So as originally mentioned here by Slim Pickens this driver here from DX will light up a MKR to 1.2A from 4 li-ions. I have tested it myself. Now yes 1.2A is pretty conservative and yes 4 li-ions is tough to do and yes 5 modes sucks. But for those looking for something cheap and easy it seems to fit the bill nicely
Skip to post #16 for something that works correctly
Well, that's 17 14 watts... not so weak when you take the voltage into account.
1600 lumens at that current OTF?
after thinking about this further should this even work? Is this not a boost driver? Input is 4 li-ions output is 12.5v at 1.2A measured between the led and driver?
some help from the smart guys would be appreciated?
4 cells in series, or 2 series + 2 parallel? Specs list max input as 8.4v... and yes, it's a boost driver, it shouldn't work if the input voltage is equal to or higher than output voltage.
I used 4 cells in series. input voltage was 15.somthing
Ah, there were two different drivers linked in that thread. You have this one, if you ran it from 4S into a ~12v LED. --> http://dx.com/p/18v-5w-cree-circuit-board-for-flashlights-16-8mm-5-5mm-26110?rt=1&p=2&m=2&r=3&k=1&t=1&s=5937&u=26110
How bright is it with the MK-R?
Having no way to quantify the amount of light all I can say is damn bright. I have an H6CC that I’m gonna try next with the MKR and dial the current up a bit.
A boost driver, with ~16v input, running a ~12v LED. Does not compute.
Yeah i don’t know whats going on there. Not to sure why I put 4 cells to it in the first place. I was testing a bunch of stuff and it was late guess I wasn’t paying attention. So Why does it work?
No idea. Did you check output current & voltage?
Try it with 2 cells in series, see if the boost function works as advertised.
output current was 1.2a and 12.4v at the led. Current to the driver was almost the same.
I tried it with two cells and only got .6A
I was wondering why I can’t find hardly any information or builds using this emitter. It looks like driven well with a decent reflector it could be a great flashlight led, but there is almost no interest in it. One of the specs I was just reading in it said at like 1.2a it puts out like 1769 lumens, is this right? Anyone know why the lack of interest, is because of limited driver options? Host options? Any answers appreciated.
@Gtamazing: your driver is obviously a buck driver since it drives the LED with 4S setup as specified. With 2S setup you’re seeing only 600mA because the input voltage is lower than LEDs Vf, so the driver is in direct drive. If it was a boost driver, wiring 4S setup to it would smoke the LED. When input voltage is higher than LEDs Vf the boost driver goes in direct drive just like buck driver with too low voltage supply.
The new SR96 from Olight uses the mkr, but I would say the reason nobody is really using it is because it only available on a star from Cutter. I got mine from Mouser and Sinkpad sent me 2 free samples of their stars. Also no testing has been done to see how many lumens it can crank out when overdriven.” In this build here”:MKR with 4 li-ion in "Mag" I have it driven at 2 amps. Thats 160% of the rated drive. I’ve ran it for 20 minutes at a time with no issues.
I’ve also had good luck with the 1.25a 18v buck driver from DX I have a stalled build with second MKR in a stubby mag with that drive and 4 Keeppower 14500.
Ya SinkPAD also sent me two stars which is why I was thinking about maybe doing a build with one, the stat. I saw on I thought said at 1.2A its around 1769 lm , I think that was the other thing that caught my eye was putting out that much light at 1.2A. So your saying there’s no where other than cutter to pick up a couple of these to play with? Any idea what the cost of bare emitters is?
You can get them mounted from on stars from cutter. Bare emitters you can probably get lots of places. I got mine from Mouser. Price was around $15.
