BTU Shocker Triple MT-G2 with a twist -- Aiming for >100Watt ~9000Lumens -- With external 2S power pack, handle etc...

Haha, don’t be. I’ve learned quite a lot from following your thread. If all I have to do is easily swap a resistor I will have greatly benefited from your issues. I’m going to do the firmware test with constant on/high first, just to see if my flickering can be hammered out without PWM as my PWM-less board is in production. I’ll be adding a lower resistor anyway of coarse, but it’ll be interesting anyway. If it works I could just recode the software to do constant on/high on my highest mode and PWM the others until my new board arrives, but will do both tests anyway. I’ll be adding the test results in my own thread when I get ’em done.

Yes if you’re light is anything like mine, the constant on pin should eliminate/reduce the flicker. BUT at the the expense of lowering the driver performance even more! In my testing the runs with your custom firmware where the worst performers overall. So if MCU current supply is also the issue on yours then simply changing the resistor will solve all the issues in one.

High (100) with fast PWM shows absolutely nothing but a constant solid output when I scope these STAR drivers, confirming what Wight and JonnyC and all those have said. So with the right power supply in place (modified zener or 5v LDO) there’s not going to be any difference at all between setting the pin to ON or PWM 100.

Cheers
Linus

Interesting stuff! I also look forward to your results!

I decided to just try and solve the issue instead of doing the experiment with the firmware (which would result in performance loss), so I soldered on another 200 ohm resistor to get down to 100 ohm (didn’t have anything else lying around). And it solved the flickering… At least for as long as I had it on, which was a lot longer than the time I had to wait to see flickering. I did not re-charge the cells between the tests.

So… my flickering was a quick fix, thanks to you and wight. Basically you guys did all the head-scratching and testing, and I’m just taking a free ride. So I extend my gratitude, thanks guys :beer:

I’ve got 50, 75 and 100s on the way with my next component delivery, I’ll run a few calculations through the zener calculators wight provided and see what I end up on using, but lowering the resistance certainly seems a must.

Awesome! Nice to hear similar results with reducing the zener resistor! So now there’s two solutions to this problem, and your M6 photon blaster just got a healthy boost in sustained output and runtime! :slight_smile:

If you have the time, it’d be interesting to make up a little table showing what zener mod components you need to run a certain number of 7135s. Just theoretically using that calculator and based on the 7135s drawing about twice as much current as is stated in the datasheet. Maybe something to add to the popular stickied zener posts.

Just tying up a few loose ends and completing the handle. Added a 2.5mm jack to feed the clicky signal into the body of the light. Now easy to remove the handle completely.

I actually planned to mount the socket into the tailcap with the male plug on the end of the spiral cable, but I couldn’t really figure out a nice way of doing it without the plug end being a bit messy and the socket a nuisance in the way of removing the main power XLR.
This alternative works quite well and it keeps out of the way nicely in normal operation, but still if the handle needs to come off for whatever reason it’s a doddle. :slight_smile:

Other than that I’m sorta seeing the end of this one, the to-do list is shrinking. :slight_smile:

I’m still waiting on parts for the blower rig to get here but I’m sure I can find something that still needs doing in the meantime…like some beams that need shooting or something :stuck_out_tongue:

Cheers

great work!

Where’s the beam shots??

Still looking plenty stock & sharp.

Where did you get the coiled cable if I may ask?

You want a beam shot here’s a beam shot.

Happy? :stuck_out_tongue: :bigsmile:
They’re coming though… Just taking a while cause the light is still being worked on and it’s often not in a workable state. For example at the moment the battery pack is in pieces again as I’m swapping over the relays for mosfets with some control circuitry.

Thanks guys! :slight_smile:

I assume you mean the small switch cable and not the power cord? For the small one look on Ebay, just search spiral usb cable or spiral/coiled charger cable or something like that. Lots out there of various lengths and connector types.

Sorry, I forgot that your design is with an e-switch, the coiled cable is not carrying the juice.

Technically it’s not an e-switch. It’s a reverse clicky connected to the MCU side of the driver circuitry with the coiled cable.
But you’re right it’s essentially like an e-switch and the small coiled cable only needs to carry the 30ma or so that the MCU requires to run.

So I threw some photons down my corridor and got these beamshot comparisons. Granted they’re not the greatest, outdoorsy, “losing two toes to frostbite” kind of beamshots but it’s a start right? :slight_smile:

Note: My camera does exaggerate tint differences a little bit, (errs on the side of too green) but it’s actually quite a good interpretation of what the true output is doing. It doesn’t sugar coat tint differences, if the dedomed light is erring on green then my camera will tell it that to it’s face! :slight_smile:

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Let’s start with the dimmest. My Convoy S3 EDC. XM-L2 T6-3A : 3Amps

210 lulz @ 4.5m Is this thing even on?

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Next up the bone stock Ultrafire F13: just as the chinese design masters intended. :stuck_out_tongue: XML T6-1A/C? : ??Amps

520 lux @ 4.5m Pretty crappy and very blue.

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Now for the usual C8 candidate: Ultrafire C8 SMO reflector Dedomed XM-L U2-1A : DD A17DD ~6-7Amps

3,300 lux @ 4.5m It’s a fairly green emitter but not too objectionable in real life. I quite like it.

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The mighty Courui D01: XM-L2 U2-1D : 5.9Amps Mod Thread here

5,990 lux @ 4.5m Naturally the big head comes out on top in terms of max Lux in this test.

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Modded Apex 5t6 5x XM-L T6-3C : ~16Amps Mod Thread here

2,020 lux @ 4.5m This is my highest output light bar the BTU so it should give a decent comparison. Floody 5x NW XM-Ls in p60 sized reflectors running around 3.2A each.

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UltraShocker v1.0 3x MT-G2 P0 5000k: 17.85Amps

4,380 lux @ 4.5m Well…it’s bright!

But note in particular the slighty narrower overall beam profile, tighter hotspot and and much brighter spot/spill compared with the 5t6. This light is a real flood monster with a very usable beam distribution. Using it out and about I’ve also come to appreciate the narrower nature of the beam thanks to the deep reflectors. It’s much easier to direct the flood with this kind of light rather than blind everything in front of you no matter what. Plunger lights with shallow reflectors just put out a wall of light, this puts it where you need it most and makes the most of the >9k lumens. It’s very usable (thank christ for that, I didn’t want this to just be a glorified shelf queen after all this! :p)

At this range it also out throws everything except the Big head which is a fair achievement I reckon. Of course I’m still interested in finding out at what range it can actually outclass the C8 when it comes to outdoor spaces.

Did I mention the lovely tint! The differences may be a bit exaggerate in these photos but the gen1 NW XMLs look positively sickly in comparison. The nice even NW beam of those mt-g2s, man it’s just about perfect. Biggest benefit of those emitters by far, just can’t get enough of it! And so even across the beam, no purple spill and yellow hotspot here! :slight_smile:

So hopefully this has gotten the beamshot junkies off my back for a while. :wink:
I will eventually get out and do some proper long range comparisons (when the snow melts a bit) but for now this is it.
Cheers

Man that tint is beautiful! Thanks for the beamshots mate

Nice beam profile!

I’m really pleased with it tbh, outside it just sort of “puts” the light where you need it without any annoying tint variations or distracting hotspot falloff. Nice and balanced flood with decent reach, plus there’s so much light that the faint edge spill is enough to light up the ground at your feet. Just enough to avoid stepping in anything nasty. :stuck_out_tongue:
I thought that might be a bit of a problem with the deeper reflectors projecting a narrower spill beam but it’s not an issue in practice.

Shall we start a fundraiser for a heavy jacket so you can step outside and get beamshots for us?

Oh also I want your BTU, please send asap. Kthxbye.

Not a bad idea, I’ll put up the kickstarter page! :wink:

I got a stock BTU shocker in today so just out of curiosity I took a shot of it in the same setup as the other lights above.

Everything stock, XM-L T6-1As (I think) and it was drawing about 4.5amps at the tailcap during this test.

(Mouseover for Ultrashocker comparison)

4,250 lux at 4.5m (slightly lower but pretty much on par with the MT-G2 BTU at this range )