What boost driver did I just kill, you mean? :person_facepalming:
I, uh, seem to have gotten ahold of some old instructions and made a bridge where no bridge was designed to be. Ooops! Maybe I can hot air reflow a component and bring it back to life, checking…
Uh-oh. 3A in a plastic-body light? That poor LED’s gonna get heat-stroke in about a minute with nothing to wick away the heat.
I got a coupla NexTorch nylon-body lights, which come with a 1W LED drop-in, so that’s probably 350mA tops. I wouldn’t push a revamped module past 2W or so, and that only in “burst mode” (ie, get it over with quickly so the LED doesn’t burst).
@Lightbringer
Thanks for your concern, I thought about it too.
I found that the head is actually made from aluminium so hopefully it helps dissipate the heat. Although I also found that drop-in has more contact to the body than to its head. I also made precaution not to use this flashlight intensively (always carry several others for backups).
I forgot who pointed me (and blf in general) at the NexTorches, but he mentioned that it’s nice for camping, etc., when you’d want something that wouldn’t be cold metal in your hand in the middle of winter, etc., so I figured why not? And also to maybe keep one in the car or something and not have it wear off the ano by bouncing around. Just enough light to be useful changing a tire, poking around underneath things, etc.
But I left a 2.8A S2+ tailstanding for just a few minutes on high, and it pretty much turned into a curling iron. I grabbed’n’dropped it so fast, and couldn’t even turn it off! Had to grab a shirt or whatever (been a while) just to grab hold of one end so I could bap the switch off on the other, and even after air-cooling a few minutes, it still was too hot to pick up, even two-fingers on the tailswitch, farthest away from the LED.
And that’s a pretty solid tube wicking away heat and spreading it around. So when I saw you were using a 3A driver in a drop-in in a plastic-tube light… well, I could visualise the plastic light melting like a Dali painting.
Thanks V77! Looks better in person, when the light/sun hits those diamonds at a certain angle, wow! I cut the o-ring grooves today and put a slight polish to it too. I got a 26650 and a 32650 tubes I’m doing next. When I get the time, I did this in 1hr 15 minutes, so 2 1/2 hr. lunch breaks and a 15 minute morning break, I used the old lathe at work.
Yeah, I tried to make it for a 21700, I should of gone 20700, it might have worked. But seeing I had 2-30T’s I had to try. I actually cut the thread, but it was Tin Foil thick. The M1 is the biggest tube/head diameter wise I have come across for a 18650 light, I gave it a shot, but failed, well in that aspect! I might try the 20700, I have plenty of stock just not the time…… yet!
Hey Steve, coming from one of the best Tool Makers I have seen in a long time, that’s a heck of a compliment! Thank you very much!
I’m wanting to get back into it, tired of building CNC’s and Special machines, I really love turning handles, so for now small, simple and quick mech/mods keep me some what sane.
Ok, so that looks like you got your practice in, when is my grater X6 20700 tube coming?
Nice Kawi, really nice, glad to see you doing retrowork…
Oh, and for the record, you also need to make us some 21700 tubes for the GT mini, it’ll do 1711 lumens on the 30T straight out of the box. (measured, not speculation)
I got a spare piece of GRATER just in case I find something with a larger inside diameter. The M1 head I.D. measures 23mm so something around 25-26mm should be doable. I have a GT incoming, when…… who the heck knows??
Made a Nitecore TIP cover design and 3D printed it. It has raised edge around buttons to prevent accidental activation in pocket. It covers the micro USB port from dust. And it has a place for two magnets. Actually one enough to hold it in place.