homemade MTG2 C8

LED Flashlights – General Info
1

My weakest C8 I got from meritline, I think this one, but no guarantees;
http://www.meritline.com/1000-lumen-cree-xm-l-t6-led-flashlight-torch—-p-82258.aspx

Ok build quality and design, but could be brighter and saw the Noctigon copper mounted MTG2. It is the correct size for the pill, I ordered it and it is indeed nicely mounted on a very flat copper plate.


I had previously sanded and polished the C8 pill for an XML2 and still not satisfied with output.

I used a blank rear pcb for direct drive, but made the mistake of soldering the wires before fitting the board. After much filing and annoyance it all fit. Please ignore the crappy soldering.

I had previously measured the reflector opening and it was large enough to accommodate the MTG2 listed spec. This particular C8 had an especially long head/reflector assembly and figured the beam would come out ok. None of my other C8/C12s had a reflector opening large enough anyways.

It says 1000 lumens on the side, but now that is 2000 lumens to you sir. I added the GITD lanyard, the light came with the GITD o-ring and rear button.

So the MTG2 is direct driven off 2x AW IMR 16350, drawing ~5.5A.

Versus my brightest stock C8, the XintD with XML2 U2, using NCR18650. The XML2 still has a little brighter hotspot, but the total output of MTG2 is obviously much better.

Versus my old favorite Surefire 6PDL with direct drive SST90, using IMR 17670. Getting a little tired now apparently.

Will order some IMR 18650s next and try to squeeze out a little more output. Took more work than I like, but this is the craziest light I have now.

2

Is the MTG2 on the right?

3

Yes MTG2 on the right side

4

When you said “Will order some IMR 18650s next”, do you have an extension tube for the C8 (to use 2x18650)?

5

blah sorry mind fried from inhaling AL and PCB dust, I meant 18350s

6

NP… was just wondering, if that, or you’re figured a way to DD the MT-G2 from one 18650 :)!

7

very cool. i think your the second person now that attempted this cool mod. how many minutes does it take for it to become too hot to hold. whats the run time….10 mins?

8

Is that the super-deep C8 reflector that measures around 41x41mm? I tried one of those first but found it worked better in the shorter XRE reflector, it's wider at the base which the huge MTG2 really needs more than the extra depth. Build here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/20597

9

Pretty sweet, outersquare! Good job. 8)

10

I ran my Vinh MT-G2 drop in on 2 18650 IMR’s. It lasted about 20 seconds before developing a nice big black spot in the middle of the beam. Be careful. :slight_smile:

11

oh I did not see the other thread, it was literally the day before! It did not have “MTG2” in the title which is probably why I missed it.

yeah the reflector seems to measure 40+ mm wide and tall. I don’t have any other suitable reflectors, so I’ll just keep it as is, which I’m still happy with.

yes, the body gets hot as expected. I have not run it until it gets too hot to hold, but within something like 2 minutes it gets noticeably hot. I’ll play with it next couple days and maybe post run time updates.

12

yeah for a while I was trying his MTG2 P60, but it has the classical P60 problem, poor heatsinking. Most P60 lamps don’t seat tightly in the host, so there is little contact surface for heat transfer.

So far this setup seems ok, the C8 pill threads directly to the head and the head to the body. I put Arctic Silver on all the threaded surfaces so the entire light can be a heatsink. I’ve atleast run it couple minutes at a time so far and I haven’t burned up anything yet. Better to have the whole light get hot than only the LED.

13

Was that on Noctigon, a Sinkpad, or some other copper PCB? If it wasn’t that would explain what happened (emitter got hot, but insufficient heat sinking/thermal transfer away from the emitter.

14

I bought another one from him and it runs fine on AW 2600’s. IMR’s are not recommended. It gets hotter than hades but shines like the sun.

15

I run my mtg2 mod (the host is a Shadow tc300) direct drive on two IMR's (panasonic cgr18650ch) , it draws 8.5 A and apart from getting very very hot (in seconds, and I'm not using it for more than a minute at a time) it keeps working. It is on a noctigon that is carefully screwed down on the pill with a very thin layer arctic silver5 in between.

16

Here is mine at 9Amps! :P

http://youtu.be/g0lSoIyml1I


http://youtu.be/DYHq0hL82V0

17

what kind of throw you seeing with the MTG2 in that C8 housing?