# LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens,~200lm* [update(new driver)]



## The_bad_Frag (Apr 9, 2011)

Hi there! :wave:
My second mod.

This time: The LED Lenser P3. It has a 5mm Nichia LED and puts out around 16 lumen.
Let's give it some muscle! :naughty:


*Parts:*

LED Lenser P3
The old driver -> 1*AAA boost driver Not very powerful... (more about this driver - read step 5)
The new driver -> 3-Mode Regulated Circuit Board (shiningbeam) (awesome driver)
CREE XP-G R5 on 16mm star
1 €uro cent (the heatsink) (not longer needed)
Cables, some plastic, and other usual stuff...
Cookies!!!



*Step 1*

Taking everything apart and getting the new parts.
It's not as easy as it sounds. :devil: The plastic part where the focus slides over has glue in the thread. Take 2 water pump pliers and turn it hard. Don't be shy this need some real force to unscrew it. It will leave 2 marks on the plastic. Theres no other way to do it not even that 2-stick-band-ruber-trick from the forums. But those marks doesnt care because you dont see them.
To get the original LED with driver out is again something special. Its soldered to the aluminum body. First I tried to heat the body with a 500°C blow dryer. Doesn't worked because the aluminum conducted the heat to the bench vise and nothing happend. Then I took the welding torch. :devil: 2 seconds and I could push it out with a screwdriver and it still works and no damage to the anodizing.




*

Step 2* (technical changes - read under update)

Creating a spacer with the same size as the original pcb and drilling a 10,5mm hole in the plastic thingy. The spring was from a ballpen.


 





*Step 3* (technical changes - read under update)

Producing the heatsink and spacer. My lathe broke yesterday so I had to drill a hole in the middle of the cent mount it on the thing where I normaly mount the metal grinding disks for my Dremel. Than I put that in my cordless drill and sanded the diameter a bit down and also planed 1 side. The spacer was something laying around on my desk. I cut of a ring with a knive.
Also you can see a 1mm screw in that plastic thing with a filed off head. This fits inside the gap from the lower part of the aluminum head. This blocks the head from turning around and ripping of the cables from the led or driver. And of course I removed the anodizing where the heatsink will be.


 





*Step 4*

Soldering the LED to the driver and putting everything together. Only the thermal paste and the upper head still missing in this pic. :ironic:






*Step 5*

READY! 



Now some testing, beamshots(when its dark today) and some words to the driver.

I think this driver is very weak. This flashlight could make much more light with a better driver. It only gets slightly warm to the touch. I took my multimeter and saw 1,6A 0,93V (eneloop) at the battery. At the LED it was only 0,2A.
First reason: There current has some frequency and my multimeter reads it wrong. I will hook it up to a scope at work(when I have free time) to see whats right.
Second reason: This driver has the worst efficency ever. :thumbsdow

But I will find a solution to get some more light out of it. :devil:


*UPDATE!!!*

Ok new driver is installed!

Now there is a different spacer. I used the gold spring from the original pcb to get less resistance.




The €uro cent and the plastic ring is not longer needed. I just put some thermal paste around the led star and the cables work as little spacer from the driver to the led star. 




Somehow the flashlight has a build-in *overheating protection! *I don't know if its the driver that has a protection that lowers the current if it gets too hot or the eneloop AAA cant keep up the 2A output. When I run it with a fresh eneloop the head of the flashlight get hand warm in 1 minute. After 3 minutes the whole flashlight is really warm but still comfortable to hold and the light output dims a bit. My fingers are save! 

*The new driver* sucks 2,01A @1,20V at the tailcap with a fresh eneloop. It has ~500mA at the LED which makes *~200 lumens from 1xAAA*!!! Sorry that I can't give you exact values because I don't want to solder the led and that driver to my multimeter. And with clamps(not that shitty alligator trash) and the wires holding with my hand it changes all the time. So I took the highest values that showed up on the display which look realistic to me when everything soldered together. Over all a very good driver!

You can clearly see the huge difference in the beamshots. High on the old driver has less light than med on the new.

*Beamshots*



 

 


Led Lenser P3 mod *high,med,low* (the new driver)




Led Lenser P3 mod *high* (the crappy driver)



 


Wolf-Eyes Krait *high* defocused and focused (defocused much brighter to the human eye, very good flashlight)




Fenix LD01 *high*




1000 Lumen test flashlight




25 Years old Philips Halogen XM-L mod


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## johnwoo (Apr 9, 2011)

*Re: LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens**

Good job!



I'm waiting for parts for my MagLite 2*AAA project. I'll post picture soon.


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## The_bad_Frag (Apr 10, 2011)

*Re: LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens**

Thanks.

I just saw that my second package from DX will arrive on monday. Maybe theres something inside that can fix my driver-horsepower-problem. Ill wait with the beamshots until I know if I must rebuild the flashlight a bit...


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## ma_sha1 (Apr 10, 2011)

*Re: LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens**

Good job!

Remind me a crazy little light I did a while ago on the lanser K3 host: The K3 is P3's little brother 

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...hrower-XPE-10280&highlight=crazy+nano+thrower


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## adirondackdestroyer (Apr 10, 2011)

*Re: LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens**

Nice mod! Looks like you need a new driver for this one.

I have the LED Lenser T7 (purchased from Lowe's). Has anyone ever modded one of those? I don't see a way to get the head off, so I'm not sure if it can be done.


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## The_bad_Frag (Apr 10, 2011)

*Re: LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens**

Click on "Modularsystem" http://www.zweibrueder.com/produkte/html_highperformance/html_Tserie/t7.php?id=t7

Everything is screwed together on LED Lenser flashlights. Maybe they put a bit glue in the thread.


...btw that K3 is awesome. :huh:


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## The_bad_Frag (Apr 12, 2011)

*Re: LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens**

Hmmmm my second package didnt had that inside what i wanted. I ordered an Eastward YJ J09 to rip out the driver an put in my P3. That didn't worked because of 2 reasons:

1. The driver was 16mm 
2. The driver is super stupid!
On a fully chraged
Accu Power AA 2900mAh it gets about 500mA
Ansmann AAA 1100mAh it gets about 900mA
Energizer AA Alkaline it gets about 1100mA
Sanyo Eneloop AAA it gets about 2000mA

How stupid is that? The in and output is just luck which nimh you have inside? WTF?

Now I wanna order a driver from shiningbeam. This here http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-176/3-dsh-Mode-Regulated-Circuit-Board/Detail . Does anyone have it and tested how much it can suck out of 1 AAA? This would be very helpful that I dont have another driver fail. :wave:

Maybe beamshots today if it stops raining...:thumbsdow


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## The_bad_Frag (Apr 18, 2011)

*Re: LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens**

Finally some indoor beamshots. :nana:

I hope the new driver arrives soon... :tired:


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## moviles (Apr 19, 2011)

*Re: LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens**

the p3 have plastic dropin,I prefer the k3 with aluminium dropin powered with 10280


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## The_bad_Frag (May 1, 2011)

*Re: LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens**

The new driver arrived! 

Now it sucks 2,01A @1,20V at the tailcap with a fresh eneloop. It has ~500mA at the LED which makes *~200 lumens from 1xAAA*!!! Sorry that I can't give you exact values because I don't want to solder the led and that driver to my multimeter. And with clamps(not that shitty alligator trash) and the wires holding with my hand it changes all the time. So I took the highest values that showed up on the display which look realistic to me when everything soldered together.

The head of the P3 gets hand-warm in 1 minute :twothumbs tomorrrow Ill test how long it takes until I can burn my finger on it. :laughing:

When I focus my Wolf-Eyes Krait R5 (260lm) to the same spot size it is only a little little bit brighter than the P3.

Also I only had to make a few modifications to fit the new driver.

Beamshots and mod pics tomorrow I really need some sleep now...:tired:


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## Art (May 1, 2011)

*Re: LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens**

I would love to have the skills to put a XM-L on my LL P7... great work there , I always loved the LL flood to throw capabilities.


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## The_bad_Frag (May 2, 2011)

*Re: LED Lenser P3 mod *XP-G, 1AAA, aspherical lens**



Art said:


> I would love to have the skills to put a XM-L on my LL P7... great work there , I always loved the LL flood to throw capabilities.



Sadly my P3 doesnt have the flood to throw anymore. The head is completely filled with the driver, cables and the led which makes it impossible to slide.


I updated the first post! :wave: Beamshots in 1 hour!

Beamshots uploaded!


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