I completed the Super Shocker mod for the 3rd place prize of the contest. Here is the mod thread: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/27054. It still has a way to go - may have to complete it tomorrow.
This is, without a doubt, the best performing Super Shocker I've done. It has de-domed XM-L2 U2 1A's on Noctigons. Just when I was getting bored and tired of doing the same light over and over again, I was able to come up with a couple of new tricks to squeeze a little more out of it to keep it interesting. Here's some specifics:
- I spent more time/effort on the battery carrier. I feel loss's of voltage from resistance due to the carrier are a significant effect, specially on direct drive designs
- a couple of changes in setting the de-domed LED's, resulting in a better fit, more lumens/throw
- still using the same driver (IOS, LCK-LED, etc.) but now I am bridging the resistors which didn't seem necessary before when using the older IOS drivers
- I'm using NO-OX-ID now from IlluminationSupply on all contact points
- using 20 AWG wires between the contact board and driver, and for the LED leads off the driver (have used 22 AWG in the past)
Results:
- with a set of freshly charged LG HE2 2500 mAh cells, measured 6.44A across the switch
- lumens: 4,964 at start - 4,726 at 30 secs (in my PVC lightbox)
- throw: 495 kcd measured at 5m
When measuring amps, I literally saw a 6 inch spark one time at one of the DMM leads by the switch!! The 6.44 amps is the highest I've gotten from any light or mod. It's not a measurement at the LED, but since it's a 3S cell to 3S LED effectively a direct drive, I'm thinking it's very close to what the LED's are getting.
For lumens and throw measurements, immediately following the Shocker measurements, I measured my stock NOVA MM15 light: 5,250 lumens at 30 secs, and 18 kcd. The factory ANSI specs for this light is 5,233 lumens and 19.6 kcd, so I think my measurements are in the ballpark. The variation in throw is not surprising, since LED alignment and reflector variances can effect this easily.
The lumens OTF measurement of 4,726 is the highest I've gotten from any of the dozen de-domed Super Shockers I've done.
For throw, this is the highest I've ever measured. There were brief times the throw exceeded 500 kcd (max'ed out at the 10X scale on the meter). I'm speculating the actual throw is higher than 500 kcd if measured at a longer distance, based on a de-domed Super Shocker rdrfronty measured, at 15m, compared to my measurements at 5m of the same exact light at the time.