Modding a Brinyte BR3000 host 3XM-L T6/ 3- 8x7135 drivers and 3- 4/3AF NiMHs - build log IT'S FINISHED!

That's sweet! I have one coming from Chicago also.

Now I gotta go pimp my DRY...

You never cease to amaze me OL

Amazing.

Didn't think a Dry could be good looking . . .

illbedangedFoy

Waiting on emitters - Again!

I received my orders from CNQG and KD. My three XM-L 1C turned out to be two 1C and the third one is something totally unknown, not even the same star. Not worth going thru the hassle. I have more ordered anyhow, but Again, it's 2-3 weeks out!

Glad I wasn't depending on this light to work soon! What a bunch of s**t........

I'm done bitchin now,

For a few minutes.

I am doing this light with TJ's Master/Slave setup, to retain the lower voltage, so I can use 3 NiMHs. I have put up a few photos of how I have wired these drivers, to fit in the base of the head.

If it's right, then it's at least. a view from a different perspective.

If it's wrong, then at least some of you guys will chime in Before I put it all together and fry three drivers and emitters? Maybe?

tri1

These three drivers would not fit laying flat, in the head. I had to do a little massaging on the edges, to make them fit in a smaller circle, by sanding some flats, where they came together and at the edges, where they touched the inside of the head. Since they all have to be grounded together, I just soldeded the edges, so they would be one solid mass and it was much easier to handle.

tri2

Here's how they look sitting inside the head's driver recess.

tri3

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tri4

The wires here are solid 22ga teflon coated wire. I decided on solid, because it was much easier in this application. I could form them and hold them down with masking tape, while I soldered them in place. The closest board is the master and even though it looks like it's soldered to the LED+ pad, it's soldered to the first pin of the 7135 chip. There's just a hairs breadth clearance there and I will flow some Arctic Alumina to cover in between that pad and the wires, to make sure there isn't going to be any contact. In fact, I will cover all the connections with a touch of AA for my peace of mind.

tri5

The RED marks are where I cut the pins to the controllers, on the slave boards. I thank DrJones for clarifying that for me. It's SO much easier to cut those legs, than to remove all that crap off the slave boards.

tri6

Here's the wiring finished. The green wires are the negatives from the LED- pads and will go out to the negative sides of the emitters.

tri7

The Positive (Red) and Negative (Green) on this side of the Master board, go to the battery positive and body ground, via the Brynite contact plate that fits over the driver recess, in the head.

I have to say, that this is the most stressful part of modding, for me. I am not good with a soldering iron on these tiny connections. Mostly due to the problems (steadiness & eyesight), inherent in getting older (for me anyhow). I am using a lighted magnifyer now and for this go round, I held the boards on the table with masking tape, so I could put both arms down flat on the table, to help steady the iron. It worked better and I "think" it will hold as it should. Time will tell.

I feel I need to do whatever I can, to make this work, If I absolutely cannot, then at least I can say I have tried all I know to do. Foolish pride and the (it's a guy thing), does not allow me to let it go, nor to give it to someone else to do it for me. I wasn't taught that way and I'm not about to change now. Right or wrong... I can always go back to bare hosts and just doing the cosmetic stuff. In fact I will be doing some more of them, but not till fall, since it's getting way too warm already. I'm trying to finish up these more complicated mods and get them out of the way, before the summer heat hits full on.

Anyhow..... I'm off my soapbox and back to work.

Carry On.

I got my order from CNQG (actually from fancylights.com) and now I have the U2 emitters to finish this build.

Unfortunatley my computer crashed on Sunday and we lost internet connection today! Suddenlink says it will be a week before they can come out, so no internet till the week-end (maybe). Hopefully my puter will be back in line by then as well. I can only post here, at work, so no photos. I will have to update some time next week, but it will be done and hopefully, up for sale by then.

The mods look great O-L.

For all of the complaining about the soldering, it looks pretty darn good...

What fun is there in life, if I can’t complain? Tongue Out

WOW!!! thats very impressive, great work. Anxiously waiting to see the final result.

Curious... (stupid question warning!) does the EPROM on the slave bords remained powered on? Why don't you cut the power and ground legs too?

thanks!!

I got my host from Chicago X in the meantime and just to let y'all know, the flat gray is really nice and IMO looks much better that the black DRY finish.

Nice work! I'm interested if you sell this one.

Rich

What’s an EPROM (just kidding).

I did it this way because I had asked a member here, DrJones, about it and he stated that cutting the one leg was the easiest way to go. If it isn't, then I can do different. I do not know the benefits or concequences of any of it. I can understand + and - and electricity runs thru it, but after that I might as well be listening to someone talking about quantum physics for all I know. I would not think the EPROM has to be there at all, but I certainly do not want to try to remove it, unless I cut all the legs. I'm certain that I'm not going to attempt to desolder it.

The light is done! I can certainly say that this is probably the best job I have done so far, on soldering drivers and emitters. It's much easier when it's all laid out where I can put both arms on the table, to steady myself.

This is definitely the brightest thing I have ever seen. The U2 emitters are cool white and I really like that for Outside lighting. I prefer neutral to warm indoors, but Cool white seems better for outdoors (to me).

I am putting this up for sale now. I don't think it will sell. Unfortunately, it's going to be too high priced for a budget light. Between the host, 3 U2 leds, 3 driver boards and 3- 4/3AF NiMHs, it's going to have to sell for aroung a "hunnerd" bucks and I think that's out of the ballpark, but I cannot afford to take the hit unless I want to stop modding for a couple months to recoup the loss. Oh well, life's what it is. Stick with the bare bones hosts and give up trying to compete with Chinese wholesalers that sell stuff like this for less than half the price...

But it was fun doing it...Laughing

Nice work! You did good with the soldering also.

I'm good at it-used to work in defense electronics-(you think flashlights are small?!) but I'm suffering the same fate; lousy vision and the shakes sometimes. Right after a yoga class, when I'm all warm and relaxed, is a good time to solder.

Rich

Hi OL. Just saw this again. You certainly did good on soldering those boards up. I recently managed to stack 3 extra 7135 chips onto an 8 pce 7135 board for the first time. I felt like a winner after I hooked it up and it worked. Turns out a bit of locktite helps a lot.

And that was done merely days after I cr**ped a whole driver board up. Still dont really know how I did it but it would consistently be inconsistent when changing modes. It even invented some modes I've never heard about. But that is where I had the extra chips from.

Just out of curiosity - what runtime do you expect to get/are you getting with these here 3/4 doohickey something or other batteries? I havent ever seen something like that before. And in what charger do you recharge them?? They dont fit any charger that I have (with that voltage anyway).

Sorry about all the questions OL but you make interesting lights that raise interesting questions :-) Hope you dont mind.

4/3AF NiMH Used more for packs, or for industrial. 1.2v 4500ma but a high discharge rating.

I would think anyone with a Hobby Charger, would be able to charge them right in the holder. 3.6v that way, or as singles. I use a "modified" "D" cell charger. They are just a tad longer than "D" NiMHS.

Run time?? I haven't got a clue, but I would expect less than 15-20 minutes on high and much longer on medium or low. Low is VERY LOW, so it might run for days on low.

Hi Old-Lumens,

What a work of art. Truly impressive. You've inspired me to redo the 3xAA battery holder on my Cyclone C88. May I ask what thickness copper plating you used?

Regarding your Brinyte, could someone use 3 18650s or would that more properly be used with another meaning of the word "torch"?

Best Wishes, Daniel

Correct me if I'm wrong but you could run it off of 1 18650 in that holder, or if you get a parallel battery holder than you can run 3 of them.

not to my eyes. that holder looks sweet!

Looks alot better than my attempt. Not going to post it, you would be blinded by the horror. :P

The battery holder originally used three 18650 batteries in parallel. 4/3AF is the NiMH equivalent of 18650. The holder is now in series. I changed it from parallel to series.

As far as the copper plate, I believe it was 0.008" or what, about 32 gauge copper. 0.008" or 0.010" is fine. (30 gauge).

EDIT:

Here's what I can tell you about making your own. Remove the original plates from the holder, flaten them down and use them as templates. Just be sure to mark them somehow, before you take them out, so you know which one is which.

I just use a pencil to mark the outline on the copper. I cut the copper with a good pair of scissors. It's much easier to rough cut the piece out, leaving about 1/4" all the way round, then do the final cutting after. It keeps from having the copper get deformed so much. Once you cut them out, flatten them by putting them on a flat surface, cover them with a board or other flat object and hit the board with a rubber mallet. It will flatten the copper right out.

If you want to make the cups for the positive terminals, heat the copper till it turns color and let it cool back down. (heat treating softens the copper). Then use a small socket (the diameter of the cup you want, turn the piece upside down on a piece of soft wood, place the socket on the piece and hit with a hammer (tap it), till you get a cup. You can then turn it back over and use the next size socket, to work the cup into shape, lightly tapping or pushing. Just remember the copper is very soft after it's been heated, so it doesn't take much to shape it.

For soldering the springs on, pre solder a spot on the copper first, then pre solder the end of the spring, place it on the copper and just heat it. It should all go together much easier that way.

I ended up going back and flattening the cups out and just using solder on the positive posts, because of these flat top batteries. It worked better for the flat top.