My $2.24 triple emitter Mag Mod

rather then cutting up reflectors would it not be easier just to use some of these optics as they look to be the perfect height

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1606/10001329/1108201-10-degree-angle-optical-condenser-lensoptic-for-cr

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1606/10002026/1145600-cree-155mm-15-degree-spotlight-optical-lens-for-q3

not sure if this one is aligned right or not for that board?
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1606/10002020/1187500-50mm-15-degree-3-led-optical-lensoptic-for-cree-le

Eh... I'm not in the 'cool kids' club I guess, I'm not really a fan of the TIR optics. Besides, I kinda like cutting things up.

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This may be common knowledge, I dunno... but that 3x XR-E board, in direct drive with 3 fresh LG 2200mAh 18650s in series, runs at 11.40v under load and at 2.66 amps.

So I ended up with a bulb with 4 Cree XPE Q2’s in it from banggood.com. Would it be worth it to use a driver for this thing? Any suggestions? This is my first attempt at modding a flashlight so I thought I’d start small. Here are some pics of the bulb, cost me $3.50. Figured I could get some good spread out of it.

Those don't look like any XP-Es I've ever seen...

Not even Crees.

-Garry

Yeah once I took it all apart I started to notice they didn’t look like the claimed XPE’s. Some pretty bad false advertising if that is the case, haha.
Here’s the link: http://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-Mr16-4w-360-lumen-3200k-Warm-White-4-cree-Xpe-Q2-Led-Light-Bulb-(12-V)-p-30816.html
Still think I’m going to try to make something useful out of it though, I just have no idea if the claimed specs are anywhere close.

Here is my mod:
Not a maglite, just a plastic 3D light that i paid $3 at a thrift store

led lamp from fasttech (ordered a $2.78 12v model with my latest order )

soldered a bit of wire around the negative spring to connect the leds

couldn’t solder anything to the positive end, so i stripped a wire and put it through the positive connector and spread out the small “subwires” so that the positive connection wouldn’t come loose easily, i hope this is enough :slight_smile:

i plan on using this light with AA-batteries, so i ordered adaptors from fasttech
AA to D
2*AA to D

will probably gift this to my father or my brother.

Thats thinking outside the box oscar! Nice!

Great job OscarM!

However not everyone should think outside the box…….

Oh, my poor bleeding fingers... this is just a test run to get the procedure figured out of how much to cut where, how to set the angle of the cuts so that adjacent reflectors line up, etc., and also to see if it makes enough light to be worth bothering with (it does). These were old scratched up reflectors and one doesn't match the other two so they don't line up just right, the geometry is just a little different on the inside.

Way to go OscarM and comfychair.

OscarM, I bet a lot of us have some of those plastic lights stashed away. I have a few that I was just about to throw out. I think I need to do your mod. Great way to have a floody light in the trunk of the car that you don’t have to worry about. Thank you for sharing.

That is brilliant comfychair. Cool way to get a 3 emitter set up with deeper reflectors than typical 3T6. You’re a true innovator!

Hey im new here and ive just ordered the 3x3w and was wondering if its ok to run it on 4.5v?

Thanks

Probably depends on the cells you use. Most will probably have enough voltage sag driving the 3 emitters that you should be ok.

+1

If you drill the star to break the trace, make sure you don’t put a dimple (pimple actually) on the opposite side. That will prevent good thermal contact to the heat sink. If you drill rather than cut the trace, drilling on a hard surface will help prevent the pimple. Also I have noticed that some of these come with no thermal compound between the star and the sink, add some if necessary. Lastly, when you put the TIR optics back together, be sure that everything is snug. The only thing pressing the star to the sink is the force exerted by the face plate, pushing the optics into the star.

Ok thanks for the advice guys! :slight_smile:

Your work makes me want to get out of my “comfychair” and try that! I also intend to try the 2 - 18650 parallel mod on my 3D, ala ImA4Wheelr that was done in the US - Defiant “Super Thrower” 3C mod topic

On the inline parallel adapters, best thing to use if you're tight on space is a tailcap switch PCB, with all the vias drilled out so all contacts on both sides are completely isolated. Then attach the double-L pieces. But if you're only doing 2 cells in a 3D Mag you'll probably need quite a bit of spacer... you can squeeze in THREE cells in parallel into a 3D if you use the PCB trick and are careful about the dimensions! (and hack the hell out of the tailcap)

Thank you for the credit on that again. I know you were thinking about doing something similar and it seems that someone has probably had to have done something similar in the past. But it does feel good to contribute something that others find useful (Like what the OP did contributing this thread). I have to give you big props though for taking it to the next level. You did a sweet job on that. I have even seen pictures of your version in other threads. I’m glad about that though, because I cringe when I think about that first prototype I made with the foam divider. That would be a short waiting to happen if someone copied that version.

I have done a similiar mod to one of my favorite flashlights.
It’s an old 2xD Metal flashlight from seagull which I have since I was little.
I ordered some different 12V bulbs after seeing this thread and decided last week to test out which fits best.
I used this LeD bulb(ordered from focal price or so) http://www.fasttech.com/products/1263200
I also paralleled the LEDs but wothout the drilling i just desoldered one wire and bend it up, the leds were clamped down with the optics anyway.
I used a 1A regulated driver to power the LeDs up
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1143101
This gives nice amount of light trough full voltage range. Tailcap current is too much for D Batteries, approximated runtime 2 hours….

It almost fitted perfect just the lens could be one millimeter wider, I have for now used a tiny bit insulation tape to clamp it with the head maybe I will find some clear foil or so…

I like the light and the beam is a nice as shown above (maybe even a bit better than the 3 LED bulb I have here too)

I had to made a battery contact and some soldering like always and it’s not very neat as I want to test the silicone adhesive I had ordered from fasttech but it works.

I recycled an old PCB for the positive contact so there are some pads missing… But it works and was done quickly. Soldered the negative wire direct to some copper from the switch mechanic. Some kapton around to protect from shorting something.

Are the spare bridgelux emitters from fasttech much brighter(two times)?