My current plan is to copper braid the tail spring, and add 4 more (or 8 ) 7135 350s to the driver, but I'm still undecided on which emitter to use on the XM16...
I have:
4 XM-L2 U3-1A
4 XM-L U3-1A
1 XM-L2 U2-1A
at my disposal. Which one would be more suited for the S6 host? Should I dedome one of them?
I have a Carclo 10197 that I've been wanting to use, but I don't have the spacer needed, nor is there a single emitter spacer (at least not on RMM's shop) for me to get. They're all for multi-emitter configs. Otherwise it'll go into an Eagle Eye X2 since it has a longer pill (from djozz's thread.) OR I can take the pill from that light, and stick it into the S6! ;)
I'm going to be running mainly LCO cells (UR18650FM, CGR18650E, ICR18650-26F), so I'm not going to be too ambitious about this build :beer:
yea I kinda wonder myself how much more throw I'd get if I dedomed my xml2 u3 1a but with my track record for successfully dedoming (4 broke 1 works!) I think I'll hold off lol. Most likely going to grab one of the s5 hosts to try it with after I get a triple built.
I got my goodies yesterday, spent the night putting it together, decided to go with a hot flapjack dedomed XM-L2 U3-1A for the Noctigon; mellow yellow tint shift.
I tried to use my SMO reflector, but no matter what I did I got a wonky beam, or a donut hole :(. O-ring in between the pill + XM-L butterfly spacer, 16mm Q5 gasket + XM-L butterfly spacer, 16mm Q5 gasket + XM-L butterfly spacer + O-Ring, and just the XM-L butterfly spacer. So I was like "F" it, back to the OP reflector. Maybe because the Noctigon is a double thickness board.
The Qlite driver has a surface mount cap that bridges star 1 to ground specifically for the guppydrv firmware. How do I know? I removed it to see why, and I lost all mode memory from the groups that had it. Then I bridged star 1 to ground with solder to see what happened, and I got only one mode with the first mode to each corresponding mode group (programming still worked).
~2.9A on stock; Added +2 more 7135 350mA's to the spring side and it draws 3.26A on a UR18650FM with a non-braided 105c spring. I plan to add 2 more soon.
Beamshots will be in my beamshot thread when the weather clears up.
Generally, you need to move the emitter deeper into the reflector after dedoming to focus it. Try without the centering ring, add some kapton tape if there's danger of shorting.
This magnet works great with the S6, as long as you don't use a lanyard or clip since it blocks the mounting holes.
I have built several S6 with a XP-G2 dedome — The smooth reflectors I have are smaller opening— I was able to get a perfect focus with the XP-G2 and also a XPL—I didn’t care for the XPL too much produces the outer saturn rings that drive me crazy—the XPL produces a lot more flood the XP-G2 has 30% more throw— When focusing use the thin clear washer type spacer Mtnn sells or kapton tape—I too unsoldered that cap off the driver for off time memory—Richard sent me a couple and I was able to fix my driver—I would order a few as the first one I tried to solder is still MIA
I just built an S6 with an MT-G2. It was supposed to have a zener modded driver but i mucked that up so just made it direct drive until i get more parts.
Man this thing is ridiculous! 6.5A at the tailcap from two new purple Efest 18350’s and my brightest light by far.
It’s good for about 40 seconds and then i simply can’t hold onto it any longer.
Nice, I may have to build more with dedomed XP-G2s and XP-Ls. I threw in a 16mm clear insulator I also bought from RMM and it's better now;pseudo-present, but is definitely not noticeable in real world use.
oh my god nice ;) I may have to also build one like so, but with an XHP50!
Finished my build a couple days ago, but I decided to add more 7135s, to a total of 13, 8*380mA and 5*350mA; Continuity test reading checks out, but the highest reading I've gotten however was only a measly 3.2A, I guess its time to get myself some LiMn cells :beer: :party:
Haha I know right? I said that to myself when I started adding more and more chips. "Just make an A17DD-SO8 already! :P" But I need to up my stacking game, so I just went with this. :)
It gets very hot very fast, so I set the turbo timer in the guppydrv firmware to 45 seconds to be safe.
Indeed it is, most of the time expense is just keeping the chip in place, but once that is done it becomes a breeze. My method is getting a nice teardrop of solder hanging off of the iron at the expense of a little more solder used. Using Oatey Safeflo 0.11 inch silver solder.
I stopped by Illumination Supply earlier to buy some Samsung 25Rs, but also had the chance to test my S6 13*7135 stacker on their power supply to see why I'm not pulling anymore amps. I already assumed it was because of the higher vF requirements of an XM-L2, and having it on their bench PSU confirmed my assumptions.
This is from memory since it was a quick test and I didn't jot down any numbers, but...
Did you test the LED before dedoming it? I always test the vF before and after dedoming to make sure I didn't mess something up.
That said, the newer XM-L2s do have a much higher vF than the older ones. If you don't have something like a 25R, then 4A does seem like what I would expect from one of the newer LEDs.
You can try an XM-L, but I think that you might find that while you will be able to pull a lot more amps, generate a lot more heat, it won't be a lot brighter. Like a loud exhaust on a car makes it feel faster, seeing big amp numbers and feeling a lot of heat can make it seem brighter, the light out the front won't really be much more. You would probably have to pull 6A on that XM-L just to equal what that XM-L2 does at 4A-4.5A. In a small EDC you have to ask yourself if the extra 2.5A worth of heat is worth it for a measly 100-200 lumens out the front gain.
Unfortunately I didn't test the vF before/after the dedome since I don't have a setup that would be convenient, and you do have a point there about the XM-L.
I just wanted to make a (literal) hot rod anyway. I'll stick with the XM-L2 :)
