I saw these little spotlights on Amazon 2 nights back. Free next day shipping and lots of money off. Got a pair delivered for £6.99
I wasn’t expecting much at this money, but they look like good modding hosts. They have what looks like quite a nice glass aspheric lens and an XP-G2. But very cool white and not massively bright.
I’ve hooked them up to a 12v power source and off of 2x Li-ion. They seem to perform the same. Seems to pull 0.48amp off of two Li-ion. Not sure there is much to be done with the stock driver. But I was thinking more of a LED and driver swap anyway.
So my question is, what is the easiest way to get a 1 mode setup running? Thinking MT-G2 or maybe XHP70?
I know there are 6v and 12v variants of these. I assume if I try and ’direct drive’ a 12v off a car it’ll just burn itself out. So is there an easy way to limit amps?
Or would a 6v LED be easier with a driver with the right input voltage?
Nice lens:
Easy access to the LED and front driver, shelf looks like it’s solid too:
Easy access to the back of the light (for new driver location maybe?), and confirmation the shelf is indeed solid:
As you can see, not overly bright, very blue and quite a small beam. Really not sure what use they’d be on a car in stock trim. The lamp is on the right, on the left is a de-domed Zuesray:
The lens with an MT-G2 gives quite a nice beam however:
I think a buck driver and MT-G2 would be nice. But, it really does depend on what you will be using these lights for. The stock driver is already buck. Maybe it could work with just a little modification. See that Q1 in the upper left corner of the driver pic? There is a tiny FET there, but there are also pads for a much larger FET to be installed. I don’t know anything about buck driver circuits, but maybe that’s where you could get more power. Texas_Ace and Flintrock are working on designing a buck driver from scratch. Maybe one of them can help you figure it out.
If you kept the stock driver, you’d have to figure out how to fit a MCPCB in the middle, so the LED can be upgraded. Or, you could move the driver to the back of the shelf and run wires through those holes to the MCPCB on the front. Maybe it would be easier to just replace the driver, but I hate wasting stuff, so I always try to figure out how to re-use rather than replace.
If you want the absolute simplest solution with no modes, you could actually run a 12V LED without a “driver”. I think you’re right that a “direct drive” would probably fry the emitter. So, get one of those 19mm slave boards from Richard at Mountain Electronics. Install as many 7135’s as you want on it for current regulation, and that would suffice. In that case, I’d recommend XHP-35 if you want the best throw, XHP-70 if you want a wide beam like the MT-G2, or XHP-50 for in-between. With the 50 or the 70, you’ll have a noticeable donut hole in the hot-spot, though. So, there’s that.
I think the biggest thing I want is single mode. Not really sure on where I’ll use them, but will put them on my Land Rover somewhere. Location will probably depend on what the beam turns out to be like.
I’m happy to chuck the original driver if I’m honest. And while I’m more than happy soldering wires and things. I haven’t really got the right tools or ability for soldering components on boards. At least it’s never gone right when I’ve tried it.
Can 7135 chips be used ok with 12v input to regulate current?
The AMC7135 chips have a voltage spec, but we’ve been using them with higher voltages for years around here. I think 12V has been done before, but I can’t remember for sure. Just speculating, I think the real issue is how much power the chip has to dissipate as heat. If that’s true, then as long as the Vin is closely matched to the Vf of the LED you’re feeding, you’ll probably be fine.
This board, would do what you need. You could ask Richard to either add or subtract chips to make it output the right current for whatever LED you end up using. Then, you only have to solder wires to it for power in and power out to the LED.
Thanks, trouble is, I’m in the UK, so won’t be buying from Mt Electronics. The shipping makes it crazy pricey… and very poor vfm. Otherwise I’d happily buy from them.
