My New Magmod Project 13x XP-L 12k Lumens

magudaman

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Jan 7, 2006
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A while back my old mag mod 4x XML got stolen during a break-in and have been craving a new palm sized monster.

I will keep track of the project here as I progress. Here is what I am looking at so far:

4x 3-up Cree XP-L star boards
1x D-Cell Maglite modded to 4-6in length
1x Taskled HBflex
1x 5s lithium battery Lipoly
1x Indicator led
1x Tail switch that is setup for the the HBflex
4x 20mm 3-up acrylic lenses

I hope to mount the HBflex to my primary heat sink with the leds to help me control heat via their firmware.

I realize due to my size constraints I will only have limited run time due to heat and battery power.

I think this should be a fun one though! Any ideas to add?

I will try to get some photos of my old magmod (imageshack died) up and then keep that page up to date with the fun!
 
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magudaman

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I got my V2 magmod photos updated here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?343065-3000-Lumen-Magmod-4x-XMLs-Build-Up

Ok the project has official started!!!
I spent the bulk of the new year's weekend working on the light pretty much non-stop.
So the parts List is modified a little bit in that I decided to go with 13x XP-Ls instead!
I ran the numbers and due to the limits on the HBflex input current at 18 volts and battery voltages in general, I was able to gain about 700 lumens by just adding another emitter while brining the power down some. Basically it was the different between running 13x emitters at 2500ma or 12x at 3000ma.
First I started with layout. I had to double check everything was going to fit. I started with the LEDs (oops had one facing the wrong direction!):

1.jpg



This configuration required just around 2in diameter and I would have to cut down the single star to right around 0.4in x 0.4in
Since the stock maglight head is around 1.9in I had to enlarge the head (pretty thin around the threads!):


2.jpg



Then came the heat spreader/riser. This would be what the LEDs and driver will attach to disapate heat and raise the LEDS so the lens sit against the maglite lens. There is also a pocket on the back for the driver with a hole through to the LEDs. I cut alignment pins on the LEDS to help keep everything in order. The LEDs are epoxied down with thermal adhesive.



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Then of course all the parts together


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So I got stuck on programming the HBflex it took me a while to get the hang of the menu system. This thing is screaming for a programming board or usb port. But it is fully setup for 2500ma, 15v cutoff, goes to lowest brightness at 15.3v all with 5 different brightness modes.
So lastly I worked on building up the battery pack. I am using a Hobbyking Nano 1000mah 15C. These are cylindrical lithium polymer cells. These turned out to be a good choice for the build as they just barely fit inside the maglite body stock!
Here is a single cell next to a AA battery and a normal 18650.


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Here is my completed pack.


7.jpg



What remains:


So I have been stuck the last two day on how I will charge the light without actually opening it up every time. On my V1 and V2 magmods they all required me to open them up to charge with a hobby style charger. This model needed to be different.
So here is the plan. I am going to add a Micro USB (standard android style plug) to the tail cap. The 5v 1a input voltage will feed a bank of isolation dc-dc converters that will run 5x single cell lithium chargers. This will provide charge to the battery while also balacing the battery. Sadly I spent way too much time looking for boost converters and 5s BMS's but couldn't find anything. So I am building up this little unit myself.


The limitation on my setup is size. I really don't have much room left on the light. So I am using high density DC-DC units and surface mount linear lithium chargers. I ordered all my parts and they should be here later this week!
 
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smacame

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Mar 13, 2011
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Very cool build! Looking forward to photos of the completed unit.

Do you find that the built-in switch struggles at all with the fairly high current you're running?
 

Offgridled

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Great job there I looked thru your last build yiu did a few years back and this truly will be amazing to see . You have made skills..[emoji106]
 

magudaman

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Jan 7, 2006
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Very cool build! Looking forward to photos of the completed unit.

Do you find that the built-in switch struggles at all with the fairly high current you're running?


Thanks for for the post! The switch doesn't carry any of the current. Taskled drivers require a momentary switch that closes contacts to a set of inputs and turns the light on. The heavy current is controlled by the driver. That switch is only only good for around 2 amps. I designed for around 7 amps at 17.5v.

Despite the wife starting a bathroom remodel that became my new project too, I was able to make a little progress. I drew up and cut the charger circuit board. The board turned out really great considering the tight tolerances.


9.jpg
 

Hugh Johnson

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Jan 15, 2017
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Incredibly interesting. I'd love to do something like this myself but I don't have the skills. Yet.
 

DrafterDan

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since the OP hasn't done any posts since January, I'd say he's out of the game. 'tis a shame, since there aren't a ton of people with talent and mills/ lathes to follow
 

magudaman

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Jan 7, 2006
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The original lack of recent updates was due to a failure on my charger board (but that escalated to pure lameness and lazyness for quite a few months after that).
The charge board was cut using my small CNC mill with a insanely small endmill:


12.jpg



Here is a little video of the board when I was cutting at 23K rpm spindle speed, 5.5in/min feed:





First off I populated the circuit board with the charge controllers, isolated DC/DC circuits, a couple required capactitors, and current setting resistor. Since the board just made on the mill there is no silk screen coating to help alignment of the components but it actually came together pretty nice.


13.jpg



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I then proceeded to connect each of the individual battery leads. As I connected the final battery lead I accidently shorted two leads together. This appears to have caused a cascading failure that resulted in the destruction of all the charger circuits going out with quite a bit of excitement and smoke.
I was concerned my design was the cause of the failure but with the short in mix I couldn't know for sure. So I asked for a quick look over of my circuit on Allaboutcircuits.com forum and got the green light (sort of) to try it again. I ordered the replacement parts and reassembled the board.

https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/isolated-balacing-battery-charger.131151/

On round two I was very careful during assembly and got everything hooked up with no issue. The board charges perfect as expected! It charges at 1.2 amps at the USB port (5v input). I spec'd the circuit to be 200ma per cell at the battery (5 batteries total), so with losses in the DC/DC, it sounds about right. All cells came up to ~4.20v when completed. The linear chargers do give off a bit of heat (to be expected as they are linear).

Once I got this to work I was able to mill in a USB charging port into the light that would feed my charger board and expoy it into place. I unfortunately for got to account for the diameter of the mill when I programmed the machine and cut the slot too wide. I was able to fill it in with a little black liquid electrical tape and turned out looking pretty good.


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After that was completed and wired up, I finally I was able to start assembly of the light. I put in my battery and charger in first and wired up the switch. I thermally epoxy'ed all the LEDs to the heat spreader and attached the driver to the backside with the thermal adhesive Taskled supplied. I also about destroyed the most center LED trying to cut down the normal star board to a smaller size, you can make out some of the carnage in the below photo.


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20.jpg


I will post some beauty shots (taken with quite a bit of wear and tear on the light from use) and some beam shots!
 
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Weld Inspector

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Jul 28, 2016
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That array is amazing u have an eye for precision!

I can only imagine how tasking that must have been.

Question are u up for doing any mods for memebers?

I have a FM mag host and parts that I 5hink I'm in over my head with but from the pics you've posted would be a walk in the park for u.
 
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