Scratch-built 7x C8 reflector high-output thrower

Well said. This is what l was thinking but couldn’t put it in words. :beer:

nice!
super? no hyper impressive!
dang what wall of light, no more a train of light

Not nearly bright enough for me but I guess it would be “okay” for walking the dog or something.

:wink:

I’ve been thinking about my next very high output light and decided upgrading the emitters in this 7xC8 light is a good route. I will replace the dedomed XPLs with sliced XHP50.2s. With 2 high drain aspire 26650s I should get around 5.5A per emitter (6V ). I just tested a sliced XHP50.2 in a C8 at 5.5A and got 3100 lumens OTF and 69Kcd, so the full light should output around 22000 lumens and do 480Kcd. Will update when I get the mod done. :sunglasses:

Sounds absurd. I love it!

Very nice. I am always interested in anything hand crafted. I have made a few flashlights for myself and helmet lights for night riding. I am always ribbed for going overkill. To me there is no such thing…

I’ve repeatedly said this to peeps whenever they’ve asked why I did so much of this and that……ya know like buying a bunch of something if it’s a great deal…………

What’s not worth doing to excess is not worth doing.“

They usually just stand there speechless. :laughing:

Looks very impressive. Any chance for beamshots?

I’ll take some wall beam shots to compare beam size before and after, but probably won’t get around to outdoor shots like in post #35 for awhile.

Oh I actually didn’t see the pictures in post #35 because I was using my cell phone. Now I see it. The beam is marvelous! I wish the manufacturers would make something like that. Maybe even use XHP35 HI.

Easy B,

Exceptional minds think alike, and history repeats itself...

When I first started this hobby 15 years ago there was a one man army named Wayne and his company Elektrolumens that pioneered the formula behind your outstanding design. CNC machined head and body lights that utilized clusters of LEDs and reflectors to achieve a massive flood wall of light with extraordinary throw character as well, the holy Grail of flashlights to have them BOTH.

He made his own designs and I was awestruck with the incredible performance of geometric array lights. He started off with 5,6,7 and up to 12 in one gargantuan head. Back then using NiMH batteries because LiIon had not yet evolved fully enough to supply the insane parallel current demands.

Wonderfully you have included active cooling, a necessity for the insane waste heat your array will make for continuous duty. I suggest going a step further and going to a liquid cooling or reverse Peltier design for even greater effeciency.

Standing ovation BRAVOS for your ingenuity and skills. I can't wait to see how it evolves and WOWs even the most crusty die hard of us.....

Best of LUX :-)

“EasyB” Now that’s thinking outside the box :beer: You are gem here and I love to see people like you making their visions into reality. That is quite an accomplishment, I am very impressed.

Since you mentioned modding this Monster, you may be interested in these reflectors for maybe closer to 2 mile range. They are 2X deeper than the C8. :beer:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1PC-NEW-HS-802-802-LED-Flashlight-Reflector-Aluminum-Smooth-SMO-Torch-Light-Cup-Dia-41/32821558396.html?spm=2114.10010108.1000014.1.6c9c3f16PQVraI&scm=1007.13338.98644.000000000000000&scm_id=1007.13338.98644.000000000000000&scm-url=1007.13338.98644.000000000000000&pvid=7e42b83e-1f21-470a-962e-46a745da84ca&\_t=pvid:7e42b83e-1f21-470a-962e-46a745da84ca,scm-url:1007.13338.98644.000000000000000

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/41mm-D-x-60mm-H-SMO-Aluminum-Reflector-for-CREE-XM-L/32851870851.html?spm=2114.search0302.3.23.1b144e20yYymsq&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_0_10130_10152_10151_10815_10814_10618_10059_10696_10084_100031_10083_10547_10624_10546_10623_10307_10548_10341_10065_10340_10068_10343_10342_308_10103_10620_10344_10325_10545_10622_10324_10621,searchweb201603_0,ppcSwitch_0&algo_pvid=2c89ac56-d1f2-42d4-b855-0106a4913ced&algo_expid=2c89ac56-d1f2-42d4-b855-0106a4913ced-3

Mmmkay, are you going to dare with 19x or 43x versions? LoL!

Cheers :-)

Thanks guys. :slight_smile:

I love circles in groups of 7 :slight_smile:

In 2005, my insane high-performance no holds barred wall of light WITH staggering long throw was an Elektrolumens circle-of-six plus 1 center with 27mm McR reflectors for each of 7 (3W Luxeon LEDs) ....

NOTHING but massive HIDs or Xenon short-arc lights could come close to that discrete LED/reflector array head. It had an infinite variable adjustable dimmer pot knob for intuitive output control (and ultimate runtime preservation need be) ; the analog predecessor to NARSIL) :-)

BRAVO EASYB for building, and striving to go beyond, your epic creation !! Standing Ovation my friend !!

:-)

Another emitter option for this light is the XHP35 HI, but I would need to add 2 more cells to make it 4s. 4 decent cells in series would drive 7 XHP35 very well with a FET driver, around 2.4A per emitter. This would make around 15000 lumens and 940Kcd.

I am giving up some throw by going to the sliced xhp50.2, but I think the beam will be great for 200m to 500m where it is more likely to be used. (Though who am I kidding, I don’t really have a use for this light :smiley: )

I finally got around to putting in the XHP50.2s and after just a few short bursts with some mostly charged liitokalas some of the emitters died. A connection in the XHP50.2 goes bad and half the dies go dark. I had read about this happening but I didn’t think it would happen so often. 5 out of the 7 have failed now. Pretty disappointing, but I think I have to abandon the XHP50.2s.

One option is to put in 4 sliced SST40s (2s2p configuration) and 3 sliced XHP70.2s. This should get me similar performance, around 500 Kcd and 21ish Klumens. Not sure what the beam would be like.

Sorry about your misfortune. I hope you get something in it and get it back up and running. That had to hurt though, losing those XHP50.2’s!

Just ordered some emitters to do this. I estimate with 4300mAh aspire 26650s each 2mmx2mm die should get around 5A, or around 40A from the battery in 2s configuration. I estimate it will do around 600kcd and 22000 lumens.