# Triple Rebel 100 @2.5A in d26/p60 format



## Linger (Jan 26, 2010)

Emitter
The obvious inspiration for this is the Moddoo triple. There is a source for bin selected Rebel 100's, (3000k, 4000k, 5000k,etc: I used 2x3000k, 1x4000k) in Ontario, and the flux is listed higher then any cree warm tints (Rebel spec's [email protected]).
I reflowed these onto a 20mm triple star. They were my 3rd, 4th, and 5th reflowed emitters (1st and 2nd went to a quad [email protected]) and went perfectly, the liquid solder emerging in a moment as the emiter settled down on it. More efficient then AA or thermal expoxy, now the emiter slug is soldered onto the contact pad.
I wired these in parrallel.




Each emitter has it's own -'ve coming off the driver. I connected one +'ve to the board and joined the two other contact pads to it. The wiring was a challenge but I'm very happy with the low voltage requirement (the 3p rebels actually tested well w 2s eneloop, 2.4v open circuit so the drop-in would run-on for some time with a primary cell)

Optic
I've grown fond of optics vs. reflectors. I want to see what I shine the light at, and I like the gradual fade to the periphery. Optics have gotten good reviews in some headlamps as being 'more natural' and suiting the higher concentration of rods towards the center of the eye and gradual distribution towards the periphery. (The Ledil Boom is another great one for this beam pattern) I selected the Carlco 'narrow' for this, reported as 12.5FHW, this was as narrow as I could get (3x 5.5FHW polymer optics wouldn't fit the host). This will be my premier wilderness light so it needed decent range to fit the req.
Driver
Easiest would have been to run the emitters in series but that limits my power options, and I'm not familiar with 11.1v drivers. The SB 8x7135 is my consistently performing favourite, low-mid-high + memory, discharge protection...it's great. I should knock the polarity protection off, but I'll do it in with an emitter less dear to me.




Wiring
All 26g Teflon coated wires, in all contact points. Since I started into Incan I read a lot about [email protected] resistance mods. With incan, higher voltage is more power, so after a light is designed to meet over-drive spec everything that can be done to reduce resistance and actualy meet that spec is done. It seems common misperception that lower led drive currents haven't made this so pivital, but I've been looking back through reviews and every one I see reports tailcap reading well below the advertised spec. While the majority of it is in cheap batteries, this is a hobby so I have time to do silly things like run wires through my contact springs.




I added an additional -'ve contact wire and a seperate black wire to each emitter.





Beamshots
(I have a univ. exchange student from HK renting an appartment, it is her bed cover and shows the beam colour excellently)





With Moddoo triple xpe




no comments on battery strenght, triple xpe powered by 2x123's, tripel rebel by an 18650. Hotspot roughly equal, note the excellent colour blending of the 3 rebel emitters, the triple rebel 100 looks uniform even with two 3000k and a 4000k emitter (tint difference visible only when tested individually)





Slight difference in beams - the xpe triple larger hotspot, triple rebel smaller hotspot but smoother spread, larger 'corona' visible around the spot. So while xpe seems to 'eat' into rebel hotspot the rebel corona reaches almost to the bed and wraps around nicely.

This is a solid combination and an excellent beam. The triple rebel has a defined hotspot for decent range, good blending around the center with a large usable beam that is bigger then traditional hotspot of a reflector and brighter as the majority of light concentrated in the center, less 'waste' lumens spilt around the 180 radius.

Thank-you.
Linger


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## Moddoo (Jan 26, 2010)

Nice work, and nice set of pictures too.

Thanks for sharing.


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## HarryN (Jan 26, 2010)

Hi - nice work. I have a question on your optic selection and put it in the LED Rebel optics section.

Thanks

HarryN


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## spencer (Jan 26, 2010)

Three things.
1. Your source for LEDs. (Luxeonstar.com?)
2. Link to driver.
3. Pic of completed light.

Looks good.

Spencer.


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## Linger (Jan 27, 2010)

Thank-you.

Spencer - yes Luxeonstar, boards, emitters, and optic. I had each of these from other sources but they're all there too.
Driver is from SB, I should admit I use this with all my higher output lights. ssx -50's, mc-e's, p7's, triples, my double_xpg
http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-132/3-dsh-Mode-Regulated-Circuit-Board/Detail

pic, right, coming.


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## js-lots (Jan 27, 2010)

Linger nice mod. Did you solder the board to a contact ring? What did you do to hold the board in place. Is it potted? Thanks.


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## Mettee (Jan 30, 2010)

I was looking at this http://www.luxeonstar.com/premounte...-leds-on-a-20mm-tristar-base-540-lm-p-672.php

And it says 540lm at 700ma, so at 2.5a that is close to 2k lumen. Is my math right? edit: didnt look right now I am seeing 700 or so lm...oooops 

Great project and nice work.


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## Linger (Jan 30, 2010)

Mettee,
I reflowed them myself. In the first pic there is a cree xre q4, then a xpe and a xpg, then above you see a little 3pc of rebel100's. And the blank triple board I reflowed them onto.

Luxeon star specs the 100: [email protected], [email protected]

With a decent power supply it is a powerful drop-in. I recieved 2 more AW imr 18650's yesterday and they do push the triple awfully well.


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## Linger (Jan 30, 2010)

js-lots,
potting is an option, I haven't settled on it yet.
I have a conductive epoxy, it is a small bottle designed to repair breaks in rear-window defoger wiring. As my heatsink is aluminium I can't solder too it - wish I could it'd make everything a lot easier.

Js - rest of answers in PM, ask away.


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## Lupino.86 (Feb 6, 2010)

NICE PICS! nice macro! 
Which camera do you use? Canon 1D?


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## Mettee (Feb 6, 2010)

seems like SB no longer has that driver on the site.....


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## Geir68 (Feb 7, 2010)

Mettee said:


> seems like SB no longer has that driver on the site.....


I cant find ANY of the drivers on the SB site. Not the 2.8A one nor the 3-mode 1A driver...hopefully this is only a glitch. These drivers are THE best for modding.


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## Mettee (Feb 7, 2010)

well if all else fails we can make our own amc sandwiches, bummer if SB doesnt sell them anymore, I am thinking they are getting a lot of attention on these since the xpe triple came out. Maybe they pull them off the site when they run out?


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## Linger (Feb 7, 2010)

Mettee - I can spare you a 2.8A driver but I don't have enough for a bulk order.

SB only lists items that are in stock. It's an excellent system in some respects, little hassle b/c if you see something it's there to buy.
Send off an email and Bryan will say when the next shipment is expected in.


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## Mettee (Feb 7, 2010)

linger, very nice of you I appreciate it. I have a lot of amc chips here so I should be fine. I am more worried about the heatsink, I cant buy one of those  

So I will have to make my own on the lathe which is not a big deal, I just have to find the time. Moddoo doesnt sell them anymore.

I will be taking my time on this, I found out a long time ago that a rushed project never turns out as well as I would like it to.


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## Mettee (Feb 9, 2010)

I am curious, do you guys think the shark with remora or just the shark for that matter, could run these in series with the right battery? 

I wonder what would be the most efficient way to do it, series or parallel like you have with an AMC based driver.


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## Blindasabat (Feb 9, 2010)

Nice setup. I am starting to think about making a setup like this if I decide a single emitter on my helmet is not enough. I will probably go single level series setup with a boost driver and 2x18650. I will make sure the narrowest optic will fit if I'm using it as a helmet light.

What are you putting this in? A P60 host?

I got a few Rebels from Luxeonstar too. They sell them on 10mm square and 20mm star boards now, but seem continually out of stock. I grabbed a few when I saw them available. I wish somebody would sell them by Vf binning too. 

The drivers are back in stock today on Shiningbeam.


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## Black Rose (Mar 6, 2010)

Where did you get the reflector for this build? and the liquid solder?


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## Linger (Mar 6, 2010)

optic is Carlco from Luxeon star but also available from Cutter (and Electron Guru used to sell them maybe he still does?)

Solder is from DX, they shipped it for me in 2 days IIRC. Take precautions with the fumes, but IMHO totally worth it. Testing joint strength I pulled a 24guage wire I'd soldered to a contact pad on a P7 light engine - the joint didn't give, I ended up ripping the contact pad off and pulling the wire trace right off the P7 board. So the paste joint seems strong enough for me.


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## Black Rose (Mar 6, 2010)

Linger said:


> optic is Carlco from Luxeon star but also available from Cutter (and Electron Guru used to sell them maybe he still does?)


Oops...I should have said pill, not reflector.



> Solder is from DX


Thanks....I found it on their site.


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## Hack On Wheels (Mar 6, 2010)

Black Rose said:


> Oops...I should have said pill, not reflector.
> 
> 
> Thanks....I found it on their site.



Link?

This triple is a great project... if I get some lathe time I might have to consider making something like this. Thanks for the thread and pics!


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## Black Rose (Mar 6, 2010)

Hack On Wheels said:


> Link?


I believe it's sku 4711.



> This triple is a great project... if I get some lathe time I might have to consider making something like this. Thanks for the thread and pics!


Depending on what luxeonstar says on Monday (they sent me a neutral tri-star instead of the single neutral mounted LED I ordered), I may have a rebel tri-star that I'll "need" to do something with.


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## Linger (Mar 7, 2010)

Hack On Wheels said:


> if I get some lathe time I might have to consider making something like this



If you did a run of 20 blank aluminium heatsink/drop-in bodies, you'd sell them all in a day.


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## Hack On Wheels (Mar 7, 2010)

Black Rose said:


> I believe it's sku 4711.
> 
> Depending on what luxeonstar says on Monday (they sent me a neutral tri-star instead of the single neutral mounted LED I ordered), I may have a rebel tri-star that I'll "need" to do something with.



Thanks! 
Is the tri-star one suited for the triple optics or is it the one where they are all very close together?



Linger said:


> If you did a run of 20 blank aluminium heatsink/drop-in bodies, you'd sell them all in a day.



Well, unless I get my own lathe I don't know how likely it is I'd have much lathe time soon. If I do get some time it probably wouldn't be enough to do more than one or two for myself. What did you use for the heatsink? I'll have to look into the dimensions for something like this.


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## Black Rose (Mar 8, 2010)

Hack On Wheels said:


> Thanks!
> Is the tri-star one suited for the triple optics or is it the one where they are all very close together?


It is the new style tri-star (not the Endor tri-star with LEDs close together).

It is suitable for the Carclo Tri-LED optics.


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## powerup93 (Apr 15, 2010)

Is there a particular reason in wiring the -ve for each emitter to the board.....more stability? So, as you have it now, you've got three -ve from the leds going to the board right and only the one +ve from the leds going to the board. I'm in the process of somehow making one of these and was just curious.


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## Linger (Apr 15, 2010)

Thanx for the question:
I wanted the emitter's in parallel, knowing that 2.5-2.8a was a lot to expect from a single 18650 I wanted to keep resistance down. Minimizing connections is one way of doing this. Since I had space up the center of the drop-in, I included a seperated -'ve wire for each emitter. (to do it again, I would have pulled each -'ve from separate 7135's, just to neaten it up)

The shared +'ve lead done as a durable, efficient pathway. There might not have been space to run another 3 +'ve leads through the center.


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## HarryN (May 4, 2010)

Hi Linger - I like this mod so much I keep looking at it.

I was curious if you had any chance to measure lux readings, or get a sense of how it does outside? For instance - at 50 meters - is it useful or is that too far?

Thanks

Harry


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## COAST (May 6, 2010)

Nice!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Linger (May 10, 2010)

Thank-you for the kind words Coast.

Harry,
 I like this mod too, so much that I keep using it a lot. You know I don't have any measurements on it, but I recieved an invatation to have it rated and your question has made me decide to do it.
It is highly useful at 100m. The Rebels spread out a lot more than I expected, but being that this unit puts out so much light it is plenty useful.
It made it for night hiking. The warm elements of the 3000k rebels bring out the earth and bark in the forest and facilitate long-range spotting (where-as cool tints appear to bring out an impenetrable wall of folliage: people feel trapped by a gastly conjurer). The triple rebel is useful for navigating when thick in-forest, and if you're fortunate enough to be on a trails or logging road, it can light it up much like a vehicle headlamp.


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## Black Rose (Jun 30, 2010)

A question regrding the electronics for this.

The Rebels are speced at 1A max each.

You are driving 3 LEDs from a driver designed for a single LED, is the 2.5A being split 3 ways (i.e. 830A to each LED)?


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## Linger (Jun 30, 2010)

correctish. The driver in stock form would read up to 2.7A
Yes they are done in parrallel (which means vf variation could cause imbalances), I love the format for the easy availability of power options.

I've since added 2x 7135's and now read up to 3.1x amps.
FYI - changed to the narrowest frosted optic (which may be a frosted medium). HUGE improvement in beam quality, completely soft and diffuse lighting. It's the ideal light output for a headlamp (and, hella bright. Low is good for most, medium for minor construction, and 'high' is perfectly illuminated for all major power tools) so I'm planning to separate the rebel triple from the d26 heatsink.


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