, but they just don’t say anything. “The Silent Majority”.
Great mod OL your a creature of lumens
Olds, I loved that revision in series and parallel batteries. Esp that part when a cig popped in and out quickly! Me not smarter than a 5th grader in this. Just to be sure, its 6v total for a double stack of 3xCR123s in an M6…yes?
What’s the voltage of one? Multiply by 2. 3.6 volt is “nominal spec” for any Li-ion, I believe, so 7.2 volt for two in series.
That’s amazing! I really like that mod. Is there a black or non-gold version of the Rook? I have a NiteCore EA4W on the way, so I don’t think it makes sense to get one of these. But one in slate grey would be nice to mod like this. I’m not a fan of the gold colour.
For the absolute newbies (like me), can you explain what will be different to your modded version compared to a normal one?
I always see you guys doing crazy- and probably awesome stuff, but I have no idea what´s really happening. Can you explain it for the non-Tony-Starks?
Thanks : )
Well, my take on it is probably not the greatest, but with the stock light, I feel it was really meant for 14500 use. With 3 of the 14500 in parallel, the driver sees 3.6 V, (nominal voltage) to the driver. The higher voltage input, should make the driver more efficient in it’s output and people have said, it’s a bright light on 14500s.
With it being a dual battery light (14500 or Alkalines/NiMHs), if you use the NiMHs, then the driver is only getting 1.2V (nominal again), input, so to create 3.6 V to the led, it is less efficient and has less output. Basically, it's like having two drivers in one and on the side where it's only getting 1.2V in, it's not putting as much power out.
I am a NiMH guy, so I just wanted to create better output with the NiMH batteries. I also wanted to make it into a light with a lockout to kill unwanted parasitic drain when the light wasn't being used. With the electronic (smt), switch system, there was some drain from the batteries all the time and on some of these, it was much more drain than it should have been. My understanding is that the electronic switch has to have power to it all the time, so there is some drain because of that.
So the mod gives 3.6V, by using the NiMH in series and the mod also gives a positive lockout, by using the tail cap to break the circuit entirely. Loosening the tail cap breaks the ground through the light, thereby stopping any possible drain from the batteries, when not in use.
Basically, a different driver and battery set-up makes it a different light. It is now very bright on NiMH batteries and Alkalines could be used in a pinch. For me, that's more reasonable, since Alkalines could be purchased just about anywhere in the US and even NiMHs are readily available, but 14500 Li-ions can't be found in your local drug store or Wal-Mart.
I don't know if all this really answers the question...
Veeeery nice explanation! Thank you for that!
I wondered till the end WHY you mod it for NiMHs and you gave a reason
So no questions left.
thumps up : )
Awesome mod, thanks for sharing!
I'm planning to do at least the tail cap lock out mod for both Rook and Queen, as soon as I have any spare time. :)
However, one thing in the series mod makes me feel dumb(er than normally):
In the first mod you used a separate plate at the driver end. That makes it easy to bridge the two cells.. But in the video you just cut the disc in two => is the disc connected to the driver from only one place and how do you determine where that is? (since that needs to be the place for the separated, "non-bridged" contact - a thing which could be said out loud in the instructions)
Thanks in advance!
Ok, I will try to say it quietly here and maybe out loud in the instructions.
I stripped all components from that driver plate, so it was a bare contact plate. Since the plate is bare now, I can use a meter and see where the one area is, that makes the contact, from one side of the plate to the other side. I just metered the plate and there was one location, where it went through to the other side. Then I cut the plate, so that area was the positive contact.
Thanks for the explanation!
Thank you for this video !
I loved your laughter when the eneloops fall off the driver. :bigsmile:
I ask myself which way give you more runtime (given the same number of cells).
2*18650 in parallel or 2*18650 in series ?
I would guess the parallel setup because the amperage is adding up.
Another question I got, is the drive current splitting up when cells used in parallel?
When an emitter is driven at 3A and I’m using 3 cells in parallel, does it mean each cell had to withstand a drive current of just 1A ?
That would be a nice way to build some hard driven lights using primaries ( Nitecore EA4 ? Fandyfire Queen ? ).
@ nikanon - I doubt each cell would see 1 amp, because of individual cell resistance, but in a set of matched cells, it probably would be close. Parallel should be more run time as long as the batteries drop evenly, but if one drops well before the others, it could be problematic, especially for Li-ion. I prefer series, but everything has limitations.
@ cat eyes. - The NiMH cells come out and are charged in a regular NiMH charger. 14500s cannot be put in it now. The voltage in series, would fry the driver.
Thanks O-L !
Nice to see some additional information on flashlights and technique in the morning (before I have to go to work = hours without BLF = lame).
I will be selling the second one I modded, but I don't have any plans after that. I may mod one or two more, if others want theirs done, but that's just a Very remote possibility right now. I hate to touch other people's lights. In case anything goes wrong, (Murphy's law prevails).....
Ooh, ooh! Dibs!
Seriously though, that’s a very sexy light. Any idea what you might be asking for it?
I rarely do Dibbs. I just pt them up for sale at different times of the day or night, to give a little chance to various people.
As far as price? Don't know till it's finished. Probably around the $50 mark with the work put into it. I never decide till it's done and I see what I have into it.
Padme is the same. 3 in parallel, uses 14500 or AA. Bright on 14500s.