# Tripple SSR-50 Mag



## Mettee (Apr 17, 2010)

I figured I would do a write up on this build. I have been around the site for a while and have been modding a lot of lights in the background. I just dont find the time to post up a thread on the builds, but I figured I would give it a try.

I did some research on parts I wanted to use and had a good idea of what I was going to do. I wanted to use DerWitchtels new improved heat sink because I knew it would help with keeping things cooler. It extends down deeper into the mag body and allows a place to attach the drivers. I had some questions on what reflector to use so I asked DerWitchtel and he was able to give me enough info to decide to use the older style MCE reflector, which turns out to be a great combo with the SSR-50. 







The first thing I had to do was to fit the leds to the heat sink. This required removal of about .020 from the bottom of each star. I did this over the course of a few days it was tedious work. I had one lost soul, you can see there in the background 






Glued LEDs in place with AA. 






Next part that I worked on was the regulation for this light. I decided to use an AMC board set up to provide about 4.2a with 3 modes.






And I was able to use 20 gauge wire...






Things in place in the back, later I potted them in place with some clear epoxy.






I have not seen too many people use the new style switch so I thought I would post a pic of how I made battery contact. Modding the rest of the switch is the same for clicky or momentary. A small hole is drilled first, then with that metal piece out I place a small nut inside it and re-install it in the switch housing. Once its back in place I screw the brass screw in through the hole into the nut. Worked out great.











Then I worked a little more on the business end. Soldering was tough with the heat sink sucking away all the heat  I wish they had turned out better but I think they are still good.






Once I was done here I wired the switch and tested things....its alive...on low.






Cleaning and assembly. Getting rid of the dust.






Reflectors in. ETA: I did remove material from the bottom of the reflector to allow the wires to pass better and to make 
sure there were not any shorts. There were no problems but I wanted to make sure.






That is the majority of the wiring. For the battery holder I used a simple piece of PVC because it works very well. I added an o-ring to help keep the holder in place while changing batteries. Both ends are cut and a chamfer is placed on the ID with the lathe. Nothing special.







I also plan on an 18650 PVC holder made from solid stock, I just have to pick that up. 

Tail cap has been modded and shortened, we have all seen enough of that. I did add a small Al pill to the spring to protect the battery.

All finished up with UCL lens. Saw the smudge in this pic and went back and cleaned it off.






Sorry to those of you who saw this thread early, it posted and I am not sure why...then when I went to fix it I got bit by the great and awesome "Vista"


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## weklund (Apr 17, 2010)

Thanks for sharing this one. Looks outstanding so far. Looking forward to your progress....:twothumbs


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## Mettee (Apr 17, 2010)

stupid thing was not supposed to post yet... oops. there is a lot more. Give me a few minutes.


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## Nitroz (Apr 17, 2010)

Hmmm....I don't see anything?


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## Linger (Apr 17, 2010)

I presume you've doubled the 7135chips, and you're using Download's trick of running 2 emitters outside the drivers while regulating the current with the AMC chips on the 3rd.
Beamshots of the happy ending (end of building, new beginning of uber flashlight using)


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## Justin Case (Apr 17, 2010)

Re: your clever Batt+ switch contact





How much electrical contact is there between the screw and the sheet metal contact from the switch? Presumably, the area of the screw head (minus the shank)? It might be good to flow some solder to create a more solid electrical connection. Maybe redundant, but I like redundancy.

I solder a copper spacer for my Batt+ contact on these new style Mag switches. Sometimes, if I want a spring contact, I clip a few turns from the Mag incandescent bulb spring and use that.

I like your solution for cases where I might want to run a wire through the switch to Batt+.


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## Mettee (Apr 17, 2010)

Linger

Here are some ugly beam shots, as you guessed its pretty much stupid bright. Can very easily beat 3x P7s and the beam is hands down perfect, no matter if its a white wall or outside. I had to do these fast so there is some blur.

Control






And two pics on high. My camera could not get it, but its about twice as bright as it shows. 











One more set, control. It is over exposed, I think that is what you call it. It was actually much darker.






High. I think this one shows the shear output the best.






Justin

Didnt see any need for solder, resistance is not a problem after a few different tests and I was able to get the screw very tight. Solder would be hard to add and you would have to do it with everything in place with this method. It would take a lot of heat and possibly melt the housing a little. Not an option for me. If I were to mod this same switch for momentary I would have drilled two holes in various places and passed the positive wire through them. Then, I would have soldered the wire to the flat metal spring and still would have done the small brass nut and bolt as shown here.

Contact is minimal, I am assuming you mean the distance that screw sticks up. It caused no damage to battery tops after I drop tested this set up in one of my other lights with the same battery and switch combo. In the pic it kinda shows the rough grinding I did on the top of the screw, I actually finished it much better but did not get a pic.

I saw that this switch would be a real problem for people following build tutorials, they may not know how to handle it. I hope it helps.




I was very impressed, this light actually had good throw for these little reflectors. The hot spot was awesome, and you can see the spill was usable and abundent. I had fun building this light it was a challenge, mostly due to the fine detail work that took so long to finish.




.


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## wquiles (Apr 17, 2010)

Justin Case said:


> Re: your clever Batt+ switch contact


+1

Very nice project :thumbsup:


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## jasonck08 (Apr 18, 2010)

Excellent build! So how much total current are you feeding each SSR-50 on high?


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## Mettee (Apr 18, 2010)

Thanks a bunch Will, I admire your work so coming from you that means something. 

Jason, each in LED is getting 4.2A on high. I did that for 2 reasons....battery life/run time and to keep heat down so it can/could be used on high for longer periods of time.


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## aurum (Apr 18, 2010)

Wow great build .... 

EDIT: the 7135 is only up to 6v ... How did you do this? Could you post a picture of the whole light?


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## ti-force (Apr 18, 2010)

Nice work. :thumbsup:


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## TallNHairyDave (Apr 18, 2010)

Nice work mate!


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## Mettee (Apr 18, 2010)

Thanks guys

Aurum,

Take this and substitute the P7 for the SSR/SST. 

The whole light is just a black 3D mag so you have seen it before. I didn't even take any pics of it to be honest. Its a sleeper. If there is something specific you want to know about just ask I don't mind sharing details.






I have to add that I did feel better to be able to use 20 gauge in this build. I also think that it 
does help with performance by reducing resistance better than 24 gauge. It was harder to use 
and I had to be careful and hand bend the wires, but well worth the extra work. I mentioned this
a little before but I wanted to stress it again.


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## Linger (Apr 18, 2010)

Thank-you for posting some beam shots. Glad to hear reflectors work even better then expected.
Well done!


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## aurum (Apr 18, 2010)

thx .... Do you have any comparison with any (c- or d-bin) 3*P7 setup?


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## Mettee (Apr 18, 2010)

No I dont have any beam shot comparisons but I have built about 20 or so triple P7s(D bin) so I see what they can do often and compared to the SSR-50 they do not keep up.

The SSR set up does produce a very good hot spot that throws out to about 100 yards or so. The last pic in my beam shots show a big green tree far out, with a P7 light that would not have as much light on it. And I did try and focus the majority of the spot onto the cars parked there at the end.


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## aurum (Apr 18, 2010)

> I have built about 20 or so triple P7s(D bin)



 ... For sell?


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## Brian321 (Apr 18, 2010)

Thanks for the great build. Here is a couple beamshots.

They are not that great and i dont know what the camera setting was drunk but it is the same for both pictures.


First is a Jetbeam RRT-0 on high (240 Lumens)







Next is the triple SSR-50 on high (??? Lumens)


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## Der Wichtel (Apr 18, 2010)

Very good job.

I think the die size of the SST50 is smaller compared to Seoul P7 thus the beam profile is better.


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## aurum (Apr 18, 2010)

:twothumbs ... have you bought the 3*sst-50?


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## Brian321 (Apr 18, 2010)

aurum said:


> :twothumbs ... have you bought the 3*sst-50?


 
Yea, He made it for me. It is an awesome light and VERY bright with good throw.

Brian


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## Mettee (Apr 18, 2010)

aurum said:


> ... For sell?



Yeah I sell them to friends and PD, and I do some charity(free) work for mil friends and family, etc.

brian,

how did she do on the trip? Have enough light in the caves?


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## Mettee (Apr 18, 2010)

Der Wichtel said:


> Very good job.
> 
> I think the die size of the SST50 is smaller compared to Seoul P7 thus the beam profile is better.



...glad you saw it DW, I was going to send it to you. thanks for the help. I have to mention that Derwitchtel (Yitao) is a great seller to deal with. I have used many of his products in my builds and they are always great to use.


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## Brian321 (Apr 18, 2010)

Mettee said:


> Yeah I sell them to friends and PD, and I do some charity(free) work for mil friends and family, etc.
> 
> *brian,*
> 
> *how did she do on the trip? Have enough light in the caves?*


 
It was great. A very awesome light. I didnt take it in the cave and doubt that i will.

Its by far the best light i have so far, Untill you build me my next light......but well leave talk about that untill its finished


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## Mettee (Apr 19, 2010)

Aurum was inquiring about the cost of this build so I thought I would let everyone know about what it cost so you would have an idea. It is not for the faint of heart...The parts are about $290 and the labor from just about every modder on here would range from $80 to $120 as a guess, maybe more. There are many many hours into this light. I think I made less than $4 an hour to build it once all was said and done. But I had fun doing it


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## tx101 (Apr 19, 2010)

Mettee said:


> Aurum was inquiring about the cost of this build so I thought I would let everyone know about what it cost so you would have an idea. It is not for the faint of heart...The parts are about $290 and the labor from just about every modder on here would range from $80 to $120 as a guess, maybe more. There are many many hours into this light. I think I made less than $4 an hour to build it once all was said and done. * But I had fun doing it *



Thats the whole point of building lights for next to nothing :twothumbs
I recently build a mega lumen light for another member and made
nothing for it .... I did it for the fun of it 

After building that light, I was thinking about building one for myself
but after reading about your light, I might copy your one


.
I have a bored 3 x 17670 Mag host that will fit the bill very nicely


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## Mettee (Apr 19, 2010)

tx101

That will for sure be a nice build. Very compact. People will be shocked. And I have to agree its mostly for the fun and enjoyment of doing the work 

Let me know when you finish your build I want to see it.

drew


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## overdog (Apr 20, 2010)

Hello Mettee,
very nice build, thank you for sharing pics- I really like your idea using a DerWichtel heatsink and reflectors- I think I will take your idea and try this in my tripple SSR-90 with his P7 reflectors... 
best regards,
Steffen.


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## Mettee (Apr 22, 2010)

overdog,

That will work well. I used Battery Space 26650 IMRs, if you use the same or equivalent you will be good to go. They fit well when you shorten the tail cap spring. I have used these batteries in most of the triple led builds I have done and they do well.


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## kodama (Apr 22, 2010)

Sweet project! I want to switch to your setup now from my P7's :sigh:.


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## HarryN (Apr 22, 2010)

Pretty impressive. I didn't really expect that much throw.


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## Brian321 (Apr 23, 2010)

HarryN said:


> Pretty impressive. I didn't really expect that much throw.


 
The pictures dont really do it justice. It has alot of throw IMHO.

Brian


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## Mettee (Apr 24, 2010)

yeah I kicked it on, and was like WOW....I would say the throw is like a single P7 in one of the deep rebel mag reflectors as far as distance. But it is sure a lot brighter. I was impressed with the distance, it shames the throw of a tri-P7. 

I was thinking about adding one or two more amc chips to this light down the road just for fun(bump it up from 4.2 to 5a)...... and maybe an aspheric as well if it would work.

glad you like it guys.


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## Dioni (Apr 24, 2010)

Good job!


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## Aircraft800 (Apr 25, 2010)

I'd love to see what it could do driven a little harder to 5A with the new H6CC High Current Buck converter.


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## Mettee (Apr 25, 2010)

Aircraft800,

I would have to add more battery and that was not an option with this light. I wanted to keep it a 3 cell set up and the AMC solution fit that bill. I thought about the package a lot before doing it and I really am glad it turned out as planned....a little luck and a little skill 

I do plan a build with the H6flex when it arrives, look out for than one it will be nuts.


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## jasonck08 (Apr 25, 2010)

Mettee said:


> Thanks a bunch Will, I admire your work so coming from you that means something.
> 
> Jason, each in LED is getting 4.2A on high. I did that for 2 reasons....battery life/run time and to keep heat down so it can/could be used on high for longer periods of time.


 
I'm very confused about your driver setup.

All I see you using is two AMC boards. How are you achieving 4.2A from 3, Li-ion batteries.

Please list out the exact drivers you used. Thanks! :thumbsup:


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## Mettee (Apr 26, 2010)

Its ok, dont be confused.

I am using a 3 mode 2.8a amc board found here

http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/StoreFront

But you may use any 1400ma multi mode board found on DX or Kai. If you use one of these you will need to double up the 1400ma slave. 

And any 1400ma slave board will do. Can be found at DX or Kai.

Go to page 1 for a drawing of the wiring. That will explain it.


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## Al Combs (Apr 26, 2010)

jasonck08 said:


> I'm very confused about your driver setup.
> 
> All I see you using is two AMC boards. How are you achieving 4.2A from 3, Li-ion batteries.
> 
> Please list out the exact drivers you used. Thanks! :thumbsup:


Here's the original Download thread. This is one of those really great ideas.


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## Mettee (Apr 28, 2010)

here this thread should help you, it is very in depth.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/230807

If you are not sure about a connection please ask I dont mind.


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## 420light (Apr 29, 2010)

Sweet.


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## Fulgeo (Apr 29, 2010)

Mettee said:


> overdog,
> 
> That will work well. I used Battery Space 26650 IMRs, if you use the same or equivalent you will be good to go. They fit well when you shorten the tail cap spring. I have used these batteries in most of the triple led builds I have done and they do well.



Thanks for sharing your work Mettee. I just wanted to say that I have 5 of those Battery Space IMR26650 and they are very nice cells worth the price.


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## Mettee (Apr 29, 2010)

Thanks guys and you are welcome I dont mind showing builds and I think I will do it more. 

I would tell anyone to do this build, its a far cry from how the older tri leds builds perform. The only thing about tri builds is they are all flood, not this one


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## irv_usc (Apr 29, 2010)

So, were you totally happy with using the MCE reflectors vs P7?

I thought about doing this with the Ledil SST- reflectors, but not sure how they would fit into the der witchel sink.


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## Mettee (Apr 29, 2010)

This set up actually turned out perfect, it was surprise to me how much better it was than a P7 set up. 

The SST-50 will not do as well in the P7 reflector. It is perfectly matched to the MCE reflector by chance, and that is a good thing for all of us and especially DerWitchtel since he can sell those for this new series of leds. I did the ground work for it and I can tell you all its a good combo. Use it with confidence.

The Ledils will not fit into the DW heatsink. And I am sure they wont work as well as the DW MCE designed ones with the SST or SSR-50


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## jasonck08 (Apr 29, 2010)

Ok I understand what drivers you used, I have the same drivers in hand and I've built several lights with them... About 20 3D mags using P7's, XP-G's etc.

But the AMC based drivers are only good for up to 6V input voltage.

I don't know how your able to use 3xLion cells which would be 12.6v fully charged.

Are you driving each individual LED at 4.2A? I don't know how thats possible with the mentioned drivers...


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## Fulgeo (Apr 30, 2010)

jasonck08 said:


> Ok I understand what drivers you used, I have the same drivers in hand and I've built several lights with them... About 20 3D mags using P7's, XP-G's etc.
> 
> But the AMC based drivers are only good for up to 6V input voltage.
> 
> ...


 
Its all in the circuit. The driver he has come up with limits the current to the one SST-50 emitter it drives. The other emitters must follow suit. Also if we assume that the Vf of the emitters is 3.5 volts at 4.2 amps even with a fully charged 3 x Lion cells battery pack at 12.6 volts the driver would only see about 5.6 volts. This is the same kind of set up I use for my Triple SSC P7 Mod driven at 2.8 amps. It works and it works well.


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## Mettee (Apr 30, 2010)

Fulgeo said:


> Its all in the circuit. The driver he has come up with limits the current to the one SST-50 emitter it drives. The other emitters must follow suit. Also if we assume that the Vf of the emitters is 3.5 volts at 4.2 amps even with a fully charged 3 x Lion cells battery pack at 12.6 volts the driver would only see about 5.6 volts. This is the same kind of set up I use for my Triple SSC P7 Mod driven at 2.8 amps. It works and it works well.


 
Jason, Fulgeo explained it perfectly. Think of it like this, the first two leds soak up additional power, so when power gets to the 3rd led(attached to the main board) in line the voltage is less. So the extra 5v or so go through the last led/amc board with regulation. That board regulates the entire set up because it is last in line, kinda a bottle neck if that makes sense. And yes it does drive the entire series of leds at 4.2a....or what ever amount you make the amc sandwich. I mentioned something about adding additional amc chips on top of what was there and you could go up over 5a if you wanted to 

If you are concerned, wire it up and try it...it will work  And i have many mods as well that use this board set up.


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## Sig32 (May 2, 2010)

Nice build. I am seriously considering making this my first one, but I have a couple of questions. Have you done any run times on either the IMR's or 18650's? Also, after long periods of use, how is it in regards to heat (with either battery)? Thanks


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## Mettee (May 2, 2010)

This light uses 26650 IMR's. It could run on 18650s as well...but run time would fall

Obviously run time depends on level you have the light on...but for high I would guess around 30 to 40 min continuous and only hand held...If you are not holding it to check temps I would check it every so often to make sure it is not scorching hot.

Maybe one of the people that like to calculate run times will chime in. 

I kept temps down with good heat sinking and by keeping amps down to 4.2A. You can do less or more amps if you chose. But it is a usable light for sure.

ETA: 30 minutes use battery to 3.87v, and the 30 minute number is conservative. ETA: again, at a confirmed 4.2a at tail with a meter.


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## ttwhin (Jul 25, 2010)

Mettee said:


> I had some questions on what reflector to use so I asked DerWitchtel and he was able to give me enough info to decide to use the older style MCE reflector



Very nice build!
What is the difference between "older" style and the current MCE reflector that DerWitchtel sell ?


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## Mettee (Jul 29, 2010)

...well what I know, there is a new style heat sink that he makes. It is longer where it sits in the body. Makes for better heat sinking. As far as the MCE reflector, it was made for the older style sink, and is "short" in the new style. Which helped with fitting a star between the heat sink and reflector. The SSR-50 performed very well in the old style MCE reflector.


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## dakyone (Apr 5, 2011)

Does anyone have any spare of those heatsinks? ...Or refectors? I really want to make a dive light using these parts but I learned today they aren't being made anymore? :shakehead


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## Mettee (Apr 7, 2011)

I sent a message to a buddy of mine who might have one...he or I will let you know


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## Mettee (Apr 7, 2011)

and also



Der Wichtel said:


> I will change to Cree XM-L. The heatsink will be slightly different but very similar.


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## dakyone (Apr 8, 2011)

Yeah, i saw that. I posted my desperation before he had come out and said that.  I am pretty sure I want to go with the XM-L setup. This will be my first build, and I am making a dive light. Still wondering if the reflector or lens is the way to go. I want the tightest beam possible. I would have been done by now if I had gone with overdriven halogen, but the people on this forum have inspired me to aim bright and keep reading and learn enough to do the LED way. Now that I think I am ready the technology keeps advancing faster than I can decide what components to buy!


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