Oh, ima4whlr, you can free up plenty of space for cells by taking the brass plunger and plastic top hat out of the tailcap assembly. Both myself and richie have done this and now have two 26650 protected cells in there, no problem.
If you like the xm-l in there, this driver
Is working very well for me. 
Unfortunately that group buy seems to have died pretty quick. We’ll see how my MNKE IMR 26650 cells work out that Jason from EDC has sent. Should have them in a couple of days.
Thought so. I’ll possibly order the enerpower cells in April. I think the exchange rate and shipping kills them for you guys. I know they tested well for hkj.
Thanks for the plunger idea. I saw that a few pages ago and followed that advice as soon as I started working on the light. It is a great tip. My problem was that I was trying to run parallel with 2 long protected cells.
Looks like a good driver with nice features and efficiency. Do you know if anyone has figured out how to mod it for higher output? I have ordered a replacement driver for my TR-3T6. I think it puts out around 4.5A unmodded. I’m wanting to explore moving the driver circuitry to the space around the reflector. I’m going to split it up and see if I can get it in there. If it doesn’t work, I’ll have a replacement driver for the TR-3T6 (If I don’t ruin it).
Yeah, I really wanted to order 3 of these cells to use in my Skyray 9xT6 or AK-47. I’ll have to wait until they are sold by some US sellers or non-fake versions from China.
On Friday I placed an order with Jason from EDC+ for some high output MNKE IMR26650 3700mAh cells. Although unprotected, they are IMR, so they are pretty safe batteries to use. Over at CPF, I’d seen them push these upwards of 9a or more and have received excellent reviews.
I’m going to use 2 in my Torchlite, which work great in by the way, and the other 3 in one of my higher current lights. All charged fine to 4.2 volts and are already in service.
Jason somehow got these batteries here so fast, I had to look out the window to see if they were actually being delivered by the postman, or if Jason had his running suit on delivering them himself. Great job Jason, and as always, thanks for the great service you provide to the forum.
Here is the link to the cells: http://edcplus.com/mnke-imr26650-3700mah-p-5.html
They look pretty good Richie, same problem for me as the enerpowers for you though. By the time I bought two, paid the shipping, paid the import duty and “handling fee” |(
I could have the enerpowers. 8)
I think I was a bit lucky with the Enerpower 26650’s and to also get them with 9amp PCB’s. They charged me 7.50EUR’s shipping, but some of that shipping was due to some type of shipping container for each battery. Either to protect the cells in transport, or to satisfy customs, or perhaps both. But I feel your pain too.
Hi folks,
I wanted to see if I was able to get better focus on my Torchlite, so I removed the pill and star from the light. I shaved just less than 1mm from the top of the pill where the reflector actually sits in contact with the pill. I did this in order to get the mtg2 LED to sit further into the reflector. In fact, it’s about as far as you can get it now. I put everything back and compared it to the previous beamshot. I was able to see a more defined clearer hotspot. With the size of the mtg2, I’m doubtful it can actually be made into a very tight narrow spot beam unless a reflector is designed for this emitter. Still, I’m happy with the final result, if only subtle.
Previous Torchlite Beam Shot
Latest beam shot with less than 1mm shaved from top of pill at reflector seat.
Thanks for the great beam shots Richie. That pill shave really made a big difference.
Dang that looks quite a bit more focused. Do you have any lux measurements before and after?
I’m getting back on mine tonight, drivers have turned up today.
Richie, did you just file the pill down a touch to get the focus?
I’ll post up picks of the drivers sat in the pill, one is 5a hi-mid-lo-strobe. Not ideal but its only 12mm in height so may drop in there. The other may need to pill extending to suit.
wow, that made a big difference
sinkpad mtg2 pcbs should be about that much thicker.
I finally got de-doming right, on the third try, and then I reflowed it to a sinkpad, so I’m waiting for a driver to arrive and i’ll have 1 done.
Muh hahahahaha haaaaaaaaaa :bigsmile:
How does 3.12a at tailcap, no pill mods and 3 mode with memory sound? 8)
which driver, the lck-led 5A?
I just tested the IOS 9A driver.
2cgr18650ch at 8.3V static, were sending 3.75A through my crappy test leads (drives me nuts that I haven’t come across the homemade 14ga leads I made w/ silicone wire).
The upper board would not fit in the pill. I trimmed the excess (the rough parts where the boards are connected to each other in a sheet when manufacturing) and then the upper board fits in the pill but only to where the inside threads end.
That is actually far enough to get the bottom board to touch the pill, but in all likelihood the upper board would be shorted to the pill.
so, I just finished taking the dremel sanding drum to the inside of the pill. Brass is so much easier to sand than aluminum!
The upper board now fits with a slight gap all the way around. It only went about a mm farther into the pill, then the largest component of the upper board touches the inside/top of the pill.
I will pot it, just to be sure it can’t short, and because ma_sha reported heat problems with the driver in the lck-led review page.
I wish I understood electronics enough to say for sure, but I suspect this driver isn’t truly buck/constant current.
The reading I took is roughly 30 watts - which is pretty close to an sst-90 at 9A (I’m not sure how much the Vf goes up). If I’m right, I should get 5 to 6 amps to the MTG2.
If not, then I’ll be reporting back (probably tomorrow night) that I have destroyed the emitter 8)
Ok, I teased long enough…
This driver.
Its the one on the right. Mtg-2’s and xp-g2’s for comparison.
I removed the standard contact board, here you can see the driver sat in the pill.
I shredded the thermal pad to push in around the driver, potting is still an option if it becomes necessary.
I then fitted the retaining ring, adding a little protection to a component I thought may short. The ring went in upside down with the recess to the outside of the pill and a 21mm contact board was soldered on top to carry the spring, not pretty but functional and no chance of careless battery fitment smashing the driver.
I cleaned up the excess solder, built the light back up and its good. I’ve not tried filing the pill to drop the reflector yet, I want to try it as is for a while and then decide. It certainly looks like a usefully bright beam, shocked mrs gords when I showed her, I started on low, she was not impressed with my efforts, flicked it up to high and she was stunned. :bigsmile:
Hey Gords,
Just checking all your great photos. Looks like you’ve been busy and I’ve missed some things around here…LOL. Yeah, I used a table top sander very carefully and removed just about 1mm on the top. This allowed the reflector to sit closer to the base of the mtg2. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to try removing a bit from the actual base of the reflector. But focus could still be slightly better.
BTW…with all those photos and great components, you are a tease!
Yeah, I have a real problem now though…. I have a spare mtg-2 and 5a driver. What am I to do now? 0:)
Sell them to me and ship them over to the USA :bigsmile: I’m going to risk putting a huge emitter like that in my Digital Projector Spotlight.
Mmmmf yeah, there’s that sst-50 host to try out….