New E-Series head upgrade project

[DrafterDan]

My current project. Still waiting on a few parts before I can start designing the pill. Basic plan is a Noctigon XP-G2 R5 3C with a Carclo (have both a narrow and a frosted to play with), a 3amp driver and solid brass pill. I haven't decided whether to thread the pill to fit inside the E head (what the heck is this called anyway - it's not a Z44, a Z30?), or just a threaded ring that acts upon the pill to hold it in place. I will remove the built-in reflector on the lathe, so I'll have plenty of room to work with.

This is in an E2D incan defender, I will probably swap out the SF clicky with a McClicky. The SF will probably be fine at 3amps, though.

Once I get this going, I'm considering making a complete custom E-bezel head. The ones like in my photo above seem to be scarce as hens teeth. I like the design because it's small. I don't like the new current SF LED heads that are as long as an 1E body. That is also in the planning stages.

 

[Str8stroke]

Subscribing. And interested to see how it works out. Looks promising. Keep us posted.

 

[Illum]

Subscribing as well.


After the eventual shift from incandescent the E series bezels haven't gotten the kind of attention they used to.
Just note that your driver is a linear current limiter, which contributes heat as well as the LED. Heatsink it but watch your ground planes. The LEDs will have to be wired in parallel unless you somehow managed to stuff a 12V battery capable of providing 3A in a E series body. The LEDs may need to be manually sorted by forward current prior to reflow or they may not illuminate evenly on low modes. I think that was what killed the EDCPlus 3-up drop-ins. Anyway, good luck.

 

[precisionworks]

... Once I get this going, I'm considering making a complete custom E-bezel head.

Steve Ku made a nice one, seems like it was around $100, haven't seen one offered for a year or three. I love E-lights, both handheld & WML - certainly seems like there's a market for a small, high performance head.

For reference the SF KE2-A sells for about $200 & makes 500+ lumens.

 

[DrafterDan]

Thanks guys, I'm fairly excited to get going. Thankfully, we have a wonderful metal supply warehouse here in Phoenix (industrial metal supply), the place is like a candy store. I've made several projects just from their scrap bins...

I did buy the brass rod to make the pill, will be doing some "caliper-ing" to see exactly what I need for overall length once I ream out the reflector from the head. The Carclo optics came in, so I've got everything needed to begin.

Illum: thanks for the note. I was going to ask about possible wiring schemes, but do agree that parallel is the most straight forward. The driver is the N105c at 3.04A from Intl-outdoor. The XP-G2 can be pushed to 1.5A each, so this will be a very conservative build.
Precisionworks: haven't given much thought to building these as a sale item. Definitely don't want to offer as a complete kit, way too many options for LEDs/ drivers/ optics/ etc. Maybe I'll build up a few of these pills and offer them for sale. That way anyone with a dremel and a soldering gun can triple their E-series.

I'm hitting the lathe this weekend!
~D

 

[precisionworks]

Maybe I'll build up a few of these pills and offer them for sale. That way anyone with a dremel and a soldering gun can triple their E-series.

... Would you elaborate on that? I'd have no idea where to start or what to do. I can however screw on a completed head

 

[DrafterDan]

PrecisonWorks: maybe my thoughts on what is doable with a dremel are different than others. In my eyes, it is possible to dremel out the needed pocket for the pill I did today, but after thinking about it more, maybe not. The cavity has to be a pretty exact (+/-.005) overall length, and a very specific diameter. Anyway, on the the post of what my morning entailed.....

 

[DrafterDan]

Okay, first task, remove the reflector

Test fit back on the body to make sure I didn't screw up the o-ring mating surfaces

Next, determine the OAL for the components, and what's left over is the length of the pill. This image shows the pocket for the driver already done, parting off from the stock.

Here's the finished pill, with the components just sitting in place. Hopefully this coming week I'll have time to assemble and solder in place.

 

[precisionworks]

That does not look like a D I Y project

 

[Double Barrel]

That does not look like a D I Y project

Nope it sure doesn't ...unless one owns and knows how to work a lathe.
However, it does look like a good job to send precisionworks :grin:

Nice work, can't wait to see the end result.


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[DrafterDan]

Found a little time yesterday to work on this. It's becoming obvious I need to make a few more, didn't get this one as good as it could be.

At this point, I'm a bit stuck on this particular one. I managed to lose the little gold jumpers to make this board parallel. I do have a 16650 on hand for this build, but would rather have gone with two 16340's. The problem is that I cannot find a driver that accepts 6v and puts out a bit over 3amps. Any ideas?

 

[Illum]

The problem is that I cannot find a driver that accepts 6v and puts out a bit over 3amps. Any ideas?

Without physically building one from scratch I'm not sure where to find one either
though here's some ideas to start: http://www.digikey.com/product-sear...=1&stock=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=25

3A boost is hard on batteries, very hard. 2C max on cr123as... or about 2.8A max. Your switch current will have to be higher than 3A to provide 3A output... only way to switch >3A would be a chip that runs very fast, in the 1-2MHz range, or else your inductors going to be HUGE. Hard recipe to homebrew

 

[DrafterDan]

Hi Illum,
Okay, so I'm not going crazy. I have read in other parts of this forum where people are running a triple at 5+ amps. Maybe they have a completely different battery configuration. I'm just going to run a 16650. Will probably bore out a E2 body to allow for a 17650 as well.

On the switch, I do have a McClicky that I picked up. It immediately became apparent that I need to do some trimming or similar to make it fit. Haven't had time to devote some brain power to this just yet.

At a quick glance and test-fit, looks like I need to shave off the first few threads. This should position the body close to the boot.

 

[Illum]

Hi Illum,
Okay, so I'm not going crazy. I have read in other parts of this forum where people are running a triple at 5+ amps. Maybe they have a completely different battery configuration. I'm just going to run a 16650. Will probably bore out a E2 body to allow for a 17650 as well.

yeah.... I never did figure how to get that much juice out of cr123As. I know its possible, but never found an easy design.

 

[m4a1usr]

Jason used to (maybe still does?) have a picture on his web site of a "trimmed" McClicky if that might help.

 

[cland72]

Dan, so very cool that this is what you have in store for the E2D head I sold you on CPFMP. Subscribed!

 

[DrafterDan]

Hi Chris, yes - I plan on totally ripping the guts out of that bezel! Okay, got a bit of the Halloween spirit there. Metal shavings may not be as scary as blood-n-guts...

I was back at the lathe yesterday, and cut out a 'mule' version of this brass pill. So the plan is to have one optics and one non-optics version.
I'm still having difficulties with the drivers, so the first version isn't quite ready to go yet. I should post photos of the poor driver I managed to destroy while trying to pull it back out of the pill. That definitely looked scary.

 

[Boomer8404]

Pretty sweet mod, I like it! I am planning on a project like this for myself. Except I plan on building a custom body tube for an 18650. I was able to locate the LED and lens optic online, but I wanted to ask if you could post up the info for the driver that you are using (manufacture, brand, model). Also, where you got it from. Thanks.

 

[DrafterDan]

Okay, finalized the build today. At least, as far as I'm going to take this particular version. It's complete, nicely bright and stable on a 16650. Truth be told, it took me some time today to figure out why it worked on the bench but not in the light. After some measuring and whatnot discovered the ground path wasn't complete. If the threads weren't anodized, it wouldn't have been a problem. Funny to say that it's the first time I've come across it, because the other project I did was make my own 18650 body, so no anodizing was involved.

On to the photos

Here's where you can see the extension ring I had to fab to make contact with the body.
*somehow I'm thinking you guys saw this mistake from my previous photos and were like "heck, he'll figure it out". Sorry for the crummy cell phone photos, don't feel like dragging out the fun lenses.

Exactly one wrap of copper tape and it was a press fit. That's a good thing, because on high it puts out a good deal of heat. I've got this qlite on the default 3-speed.

It's still light here, maybe I'll get excited about doing a beamshot later tonight.
~D

PS: Boomer, I'll just PM you some info. No sense in getting this thread off track.

 

[Double Barrel]

Awesome job, Dan! I really like what you have done. Thanks for posting your experience.
Pushing me even harder to get a lathe.

DB


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