ReManG. This thread got me going on a whole new line of projects. I started thinking, low amps and civilians with Li Ion batteries...this could solve some problems. Power failure = neighbors in my building coming to me for flashlights.
I won't lend out my moded Li Ion lights to civilians. You can explain about them getting hot and running down the cells fast, so should be turned down to lower modes.
Civilians = high mode...just high mode. Whatever you told them will be forgotten immediately and the whatever light they have will always be on high mode. It's a fact.
I always keep a supply of Rechargable AA lights as loaners. This way they can't hurt the lights, or themselves. This thread got me thinking about civilians and Li Ions. I found a couple cheap $3 S2 knockoffs me and ohaya picked up a couple years ago, along with clearance Luxeon rebels. ($3 cheapies really do cause more work than the real thing)
Anyway, to get back to the point, I took your advice and built two low amp lights. A single emitter @ .75A, and a triple @ 1.4A (neutral Luxeon rebels). These are the Li Ion lights that I will lend to civilians. Lots of illumination without heat and power drain. I have them loaded with 3400 protected cells. I also discovered that I love frosted optics for indoor illumination. Nice even light without an annoying hotspot. There's not much real difference between the triple and the single. Maybe a bit wider spill. I might try some of the wider angle optics as well...in frosted.
Back to the civilians. I've ordered a bunch of those magnets that fit in the tail of convoy type torches, so I can locate two or three lights magnetically to existing ceiling fixtures, providing low amp illumination throughout the apartment. I would also supply them with an AA "walking around light. I have a bunch of convoy S2+, regular and shorties, on order, to build several more.
Of coarse, my own personal indoor ceiling mounted illuminators will be highly modded because I'm responsible, andknow how to use modes, but the civilian loaners will be 1A with protected cells.
My, that Ouchyfoot can really keep yakking, can't he.
I really like those luxeons for indoors, I might order some newer type rebels to try out. I'm going build some of these with nichias and osrams too. If you have a power failure, you might as well have nice lighting instead of just walking around the house with a bright hot spot.
Realy cheap $3 host flashlight. I don't recommend them. Way too much work adapting them for anything. Just ask ohaya, he'll vouch for me.
A filed down noctigon so I could fit a 20mm star. The luxeons were on non DTP aluminum boards, and the pill just drops into the empty head, so a little extra copper doesn't hurt, even at 1A.
This board is designed for series, so I removed the linking resisters so I could rewire in parallel.
The only way I could make things fit was to drill a hole through the center of the triple board and bring the wires up the center.
Note the wire in the front that's not soldered to the pad. (I picked up my new glasses three hours after this pic was taken. Did most of the soldering with one eye closed so as not to see double)
As usual, before installing, I hooked the triple up to a battery to make sure it worked. Of coarse, when testing LEDs, you face them away so as not to blind yourself. Okay, it worked.
After I took this picture and saw that front wire, I hooked it up again and sure enough, only two emitters running. With triples in parallel, sometimes you have to blind yourself to make sure all three are running. Taking this picture saved me a lot of work.
Nice and frosty.
The end results. Real nice lighting at low amps. Waiting for my tail magnets so they'll become real ceiling fixtures.
single @ .7A & triple @ 1.4A
Okay ReManG, thanks for letting me blather for so long in your thread...but...you started it.