Looks like they wised up and installed a crappy DD driver instead of the more expensive buck drivers that I think this sort of light used in the past. Can you provide better pics?
Also, just FYI: Your light has 15 Cree XM-L or XM-L2 LEDs of unknown bin. Just because the Chinese call everything a Cree T6 doesn’t mean we have to. The uninformed think T6 is a model number, it is not. It is a performance bin.
Now, as far as brightness… how big did you want to go? Replacing the driver with another, better performing, DD driver would be a start. The stock wires should help hold the light back: you don’t want to go full blast here or you’ll hurt the LEDs due to the bad thermal properties of the stock MCPCBs…
i can try to get better pics. it honestly looks like the exact same driver that is in my single xm-l t6 light. also, it is supposed to have 15 xm-l t6 leds. and i can make thermal improvements. i dont necessarily just want to drop in a different driver. id like to make this light perform much closer to the 18,000 lumens its rated at although i know that these 15 leds will max out at what 13k or so? id like it to be as bright as possible while having l/m/h or xl/l/m/h modes, or some way of adjusting brightness. i have the means to make my own driver if needed.
I assume that you do not mean your pflexpro L2P when you say “single XM-L T6 light” - those P60’s are supposed to be potted… anyway please post a clear picture. Daylight or other strong, even, and diffuse lighting will help. Taking the driver out of the light will also help significantly.
I didn’t say it outright, but I think I strongly implied that you should not assume the bin based on what a vendor like that says. It doesn’t matter for the purposes of dealing with the emitters you’ve got, but they could be any bin. Are they XM-L or XM-L2? “(see pic here in post #7)”:http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?354526&p=4382541&viewfull=1#post4382541
I’m not going to bother with the math, but I think it’s reasonable to assume that you’ll max out with 10-15k in extremely short bursts… the performance specs of the individual LEDs won’t matter much - heat is the primary issue in these I’m told.
Step one for the highest output is to put all the LEDs on copper DTP MCPCBs - look at Noctigons for that from MTN or IOS. That gets expensive, if you don’t want to do it then I think expectations should be throttled back.
Maximum performance will require new wiring.
For high performance DD I recommend that you determine driver diameter and then pick one of my AxxDD-SO8 drivers to assemble.
Under optimal conditions 720P can show more than what your pics do, but don’t worry about it too much.
Sometimes they use threadlock. Try applying some heat. Also (I know it’s obvious but…) take a close look and make certain that you are unthreading in the correct direction.
If the reflector hides that much of each LED then it’s probably losing a lot of light. We don’t like centering rings which extend above the base of the LED. Please skim through this thread and look at the pics from two different lights (both found on page 1): No-name '6XL2' dissection
hell i have enough batteries, i would make a custom housing like a big 6 volt light, and run 1 battery and 1 driver for each led if that will perform the best without getting overly hot……
multiples of this could possibly be controlled with one momentary switch… QLITE Momentary Switch LED Driver though testing would be needed to see if it can.
Ah, so like a big 6V light, but made of aluminum / whatever? I’ve got it now. Sounds like a winner to me, assuming you actually want to do the work. OTOH depending on your needs you might consider an HID light instead. Spotlights and HID Flashlights | Candle Power Flashlight Forum
i could use hid, but i just happen to have these 15 Cree leds sitting around. however they probably would need de soldered and remounted on something other than the aluminum board they are currently on, correct? i have a ton of fans and heat sinks around.
If you attach it to a good heatsink the aluminum board is probably OK up to some level. Maybe 1-2A per LED? I don’t know. So maybe 4A-8A from the cells (I assume it’s wired 4s3p w/ 3 more emitters doubled up individually somewhere in there). Really you should be getting quite a bit of light at that point. Going beyond that will need the DTP MCPCBs like Noctigons or Sinkpads or the Maxtoch ones.
well the thing with the aluminum board is there is only 1 positive solder point/lead and one negative…. and i was thinking of having a 18650 for each led. so 15 leds, 15 batteries. etc.
That is a waste of your time / energy / money / etc IMO.
Look around at what the experienced big-multi-light modders are doing. The stock light can’t handle the heat. Focus on heat with your new housing + fan & etc.
A stack of cells is fine, but one per emitter is just going to be a huge pain. Think about resistive losses. The lower you drop the system voltage the worse your resistive losses will be.
