Hi guys, after seeing so many of Dale’s awesome triples, I have decided to try putting together my first one. I really like the look of the Convoy S8 and I was wondering if Richard’s copper spacer will work. Only the S2 & S6 are listed as being compatible, but I think I read that the S2 and S8 can be Lego’d.
Also, will cooling performance drastically reduce if I use the aluminum spacer instead?
I’m not sure if I’ll be going with XPL-Hi, XP-G2, or Nichia 219C. Any suggestions? The plan is to use a FET driver. How long should the turbo timer be? 30 seconds okay?
I wouldn’t do a fet and 219c in that size of host, just my opinion. I recommend xp-g2’s.
Yes, the s8 will work with the s2 spacer.
With a fet triple, it WILL get burning hot at some point, but the copper spacer would allow you to last a little longer before you need the turbo timer to step in.
FET with XP-L HI! Make sure you get some good cells…
…that is, if you want the most output and shortest runtime possible. I have this combo and it gets much less use than my second triple, an XP-G2 triple using a 3A Qlite driver. This is still an impressively bright light, still gets hot on high, and is much kinder on the cells.
I built a S6 triple with the XP-L v6’s, FET driver and the copper spacer. Sucker gets hot QUICK on high. I’d definitely recommend investing in some Arctic Silver (threads and mcpcb) and Fujik (to “pot” the driver inside of the spacer). I went with an Efest 18650 and it’s performed really well. I’m not sure how much better the copper spacer is over the aluminum, but copper does transfer heat better… which you’ll be creating a lot of with this light.
I’m about to make another one, as my triple seems to have grown legs and wandered off :weary: I wonder which puts out more lumens; XP-L Hi or the XP-G2’s?
That’s pretty awesome! I don’t think you can get much more of a direct thermal path than that!
I forgot to mention. I didn’t do the turbo timer… instead I just try to monitor the temperature like a hawk. I almost never lay the light down with it on because it gets incredibly hot. Even with a turbo timer, it’ll still burn a hole in your pocket on high.
The Nichia 219C has a forward voltage too low for a Fet driver. It can suck so many amps that it will produce more heat than light. Nichia 219C really needs regulation, 7135.
An aluminum spacer is just fine. The DTP mcpcb is the important part.
Meh, for my first triple I went and used the aluminum spacer, a homemade FET driver and XP-G2 S4 2B triple. It was all stuffed into a Convoy S2+ 18350 and worked. Here is the thing, the difference between 1500 lumen in a BLF A6 and this ~2000 lumen triple? Not much, bigger flood and brighter in the entire area, but not that much… Freaking BLF A6 spoiled me on brightness…
The difference between the highest bin XP-L and the XP-G2’s will be about the same, once you get into + 2000 lumen range, I would need to get to 4000+ lumen to make a difference, for me at least…
I think the aluminum spacer is working fine, the Noctigon is the key to keeping your LED’s alive…
I would, and am going to go with a 3A Qlite for my next build, and the 219C triple from RMM.
I really want a triple head light now, the beam is perfect, even with a narrow optic.
Let us know what you end up with….
If you go with a FET driver, make sure to do spring bypasses on both ends, much amps to go through the springs!
I’m building my first one too. I bought a mini s2+ 18350 and I’m going to put a triple xp-l with a BLF A6 driver in it. Hope it turns out okay. Don’t know how long the battery will last I’m using an efest.
