Courui "Even Bigger Head" D01 Projector: 113mm Lens , Luminus SBT-70 @ 13.5Amps *Build Stage*

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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PROGRESS UPDATES:

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Ok well… after watching Oldlumens having fun with those ridiculously large projection lenses I just couldn’t help myself. :slight_smile:

I’ve wanted to build a proper big projector style thrower for ages but my attempts always faded out in the concept stage. Couldn’t find the right combination of host and or lens and ultimately the lure of a projected square beam profile wasn’t strong enough to keep me interested. A circular die image of an SBT-70 projected through a monster lens…however….Oh My! The lure is certainly back! :bigsmile:

I’ll make a note right here that I’m not going to be going after the absolute max LUX or throw figures imaginable. I basically just want a novelty light that looks interesting and can essentially project a white laser beam spot onto a target far away. The choice of LED alone should reflect those requirements since there’s far better choices around if maximum throw where a consideration. :slight_smile:

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That said I’m really excited by the prospect of what this light can do so I think this one is a go!.
Here is a concept for the light that I’ll try to actually build. (I’ve ordered quite a few of the parts already!)

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Maybe a “tad” front heavy do you think? Haha

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So that’s the goal, here is the component list.

Host: Courui D01 “Big Head” in Black from Gearbest

I love this host and I think it will be perfect as a base for this. The extended elements out the front are all various cheap(ish) metal lens hoods and filter adapters found online and cobbled together as best as possible. I think most of the parts will interconnect quite well but there’s always some amount of guesswork when it comes to replicating these things is 3d. Often based solely on vague measurements posted online and product photographs.

I’ll post up more details of the individual parts once I have them here and can see which ones work and where I’ve screwed something up. Unfortunately it’s not going to be a plug and play type of thing, especially when it comes to mating it up with the Courui body but I’m fairly certain I can make this work.

Emitter: Luminus SBT-70 - 5700K

Need I say more, this thing is just gorgeous. Perfectly round die shape should project a supreme “spotlight” beam. I’m most excited to see one of these things up close and running. Just hope I don’t destroy it! Pricey! :open_mouth:
Again we’re not going for max throw here, there’s better choices available when it comes to pure output or surface luminance but this LED is quite a unique thing.
I may end up looking at a DIY Wavien collar type setup inside to salvage some of that considerable wasted light but I’m not sure at the moment.

Lens: Edmund/Archor AX42448 Grade 2 - 113mm Diameter 212mm EFL Condenser

This part is still up in the air a bit, however this is a good starting point. This particular lens is one that OL sampled and ultimately rejected for his projector project. It’s from Edmund Optics and the combination of OD and focal length seems like it would be a good option for me.

I may find something that works even better and provided the outside diameter doesn’t exceed 113mm with a focal length range anywhere between 155mm and around 220mm it will work just fine in this host.
I’d love to find something with a nice AR coating but that seems unlikely or prohibitively expensive.

Driver: ~10A linear Undecided

At the moment I think I’ll be sticking to a linear driver for this light. Whether a stacked 7135 type thing or a driver based on Wight’s 7136/mosfet combo I’m not sure yet. In any case the vF of this LED seems incredibly low so a linear driver actually seems like a good choice to maintain a regulated 10A for most of the battery discharge curve.

Datasheet vF states 3.5v is required to reach 10Amp drive current. That’s at a junction temp (Tj) of 25deg C though.
At a more realistic Tj of 100degrees the vF drops by another 0.2v which brings the total vF down to a really rather low 3.3v @ 10A!

I won’t be pushing this LED too much beyond it’s maximum recommended current of 10A. Someone may come along and say they’re fine and dandy up to 15 or 20Amps or whatever but my taste for over-driving LEDs ends where the price tag per unit goes above $50! Haha, I want it to survive a long time. :slight_smile:

Heatsink: Hefty copper pill machined to fit stock Courui

This is hopefully going to be (if enough people are interested) a pure copper pill designed to fit the Courui D01. Offered for a very good price here by forum member NikolaS
You can add him to the list of people to blame for getting this project off the ground :stuck_out_tongue:

Batteries: Internal 1s3P 18650 standard…maybe…

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Maybe I’ll stick a handle on it and power it off another external power pack :bigsmile: :party:

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Sorry couldn’t help myself, I’ve gone mad enough at this stage that any torch without a tactical handle on it seems rather naked! :wink:

Cheers
Linus

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:slight_smile: :open_mouth:

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cant wait to see how well that SBT-70 performs i was going to buy one to try but could not get my self to spend $50.....YET :)

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OH

MY

GOD

:open_mouth:

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Sounds like a great project. I've been wanting to do something similar for this lens for a long time.

Best wishes on a successful outcome.

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I say it needs a belt clip :party:

Cool project! :beer:

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Very, very interesting project

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OMG, I am feeling proud…. Don’t worry I will send you a heatsink even if there is no-one else interested, just to see this beauty! !!!

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Haha, great! :slight_smile:

But there’s a fair bit of interest, almost 10 already. I’m sure they’ll continue to come in steadily, quite a lot of people here have this light.

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I have the SBT-70 in a Tangsfire ST2010. De-glassed. :slight_smile: Yes, I popped off the glass cover and it is sitting down in there naked. And works better. And the beam, even in the semi-lowly 2010, is gorgeous. Set up like you’re doing, it should be truly a thing of beauty. It IS a bit on the blue/white side though, so try to get the right tint if that’s possible.

I am willing to transfer this SBT-70 over to my Courui on the copper pill. I think that’s an excellent idea actually! I took it out of an SR-90 Intimidator. I put it in an 18350 EDC Cypreus, then a chopped MiniMag, then the ST1010. lol, yeah, it’s been around.

Luminus emitters are power hungry. The SST-90 will pull 16A if you let it, this one does 6.35A on a 26700 King Kong that’s (oops!) down to 3.75V. :slight_smile: (It’s now on the charger.) :smiley: It’s on a RyanSOh copper pill.

In the little copper Cypreus…

Windowed, going into the chopped mini-mag…

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Cool to see it “rehoused” so many times without being bothered, also didn’t know you could whip off the “flat dome” window, thanks. I’ll probably leave it on initially and see how it fares, then if I decide to employ some spill capturing it’ll have to come off :slight_smile:

From what I can tell, there’s a ~7000k, a ~5700k and a ~3000k temp/tint range available right? Which one do you have?

I have my eye on the 5700k 90cri variant, seems to be available from mouser fairly locally but I really need to chuck a few more things into the basket to make the shipping costs seem justified.
The one on kaidomain is a good price with free shipping but that’s the 7000k, so a fair bit too cool for my tastes, even for a dedicated thrower.

Cheers

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I would think this one is the 7000. Like I said, I modified an Intimidator and was allowed to keep the emitter that had been put in it previously. It’s way too blue for my taste, but somewhat better in it’s “open window” attire. :wink:

I had looked at that 5700 variant and had it in a cart multiple times. Couldn’t ever justify the cost of it without knowing how it would perform. I’ve found the Luminus emitters to gobble up more battery than they give light for. So they’re not very efficient. But look cool as heck in the light and sometimes, that’s enough! :bigsmile:

Edit: I don’t like aspherics for the square die pattern, but I have to agree, this one is the answer to that issue and I can’t wait to see how yours performs!

Edit II: The window is stuck on a metal frame with adhesive tape. More adhesive secures the frame to the substrate. It’s not on any phosphor or bond wires. Ridiculously easy to take off. :wink:

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Pah, efficiency is overrated. I burn off more power than this thing uses in my BTU cable! :wink:

Unfortunately I won’t be able to see the emitter too well behind all that glass but the beautiful circular beam profile should be well worth the price of admission. Heck even in a SMO reflector the effect of the circular die is clearly apparent, lovely stuff.

Interesting that removing the window has changed the tint, perhaps you’re seeing a subtle variation on the dedoming tint shift. Of course a lot less pronounced since the window isn’t directly touching the die, but maybe similar principle.

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What a great photo. Those SBT’s look like high tech works of art.

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Slightly different lens/emitter ratio and focal length between these two lights , but I’ll stay optimistic that I’ll acually be able to see the thing in there when it’s done, would be nice. :slight_smile:

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The SBT70 in my TS2010, with a freshly charged King Kong 26700 5000mAh cell, pulls 9.23A.

This is one of the early BLF fet drivers, and it’s sitting on Ryans copper pill, a pretty healthy chunk of copper.

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Interesting, would have thought it might pull more DD, but there’s too many variables at play to really know what’s going on in a light.

Has anyone anywhere done any testing on this emitter to see how far it can be pushed? If not I’ll try do a few safe-range tests to see how it responds. Curious to see if the vF stated in the datasheet is accurate.

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A Sony C5 18650 allows 10.02A

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What bin SBT70 do u guys prefer ?