No need to apologize and no discourtesy seen from my end at all, Bibihang. I was only joking about the wind being taken from my sails.
I truly appreciate everyone's suggestions and encourage even more. This was posted originally by me not so much as bragging rights but as an example of a fantastic and inexpensive alternative to lights costing twice as much and not performing half as well. We are all here to share our knowledge and learn from one another. It's what makes places like this so wonderful! :hat:
As for the I-O driver being smaller than the DRY, it is of no issue. The DRY is smaller than the original driver anyway and had to be fujik'd to the back of the original driver anyway.
amps is amps.. If you can easily measure 4-5 amps then there is no reason why you should have issues here just because the voltage is higher.. Its not really a big deal if your reading is 0,1A too low either..
I was not one of those questioned you OTF vs amps numbers (,although I do think 25% loss because of de-doming sounds a bit high compared to what I have read some places..) The issue is that both your amps and OTF are low. I would worry more if you saw 4amps and only 2215 OTF. ;)
Improving the resistance in a stock driver spring can do a lot in a setup like this.. (And so can freshly charged batteries) Fingers crossed you will find some hidden oomph! :)
I know you didn’t question the output vs amps. I thought my output (and amps) was low but the still brilliant output (no pun intended) makes me giggle like a school girl when I fire it up. The cells were/are freshly topped off when I tested. I will test again with different cells, then again after I mod the driver spring some more. Something has to be causing resistance. I just need to keep trying.
Great Job on this mod!! Those are very good #'s. I'm really thinking of getting one of those now.
I'm not a fan of the DRY driver for several good reasons. If you could have gotten an IOS or LCK-LED driver in there, you would definitely get more amps out of it, though something else may be stressed - tailcap switch, etc. Here's the issues with the DRY driver:
- seems to have/add resistance, quite a bit
- short timed turbo mode (don't tell me you can't handle the heat, I'll decide that! )
- poor PWM's on low and med
Of course at $13 or so, the IOS driver is pricey, and it's 2 board design is awkward - usually I replace the wires with heavier gauge separating the board, and you need to thermally insulate the components. Overall, the IOS driver is more a PIA, but, wow - it's super low resistance and can produce crazy amps!
Yes - +1 with the other issues raised above as well. Just trying to help JM . Still, this light has more potential than I previously thought, so it's all good. It's a 90%-95% Shocker, with a much better power source (26650 or 32650's).
I've seen/measured 20% typical loss for de-doming, many times. Sometimes I saw 15% loss, but still suspect it was really 20%. 25% is bit high to rate the loss at - if so, could be focusing issues.
How do the reflectors and total heatsinking mass on this compare to the BTU Shocker? This seems like it could be a comparable option in a different format. Tempting too, considering the price. Another big investment but 26650/32650 batteries seem like they could potentially bring a lot more runtime to a power hungry (or capable ) light like this.
I can see me getting one of those drivers in mine too, I’ve used three of them now and I do love them to bits, yes their pricey and can be a pain in the ass size wise, but its well worth it when you do get them in and running, the mode spacing is dammed useful too.
JohnnyMac, just humour me and try removing the emitter locators and retesting before you pull anything else apart, see if it helps.
Well the head diameter of the J19 is smaller than the Shocker. That should mean the reflectors' diameter is smaller, but not sure. Trade-offs: big diameter vs a more complete/less complete reflector - how much given up a portion of the reflector wall means to output and throw. The J19 reflectors looks deeper than a Shocker, but dunno for sure -- this may help account for the loss of the sidewalls. The J19 looks pretty beefy in the head area. The Shocker is no great heat sink - most of the weight is in the unused reflector mass, but the sheer diameter of the pill top helps big time for the Shocker. I posted a bunch of measurements on the Shocker, think in my "I'm Shocked by this Shocker" thread.
Comparing weights is a little mis-leading becase of the J19's more massive battery tube. I would figure the Shocker head is much heavier than the J19's.
I’ve got to say, with three 32650 cells in the tube, it balances real nice, the feilongs are a tight fit though, I intend to take a skim out of the tube id next time I’m at my dads workshop. it’d also be perfect with a sideswitch housing like on the dst, something I plan to look into on a couple of my toilet plungers, including this one.
Its still very nice to actually use though, rather than something to just click on, go wow then click off, this is one you could justify carrying about on a walk, despite the total mass.
A touch of electrical tape seems to work well on mine, just ask the guy I gave a sun tan too last night, his aa light near switched off from sheer inadequacy lol
Heh…it is a light than could definitely use a shoulder sling for extended carry. It is perfectly balanced in the hand that’s for sure. I removed the rear section and tried it with just 2 cells and it was way too front heavy. That third cell is the charm. It also ran like crap on two cells with the DRY driver.
ok. me and toni had yet another hospital visit today, which meant an afternoon free without the kids running about.
I decided to have a little time in the gords cave, I had a light to build for my bosses wife, wanted to mod an atomiser or two and…….
I’d got my fluke sorted out for accurate current readings (um……it needed a new battery lol) anyway, I figured some readings from mine would tell us if there’s an issue in johnnymacs. The results suprised me tbh.
first I did a tailcap reading with my depleted feilongs, I’ve been playing but that reading might have told me something.
I got 3.4a at the tail on turbo, that to me is very much in line with johnnymacs readings so I decided to go into the head and do an emitter reading, I stuck the feilongs in the charger and decided it was getting the best shot I can give it for high emitter readings - fully charged molicell 26700 cells………
this also meant we’d be testing the full circuit, so what I get here will be what I get with the light buttoned up. Result…….
3.46a in the emitter circuit.
Johnny, I don’t think your build is the issue or your cells, I don’t think the dry driver is letting the emitters see full direct drive.
I’m going to order one of the lck led drivers like the ios one tom e likes and fit that, but I think our real issue is the springs used to make contact from the hold down disk to the driver plate.
I am going to pull the reflector again and see if there’s a frequency reading on turbo, it might tell us if the output is full output or a pwm output. I suppose the other way to check is to video the beam on all modes and look for bars on the screen.
Thanks for checking out the readings. I have to say it’s disappointing. I still don’t understand why he is getting such low lumens though.
I just did a spring mod on mine to see if it changes anything. I unscrewed the part that hold the spring and fed a piece of copper wick through the spring and then soldered it onto the plate. Then I screwed the spring back on, trimmed the copper to size and soldered down onto the spring. So now the spring is bypassed. I’m recharging the sony’s I use and will see tonight if there is a noticeable difference. It was very quick and simple to bypass the spring and I should have thought of it before. You could give that a try and see what happens.
I’ll certainly have a play, I’m even considering a piece of copper tube to replace the spring lol.
this in no way reflects on your build either, I’ve no issue there and don’t want people to interpret that I have, I’m just reporting what I found and what I’m thinking of doing next, I don’t think the issue is either cells or wiring, its either the contact points in the light or and this is just a wild theory here, the emitters are being kept that cool that the vf is being kept too high to allow the current we are expecting through before the cells sag. There, I said it, perhaps we have gone too far, although I’m confused with the molicells, those things can drop 100 amps, they really shouldn’t be sagging so maybe my guess is wrong here.
I was only joking about the wind being taken from my sails. 
)
) light like this.