# easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90 *outside-pics*



## overdog (Dec 5, 2009)

Hello,
After building a Mag 1D with SST-90 I decided to build one with more runtime, these parts I put together:

custom made heatsink for SSR-90, handmade modified DX reflector:






other side of heatsink and reflector:





everything in place:





Mag 4D with SSR-90:






I put in four freshly charged 1,2V Ni-MH 4500mAh batteries and measured the current at hte tailcap:






And here is this light in action, beamshot at a white wall with about 2 meters distance:






I will post some outdoor beamshots later, but tonight its very rainy here close to Frankfurt...


best regards,


Steffen.


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## Al Combs (Dec 5, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*

That looks awesome! Can't wait to see the beamshots. Did you ever get to try the d2Flex in your 1D shorty? If it can take the power, it should definitely help with the heat.

I had a good laugh at myself the other day. I was trying to think of the guy that made the SST-90 with 4*AA NiMH batteries. Then I realized from mdocod's response to one of your posts in the P7 voltage thread it was you. As my old boss used to say, "What a dummkopf".


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## moviles (Dec 5, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*

nice, easy , powerfull, and with good runtime :twothumbs

and you read 11 amp  maybe the new world record with sst-90 flashlights





caution I can read in your tester 10 amp max:duck: 

I like mods with star (ssr-90) like your mod


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## Al Combs (Dec 5, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*



moviles said:


> caution I can read in your tester 10 amp max:duck:


I have a funny storysick about 10A unfused DMM's. Call this one Dummkopf_2. I had just finished a build using these 26650 batteries. They say A123 but I think they meant Molicell (4.2V). I inadvertently hooked my poor 10A meter (max for 15 seconds) with my homemade 18 gauge test leads to measure voltage. The LCD read 67 something. Luckily I pulled the probes away while I'm trying to figure out why my new meter wasn't reading correctly.:thinking: Suddenly smoke starts pouring out of the plus terminal connection. The one you use for everything besides 10 amps, aka the open hole. The funny thing issick this meter at the time was only a few weeks old. Not very expensive but still very new. I took it apart to see what I smoked and it looked OK. I put it together and it still read OK. It was just melted flux around the solder connections of the 10 amp shunt that was smoking.


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## moviles (Dec 6, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*



moviles said:


> caution I can read in your tester 10 amp max:duck:





Al Combs said:


> I have a funny storysick about 10A unfused DMM's. Call this one Dummkopf_2. I had just finished a build using these 26650 batteries. They say A123 but I think they meant Molicell (4.2V). I inadvertently hooked my poor 10A meter (max for 15 seconds) with my homemade 18 gauge test leads to measure voltage. The LCD read 67 something. Luckily I pulled the probes away while I'm trying to figure out why my new meter wasn't reading correctly.:thinking: Suddenly smoke starts pouring out of the plus terminal connection. The one you use for everything besides 10 amps, aka the open hole. The funny thing issick this meter at the time was only a few weeks old. Not very expensive but still very new. I took it apart to see what I smoked and it looked OK. I put it together and it still read OK. It was just melted flux around the solder connections of the 10 amp shunt that was smoking.



its a joke man 

with this tester we can read 19.99 amp max for some seconds without problems :thumbsup:


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## Aircraft800 (Dec 6, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*

*Nice easy build! I've got one in the works using a PWM for lower levels.*



moviles said:


> and you read 11 amp  maybe the new world record with sst-90 flashlights


 
ledaholic was pushing a little over 42 watts to his SST-90 Mag, 11.45A and 3.7V at the emitter with the stock switch! That's overdriving it just a bit :twothumbs.


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## Al Combs (Dec 6, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*



moviles said:


> its a joke man
> 
> with this tester we can read 19.99 amp max for some seconds without problems :thumbsup:


Yeah I understood you were only joking. I just reminded me of the incident. I measured 67 amps in a dead short with no ill effects to the meter or the battery.:duck: But I won't try it again.


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## overdog (Dec 10, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*

I have a question:
now we know, that because of the high discharge of the NiMH cells at 9-11 amps we can measure at about 3,7V at the led, not the expected 4,8V+ from 4 batteries- now my question: I am close to put in the D2Flex into both this 4D and my 1D 4xAA, for which I got a new SSR-90-W57S-R11-GN200 today- at full power I expect no complications, but what will happen when I run D2Flex on low and the batteries have no high discharge rate? Will they deliver the expected 4,8V+ to the LED ? Will I have to order the next emitter?


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## gt40 (Dec 10, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*

Nice build. Did you measure the voltage at the led? I poofed my sst90 top bin with 4 cta nimh batteries in a 3d body. It was well heat sinked on a 2" copper slug.


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## moviles (Dec 11, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*



overdog said:


> I got a new SSR-90-W57S-R11-GN200 today



where you buy it? mr muller? price?


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## overdog (Dec 11, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*

Yes, from Mr. Müller,
30€ +19%tax + shipping, not really cheap but took only 2 days...


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## monkeyboy (Dec 12, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*

Nice build steffen, I'm thinking of building something similar myself. (4D nimh sst-90)

Bear in mind that the current would be even higher without the DMM in line with the circuit. There was a good explanation of why that is somewhere on these forums (but I think basically at those high currents, the resistance of the DMM becomes significant).

Unfortunately that aren't many driver options with that battery configuration. The problem is that none of the high current buck drivers will run at that low an input voltage (considering the voltage drop). The only real option would be to add some resistance or to use 3 x AMC (2.8A) drivers in parallel.


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## Dark Laser (Dec 12, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*

Nice mod 

How long, do you think, will the LEDs life be at this current?


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## overdog (Dec 12, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*

@ monkeyboy:
if I get you right, it is no good idea to run this or an other configuration with 4xAA NiMH in combination with D2Flex, cause on low mode batteries will give full voltage of about 4,8V to the LED which will damage it? (unlike at high discharge rate of 9Ah where I measured save 3,7V at the Led?)

@ Dark Laser:
just take a look at the specs at luminus.com, data sheet for SST-90, side nine, this is theory- this time all the builds with SST-90 have experimental character and are not save to my mind until we have a good DC/DC converter like fppf is going to build one...


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## monkeyboy (Dec 12, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*



overdog said:


> @ monkeyboy:
> if I get you right, it is no good idea to run this or an other configuration with 4xAA NiMH in combination with D2Flex, cause on low mode batteries will give full voltage of about 4,8V to the LED which will damage it? (unlike at high discharge rate of 9Ah where I measured save 3,7V at the Led?)



No I think that would be OK actually. I think that LED should be able to handle that peak voltage. I was referring more to the full power output. The PMW is so fast that the batteries wouldn't be able to recover that fast anyway.

4AA would give more voltage drop than the D? cells you were using so might be OK at full power with that configuration. I was thinking about the larger cells.


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## he_ho (Dec 12, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*

Hi, 
that heatsink looks nice.
where did you get it from?


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## Dark Laser (Dec 13, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*



overdog said:


> just take a look at the specs at luminus.com, data sheet for SST-90, side nine



Yeah, I've already done that before. I just asked because they wrote on their product site (and in the data sheet under "Absolute maximum ratings") that it can handle a current of 9A. But otherwise, there is this graph you mentioned...we'll see


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## overdog (Dec 15, 2009)

*Re: easy to build & effective Mag 4D SST-90*

Yesterday I found the time to take some “ of the window” beamshots:
Controlshot:





4D SSR-90 with batteries fresh from the charger:





4D SSR-90 with aspherical lens:





4D SSR-90 with aspherical lens inside, believe me, this was really bright…:




 best regards from little bit snowy Frankfurt,
Steffen.


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## stub (Dec 16, 2009)

Steffen,
where did you get your custom made heatsink for SSR-90?


thanks
Merry Xmas


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## overdog (Dec 16, 2009)

stub said:


> > Steffen,
> > where did you get your custom made heatsink for SSR-90?
> 
> 
> ...


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## gringo1 (Jan 3, 2010)

hi steffen,

where can i get some aspherical lenses like yours??
it´s nice to see a foursquare beamshot.

gringo


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## overdog (Jan 3, 2010)

...not 100% sure, but I think it is this one sku.12834 on DX..


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## jwl (Jan 30, 2010)

Overdog - What brand of D-cells are you running? I have CTA and everything is fine with (3) but when I tried (4)...I'd swear I saw it start to shift towards blue.


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## overdog (Jan 31, 2010)

I use some cheap ones from Lidl- discounter, I do not know CTA´s - but I had the same problem with my cheap ones- Do you use SST-90 or SSR with starboard? In my case I had a problem with heatsinking... At 4- 5 Ah everything was o.k. for the emitter, but at 9Ah or more everything was different..


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## jwl (Jan 31, 2010)

I'm using the SST-90. Mounted on a brightlumens heatsink. I think I'll wait until a driver solution is available before I try (4) cells again. I'd rather not smoke another $50 emitter.

I'm going to check the amps that are getting to the emitter when I get to work tomorrow, our electrical guy has all the good tools.


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## overdog (Jan 31, 2010)

let me know about your measurements, I am really interested in...
In my case I solved my problems at higher amperage by using SSR on starboard where the complete downside of the emitter is connected to starboard/ flat top heatsink as shown on the pics above...


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## jwl (Feb 4, 2010)

Okay, just checked with a clamp style amp meter using a wire to make the 'tail cap' connection and I got 5.5 Amps. Not to shabby but I want more.


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## Walterk (Jul 17, 2010)

So, for a direct driven SST90, what would you suggest!? Remind: I have only one sst90, but sufficient heatmanagement.

a) -2 sets parallel of 3 AA Eneloops Nimh
b) -3 sets parallel of 3 AA Eneloops Nimh

c) -2 sets parallel of 4 AA Eneloops Nimh
d) -3 sets parallel of 4 AA Eneloops Nimh

Edit:
e) -4 sets parallel of 4 AA Eneloops Nimh
f ) -5 sets parallel of 4 AA Eneloops Nimh


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## Dark Laser (Jul 19, 2010)

a) and b) won't give enough voltage, I think (well, depends on the current you want)...if maximum brightness is the goal, I'd go for either c) or d).

Maybe others will post more, cause I have no practical experiences with the SST-90, I just read a lot about it.


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## overdog (Jul 20, 2010)

Hello WalterK,
I tried none of these battery configurations, so its hard to say without having experience- I only tried 4AA NiMH´s or 4D NiMH´s in series- voltage saged down enough so that the emitter did not get damaged, but I am not sure, if you will have this effect if you use 2 or more sets parallel of 4AA NiMH´s ???

I may would give 4 sets parallel of 3AA NiMH´s serial a chance- may the results will be much better than with single 3AA serial NiMH´s - but for sure you will not risk to damage your emitter. If the results are not as expected, you can still put in a linear 10A driver from DIWdiver or a buck (2s2p 3AA NiMH) from DerWichtel.

Best regards,
Steffen.


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## malojie (Jul 29, 2010)

Hiya Steffen

after running my mag with 4 parallel 14670 and getting 7amps, i tried 4d cells nimh 10,000mah in series, it was somewhere about 12-13 amps with these 4 cells, i didnt keep it connected to long because of the high amps, but do you think it would be safe or will my emitter go???? i see you have tried with 4 d cells also

thanks
brian


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## Walterk (Jul 30, 2010)

Thx. By the way, amps is one, runtime is another issue...


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## overdog (Aug 7, 2010)

Hello malojie,
..always asked myself what will happen , when I use instead of my 4500mAh cells some with more Ah- You used some with 10000mAh- and you got more amps than I got with my cells.. --- .. so anyway, the SST-90 goes at this time to the limits, no one can say, when this emitter stops beeing bright and goes .. I also have no answers to your question...

Best regards from Frankfurt,
Steffen.


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## PCC (Aug 7, 2010)

I believe that D NiMH cells can maintain a higher voltage under load than C NiMH cells can. I know that four D NiMH cells will result in the LED turning blue but I don't have 4 C NiMH cells to try. Next weekend I will probably be able to test this, though.


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