LusteFire 3XU2-X3: Now with MT-G2 Goodness! Drivers Wanted!

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Yesterday I got the LusteFire 3XU2-X3 TK70 lookalike. Today I fitted it with three MT-G2 emitters on Noctigons. Crazy? maybe. Bright? Definitely.

Right now I can only drive it with a bench power supply (emitters in series, up to 5A). I have measured it at 3A and 5A.

Anyway, I need a driver for this beast. Preferably a driver for six series emitters running from 3x26650, pushing 3A minimum, 5A preferred. Only needs to do 5A for a minute or so. The LusteFire does not have enough mass to handle 90W.


Anyway, here's what I measured so far.

3xMT-G2, 3A, clear glass lens: 5300lm OTF, 36.7kcd

3xMT-G2, 5A, clear glass lens: 7250lm OTF, 51.0kcd

The beam is a thing of beauty if you like monster flooders (who doesn't?) with a decent amount of throw mixed in.

More pics to come soon.

Edit: Outdoor Beamshoots added here

2

Clickie switch? What about IOS 9A driver with LEDs in parallel?

3

Clickie is good-to-go. I’ve put 15A through this type and no issues, very low resistance.
That’s is a good driver option, thanks. It’s only 3A/emitter, but realistically that’s all the host can handle for any length of time anyway.
I had thought of building one that throttles to keep the head temperature no more than XX degrees C using a temperature probe glued to the inside of the head. More work than I’m ready to do though.

4

The HBFlex is a beast. I’m sure it could do 3.2A to the emitters from 3x26650 since TaskLED’s drivers are known for employing quality components. It’s recommended, however, that input current doesn’t exceed 5A. Thus you could satisfy that condition by using 4x26500 AW IMR: 60W*1.1/(4*3.7V)=4.5A

It’s an option, at least.

5

The stock driver that came with it is driving them decently, although not at 3A/emitter. Also, the driver gets toasty rather quick. Gonna try it for a bit anyway. :beer:

6

Well, the stock driver is in place, sort-of. I had to add a heat sink to it, and move the coil. There is not much driver space here, very limited. It’s putting out about 4600lm OTF, so fairly close to 3A/emitter. Heat is only an issue on the driver, but it is temporary anyway.
I keep forgetting to take pics of the driver before I make changes to it. :expressionless:

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What a beast. Can’t wait to see a beamshot :bigsmile:
Think this driver would fit?

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IIRC, the driver space is about 19mm deep, 32mm diameter. The driver inner diameter is about 30mm. Not much space.

9

Why not wire the emitters in series and run 4*26500cells on direct drive? Would be giving just over 5v to each emitter and as much amps as they feel like drawing. Would be fun for a few minutes until the light overheats or the cells are drained. LOL.

Sounds like a complete monster, BTW even driven at 3A. WOW! Why not use the KD 70w-100w driver? I think it'd be about perfect as long as there is enough room in the pill but from what you said I'm thinking it won't have the room.

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Thanks Johnny, I thought of the DD approach, but the emitters need 6V to get going well. Five cells would be OK for DD, but that’s just too long.
That KD Driver is just a little too deep. Since I’m about 5000lm OTF (easily if I had a AR coated lens), I think this stock driver will do for now.

Oh, and since no one took a guess yet, the OTF results for 5A drive are:
7250lm OTF, 51kcd, and from 20C to 60C in 70 seconds. J)
I predict an AR coated lens would put it over 8000 lm OTF. Nice!

11

hot damn. this is a very cool light you just made. cant wait for beam shots!

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This driver seems about right for wired in series, and is right around the max depth.
http://intl-outdoor.com/boost-7led-3-modes-23-cells-input-circuit-board-p-545.html
I haven’t seen any drivers with a 32mm contact plate, that will eat into the space allowed. It’s too bad the driver space is so small…

13

http://intl-outdoor.com/boost-7led-3-modes-23-cells-input-circuit-board-p-545.html Is the only driver that I thought I could use before I gave up on modifying the BTU Shocker. I lost my nerve thought it was too much to ask out of 3-18650’s with a little switch attached on top. Might get my nerve back after looking at this one. The 9 LED models put out too much voltage thats not needed.

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I was thinking of doing this to my BTU as well, but it didn’t make sense to pull that much from 18650 cells. Even at 3A, it’s about 55W from the cells. 26650 can handle the 5-6A needed, but you need IMR18650 to do it right on the BTU.
We just had fairly intense hail storm pass over. Right after I went out with the LusteFire and looked around. Some hail varying from pea-sized to quarter-sized. The neutral tint cuts through the mist quite nicely. This light will light up a huge area. Nice.

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oh mama ! over 7k lumens is spectactular. cant you just run it on 5 amps and use it on low or medium mode? itll prlly be just as bright as 3amps on high. But, if you need to summon the sun for a minute, then now you can blast it on high!

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5A each would need a driver capable of 15A if LEDs in parallel, or 5A at probably near 20v if in series (using a Vf of 6.6 as a rough guess).

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Comfy, you are right on with the numbers. That’s what I want to find, either way doesn’t matter; 15A at 6.5V or 5A at 20V. I’ve already rewired them from series (power supply) to parallel (stock driver). Series is easier and I think a driver for that is easier to find, but it’s the darn driver space that is limiting it. :expressionless:
Since I have ~3A/emitter with the stock driver, I’m looking for a 100W driver to give me a one or two minute turbo, then drop down to the ~2.5-3A range for high. Lower modes are nice but not essential.

18

Well, here is a nighttime beamshot or two. Mouseover for the BTU Shocker.

Needless to say, the LusteFire is a flooder with MT-G2 emitters. In fact, I have nothing that can really touch it for flood.

Here's another with the TrustFire AK90 (stock) as the mouseover.

The TF AK90 has about the same spill area maybe more, but brightness is lower. Don't get me started on tint. Lovin' those MT-G2's.

The AK90 is next on my mod list. I think it will be my brightest light when I'm done. ;)

19

Looks good! :slight_smile:

20

Are there any drivers, of the right size or not, that will do the desired numbers (either parallel or series LEDs)? I have one of the '3-18v buck-boost' drivers but haven't played with it yet, except to find that it doesn't do buck OR boost from only 4.2v into only one 3.3v LED, interested to see how the boost function works with 8.4v. What will it actually run? Anybody know the max output voltage with 2/3/4 cells?

Supposedly, it does 3.5A with multiple LEDs in series, but it's not specified how many or of what type. Think it could be resistor-tweaked to do 4-4.5A into 3 MTG2s? I'm doubtful but curious...