It does look like there is a gap and not enough solder, could this of did it. The LED is a little messy because after I killed half of it, it went in the dead diode pile.
Nice effort. Thanks for taking one for the team. Hows the beam? I have a couple of those reflectors I will one day build into a MTG-2 light and was hoping it would tighten the hot spot up compared to other reflectors that size.
I am happy with it beam wise. It isn’t as tight as the Torchlite 2x26650 which is now discontinued. The torchlight reflector is deeper compared to it. If there was a way to have the Torchlite reflector with this new host it would be perfect. IMHO the much beefier pill and the ability to perfectly fit the 32mm dry driver makes it a better host then the Torchlite. We are getting some crappy freezing rain weather right now so it’s not a good time for night shots lol I’ll post some tomorrow night most likely.
No the dry driver won’t it is a weird size pill, it is meant for a 23mm driver or something weird like that. I had to solder a 20mm contact board to the inside or the driver retainer ring and use a qlite with the mt-g2 mod. If you ever want to sell it let me know I think that host would make a thrower with a de-domed XM-L2 at 5A+ but there is no sense in ripping apart the MT-G2 since it is running just fine.
The bottom of the reflector looks pretty wide. Did you have any trouble with clearance between the bottom of the reflector and the wiring soldered to the LED board?
Hotspot is definitely bigger it was hard to get a picture of last night but you can see from the picture the flood is definitely different.
I had absolutely no issues with the reflector hitting, I did make sure that my solder joints weren’t huge though. If anything it hits the screws used to hold the board down. I also use one of the 3m gaskets from mountain instead of the paper sticker that is supplied.
I was also concerned about the solder joints hitting. If you get them pretty flat it isn't an issue (but should be insulated) because the reflector does seem to hit the mounting screws before hitting the joints. As another benefit it seems to help protect the dome of the MT-G2 which can be easily damaged by a reflector tightening onto it (again, don't ask me how I know )
sorry… I was trying to buy more of this host… and regret I didn’t buy more
but the new 26650 host from Mountain electronic looks similar enough
it’s a beautiful host and plenty heat sink, the only issue I have with this light is the pill are for LED is too deep.
the LED couldn’t get close enough to the reflector, heck the reflector didn’t even touch the MCPB.
I was dry testing it by putting the noctigon MCPB on top of 2 copper pennies to make it a perfect fit.
how did you put yours?
Hmmm, there is an indication of some type of void in there. Question is, how large is it. We may be be seeing the only solder there is or there may be solder under most of the emitter.
That's one thing I don't like about the Notigons. The copper board is not pressed up like in the Sinkpads. I quite buying MT-G2's premounted on boards for that reason. I rather reflow myself and get it right.
The void may have cause the failure or it may have only contributed to it. At that current, any gap probably is fatal. I guess the Dry would need to be tested for output using 3S cells and the voltage sensor bank shorted to know if excess voltage is delivered to the emitter. I don't currently have the knowledge or equipment to do that.
The old Noctigon boards like that do not have the thermal pads up. Get some new ones like the 3XP and you will see all are up (got a lot of them to know). Ask Hank for the newer batch that have the thermal pad at the same level.
Been testing my Noctigon mounted MT-G2 at 10A and 11A for a few minutes at a time. I know that DBCStm has been also. I don't think that the issue here was the amount of solder under the emitter but that it simply received too much current.
Been testing my Noctigon mounted MT-G2 at 10A and 11A for a few minutes at a time. I know that DBCStm has been also. I don't think that the issue here was the amount of solder under the emitter but that it simply received too much current.
Moderator007 estimates possibly over 15-16 amps across that MT-G2. You've been testing at that current with voids between the thermal pad and emitter using Dry and then known safe driver?
I have no cells that can deliver 14-15A to an emitter. Either way, hooking up 3S cells to a 2S LED will probably burn it out regardless of how good the thermal joints are. We are talking about a near instantaneous type of damage.
Possible and could be the cause, but I think there are too many unknowns to make any real conclusions here.
EDIT:
I really would like to get to the bottom of this because I have been thinking about driving an MT-G2 with a Dry and 3S cells. It seems it has to be excess voltage or thermal failure. Current seems unlikely. Please check out my logic and correct and/or build on a realistic theory.
# of Cells
3
Likely voltage ater sag (guess)
4.05
Total Voltage
12.15
Tail Current
7
Watts Produced
85.05
Driver Efficiency (guess)
0.8
Watts to emitter
68.04
Emitter Vf at 16 amps
8
Amps to emitter
10.63125
Obviously, last 2 lines don't match. That is the point. Comfychair showed here that it seems to buck pretty good. That seems to increase the likelihood of this being a thermal failure. Has anyone else tried to push an MT-G2 hard with the new Dry driver?
What if I reflow the half dead one, then try to monitor the current and voltage w/ 3 cells. If it is a random spike i don’t think my DMM will pick it up though.
I would hate to waste a new good one again.
I finally took some night shots. The shed is about 40 yards away, the woods in the back are around 100 yards. I am aimed at the shed.
The camera and settings are:
Cannon Powershot S110
Manual Mode - Shutter Speed = 1”, Aperture Value = 8.0, ISO = 800