thanks for sharing!
sometimes its necessary to remember that 80% of the goal can be reached with half the effort.
and you are still satisfied.
Very nice build thread. I really like high cri nichia’s in triples.
Nice mod, I have done the same as you but with a 16mm noctigon to fill the blank, soldered into the brass pill and sanded down to reveal the copper and then soldered the triple mcpcb on top. An extra step is required as the hole needs to be drilled.
Without the spacer, and using a short springs and no glass lense, think you can fit an 18500? Likely, not, but it would boost runtime if it could be jammed in there.
You can indeed jam an 18500 into an S2+shorty host but the pill needs to be cut in half to gain the needed space. Even then it's a pretty tight fit.
I almost went that route, but figured with only 1.4A I would try it the easy way. Your way will have some great thermal path with all that work. I think the Noctigons have done a majority of the work keeping LED’s cool, even just by themselves. I wouldn’t push a build like mine past 2A total anyway, so a 6x7135 driver would work too, but I have trouble finding longer springs that fit the double sided drivers.
Just for the beam pattern for an EDC type light, I like the triples. Very good flood and still enough throw for everything but spotting a cat in a tree…
The super bright aspect is still available if you want, just buy a FET driver and a spacer later if you want to upgrade… But in a 18350 light the runtime will suffer… or you could transplant it to a18650 sized S2+ and go for broke….
Give it a shot can, the low cost option is $10 and a little waiting… make sure you get the parallel board from Kaidomain, they have a series one as well….
I just got a 36 minute runtime off the 219C version I built. This was with a SoShine “1000 mah” 18350. Once it rests, I will throw it on the Liilokala and see how many Mah it actually takes to recharge…
EDIT: 836mah on recharge after rest. This calculates to a .59 hour of runtime, about right considering the cell was 4.14V going into the test (had been sitting) and is now 4.21V after rest.
By the way, when holding these and using them, they only get a little warm…. The 219C version tailstanding for 20 min is pretty warm, but 30 seconds in your hand brings it down to just warm…
ReManG,
Many Thanks for your informative and well written article.
Particularly appreciated the photo’s comparing the 2 pill assemblies.
Timely, as I was recently mulling over some of these points, as I have Convoy S2+ Hosts and some triples already made up.
You may well have motivated me to get some assembled now!
Cheers,
Splott-Light 
What is the cheapest way to get an 18350 length triple host? I think Simon’s S2+ mini’s are the cheapest, are there any others?
I had been looking, but for the $10 or less you will spend on a S2+ host, you can’t go wrong…. The others all seem to require some work or finagling to get the parts to fit right, none of that with the convoy hosts, just drop the parts in…
I built mine very similarly and mentioned them here. In my case I soldered the triple to the pill. Heat transfer doesn’t seem to be a problem from the emitters to the host as it gets hot very quickly. I run FET+1s in them with no problems other than the usual heat-induced timing issue.
These seem to be one of the few mods I’ve done repeatedly that work out well.
I should find some cheap hosts. I’ve got a bunch of Luxeon Rebel triples I got for a song. They don’t take much power, 1A max, so a 3A quite would be more than enough to drive them. Add some big protected Panasonic 18650s and they would be great to have in a drawer for power outages. Lately I’ve been looking at my modded lights realizing that they would all blow up or run out of juice within twenty minutes, so I’ve been digging up my AA lights and charging my Eneloops…just in case.
To make it easier still, can you make a shopping list? With possibly, links to RMM’s shop? That way we can see the items costs and total in a list format.
All I need are the hosts. I’ve had the triples for ever. I’ve got tons of Qlites I rarely use any more, and 18650s all over the place. All stuff that’s sitting around doing nothing. Once I build the lights, they’ll sit in drawers doing nothing.
That is a great idea!
US stuff… Mountain Electronics links (non affilliated of course)
Triple mounted LED’s
Driver (select your own firmware, I love me some guppydrv!)
Optics
[Elliptical](10510 Carclo Lens - 3-UP Elliptical shaped beam for bicyclists)
For International orders intl-outdoor.com
Optics Narrow only, the most useful one anyway in my opinion…
The cheap route, but will take time for shipping
Driver Fasttech (my current staple driver, always good to have a few on hand)
Triple boards from Kaidomain, THESE COME WITH OPTICS…
Sounds like you need to start giving away some lights…. Hit up your local volunteer organizations like Rescue teams or Red Cross…. The pet shelter people need lights too… LOL, not my lights, so I have plenty of ideas….
Seriously though, I will have to take some of my own advice…
That is cool, I did not think of soldering the noctigon… I am not laying claim to this of course, I was just tickled that a 1.4A driver is sufficient for a decent EDC triple in the short S2+… Thought I would write it up to inspire others… Now I want to paint my optics too…
I’m always waiting for a power outage, but it never seems to happen. I’m ready though. I have lots of eneloops powered lights to lend my apartment neighbors. They all come knocking at my door when they need lights. I don’t tend to lend out LiIons.
I’m interested in any output gains you may notice. I worry a little about tint shift with different paint colors. Maybe silver on the cones and something else on the flat. How about a coating of glow-in-the-dark paint? That should blow away any mere o-ring.
Perfect! Thank you!
If you look on the triple in the OP, there are big curves of the Glow On tape (strontium aluminate) and they leave much more glow than any Oring (see my avatar)…. The middle section is some of the Glow on paint in the center of the optics on the inside.
I have been experimenting with epoxy and strontium aluminate powder from THIS buyer on the ’Bay and just mixing it in. It works, but I have less than a stellar record for getting epoxy where I want it and having it stay there before it sets… I have a feeling this would work for any clear drying glue… The greens and yellows are the brightest and longest glowing, if you are going to get some, the bags are small, but you do not need much to add to the epoxy or other clear glue. I think Epoxy is not best on the optics and will try some clear acrylic or water based craft paint when I get around to it.
From what I have read, the larger the grain size of the strontium aluminate, the better the glow… Up to some size of course. I do not think you will go wrong with the stuff you listed. I was looking for cheaper to play with the colors and so I selected what I linked. The Glow On brand paints are good too, but much more pricey. As long as the glow stuff is strontium aluminate, it should all be pretty darn good. I would try the paint version HERE if you did not want to mix your own, but the powder would go in any kind of glue that you mix it in, so that has its advantages too….