Last night I completed my latest fun mod. I wanted an EDC light that would knock the socks off of anyone who saw it running. Built strictly to embarrass the LEOs and Emergency Responders where I live (accidents on my street on a regular basis), I decided on a new Convoy S2 18650 host running three XP-G2 S2 emitters on a Noctigon MCPCB. Driving the emitters is a 17mm 5-mode FET driver from Mtn Electronics and powering that is a Sony VTC5 18650 IMR cell capable of providing 30 sustained amps of juice to the hungry emitters. All springs have been modded with copper braid or 20ga silicon wire. As much light as it puts out it also puts out a proportional amount of heat. Could you get more light from as small a package as this? Sure, for a few seconds. Being as this light is almost too hot to hold long enough to turn off after being on it's highest output for just 30 seconds, I feel that it is the limit of manageable output in a light this size.
I introduce to you, the Convoy S2jm!!
The key to this light surviving even a minute on high is the massive copper heatsink and solid copper Noctigon MCPCB.
Here is the 13mm*18mm solid copper heatsink which is soldered to the brass pill which will house the driver.
Onto this base I mounted the Noctigon with the 3 Cree XP-G2 S2 emitters I had flowed onto it.
Here is what the final internal assembly will look like once the Carclo 10 degree optics are installed.
I left the glass lens that came with the Convoy S2 host in place to protect the polycarbonate TIR lens from getting scratched.
A view from the backside of the head and tailcap. Both have resistance modded springs. Don't even think of driving a light like this without using a quality high amp draw IMR cell like the Sony VTC5.
With the pocket clip installed on the S2 it is a very handsome, yet unassuming, EDC host. Who would guess the massive amount of photons this pocket cannon is prepared to blast forth?
Here is a picture of it lighting up my back yard. This picture doesn't really do it justice. It's even brighter in person!
And a couple parting glamour shots of the Convoy S2jm along with it's buddy, the Terminator T70.
UPDATE:
Last night I went across the street to the gravel parking lot to be just on the other side of the street lights and still have 70 yards to the tree line where I could take a few beamshots. As usual with my attempts at beamshots they don't do the lights justice and show far less than what is seen with the naked eye but they do give an idea of what they are capable of.
I compared my little monster to my new Olight SR Mini and I think it did pretty well if I may say so myself.
I can't wait to see what you come up with. I have couple other entrants coming up in this competition. One rhymes with Berminator and the other rhymes with BR-Selevenhundred. :D LOL!
I see that you soldered the copper heatsink onto the brass pill. Did you worry about making the copper it a snug fit inside the body tube? What about TIM between the copper and body tube? I’d like to do a build of my own and if other BLF folks jumped off a cliff I would too Kidding aside, I stalled when I turned a bit of copper down to be a slightly loose fit in my Convoy host. I was originally shooting for a very snug fit. Your results look and sound really sweet, maybe I should just get back on the horse and go with it if I can get OK enough heat transfer through the pill’s threads.
You need to make few more of those copper heat sink and sell us some
btw where did you get that solid copper anyway? I could use few of those heat sink in my Convoy S2+
Awesome job! I use one of RMM's alum spacers in my triple S2 - works great, but copper soldered to the pill should have an advantage. I used a straight Nanjg at 3.85A though and XP-G2 R5's so mine is much lower output than yours, for sure. Just got a couple of S2's in - looking fwd to trying them out.
LOVE IT. I’ve been wanting to do this exact build. I love the idea of RMM’s S3 Triple, but I haven’t been able to pull the trigger at $58.50, AND I like the looks of the S2 better than the S3
Can you give us any more detail? I already have an S2 and S2+ to use as host, but;
- Where did you get the copper heatsink? Or did you build it?
- I’d probably just buy this MCPCB from RMM. Would it work? How do I know which jumpers to solder?
Thanks for the kind words, wight. I was worried about heat transfer too and wanted to go with a snug fit but unfortunately the S2 head is a threaded tube and the only way to get the pill in is to make is loose enough to pass through the threaded portion. This is the reason I soldered the copper sink to the brass pill. It does a fantastic job of transferring the heat into the body as you would see if you held it. It heats up insanely fast which assures me that it is doing an adequate job. The S2 is simply a small mass host and while I considered running XP-L emitters in my next version I’ve abandoned that idea and will use a different host.
Thanks, Shimey! I have a small length of 22mm copper rod I got from my bud Wayne and sliced off a piece from it. I then had to turn it down to about 18.6mm by hand in a sanding drum on my drill press until it fit past the threads in the head. Had to keep dunking it in water to cool it off. My fingers hurt for a couple days after that. I think it was worth it but if I was to do it again I’d have a machinist turn down the stock for me.
That noctigon you linked to is the one you want. I-O sells it and has pics showing how to jumper it for serial or parallel. The driver is the 17mm FET driver with 1 minute stepdown from high.
In that case I’ll follow your lead on that. Thanks for the info. And thanks again for posting up the build. I’m pretty sure it can goad me into action through jealousy!
I too have the parts to make something like this but was going to use O-L’s method of sandwiching layers of copper disks and soldering them…but your solid copper is much better!
Wammo blammo powerhouse pocket rocket! some poor schmuck will be all like, “yeah this is just another flashlight” till he touches it off and it singes his retinas
I dub it the “Mac Daddy Jr.”
Awesome build!
Just wait till someone gets a few XP-L’s on these things!!!
Kidding aside, I stalled when I turned a bit of copper down to be a slightly loose fit in my Convoy host. I was originally shooting for a very snug fit. Your results look and sound really sweet, maybe I should just get back on the horse and go with it if I can get OK enough heat transfer through the pill’s threads.