Hey. So I got a maelstrom mmu-hd on it’s way to me. It’s an outdated light with only 1200lm, to today’s standards it’s pretty low.
I was wondering if I would get any boost in output by simply updating the luminous sst-90 diode with the newest one capable of 4000lm. Now I know the driver is not boosting 18amp to get the full output of 4000lm.
I’m not sure what the current is on this light. But could a newer LED be more efficient and at least bump up some of the output from the stock 1200lm?
Has anyone tried this or is able to assist in any way?
I have one also but my idea is to remove head from body and replace driver with more powerfull one from Lexel while keeping stock SST90 which has unique tint and color.
This way you get waaay more powerfull beam while keeping it awesome.
I think the driver is inside the battery compartment, no? I think I measured a while ago and the battery compartment is what drove the LED as different outputs gave different voltages hen I turned the rear knob while measuring with a multimeter.
Based on your calculations, how much output would the Level be able to get on the SST90?
I would like to , ideally, keep the CR123 batteries unit, but add ability to use good rechargeable cells.
The second priority would be to improve the throw and reach.
The body of this unit is so good, form factor wise, shame that it is impossible to mode to use more flexible and modern batteries/head.
I actually use 6x 16340 cells. Has always worked. It would be good to run 3x18650. Maybe in series or parrallel. But in parallel it might be too low of a voltage.
I’ll have to try and ses id i can run just one bank of 16340. So i can find out id they all run in parallel or series.
Which 164340s are you using, if you do not mind me asking?
Most of the ones I looked at have such a high internal resistance, that they seem to be one the most inefficient shapes for li-ion.
I have been thinking to try 16650s… as they have much better efficiencies. But 3.8-4.2 v (rather than 6v, for example) might not work at all in that flash light.
Ive been using the olight 650mah. Works well.
I tried a 18650 But the size does not fit unless you modify. Maybe the 16650 will work in terms of size. But never seen any.
They fit perfectly into the battery holder, but the light does not come on at all.
I tried first at low 3.8v, then charged the 3 batteries them up to 4.1v, also did not work.
These batteries should be charged to 4.35v, but I wanted to see if the light work when the batteries are in more ‘depleted’ state.
Summary with 16650, the light does not come on.
I am thinking, therefore, that the drivers does not have a capability to up-convert 4.2 v into 6v to power the SST-90.
Meaning that there is no way to get this thing to work with the currently available 650mm length Lithium Ion batteries, unless somebody bright enough, figures out how to modify the driver.