Modding a Perfectly good EA8, for no apparent reason - Finished! - Beam Shots are up!

Well, since the tear down thread already got fairly long, I figure I will start the modding thread and see where it goes.

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So here's the body, tail cap, head, reflector and heat sink to start with. Wait.... that head doesn't look right.

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Well, it looks a little different than it did a day ago. There's a little story about that. Heating the light was the only way I could think of, to get the head off, since it was loctited on. Unfortunately, it was still so tight that I could not get it off. I finally lost my short temper after melting the switch cover off... and said F it and got out the pipe wrench (no I don't own a strap wrench). At this point I didn't care if it broke off, it was coming off and I had written it off. It came off and the wrench marks weren't "that bad", so I did a little sanding and now it's a partially polished head. It came out well, considering.Undecided

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The reflector is one I use for Maglites. It's a CNQG 52mm by 27.5mm (I think), but it did not fit right into the head, so I had to take off about .050" in diameter, to get it to fit in. I did that by holding and turning the reflector against an end mill bit, turning at 3200 rpm, while hoping that I didn't loose any digits.

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I'm not going to use the stock driver and I'm not even going to strip it and use it for the contact plate, so I cut a piece of PC board from Radio Shack to use for the upper contact plate.

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It fits in the body where the original board sat. It's upside down, I know.

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I may reuse the original springs on the home made contact board, or I may just use new ones and leave this driver complete.

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I will not be using the original switch either. I have some small switches I can use, if it works out that way.

So, here's the problem. My lack of knowledge has put a stop to progress, until I can find out which driver I can use.

I want to use one of the smd switches, but the only driver I know of that will work with a momentary switch like that, would be one of the 7135 linear drivers programmed by DrJones. If that's all I can do, then this will be an XM-L light.

I do not know of any buck drivers that would work with the MT-G2 led and also work with an smd switch as well. If anyone has a clue, speak up. I am lost.

With 8xAA NiMHS, I can go 4S/2P for 4.8vdc "nominal" or I can go 8S for 9.6vdc "nominal". I would rather go 4S/2P, but boost drivers are not very efficient and a buck driver would be better? Again, I am lost right now, not knowing how I could use any of those drivers with an smd switch. There is absolutely no room for a bigger switch unless I want to make a new hole and I am not doing that. It's already hacked enough.

Any thoughts?

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04-20-2013

Since it may be a week or three before I am able to do anything with this light again, I thought I would finish off the cosmetics and leave you with that.

vfjuh7

njk87

cd46mg

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That's all for now.

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Well, as the saying goes, the only sure thing is change. I've been working on figuring out the 8S battery configuration and I had to remove the contact plate in the tail cap.

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My question is what the heck are these?

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I was expecting just a solid bridge, but what do these components do??

kiyt6

Whatever they do, I imagine I will just remove them and make a solid bridge across.

dertyiu8

Here's how the upper contact plate will go together.

zase43r

The back side will have one bridge and the Positive and Negative will both be on top. (even number of cells, the + & - are always on the same end, odd number of cells, they are on opposite ends.).

fgkk8

I also got a start on the copper star that the MT-G2 will go on. It's a 1" diameter by .050" thick copper plate and the center pad is 6mmx9mmx.050" thick. The led will be reflowed to the center pad, which will be soldered to the star. The wires will go thru the star and be soldered direct onto the led contacts.

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I ended up changing the smd switch to a 12mm XM-L star.

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I decided to do a couple of them, for when one fails, or I fail.

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It even works.

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Mounted to the side of the heat sink and drilled for wires.

8link4

Here is where the taskled driver will sit. The heat sink is not going to be thick. The driver is taking a lot of space, so I will have a thin heat sink that touches against the body. If Nitecore can do it, I can do it.Tongue Out

I'm showing the pictures now, because once I get the led, I will just wire it all up and stick it in the light and there won't be any more pictures, cause I'm tired of waiting.Frown

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Copper star has been drilled and heat sink tapped, for screws.

The top contact plate for the batteries is finished and in the light, so I can't show any photos of it. It looks like the photos I showed above, of the plate before soldering, except it's finshed.

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04-30-2013

Well, as the saying goes, it ain't over till the fat lady sings. The light is finished with some alterations.

vfhj,9

The copper star ended up being a flop. A total flop. Now the 4,000k MT-G2 rests on it's original star and on the aluminum base. Hey, it's still better than the original method.....

zaasrut

The switch is wired.

miohio97

The driver is in place.

tuytiu9

Last two connedtions to the battery contact plate.

vccxbvn87

OMG It Works!

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Glamour Shots

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cvbjguy90

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The switch cover is the top section of a Judco cover, since I melted the original one. It's not as nice as the original, but it's what I had.

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Beamshots Tonight!!

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Lowest setting

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Highest setting

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100% crop of the shot above.

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100% crop of the hot above.

Enough said??

It's a monster! It's still a good thrower, even with the MT-G2 led. It has more spill than the XM-L did, but it is still not a huge floody spill and it throws quite a ways. Of course it's a huge hot spot, but I like that.

I am impressed at only 3 amps. I can imagine it at 5 amps on a well cooled slug of copper.

Getting my seat in the front row for another OL build story.

all but the 3rd one down are showing up fine
cant wait to see what comes of this one

All Taskled “flex” drivers use a normally open momentary switch. For xpg or XML I’d reccommend the b3 flex buck driver from 4s nimh. For an mtg maybe a h6flex from 8s nimhs. Excellent drivers, top quality but not very budget. Can a DrJones Moby driver do the master/slave thing?

That head looks great, Justin! One question...do you have a link for those little micro switches? I could use a couple.

https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/145

Yep, I was afraid someone would say that. Those darned things are more expensive than the led. I got to pass on their stuff. I know they are good, but way above the budget limit.

I think the 3rd one is fixed now? .jpg.jpg is one too many jpg’sSmile

yup, all is good to go!

I don’t like the look of the EA8 much, but it looks so much nicer with the polished head! Nitecore should take note.

Thanks, Justin! I put a few in my cart and am looking around that site some more. I did find these and it would be great for someone who can program a driver for it. 5-way tactile switch. On/off with a press in the middle. A tilt to either side to scroll forward or backward through modes and tilt forward or back to increase or decrease brightness. I think it’d make a great interface. :wink:

If you could find a 9V MTG2 you might get away with 8S direct drive…

unfortunately, cutter only has 6V and 36v

WOW! Can you make a difference in a light or what!!??

See.... this is why an Old Lumens Mod is just so danged special!!! Thanks for sharing Justin!!

Dan.

Really like the ano/polish on the head.

This might be a good place to use my “higher voltage” 7135 driver mod. Then you could use 6s 1p with two spacers. 2/3 AA and you could run 6s 2p.

And you gotta know how to work them.

Could you not use old PC on switches for this?

So, from what I read here and in other threads, to use the MT-G2 with a "budget" driver, I would be best off using two Li-ion cells in series, to keep the voltage about 1v greater than the buck driver and when it goes below, it goes direct drive, but the voltage is then low enough to not hurt the LED. Is that about right?

So to keep 4S/2P it only makes sense to put in an XM-L or XM-L2 with a DrJones programmed driver, since I do not want to use spacers or dummy cells to do a 6S NiMH configuration.

I think that about sums it up?

Hmmmmm...... Rats!

Ok, so if I did break down and go 6s NiMHs, which "budget buck driver" would be the best or possibly the most reliable? I have no clue, so help me out here with some links to some.

Any of these drivers work?

http://www.lck-led.com/5000ma-driver-modes-p-935.html?cPath=135

http://intl-outdoor.com/xml-multicell-circuit-board-35a-ouput-55126v-p-543.html

http://intl-outdoor.com/xml-multicell-circuit-board-3a-55126v-p-361.html

http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S020121

O-L - you don’t need to go 6S to use a buck driver as it really won’t care what voltage the battery is as long as it’s above Vf+1V and below the specced upper limit of the driver. In fact, 8S would be better as the current draw from the battery would be slightly lower.

I know that Taskled drivers are expensive, but you do get what you pay for and there’s no “what will I get” lottery like the drivers from China.

I know, I just hate to sink $40+ into an H6Flex for a light I will want to sell once it's done. I seem to have gotten away from the "budget theme" in trying to mod different lights, but I know the H6Flex would be a good driver for the MT-G2 and 8 NiMHs in series.

The Lflex is “only” $20 and is a linear driver like a 105C but uses a momentary switch. The 6S was to possibly still use a 7135 driver with a VR chip to protect the mcu or Lflex and get the voltage up to 6V mtg territory. 8S and you’re looking at a boost driver(12V mtg) or a buck driver(6V mtg). Often for me the hardest thing to figure out is the best combination that takes into account all the limitations I’m dealing with. Only you know what those are Justin so all my suggestions are just bar napkin bs when you get down to it. It sounds like the easiest thing would be an XML, 4S2P with a DrJones driver but the mtg is still possible just harder.

I emailed George and asked him what I could use. He suggested the H6Flex with 8 NiMHs in series or the b3Flex. I’m just going off what he suggested.