# Cree MC-E Turbo Tower, GD1000 driver, KT1 TH, FM 3xC body



## Justin Case (May 27, 2009)

Post deleted.


----------



## wquiles (May 27, 2009)

Very nice project


----------



## darkzero (May 28, 2009)

Never would have thought a MC-E would have fit through the reflector without boring the reflector. Thank you for sharing. :thumbsup:


----------



## LED Zeppelin (May 28, 2009)

A literal square peg in a round hole.

I had just assumed an MC-E would not work on a tower module, thanks for proving me wrong.


----------



## koala (May 28, 2009)

One of my KT head has a smaller hole, the corner legs have to be filed down so short making it hard for connection. But yeah it's a tight fit for all KT heads but it's worth it, the beam is beautiful.


----------



## Justin Case (May 28, 2009)

Post deleted.


----------



## Monocrom (Jun 3, 2009)

That set-up is just sweet. lovecpf


----------



## maxspeeds (Jun 9, 2009)

Thanks for the great pics and awesome work, Justin!


----------



## TigerhawkT3 (Jun 9, 2009)

If you're only driving it at 1A, and in 4P at that, what's the point of using the MC-E? A bit more efficiency over a single-die emitter?


----------



## Justin Case (Jun 10, 2009)

TigerhawkT3 said:


> If you're only driving it at 1A, and in 4P at that, what's the point of using the MC-E? A bit more efficiency over a single-die emitter?



Post deleted.


----------



## TigerhawkT3 (Jun 11, 2009)

Justin Case said:


> Did you look at the beam shots? IMO, the MC-E at 250mA per core (4P at 1000mA) holds its own against an MC-E at 500mA per core (2S2P at 1000mA). If you want throw from an SF TH, then you wouldn't use an MC-E at all. You'd use a single die emitter. If you want a nice combination of throw and spill, then an underdriven MC-E works just fine. Sure I can see a difference vs the 2S2P MC-E in white wall comparison. Do you see much difference in the hallway beam shot? I don't. Outdoors, even my SOB1227-driven 2S2P MC-E (613mA per core) tower might outthrow this underdriven tower by only 15%, except now I'm burning well over 8W of power vs about 3W for the underdriven LED. If I want throw, I'd go with my SSC P4 Mag mod with smooth reflector.
> 
> This build was all about low voltage, low power consumption, low heat, long run time, and flexibility to use C NiMH, AA Eneloops (using C shell adapters), or C alkalines. In fact, I probably can get reasonable performance using AA alkalines in C shell adapters if I'm scrounging for batteries. I could even use 2xC plus a spacer and probably run in regulation in boost mode since Vf~2.95V. I didn't have the goal to build a thrower or a mega-lumens monster, and this light isn't one. SSC P4 towers have better throw since they focus better for a given reflector. I've built plenty of 2S2P MC-E towers driving the LED at up to ~600mA per core. This 4P MC-E build holds its own. I'd estimate about 20% greater lumens output vs an SSC P4 U2xxxH-bin driven at 1000mA, while using about 10% less power than the P4. If I wanted to drive the 4P MC-E harder, I could have used a GD1500 to run the LED at 375mA per core (or even built a GD2800 sandwich for 700mA per core). But then the MC-E would be burning about 4.8W (and about 10W for the sandwich) instead of ~3W, which is contrary to my goals for this build. The light draws 0.865A at the tailcap. With about 5Ah capacity for the Accupower NiMH C cells I'm using, that gives me a run time of almost 6 hours. I measured a hot spot of 5000 lux at 1 meter and a midpoint spill of 140 lux at 1 meter. The hot spot is brighter than my Malkoff M30 and my old Gladius, so the underdriven MC-E is no slouch. The spill is huge and also very bright. It puts the so-called SureFire L4 "wall of light" to shame (of course, this lego is also much bigger than the L4).
> 
> I don't care about max lumens bragging rights, and I don't waste my time on impractical builds. I'm interested in reliability and functionality.


That sounds like you were after efficiency, as I thought - and this light accomplishes that quite well.  Nice work!


----------



## Kestrel (Jun 15, 2009)

Good stuff, I dig the focus on efficiency. How do you think this would compare to a direct-driven Malkoff P7 drop-in in this host, instead of the LED tower + (defocused) turbohead? I'm guessing that the P7 would get initially higher outputs, but with a considerably floodier beam and less runtime?

(BTW what are your plans for that FM 2xC body you recently picked up? It would be cool to update this thread with a side-by-side comparison like I did to compare my two FM C-cell bodies using similiar configurations. Note to others, my sigline has a thread of my related build using the FM bodies and a somewhat different LED tower built by Justin Case - another example of a very efficient build.)


----------



## Justin Case (Jun 16, 2009)

Kestrel said:


> Good stuff, I dig the focus on efficiency. How do you think this would compare to a direct-driven Malkoff P7 drop-in in this host, instead of the LED tower + (defocused) turbohead? I'm guessing that the P7 would get initially higher outputs, but with a considerably floodier beam and less runtime?
> 
> (BTW what are your plans for that FM 2xC body you recently picked up? It would be cool to update this thread with a side-by-side comparison like I did to compare my two FM C-cell bodies using similiar configurations.



Post deleted.


----------



## Kestrel (Jun 16, 2009)

Justin Case said:


> I really didn't want to spend more money on another KT1/KT2 TH, but will probably have to. I was trying to think of a similar, low-power solution that could use a standard 6P drop-in. I might mod a drop-in to use a 4P MC-E and driven by a 3xAMC7135 board.


The thing that I see is that if your goal isn't a high degree of throw, those FM bodies are equally at home using 6P-type drop-ins in a standard SF bezel, so it would be cool to mod a compact drop-in rather than building an LED tower to go into a 2.5" *$*F TH that wouldn't throw like all-get-out.


----------



## Justin Case (Jun 16, 2009)

Post deleted.


----------



## Justin Case (Jul 14, 2009)

Post deleted.


----------



## maxspeeds (Jul 15, 2009)

Great data, Justin! It really shows how much the KT1/KT2 aids in heatsink compared to the shock resistant KT4. 

I'm surprised how cool the 4P MC-E ran at 250mA per core


----------



## Justin Case (Jul 15, 2009)

Post deleted.


----------



## zelda (Jul 15, 2009)

I made also a mod with a tower module, but with a Lux5 @ 1A. https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/220560

When I remove the tower after 30min, its only hand-warm.
The Turbohead is doing a good job.

zelda


----------



## Justin Case (Jul 15, 2009)

Post deleted.


----------



## ElectronGuru (Jul 19, 2009)

Justin Case said:


> As expected, the results mirror the one above for the P4/SOB1000 tower:



Mirror yes, but like 3 times the runtime. This looks like a fun setup too. I've got one of those FM bodies and the 26500's. Now I just need your 'drop-in'. Awesome thread!


PS, did the tailcap spring come with the McClicky?


----------



## Justin Case (Jul 19, 2009)

ElectronGuru said:


> Mirror yes, but like 3 times the runtime. This looks like a fun setup too. I've got one of those FM bodies and the 26500's. Now I just need your 'drop-in'. Awesome thread!
> 
> 
> PS, did the tailcap spring come with the McClicky?


 
The runtime difference is because the P4 tower used 2xAW16340, while the 4P MC-E tower used 1xIMR26500. 
Yes, the McClicky comes with a tail spring. I am thinking of building another MC-E tower.


----------

