I donāt do anything any differently than whatās available to everyone else here. I buy the pcbās from OSHPark, populate them with components from DigiKey and use commonly available cells and wires. Richard matches my lights and goes beyond them, as does Tom E and RaceR86 and CerealKiller and ComfyChair and and andā¦
Some of those guys figure out how to tweak stuff and make it better. I just assemble parts. I know squat about electronics. Ask Richard, Iām begging his and Comfyās help all the time from simple things Iāve screwed up.
I just donāt have sense enough to not put a big lights components in a small light. <ā- straight from the horses mouth.
I just really like the color of the MTG2ā¦ It gives a natural coloring to everything you shine it on. The throw is good too at .042 (R090 in parallel with the R180 and R150)
There was one guy remember reading. He said he liked it stock but I dunno what that looks like. Put the resistor in with the emitter too
Have to ask wight or someone else. I know with the u2 it should be ~6aā¦ I have it on a noctigon and thatās sitting on a custom pure copper shim. Using alumina to set the shim on the pill and some thermalright for the emitter. It hasnāt blown up so far, and think itās getting as good a path without potting or modding.
Used copper braid to the emitter so I could get the reflector down into the emitter as deep as possible. That helped quite a bit too with the reflector getting contact to the emitter to absorb some of that heat. On the driver I used copper braid on the fet and ran it to the outside of the driver to transfer some of that heat to the pill. This was all mainly from wights suggestions early on when messing around. Not sure if it needs it or not. I was going to put low esr capacitors on the output too, but it seems fine without xd Also have cheap tim on the threads connecting the head to the pill.
I like both the thrower and mtg2ā¦ They have different jobs but at .042, the mtg2 I can tell you honestly, it will heat up even and quickly and fast. The u2 heats over time and seems fine at .045. The mtg2 just canāt wait to dump itās heat off into your hand on high. The driver and led seems to be able to handle it though- I let it run awhileā¦ well until I was just being a showoff
I was thinking about switching out the reverse clicky for a forward clicky, but Iām not able to get the retaining ring off since itās so tight. Anyone else have this issue?
Get some good needlenose pliers down at sears or something. The cheap harbor freight stuff just never seem to work- for anything. Snap ring pliers found donāt work too good either unless you can find them in ss.
With the MTG2 swap, I ordered a 20mm MCPCB but realised thereās room for a 26mm. With the 20 it seems the terminals would interfere with the reflector. The 26 terminals would sit quite clear of the reflector and in theory provide more heat conduction.
You guys reckon just go with the 20? 26 would need a reflow and have to find a source.
Think gonna drop the sense to .04 on the MT-G2. and a bit lower on the U2. I can test on a spare until it blows, dial it back. Be nice to know the limits, one of the inductors is smaller than the other, so I was thinking that will have a little more leeway.
Where did you get yours from MRs? I can only see Banggood/MTN selling Maxtoch MTG2 26mm. For the aussies the Banggoods will be cheaper but slower. Some have mentioned they need a shim as well?
Messing with the driver on both lights today. I found the breaking point for 3s. Sense at 0.037895 will break the emitter or driver with 3 cells on the xml.
It was running fine with 2 at that sense resistance but then I thought Iād throw in 3 for the heck of it. The light was blazin almost blue light that was kind of ridiculous for about 3 seconds and it went out. Iām not sure why but Iām going to have to get another emitter to find out what went.
The mt-g2 is pulling 4a through the tail @ 3s and heats up about right at 0.036364. I guess that light can take the ripple a bit better? Itās kind of confusing really cause the lower I went, seems 2s seemed to cap out and then have to go to 3 to see better results. 1s seems capped the whole time.
Iām happy to find the limit on this lights driver though. Anyways hope it helps if your trying to max it.
What do you guys think of this. Have to reasons for doing it like this 1. Emitter further into reflector for more flood 2. Looks cool I plan to grind out the base of the reflector and shim up somehow, possibly use 2 copper MCPCBs soldered together and then the Noctigon on top. Just an idea for now.
Ah cool idea aoeu Yeah I got it down to the emitter like this. Just braid soldered and filed down. The reflector sits directly on the emitter without any shorting or tape, ectā¦
Pic taken before the clean up but you can see itās filed down. Flux everywhere
Iām interested to see what that cutout does. Iām not too excited with the flood from this reflector either- really a thrower
