My first "mechanical" mod - Defiant AAA ==> triple emitter DD

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Hi,

This all started because I was over on ledsupply.com, buying some of that LED spray, and checked their “closeout” page, and found that they had a neutral white Luxeon 3up on sale for $6.99 (plus gulp $5.99 shipping):

http://www.ledsupply.com/07007-pw740-l.php

I really like small lights, so I put one of the 3ups in the cart, thinking to try to build a small light with it.

Anyway, when I got it, I started thinking of (not in this order) (a) which host and (b) how to power the 3up… Approximately 2+ weeks later, I have a not-quite-completely-done-but-working light:

- The “host” is a Defiant AAA (2 packs from HomeDepot).

- It’s currently direct-drive, from 3 Li-ion 10440s, partially discharged to about 3.4V using my Accucel 6

- The 10440s are in the original 3AAA carrier that come with the Defiant

- The 3up emitter is the one from ledsupply.com with the Luxeon emitters and was left in the original series configuration

Here’s the “build” stack:

Basically, the host is unmodified, except that I had to make a “pill extender” from a 3/4” copper tube cap from HD:

The one I got didn’t look like the one on HD’s website :(. For one thing, the “cap” was kind of domed, so I had to file that down so that it was flat.

I then had to cut and file it down, length-wise, to make it shorter, and drill two holes on the top to run the emitter wires through to the emitter. I’m using 22AWG silicone wire - mainly because I didn’t have anything smaller, but will probably replace those with some 26AWG when it arrives.

Anyway, the Carclo lens sits above the 3up, and the 3 “feet” go into 3 holes in the star:

then, the original Defiant AAA plastic lens goes on top of the Carclo:

Then, the head slips over all of the above, and VOILA:

Some pics of the whole thing lit:

To-do:

- I haven’t secured things together yet (copper extender to original pill, emitter to copper extender), as I’m still trying to decide if I want to try to cut/shorten the original reflector to go around the Carclo. Also, I don’t like to use Arctic Alumina, but it seems like that’s the only thing that might work :(.

- The current 3up is one that I messed up early-on when trying the DD with 3 10440s fully-charged and the domes started melting :(, so the current 3up is kind of a “sacrificial lamb” for fitting and testing. I am awaiting some LifePO4 10440s from FT, which I think should work fully charged. If that works ok, I have a couple of additional 3ups, and will swap one of them in.

- I’m still looking for some other power arrangement, maybe with a boost driver that might work with a 14500, or…?

  • I originally wanted to use a tube light (still do) type host, so I’m still trying some options. The Defiant AAA was the only one I had on-hand, both power-wise and mechanically, so I started with that.

Also, FYI, with the current DD, tailcap with the partially-charged 10440s is ~1.2 amps.

Per the “subject”, I hadn’t done much “mechanical” mods, so after this one I now have:

- A new set of files (from HD) and a file brush (never knew they existed)

- A new hacksaw (from HD) - yes, I didn’t have one before this

- A new drill chuck for my Dremel (Amazon) (never knew it existed)

  • A new soldering workstation (Amazon - long story)

Edit 1: FYI, the 3up emitter does light with 2x104440 fully charged + a 10440 dummy, albeit not very brightly. That was how I was doing my original testing.

3x10440 fully charged will light it up also, but they heat up really fast. That was what caused the melted domes, but the emitters still worked after that.

Those Luxeon emitters appear to be VERY tough - a CREE would have gone dark blue and died, I think, esp. since I’m using 22AWG DD.

2

Cool

3

Excellent ohaya. I’m right behind you. I’ve got a 35mm 3-up board and optic from IOS. I’ve never done one before. I’m not sure if you’re supposed to mount a lens in front of the 3-up optic or not?
The board is for series XPG. I want to drive 3 XP-G2 with 3.5A buck driver and am not sure if it would be best with 1x18650 or 2x18650.

4

This was my first one too :).

At least for the 3up I have, from ledsupply.com, the Carclo has 3 “feet” that fit exactly into 3 holes in the star, so then the lenses are positioned exactly “above” each of the 3 emitters.

The emitter star and the Carclo 3up lens are both 20mm diameter.

Also, FYI, ledsupply.com has 3xXP-G:

http://www.ledsupply.com/indusstar-3up.php

They’re a bit more expensive than the Luxeon one though, but the same Carclo 10507 fits also on the XP-G 3up star.

I’m assuming that the XP-G one is wired up in series like the Luxeon one, with 0-ohm jumpers, but not sure. In my case, I didn’t want to try to remove the 0-ohm resistors and wire the tiny jumpers, plus, the Carclo is very low, so if the jumpers or solder joints are too high, the lens won’t seat correctly, so I just left the star in series, and drive it to 9V.

5

You’ve done really well here. Sounds like your building up a nice set off tools as well. Good stuff.

6

If you can wire the leds in parallel, then you can use a 7135 linear driver and mod the battery holder for 3xparallel 10440 li-ions. Safer with parallel on the batteries? Anyhow, IS carries 3-up stars, but for the XP or Nichia. They have the TIR optic too.

Anyhow, great build. Those HD lights are nice and also inexpensive lights to play with.

7

I’ve been thinking about parallel, but not by jumpering on the star (would be too hard for me), but maybe removing the 0-ohm resistors and homerunning all of the individual emitter +/- leads to a driver. I had already checked that an AA/14500 would fit in the Defiant AAA, so then I could not use the 3-AAA battery carrier anymore, and, as you suggested, use a “normal” type driver. I’ve kind of run out of options for powering the 3up in series, other than DD, like I did.

BTW, your Defiant AAA thread was another thing that started me down this path, so you either have my thanks, or the blame :)!

8

No kidding about “building up a nice set of tools”… it seems like one thing always leads to another, doesn’t it?

9

I need a hacksaw.

10

I was looking at the Nichia 3up from IS that O-L mentioned, and comparing that to the Luxeon, and trying to discern the differences.

If anyone is familiar with reading these datasheets, can you confirm?

Tint-wise, both are NW (the beam from my 3up is very warm).

The “relative luminous flux” seems almost the same (85 for Luxeon, 87 for Nichia), within a couple of lumens.

The Luxeon spec goes to 2.25 at 1000 mA, which would put the output around 2.25 x 85 lumens per emitter, or 191.25 lumens.

The Nichia goes to about 4 at 2000 mA, which would put the output around 4 x 85 lumens per emitter, or 340 lumens.

Am I getting those correct? So the Nichia 3up would be 1020 lumens vs. the Luxeon at 573.75 lumens?

11

Nice build and write up. Always liked those rebel emitters. Bet your final version of this light will be sweet.

If you think you will be cutting more copper pipe, a pipe cutter is another great tool that doesn’t cost much. Will give you easy, straight and true cuts.

12

By pipe cutter, do you mean one of those things that clamps on the pipe, then you spin it around? I don’t have one of those, but I had thought about it. Maybe later…

13

FYI, the 10440 LifePO4 batteries came in today, and, fully-charged, they work fine in the light, dring the 3up in series.

The ones I got were toe “Coollook” LifePO4 10440s from FT. One of the things I’m finding is that for the carrier to work, the batteries have to have nipple tops, because the positive contacts on the carrier are kind of recessed. I’m guessing that they’re designed that way for reverse polarity protection (i.e., someone sticking a battery in backward), but such batteries seem to be tough to find.

The FT Coollooks do have those nipple tops, but I haven’t found many others.

Jim