# $6.25 Elly 1 Watt has boost/regulated 2h 40m!



## x2x3x2 (Nov 18, 2006)

http://contents.fifthunit.com/html/products.5th/sku.1120.html

I just decided to try a runtime test on the Elly on an Eneloop 2000mAH AA cell.

Runs about 2 hours 40 min then sharply drops in output. This suggest that my suspicion of regulated output is quite founded.
Pretty amazing from such a cheap light running only AA! The runtime on FU's site isnt accurate n doesnt do this light justice 

Voltage measured across the emitter is about 3.2V from a 1.2V NiMH.
Light output is about the same as a Fenix L1P, however its not a Luxeon I, instead its one of those combos which is made up of multiple lower power emitters. Using an aspheric lens i can make out 5 distinct sources.


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## Amonra (Nov 18, 2006)

an XR-E would make it a nice pocket rocket


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## SuperNinja (Nov 18, 2006)

I didn't see any mention of them here a few days ago, but I took the risk and went ahead and bought some anyway.


I am glad I bought 5 (along with a bunch of other crap), from them a couple days ago.

:rock::rock::rock::rock::rock:


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## IsaacHayes (Nov 18, 2006)

Amonra: I almost got one to do that. The reflector looks decently deep. And it's cheap!


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## Amonra (Nov 18, 2006)

damn right it's cheap it's worth risking the test.
You and me seem to be on the same mental wavelength


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## x2x3x2 (Nov 18, 2006)

i was thinking of ways to make one better, but while looking for glass lenses.. a 24.7mm lens from flashlightlens.com cost $7, even more than the whole light itself! hehe

i'll probably just upgrade it with an xr-e with optic totalling about $15, cos the stock plastic reflector really bothers me as there are some specs of chipped of coating already


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## FlashKat (Nov 19, 2006)

You may find something here: http://www.toolsgs.com/cart/browse.asp?subcat=259


x2x3x2 said:


> i was thinking of ways to make one better, but while looking for glass lenses.. a 24.7mm lens from flashlightlens.com cost $7, even more than the whole light itself! hehe
> 
> i'll probably just upgrade it with an xr-e with optic totalling about $15, cos the stock plastic reflector really bothers me as there are some specs of chipped of coating already


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## dim (Nov 19, 2006)

Would these "Ellys" make good holiday gifts? Added up through out the season, they would be a fair bit cheaper than gifting a bunch of his/hers (black/natural) Inova X1s.

Output would seem to be 20 lumens for 2.5 hours on NiMHs and 75 minutes to 50% on alkies. Is this correct?

21 Lux from 5 emitters would seem to be floody. What is your impression of the beam? Spot? Spill?

What is the quality like? Does it look and feel like a nice piece or like a cheap flashlight? Is their quality consistant from flashlight to flashlight - constant beams, tint, clickies, build, etc.?

How does the output, quality and VALUE of the Elly compare to the 1AA UltraFire Luxeon flashlights on FifthUnit's site, the Charm (602A) and the Vippa (602A1)?

At 4.17" with a flaired head, the Elly seems large for a 1AA flashlight. How does the size compare to other 1AA flashlights?

From the pics on FifthUnit's site, the Elly appears attractive. Does it look as good in the hand as it does in the pics? Do they come in black?

TIA!!

73
dim


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## carbine15 (Nov 19, 2006)

Is it waterproof? Can it survive being submerged for an hour? Can it be made water tight?


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## IsaacHayes (Nov 19, 2006)

I dont think you'll get them in time for christmas fellows. Since they ship from over seas, and this time of year the postal systems get really messed up with all the mail. Early november is cutting it close, and we are past that.

Even waiting to order until the rush is over with might be a good idea, as a lot of mail can be lost this time of year...

I bet it's splashable, but not sumbmergable for long periods. For less than $7 it's cheap enough to try out and mod and do whatever you want with. The runtime doesn't seem bad for a cheapy.


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## x2x3x2 (Nov 20, 2006)

@dim

from a cosmetic point, their finishing does look cheap, not like the pics on the website sadly as all of mine came with slight dings and scratches. however when held in hand, they feel solid enough, the walls of the body, head and tailcap are thick. about 1.5mm which beats the Fenix bodies in my opinion.

the beam is mostly spot, and tint is not consistant among the ones i got. some where white, some purple, some warm.


@carbine15

if u take the time to find suitable thicker o-rings, these can be made water proof. the o-rings included are pretty thin so i dont think they will hold a vacuum.
the threads on this light are thick, so u can tighten them enough to assure good fit.

1. there is a threaded metal ring inside the head which holds the lens and reflector in place, so getting an o-ring and tightening there shouldnt be a problem.
2. between the head and body will be the second area u would wanna check, o-rings here.
3. third would be between the body and tailcap, o-rings here as well.
4. lastly would be the clickie in the tailcap, lining the inner part of the rubber with some silicone epoxy would take care of that. thats pretty much it.


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## Ledacholic Anonymous (Nov 20, 2006)

"Runs about 2 hours 40 min then sharply drops in output" is this due to the nature of Nimh battery where its voltage tend to drop sharply? Have you tried it with Alk battery?


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## x2x3x2 (Nov 20, 2006)

nope, sorry bro i dont use anymore alkalines nowadays  only rechargeables..


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## carbine15 (Nov 20, 2006)

x2x3x2 said:


> @dim
> 
> from a cosmetic point, their finishing does look cheap, not like the pics on the website sadly as all of mine came with slight dings and scratches. however when held in hand, they feel solid enough, the walls of the body, head and tailcap are thick. about 1.5mm which beats the Fenix bodies in my opinion.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the update. making lights waterproof is a rewarding challenge. There are some that I just can't do (usually because of the switch). 
one hour submerged is my default test and I'm happy to say that most of my lights survive this. The exception being my ROP in the rayovac. Slide switches are impossible to seal.


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## x2x3x2 (Nov 20, 2006)

here are some pics which u may find useful. everything screws on n off, no boiling or heating required


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## ace0001a (Nov 21, 2006)

I just ordered a light from Hong Kong (which is where Fifth Unit is) and it took a week to get to me in California. I think it's still safe to order for Christmas, but you may be cutting it close.


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## carbine15 (Nov 21, 2006)

if the tailswitch is air tight I could turn this into a dive capable light with some beefier o-rings, plumbers tape and elbow grease.


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## x2x3x2 (Nov 21, 2006)

hi carbine15, if u manage to locate some beefier o-rings which fit please post ur source k? im having trouble finding good o-rings to fit...

my estimate is they should have an outer diameter diameter of 2.45cm for head/body and lens parts, and 1.8cm for the tailcap.
after adding glass lens and xr-e with reflector this should be a great light with an option to run 3.7v 14500 cells as well as standard AA when needed


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## IsaacHayes (Nov 21, 2006)

232: you gonna mod it to XRE? how deep is the reflector compared to it's diameter?

The light looks easy to just swap a star too for the less skilled modders.


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## x2x3x2 (Nov 21, 2006)

yup, im just waiting for the Q2 bin to become available. should be at the end of the month according to cutter.com
the star is easily swappable by unscrewing 2x retaining screws and desoldering the +ve and -ve contact wires.

also u might want to dab on some thermal paste along the outer edge of the star u are replacing with, thats where it makes contact with the body for heatsinking. right below the star is a hollow cavity where the electronics are, lotsa free room there too

the head diameter inside is about 2.45cm, and it can fit anything between 0.5cm from lens to 3cm deep as the entire inner wall is threaded (see pic below). whatever reflector u choose to fit in should be able to be secured by the screw in retaining ring.

btw, do u have any suggestions on what metal reflector which would fit these dimensions?


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## mcmc (Nov 21, 2006)

Hey that faux luxeon looks like the same one that's in the 3aaa 1w that i got back in the day from axshop. if that's the case, then it does indeed put out similar amount of light as a real lux1. the only thing that made the 3aaa not that great was needing 3 aaa cells - only needing 1aa for this guy is awesome! I am definitely getting these as xmas gifts.


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## SuperNinja (Nov 21, 2006)

mcmc said:


> Hey that faux luxeon looks like the same one that's in the 3aaa 1w that i got back in the day from axshop.


FifthUnit sells it too.
http://contents.fifthunit.com/html/products.5th/sku.79.html

I got a couple of them from AXShop also.


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## infection0 (Dec 1, 2006)

So, this light has roughly the output of the Fenix L1P and a longer runtime? (L1P drops output significantly at about 1:45 while this light is reported to drop sharply at 2:30) How is this possible for such a cheap light??


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## ace0001a (Dec 1, 2006)

It's most likely because the chinese-made LED it is using is more power efficient than an actual Luxeon LED.


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## chevrofreak (Dec 1, 2006)

I'd be glad to do a runtime graph for one of these if someone would be willing to send one to me.


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## schiesz (Dec 1, 2006)

I just ordered a few, and it sounds like it will take a while for them to get here, but i'll send one your way chevro when they come if no one else has by then.

schiesz


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## infection0 (Dec 2, 2006)

ace0001a said:


> It's most likely because the chinese-made LED it is using is more power efficient than an actual Luxeon LED.



Then why don't we just ditch the Luxeons and go for the cheaper, more efficient chinese LEDs...


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## IsaacHayes (Dec 2, 2006)

If the output is less then the drive current must be less, not the led is more efficient.


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## EngrPaul (Dec 2, 2006)

I will be modding this light with an XR-E in a few weeks. It may even be the first I try, I'm not sure yet.


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## chevrofreak (Dec 2, 2006)

schiesz said:


> I just ordered a few, and it sounds like it will take a while for them to get here, but i'll send one your way chevro when they come if no one else has by then.
> 
> schiesz



Thank you, that would be very cool of you to loan one to me


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## infection0 (Dec 2, 2006)

IsaacHayes said:


> If the output is less then the drive current must be less, not the led is more efficient.



But this light is supposed to be similar to the output of the L1P... can Chevro measure the output next to a L1P?


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## SuperNinja (Dec 2, 2006)

I bought several of these.

I tried a couple of them out, and some seemed to have unreliable clicky switches.

I later found out that there was nothing wrong with the switches.
When the battery is low, it can take a few seconds for the light to come on, and it makes it look as if the switch is flakey.

I assume this is normal, and is due to the regulation.


They seem to be quite nice, considering the low price.


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## chevrofreak (Dec 2, 2006)

infection0 said:


> But this light is supposed to be similar to the output of the L1P... can Chevro measure the output next to a L1P?



I sure can


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## chevrofreak (Dec 2, 2006)

SuperNinja said:


> I bought several of these.
> 
> I tried a couple of them out, and some seemed to have unreliable clicky switches.
> 
> ...



A lot of the less expensive single AA and AAA lights have this problem. I had one that would sit there doing nothing then suddenly spring to life as much as a few minutes later.


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## x2x3x2 (Dec 2, 2006)

the current i measure was about 90mA


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## Scattergun (Dec 4, 2006)

Got mine today, and I am amazed at the quality for so little money!! Perfect for modifying!


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## infection0 (Dec 12, 2006)

If anyone can post a short tutorial for a noob to mod it to CREE after you perform it, it would be greatly appreciated...


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## Mike Painter (Dec 12, 2006)

carbine15 said:


> if the tailswitch is air tight I could turn this into a dive capable light with some beefier o-rings, plumbers tape and elbow grease.


A water tight push button switch is going to get pushed in as you descend. It will be impossible to change the state until you resurface.


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## x2x3x2 (Dec 12, 2006)

i dont think thats true.
the mechanical switch is behind a rubber button. sealing the lining of the rubber to the metal tailcap with epoxy can make it easily waterprof.
this seals the internal electronics of the light much like if u place a non waterproof torch in a ziplock bag, u can still turn it on n off underwater.


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## chevrofreak (Dec 12, 2006)

x2x3x2 said:


> i dont think thats true.
> the mechanical switch is behind a rubber button. sealing the lining of the rubber to the metal tailcap with epoxy can make it easily waterprof.
> this seals the internal electronics of the light much like if u place a non waterproof torch in a ziplock bag, u can still turn it on n off underwater.



Someone I know put a flashlight on a string and let it sink into the ocean. The water pressure caused the switch to click inward, but it didnt release until it was reeled back up and the pressure on the boot subsided. The light was off when it was put in the water, yet it was on when it was pulled out.

I dont think you'd be able to click the switch in that case.


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## x2x3x2 (Dec 12, 2006)

i ah see, my bad on that  sorry


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## ace0001a (Dec 12, 2006)

infection0 said:


> If anyone can post a short tutorial for a noob to mod it to CREE after you perform it, it would be greatly appreciated...


 
Yeah Guys, someone please post a detailed write up on how you modded this light--Thanks!


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## mcmc (Dec 12, 2006)

I received my 2 Elly's today, and modded a Cree P4 bin in one - woah! It's brighter than my U60 on high.

The mod? Simple:

1. Cut corners off Cree, which serves 2 purposes: to remove the connection embedded in the corner that electrically links the lead pads on top and on bottom, and also to make it fit in an empty Luxeon star.
2. Press fit into a Luxeon star (put some thermal paste underneath)
3. Create a solder blob bridge from the lead pads on the Cree, to the place you'd normally solder the Lux leads to the star.
4. Open up the head of the Elly, and unscrew the screws holding the star down.
5. Unsolder the red and blue wires from the surface mount led star in the Elly.
6. Solder the red wire to a positive solder blob on the perimeter of the star.
7. Solder the blue wire to a negative solder blob - HOWEVER, for whatever reason, the Elly is designed to have that blue wire wrap around the edge of the star and contact the metal underneath the star. If you look at how the blue wire is wrapped around the edge of the star as you remove the original star, you will understand what I mean. Replicate this situation when putting in the new star.
8. Screw the screws back in place, screw head in, and voila! a superbright light that runs off alkaline AA's!

The reflector is pretty much perfect for the Cree - wide enough to come down around the led+metal ring w/o shorting anything, and screws down deep enough to get good focus (I barely see any null ring around the hotspot). The spot itself isn't super even, but it's usable and will produce a nice throw.

Good luck guys!


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## EngrPaul (Dec 12, 2006)

thanks mcmc, it's on my list of things to do!


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## carbine15 (Dec 12, 2006)

you better post some before / after and comparison beamshots before something bad happen to you.


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## ace0001a (Dec 12, 2006)

Cool deal MCMC, now I just gotta get my hands on a Cree...


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## Hellbore (Dec 13, 2006)

OK I bought some of these!

Sorry for being such a noob BUT I have never modded a flashlight before... BUT I have done plenty of electronics & soldering work.

Questions:

Where can I buy an empty Luxeon star?

Where can I buy a Cree XR-E LED to do the mod with?

Thanks if you can help... I'm excited! I don't have a pocket-size flashlight, only 3D maglights, this will be fun...


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## ace0001a (Dec 13, 2006)

Hellbore said:


> OK I bought some of these!
> 
> Sorry for being such a noob BUT I have never modded a flashlight before... BUT I have done plenty of electronics & soldering work.
> 
> ...



I don't know about bare star plates, but you can get a Cree XL LED complete star assembly here:

http://www.theledlight.com/Cree-LED.html

But if you're going to try to mod a Mag, you're probably better off with the bare LED itself. This thread is good help for that:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/144087

Otherwise I'd say take a shot at an Elly (which is what this thread is about), you can't go wrong for $10 shipped:

http://contents.fifthunit.com/html/products.5th/sku.1120.html


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## hank (Dec 13, 2006)

Can anyone confirm, is this in fact a regulated light?
Or as asked later, was that just the output of the battery that caused the pattern observed?

When you opened it up, what's in there with the red and blue wires? A resistor?
A circuit board?

(If a resistor -- what value?)

This sounds like it has the same "Hewlett Packard" LED referred to elsewhere, that was licensed to a Chinese company some years ago. I sent one of those LEDs to LEDmuseum, taken out of a $5 ebay 3xAAA light, a few weeks ago.


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## Mike Painter (Dec 13, 2006)

x2x3x2 said:


> i dont think thats true.
> the mechanical switch is behind a rubber button. sealing the lining of the rubber to the metal tailcap with epoxy can make it easily waterprof.
> this seals the internal electronics of the light much like if u place a non waterproof torch in a ziplock bag, u can still turn it on n off underwater.



Exactly, and the interior pressure will be one atmosphere.
Because I'm lazy assume the rubber has an area of one square inch.
At 33 feet (sea water) it will have a two atmosphere pressure on it and that is a force of 14.7 pounds. It will probably click the switch at a lower depth but it will happen.
(If it didn't SCUBA regulators would not work and tennis balls would not be flabby at 100 feet.)

The plastic bag trick will work on an unsealed light because the pressure is equalized. At some point however, all the air will be compressed inside the ridgid case and either the bag will rupture, something besides the bag will collapse, or the switch will stop working.

You can break speed laws but not Boyle's law.


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## carbine15 (Dec 13, 2006)

When did this sub $10 light merrit serious discussion as to its dive capability? You could fill the entire case with mineral oil and dive with it I suppose. What part do you think would fail first? The battery (crushed by depths?).


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## SuperNinja (Dec 13, 2006)

ace0001a said:


> https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/144087Otherwise I'd say take a shot at an Elly (which is what this thread is about), you can't go wrong for $10 shipped:
> 
> http://contents.fifthunit.com/html/products.5th/sku.1120.html


Actually $8.71 (or less) shipped.


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## mcmc (Dec 13, 2006)

ok, here are some photos:

Stock Elly on left, v/s Cree Elly on right (both on alkaline AA's, Kirkland signature)






Stock Elly on left, v/s Cree Elly running on 1/2 CRV3, i.e. 3v Lithium primary





Left to right: Liteflux LF1 w/ UX1J on slightly used 14500, HDS U60 w/ U-bin on RCR2, Cree Elly on 3v Lithium primary AA







Some more misc shots:
Check out that nice knurling on the tailcap:






The original head:






Inside the original head (note how blue wire is tucked into where the screw holds star down):






The modded head, w/ Lux Star harvested from a failed project, edge-trimmed Cree led (very choppy looking b/c I just used scissors!):






The complete modded head (w/ some addt'l illumination help from the stock Elly =) macro shots need lots of light!):






The light itself. I have a bag of glow o-rings I bought, like 100 or so for $10, and they fit perfect. They have an original diameter of about 5/8":






I love this light!! All told, it cost me about $15. Wow.


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## mcmc (Dec 13, 2006)

Unfortunately while I feel pretty confident around a camera, I am an amateur modder and solder-er, so my soldering looks really bad up there! In fact the solder blob connecting the Cree to the star looks a bit skimpy, I wonder if that will reduce the light output?

Btw, on alkalines it doesn't get hot, but on the 3v AA it gets decently warm after a few minutes' use - but I think the heatsinking is pretty good as the whole body warms up and the led and star itself didn't seem any more hot than the rest.

Enjoy the pics, fellas. And go mod one too. =)


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## ace0001a (Dec 13, 2006)

Outstanding mcmc....way to go on the details!


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## carbine15 (Dec 13, 2006)

That looks like the easiest host ever to mod.


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## mcmc (Dec 13, 2006)

It really is - for the Cree at least. Nothing to adjust in terms of carving reflector, raising height of LED die, nothin'! Plus, the light is really solid, great threads (didn't need to teflon or even lube any of them), hefty, and if I may say this sacrilege, 'looks like Ti' haha!

Also, to answer a prev. q - there's a driver circuit board that the red and blue wires are coming off of. Of course this would have to be the case since a single AA wouldn't be able to light up an LED.


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## mcmc (Dec 13, 2006)

Chevro, I will send you my stock and my XR-E Elly's to do runtime tests on. I'm out of town starting next Wed and won't be needing these, so you can use these on 'extended loan' probably through the new year =) sound good? btw, do you want me to send these w/ alkies in them? PM me your address. I'll probably send it to you on Monday.


x2x3x2 - I put a 14500, and a slightly used one at that, and it did a rapid single blink (very bright though!) and went out. I quickly clicked it off, tried it again a couple times, and same deal. Didn't fry the LED, and works fine after I reverted to alkies/3V primary. But, I was wondering if you had some sort of plan on how to use a 14500 in these?


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## MorpheusT1 (Dec 13, 2006)

Just ordered me a XR-E star for this light.

Should be a fun swap.



Btw:
Dont use a fresh 14500 in this light,i tryed and it was VERY Bright but unfortunately there was some smoke coming out of the Wire Holes.
Do not try this if you want to fry the converter,mine still works because i turned it off immediately after i saw the smoke.But i suspect i 
caused the converter some minor injuries.




Benny


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## EngrPaul (Dec 13, 2006)

After seeing this information, I don't know if the ELLY is the best place to put a CREE XR-E, at least if you want good brightness. Seems like 3W is the ticket. Although I'm sure the ELLY on Cree is very efficient...


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## ace0001a (Dec 13, 2006)

EngrPaul said:


> After seeing this information, I don't know if the ELLY is the best place to put a CREE XR-E, at least if you want good brightness. Seems like 3W is the ticket. Although I'm sure the ELLY on Cree is very efficient...



EngrPaul, can you please elaborate on what you mean by that? Which 3W LED do you suggest? Or how about a K2? Some here have said they like the new 3W Wahwang LEDs. But yeah, I too think the Cree is a very efficient mod none the less...


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## EngrPaul (Dec 13, 2006)

I mean that it's best to upgrade a flashlight that already has it's driver pushing 3W to the emitter. The ELLY is 1W.


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## carbine15 (Dec 13, 2006)

EngrPaul said:


> I mean that it's best to upgrade a flashlight that already has it's driver pushing 3W to the emitter. The ELLY is 1W.


Not when you put a 3 volt primary through it it's not.


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## x2x3x2 (Dec 13, 2006)

@mcmc
If u want to use a Li-Ion in this, u need to remove the circuit in the head cavity.
Even with 1.2v NiMH, the circuit in there boosts it to about 3.3V.
I wouldn't be suprised if a 3.7V Li-Ion will fry it.
I would think i good idea is to replace it with a LuxDrive 2009.

The Elly is rated at 1W, but thats because of the high voltage of 3.3V @ 330mA (1.089W) it takes to run its stock emitter. Compared to 3.3V at 700mA (2.31W) for an XR-E. Considering the stock circuit is a simple voltage boost, i would expect the XR-E emitter to draw about 700mA. I'm still waiting on my Q2 bin to arrive  but i kinda expected it to be brighter than the beamshots. Have u tried NiMH in it mcmc?


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## mcmc (Dec 13, 2006)

Nope, haven't tried Nimh, will do so tonight.

Also trying to digest all the EE stuff on here, it'll be good for my learnin'! =)


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## chevrofreak (Dec 14, 2006)

mcmc said:


> Chevro, I will send you my stock and my XR-E Elly's to do runtime tests on. I'm out of town starting next Wed and won't be needing these, so you can use these on 'extended loan' probably through the new year =) sound good? btw, do you want me to send these w/ alkies in them? PM me your address. I'll probably send it to you on Monday.



Sure, that sounds good 

I have plenty of different alkalines to use, so no need to send them. I'll PM you my address


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## Calina (Dec 14, 2006)

mcmc said:


> Left to right: Liteflux LF1 w/ UX1J on slightly used 14500, HDS U60 w/ U-bin on RCR2, Cree Elly on 3v Lithium primary AA
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
It is hard to judge brightness since the hot spot is over exposed. Could you try to take the same photo underexposed by 2 f stop.

Thanks for the good work.


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## Hellbore (Dec 14, 2006)

ace0001a said:


> But if you're going to try to mod a Mag, you're probably better off with the bare LED itself...
> 
> ...Otherwise I'd say take a shot at an Elly (which is what this thread is about)...



Hey sorry if my post wasn't quite clear, but I actually already did buy 5 of the Elly, I was asking about what to use to mod the Elly. Thanks for the link on the Cree stars!

I only mentioned my Maglite to say, my other flashlights are all Maglites, this Elly will be my first LED flashlight that is not a Mag 

I'm so excited! It is also my first time modding a flashlight (besides my UV LED maglite I made)

I have another question for you guys that already have an Elly: 

Do you think this light, without mods, is bright enough to make a good Christmas present? Because I bought a few to give my family for Christmas but I don't have enough money to buy a Cree to put in each one. Is the light brighter than the average drugstore LED cheapo lights?


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## carbine15 (Dec 14, 2006)

Is it brighter than a photon or fauxton squeezelight? If not then it's garbage.


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## ace0001a (Dec 14, 2006)

Hellbore said:


> Do you think this light, without mods, is bright enough to make a good Christmas present? Because I bought a few to give my family for Christmas but I don't have enough money to buy a Cree to put in each one. Is the light brighter than the average drugstore LED cheapo lights?



Well if you're giving it to non flashaholics, it will do the job just fine...it's for sure as bright as your average 2D regular flashlight...and all that in a small 1AA flashlight. I think you'd be ok giving it out as is.


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## mcmc (Dec 14, 2006)

Here you go:





The brightness of the spot is about on par with the other two, I think. Can't really get down to any precise comparison since they are so close. But it is much more defined. And the other photo shows that it has a brighter spill.

On AA, when under-driven, the beam is a bit yellow, which is fine in normal use (I like warmer lights anyway - my U-bin HDS is a bit cool) and great for outdoor nighttime use, esp. w/ grass and foliage.

ace and Chevro - got your pms, will send out your stuff soon!


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## SuperNinja (Dec 14, 2006)

carbine15 said:


> Is it brighter than a photon or fauxton squeezelight?


Significantly brighter than a fauxton.


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## carbine15 (Dec 15, 2006)

then it's not garbage.


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## ace0001a (Dec 15, 2006)

carbine15 said:


> then it's not garbage.


 
Garbage would be the $1 3-LED flashlight you can buy at Dollar Tree...but then again, that one is only $1. With that said, the Elly is quite a decent light. In my haste to buy and try different $10-15 1W LED flashlights, the Elly is probably the best one I've tried so far overall...it's too bad they don't throw an actual Lumileds Luxeon 1 in them, but I guess they'd probably be more than $9 if they did...


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## Calina (Dec 15, 2006)

Mcmc, thanks for the pics.


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## carbine15 (Dec 15, 2006)

From the looks of it, this light might be worth the money just as a mod host so it hardly matters what diode they put in there. 

Now, if I could just once get a package from FifthUnit. If I don't get this order then that makes FifthUnit 0 for 3 in making the delivery all the way to my house. 
Is it possible that customs could delay a package of ten squeezelights by more than a month? How about three months? Why are packages from fifthunit not making it to my house? I use paypal and the address is correct.  I may need to ask one of you guys to send my one of these lights to play with.


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## mcmc (Dec 15, 2006)

De rien, Calina =) J'ai heureux que vous aimiez mes fotos. (haha, i'm not even going to check that on the Babel translator - but I know it's horrible conjugation! 7 years of French and that's all I have in my head, lol).


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## carbine15 (Dec 15, 2006)

"Of nothing, Calina =) I have happy that you like my fotos." as translated by Babel fish Altavista. 
J'ai échoué le français dans le highschool.


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## Calina (Dec 15, 2006)

Hi, mcmc and carbine 15,

To have this in proper french : De rien, Calina =) J'ai *été* heureux que vous aimiez mes *ph*otos. 

As you see babelfish is doing a fair job, usually the longer the text the worst it becomes.

Back to this thread ;-)...


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## EngrPaul (Dec 15, 2006)

I just received my ELLY today. I like the dark silver color, almost like tungen!

It's tempting to drop the Cree on there, it looks so easy, and the reflector is nice and deep. I'll have to think about it.... This is the only flashlight I ever had with the 1W "power LED"

Plus the tailcap button has a small rip in it...


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## mcmc (Dec 15, 2006)

Merci, carbine, pour...uh...correcting mon french =) hehe.

Btw, I did the alkaline unofficial run-time - output hadn't noticably dropped by 1hr, turned off to cool and rest for 2 mins (it was only moderately warm), then turned on again. i didn't quite pay attention but right now it's 2 hrs 35 mins and it had dropped to maybe about 50% (perceptible difference - so actual lumens out, less tham 50% drop). Turned off and tried to turn on again, and wouldn't - but on second try I left switch on "on" position, and forgot - and then it lit up after about 30 sec. Interesting!

Definitely decent run-time, esp. from an alkaline. I like =)


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## EngrPaul (Dec 15, 2006)

FYI I decided to put the Luxeon III in the Elly. I had pulled this from the LILL when I put the CREE in that.

I'm pulling 1.2A from a eneloop NiMH. That's about 1 Watt after considering driver efficiency. It's much better than the LED it comes with.

As for the height differential, the luxeon emitter sits well above the board. It's now in focus when the head engages the o-ring. I'm going to find a thicker o-ring that will hold the head from further travel at that point.


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## x2x3x2 (Dec 15, 2006)

How did u get the LuxIII to pull 1.2A, and what is the voltage reading? Are u using the stock circuit? Or was that 1.2A reading from battery?

The voltage on both my Elly's boosts to only about 3.3V, that's hardly enough to suck 1.2A according to a LuxIII's V vs A curve?


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## EngrPaul (Dec 15, 2006)

It's 1.2A from the battery 

P.S. It is significantly whiter and brighter than the 1W VIPPA (Ultrafire WF-602) now. Before, it was dimmer and bluer.


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## x2x3x2 (Dec 15, 2006)

hehe i see.. post some shots if u have the time bro  sighhh... still waiting for those Q2's from cutter  they better not push back further from their mid Jan date!


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## EngrPaul (Dec 15, 2006)

One of these days I'm going to sign up for a picture host and plaster this forum with mods and beamshots


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## infection0 (Dec 16, 2006)

Where's the cheapest/best assembly I can buy for this thing... It seems really easy to do!  Thanks for the hope mcmc, you lit up my heart <3 <3


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## x2x3x2 (Dec 16, 2006)

U can get the Elly here:
http://contents.fifthunit.com/html/products.5th/sku.1120.html

and star emitters from www.cutter.com


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## infection0 (Dec 16, 2006)

I already have a few Ellys on order (will be here, maybe sometime before christmas) but I can't find the assemblies. I live in the U.S. and cutter.com links to the Cutter Consortium, which is incorrect. A quick google search for "cutter cree" found www.cutter.com.au which seems to be the appropriate site. The link to the XR-Es already mounted on PCBs (choose the Star one) is here:
http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut651

Shipping to the U.S. seems to be $7 flat, whether I order 1 or 2 of them...
Looks like paying a little extra for a Q2 bin is well worth it. All that information makes my mouth water. Thanks for the links!

p.s. if you want your elly in color... do these work?
http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut187


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## x2x3x2 (Dec 16, 2006)

yup, sorry my bad. its cutter.com.au 
7090 emitters mounted on the standard star pcb will fit in too.


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## infection0 (Dec 16, 2006)

Got 4 of my Ellys on order today from FU... here's a review of my impressions:
Context: I've owned 2 Xnovas, 1 Ghost II, 1 Ultrafire WF-602A1, and four of these.

The Elly is HUGE for a single cell AA light. The head is long, and it's FAT, which prevents me from putting it into my jeans without it bulging out conspicuously (it's a little fatter than my wallet). Cargo pants are OK, because they can carry everything.

It feels somewhat cheap, it comes with lots of little scratches on it, one even came with this miscellaneous disgusting black piece of stuff inside the reflector... luckily you can easily unscrew it and dump it out.

I like the metal feel, however. The head has a nice horizontal brushed look. I hit it against a wall accidentally with no damage. It comes with a decent lanyard.

The tailcap clicky bulges out and that makes me VERY unhappy because I can't use it as a lamp. Which is a shame because it was fun propping up all four of my Ellys on the four corners of the room to light the room adequately.

It is significantly dimmer than my WF-602A1 (old version). Now that I can't get a decent WF-602A1 anymore, oh well. What I mean is that it's dimmer than my L1P. Brightness and tint differed greatly between all four lights. One light was a pleasing, slightly cool white (to my noob eyes), another was a warm, yellowish white, another was clearly yellow (incandescent style) and one was super blue (fauxton LED style). However for the price it's quite acceptable. Just don't expect Ultrafire quality.

I cannot justify bringing this light around like I could my Ultrafire. It is simply too bulky for too little return of light. I will definitely mod this with Cree XR-E before I am satisfied. Three will be presents (the nicer LED ones). Two will be mine (I've got one more coming): The best one from this batch (the cool white one) and the worst. I will mod the worst one with Cree and if all goes well, my other one. And then maybe the people I've given this to! Now it's time to wait for a Q2 bin...


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## EngrPaul (Dec 16, 2006)

Good overview infection0. I didn't realize these vary so much!

All you do is scratch out the LED to a flat surface and you are ready to go modding 

Look around you tailcap boot. How many of them have a small rip?


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## infection0 (Dec 16, 2006)

One... the one with the best tint too... it's in the middle of the clicky... but it's only like a pinhole rip... the area around it looks smudged and damaged though


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## SuperNinja (Dec 16, 2006)

EngrPaul said:


> One of these days I'm going to sign up for a picture host and plaster this forum with mods and beamshots


Whats wrong with using someplace like http://imageshack.us/ ?


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## schiesz (Dec 17, 2006)

I got my Elly today, and damn its a nice light stock! I was dead set on modding these, they do look VERY simple to do whatever you want with them, but its pretty tempting to just leave them stock.

Now I just need to order about 6 more so I can keep one stock and try a bunch of other variations in the others.

schiesz


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## ace0001a (Dec 17, 2006)

SuperNinja said:


> Whats wrong with using someplace like http://imageshack.us/ ?


 
Try Photobucket, no popup ads and works good:

http://photobucket.com/


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## infection0 (Dec 20, 2006)

I got my final Elly on order today. The lens is missing, nowhere to be found. The head is broken somehow and doesn't screw in, and the reflector doesn't work properly. Therefore I have an all-flood light right now... emailed Fifthunit about it, hopefully they'll fix it.

So just to add: quality control on the Ellys suck.


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## x2x3x2 (Dec 20, 2006)

what happened to the reflector? mine works fine even if the lense isnt placed in.

any pics?


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## infection0 (Dec 21, 2006)

How do you remove the lens?

And the head is damaged - the threads are somehow messed up as to not allow screwing it all the way in. It stops at a certain point and won't twist any further. It stops about 1 cm above the led so it's pretty bad.


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## carbine15 (Dec 21, 2006)

I just got mine today. I modded it just to make it watertight and put some glow paint on the emitter and glow rings (the ones I had). I'd like to share some pics with you now.






yes that's a glowring in front of the lens.










This thing tailstands just like the minimag.







and the last one is a beamshot vs the vernerable SamsClub Element


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## ace0001a (Dec 21, 2006)

Carbine15... Dude, did you use the original star plate? If so, how did you do it? Drill out the original cheapy LED?


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## carbine15 (Dec 21, 2006)

ace0001a said:


> Carbine15... Dude, did you use the original star plate? If so, how did you do it? Drill out the original cheapy LED?



This is the original LED. It seems bright enough and it's quite efficient. It's very small too. All that around it is the glow paint I piled up on it. If you wanted to mount your own led on this star you'd just have to scrape off the bump so your new one would lay flat, then just solder away.


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## ace0001a (Dec 21, 2006)

carbine15 said:


> This is the original LED. It seems bright enough and it's quite efficient. It's very small too. All that around it is the glow paint I piled up on it. If you wanted to mount your own led on this star you'd just have to scrape off the bump so your new one would lay flat, then just solder away.


 
Yeah, I've been looking at these cheapy China-made LED stars and wondering if it was simple enough to take out the LED blob. I'll probably end up doing that when I get my CreeXL in the mail...


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## carbine15 (Dec 21, 2006)

I've actually considered drilling and mounting on a nickle (US $0.05 coin).


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## ace0001a (Dec 21, 2006)

Yeah, had that idea too...just that I like having the whole circuit board part of the star...


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## TORCH_BOY (Dec 21, 2006)

Not bad for Six bucks


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## carbine15 (Dec 21, 2006)

Guess what I'm doing?







My Element says, "I'm jealous; I wish I could do that!"


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## Walt175 (Dec 21, 2006)

carbine15 said:


> My Element says, "I'm jealous; I wish I could do that!"


 
Careful, one day you'll come home and your Elly will be gone!


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## KWillets (Dec 21, 2006)

This is a good light. Its design is "Soviet" style: shiny and modern looking, but a little rough around the edges, and when in doubt, add more material. 

I bought one of these to try out the Cree, and it's quite an easy conversion. The only note I can add is that my star was slightly large, and I sanded off the corners to get it to seat. As mentioned above, the negative pad has to connect to the case (the body of the old star is negative by design, but the Cree's is neutral -- you have to bridge it, *and* touch it to the case to get it to light up).

Right now it's just held in by the reflector, but it's very bright. I've been using it as a bike light to see if 1W is enough, and so far it's good.


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## ace0001a (Dec 21, 2006)

KWillets said:


> This is a good light. Its design is "Soviet" style: shiny and modern looking, but a little rough around the edges, and when in doubt, add more material.
> 
> I bought one of these to try out the Cree, and it's quite an easy conversion. The only note I can add is that my star was slightly large, and I sanded off the corners to get it to seat. As mentioned above, the negative pad has to connect to the case (the body of the old star is negative by design, but the Cree's is neutral -- you have to bridge it, *and* touch it to the case to get it to light up).
> 
> Right now it's just held in by the reflector, but it's very bright. I've been using it as a bike light to see if 1W is enough, and so far it's good.



KWillets, just curious on where you got your Cree Star from? There's only 1 place stateside that I found selling it in star format. Everybody else seems to be selling the bare emitters only. Yeah, I'm sitting on one Elly and am waiting for 2 more to come in the snail mail...


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## KWillets (Dec 21, 2006)

It was from Cutter in Oz. Never found a stateside supplier.


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## infection0 (Dec 21, 2006)

heh heh heh I just put myself on the waiting list for 3 stars from here:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1747613#post1747613


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## EngrPaul (Dec 24, 2006)

With the Luxeon, the head had to be unscrewed so much it made the flashlight clumsy. 

I tried surface mount soldering a cree to the board (after scratching away some soldermask). This worked great! The focus comes in when the head is all the way down.


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## Pumaman (Dec 24, 2006)

put a cree mounted to a star in one as well. great upgrade, gave it to a friend for xmas.


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## Hellbore (Dec 24, 2006)

Well unfortunately the 5 Elly I ordered did not get here in time for Christmas  As a matter of fact, I don't know if I will ever get them, since this is a foreign company and they didn't give me any kind of order tracking information when I placed my order. I'm so bummed because I also bought some Cree LED's to mod with and THOSE haven't come yet either. Ah well I'll probably receive both after Christmas. I was going to make them gifts to family members.


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## x2x3x2 (Dec 24, 2006)

Hellbore, did u order from fifthunit? if u did, they do infact have tracking.


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## hizzo3 (Dec 24, 2006)

Hellbore said:


> Well unfortunately the 5 Elly I ordered did not get here in time for Christmas  As a matter of fact, I don't know if I will ever get them, since this is a foreign company and they didn't give me any kind of order tracking information when I placed my order. I'm so bummed because I also bought some Cree LED's to mod with and THOSE haven't come yet either. Ah well I'll probably receive both after Christmas. I was going to make them gifts to family members.



considering i work for a company that ships world wide... unless it was sent some form of USPS (which in some cases there is still a tracking number) there is tracking. DHL, FEDex and UPS which shipworld wide all have tracking.


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## SuperNinja (Dec 24, 2006)

hizzo3 said:


> considering i work for a company that ships world wide... unless it was sent some form of USPS (which in some cases there is still a tracking number) there is tracking. DHL, FEDex and UPS which shipworld wide all have tracking.


I have bought from FifthUnit many times.

Every time, the package was delivered by USPS.


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## Meduza (Dec 26, 2006)

I have just modded my Elly with a WahWang 3W 

Not super bright, but better than original, a good hotspot with bright spill 

I like the assembly of the light, it is a modders dream


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## mcmc (Dec 26, 2006)

beamshots! =)


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## Hellbore (Dec 26, 2006)

x2x3x2 said:


> Hellbore, did u order from fifthunit? if u did, they do infact have tracking.



I ordered from FifthUnit but they did not send me a package tracking number, nor did they send me any kind of email at all.

I was given an order number, which is apparently useless to me because their web page is down. Look for yourself:

http://www.fifthunit.com

It just brings up that message.

I have tried emailing them and not recieved a response yet. Hopefully I will get a reply because at this point I don't know if they have shipped my order or not, or if there was some problem and they shut down, or what. I ordered back on December 12th so I guess it has only been 14 days, it could still be in shipping but there is no way for me to tell. I only hope I ever receive the goods I paid for.


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## Hellbore (Dec 26, 2006)

Never mind I was able to find a way into the order tracking system, I did a google search for "fifthunit customer service" and got a link to their customer service page and then was able to track my order. It shipped the 18th so it's on the way. Took them 6 days to get the order boxed up and shipped but whatever maybe they were out of stock on Elly lights because you blokes keep ordering them 

However, I think they should not have put the "we are closed" type message on their main page like that, it blocks you from getting to order tracking unless you remember the tracking page URL or look it up like I did on Google.


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## mcmc (Dec 26, 2006)

Now I feel more justified in my growing philosophy: get while the getting's good. Esp. w/ bargain price places like AxShop and FifthUnit. I bought a bunch of 3AAA multi-5mm-led lights from AxShop, and a bunch of other lights from FU, while on sale. Glad I did instead of saying "I can always get more later, the price w/ shipping doesn't go down w/ big orders anyway."


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## DrifT3R (Dec 28, 2006)

can someone give me the dimensions of the heatsink module. I was wondering if it would fit in my g2.

Thanks


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## SpeedEvil (Dec 29, 2006)

I got 5 of these in the post yesterday.
4 worked fine, one was a bit iffy.

The SMPS board is apparently just pressed into the aluminium LED housing, and relys on the copper foil on the bottom scraping a contact on the side.
A little punching with a nail fixed it.
Considering how to mod some.
Also got 10 of the $4.99/10 LED keychain lights. Work well (well, 9 of them work, one is a bit iffy)


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## Hellbore (Dec 29, 2006)

SpeedEvil said:


> I got 5 of these in the post yesterday.
> 4 worked fine, one was a bit iffy.
> 
> The SMPS board is apparently just pressed into the aluminium LED housing, and relys on the copper foil on the bottom scraping a contact on the side.
> ...




When did you place your order?


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## SpeedEvil (Dec 29, 2006)

Paypal reciept is dated Dec 12.
So, 15 days, which isn't bad at all over christmas, given their posted shipment times.
All of it arrived, barring one Li-ion battery, which is said to be following. (I bought several sorts, to do cycle tests on, prior to re-celling my laptop)


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## jjyoung (Dec 29, 2006)

Just recieved my two elly's. I ordered on dec. 11 and both lights are alot better quality than I expected. A couple new O-rings and possibly a cree xr-e and they will be nice.


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## 2xTrinity (Dec 31, 2006)

I ordered three of these, unfortunately one of them came with a bad voltage converter circuit, it ran well for about 20 minutes, then died. When the switch is flipped, it only delivers 1.1 volts to the diode (1.2 volt NiMH battery, minus some losses), rather than the 3.3 volts, so the step-up is not working. Of the two that worked, one has a very blue cast to it, the other has a more pleasant "pure white" look, but is also signficantly dimmer.

I like the casing and mechanical mechanisms, those are nice quality and look like they'd be good to host a higher end diode, however, I'm concerned that the other circuits will go bad prematurely, so I'm reluctant to invest more money in them. Has anyone else had this same problem. 

One quick question -- for those of you who are showing Cree LEDs beam shots with Lithium batteries -- are you driving the LEDs directly, or through the circuit? Even if I get the faulty component replaced, I'm not sure I can trust those converters to be reliable, but with a direct drive I'd still be able to use the actual body of the light, which I like.


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## mcmc (Dec 31, 2006)

I ran my Cree P4 off the existing circuit, which seemed fine. But, I was not using a lithium battery, and don't know that anyone else is? I used Nimh & Alkalines.


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## EngrPaul (Dec 31, 2006)

It runs brighter on Lithiums AA's.


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## infection0 (Dec 31, 2006)

I'm getting little dots and specks in the reflector where the coating has scratched off. How much will this affect my output?


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## mcmc (Jan 1, 2007)

i doubt much.


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## EngrPaul (Jan 1, 2007)

The ELLY's reflector is painted polycarbonate. It's partially transparent with the silvered coating. It's probably not very efficient, and very succeptible to losing it's painted coating.

The O-rings that are supplied are very small and won't waterproof the unit. The tailcap button rubber on mine has a small rip, somebody else said they have a rip too.

But it's probably the easiest Cree star mod you could do, and it pays off in a moderately bright efficient flashlight.


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## 2xTrinity (Jan 1, 2007)

Well, a weird thing happened. I went to test the LED part of that third flashlight that broke due to what appeared to be the faulty step-up circuit. I powered the LED using some lead wires off a 3v battery and it seemed to work. Then, when I assembled the light again, the whole thing worked again.

It doesn't make any sense that the converter "fixed itself" and a loose connection/open circuit doesn't explain what happened, either, as I did see voltage delivered to the LED when the light was not working, it was just low. Now I don't understand what happened.


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## jjyoung (Jan 1, 2007)

I put a cree into the elly and it is alot brighter than the stock led. Does anyone know where I can find a small boost converter that has a 500 or 700 mA output?


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## x2x3x2 (Jan 2, 2007)

cutter.co.au has the pucks, but u will need to run 3.7v li-ions to reach 500ma.


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## infection0 (Jan 2, 2007)

About what mA to the Cree does it run right now?


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## Walt175 (Jan 2, 2007)

x2x3x2 said:


> cutter.co.au has the pucks, but u will need to run 3.7v li-ions to reach 500ma.


 
If you're gonna run 3.7v, you might as well use a FLuPIC. Then you get added features to boot!


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## jjyoung (Jan 3, 2007)

what about using two micropucks stacked? anyone try this to get higher output?


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## x2x3x2 (Jan 3, 2007)

Yup i agree that if u are gona be running 3.7 li-ion it would be better to go with a flupic. Just need to get used to the reverse clickie to change modes.

As u can see from the spec sheet, the 2009 puck isnt efficient enough to get 500mA at 3V, in fact it only reached 400mA at 3V. with 3.7V u will roughly get about 450mA

If u were to get 2 pucks and wire them up in parallel boost configuration u can squeeze just about 300mA from 1.5V source or almost 700mA from a 3V source. U will be paying about $25 for 2 pucks, which u may as well spend on a FluPic 

These are from the graphs testing Luxeon III emitters but should be pretty similar for XR-E which reaches just about the 750mA range at 3.3V.

So u will have to choose if u wana run standard 1.5V AA with 2 pucks (there's more than enough space in the head cavity)
or
3.7V Li-Ion with FluPic (have not tested the fit on this myself, but im sure they will fit, maybe a little fillinf here n there).


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## SpeedEvil (Jan 4, 2007)

2xTrinity said:


> Well, a weird thing happened. I went to test the LED part of that third flashlight that broke due to what appeared to be the faulty step-up circuit. I powered the LED using some lead wires off a 3v battery and it seemed to work. Then, when I assembled the light again, the whole thing worked again.
> 
> It doesn't make any sense that the converter "fixed itself" and a loose connection/open circuit doesn't explain what happened, either, as I did see voltage delivered to the LED when the light was not working, it was just low. Now I don't understand what happened.



I haven't properly traced out the circuit - and I can't tget the one next to me open.
But, a weak point on these is the connection between the negative of the battery and the voltage converter.
The aluminium housing in whihc the converter is fitted is a tight press fit fot the PCB which is simply pressed into place, and relys on the contact between the copper foil on the bottom of the pcb, and the aluminium being adequate.
If this is unreliable, it could do what you claim.
If the negative is not present at the circuit, then you might measure 1.2V as it's not stepping the battery up.


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## EngrPaul (Jan 4, 2007)

Isn't this the flashlight where they take a bare (-) wire to the back side of the emitter board and screw down the board?

Anyway, of all the flashlights I've modded to Cree, this one has the worst dropoff around the spot, and then a orangish ring. 

Sure, it's easy. But white wallers should not sign up.


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## AndyTiedye (Jan 4, 2007)

Is there any other source for these lights?


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## EngrPaul (Jan 4, 2007)

Andy,

Do a search for "MXDL"

Everything I Google is 3W/V2 or newer, except FifthUnit.


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## 2xTrinity (Jan 4, 2007)

EngrPaul said:


> Isn't this the flashlight where they take a bare (-) wire to the back side of the emitter board and screw down the board?
> 
> Anyway, of all the flashlights I've modded to Cree, this one has the worst dropoff around the spot, and then a orangish ring.
> 
> Sure, it's easy. But white wallers should not sign up.


Yes, this light does wrap a stripped copper wire around the heat sink plate to connect the negative end to the body. I sort of see what you mean though, the image on the first page shows a slightly orangish ring around a sharp hotspot, followed by tons of flood (Elly running a Cree). 

What I think I may end up doing now is using the Cree LEDs that I ordered in some of my Luxeon flashlights, then using these Elly lights as hosts for the old Luxeons I pull out. Those lights include focusing lenses and/or higher quality reflectors, so they should be able to put the extra lumens of the Cree to better use.


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## lightbug (Jan 5, 2007)

At last, I found the place you can buy these 1w MXDL flashlights (Aka Elly).
they are selling 2.35 GBP ($4.56 USD) each, but the shipping fee is 3.95 GBP for the first unit and 3.45 GBP for each additional unit. "ouch"  
However, they'll throw in 2 free holsters and upgrade it to insured(registered)mail if you buy more than 1 piece. 
I asked the guy if I buy 4, how much would it be, he said 20 GBP (including shipping). However, if you purchase 10 pcs, it would be only $45 GBP(shipping included). I ended up buying just 2 pcs.

The seller's name is milktea206 on Ebay, he is from Hong Kong.
just message him, and I'm sure he'll reply back quickly if he wants business.
If you don't see the 1w MXDL under his listing, just msg him, because I know he has more in stock. Below is the link to his listings on ebay.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmilktea206QQhtZ-1

or type in this number 150064604540 in ebay search to see the picture of the 1w MXDL


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## Hellbore (Jan 5, 2007)

Hey guys - 

I live in the USA. I placed my order to FifthUnit Dec. 16, they shipped it out Dec. 21, and it's still not here!

Today's January 5th and the package says it departed Hong Kong the 21st.

But it doesn't give me any way to track the package here in the US, how am I supposed to know where it is? We have USPS tracking here but the Hong Kong tracking page isn't telling me what the U.S. Tracking number is for this package!

Is it normal for a package to take sooo long from Hong Kong? If so... I am in trouble... I have ordered several things from Hong Kong lately and I'm gonna die if every one of them takes this long! 15 days since leaving Hong Kong via airmail and it's still on here? WTF??

That makes it 20 days since I placed the order and still no package.


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## infection0 (Jan 5, 2007)

Hellbore, yes it takes that long. And tracking is a joke.

I found a soldering iron at my university today after searching for an hour. I soldered the connections really badly, breaking the blue wire TWICE. So I had to make a solder blob connecting the blue wire to the body. However I soldered it really badly so when I was done, it kept turning off and I couldn't go again to the Engineering lab. I looked frantically for a piece of conductive material I could use. Finally I used the aluminum from a Sees candy bar and stuck it in the crack between the solder blob and the body. It works! I think it'll be pretty unreliable... should I go and solder it again? LOL. But this light is brighter than this 3AAA 1W Lux 1 that I have. It's tinted pretty badly, however.


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## SuperNinja (Jan 5, 2007)

Hellbore said:


> Is it normal for a package to take sooo long from Hong Kong?


It is when it's coming from FifthUnit.

Seems like most of the customers are ok with that though, since their prices make up for the delay.


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## Hellbore (Jan 6, 2007)

SuperNinja said:


> It is when it's coming from FifthUnit.
> 
> Seems like most of the customers are ok with that though, since their prices make up for the delay.



Well, I guess it's worth it to me, just... how long does it usually take? I would be OK with it if I had some kind of idea how long I really was gonna wait, but their website makes you think it will only be about 14 days. So that's why after 20 days I'm kinda worried. If it really takes 20 or 30 days or something they should say that.


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## Walt175 (Jan 6, 2007)

It took about a month from the time I placed my order to the day my Elly was delivered. Then about 3 hours until I put a Cree P4 into it.


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## Hellbore (Jan 7, 2007)

So is Hong Kong post just really slow? Or is it slow once it gets to the USA? If you know, could you break down where the 30 days went?


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## Walt175 (Jan 7, 2007)

Unfortunately, I jave no idea where all the time went, but I'm sure all the mail during the holiday season had something to do with it.


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## Led_Blind (Jan 7, 2007)

It took 26 days for my order to arive  and ps, dont use a lion in the Elly, it will bust the boost converter


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## x2x3x2 (Jan 7, 2007)

Honkong post is generally very fast, many things i bough on eBay have arrived in 3-5 days here in Singapore. The stuff from FU took a few weeks, so perhaps its the factory which supplies the stuff?


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## Hellbore (Jan 7, 2007)

Led_Blind said:


> It took 26 days for my order to arive  and ps, dont use a lion in the Elly, it will bust the boost converter



Don't use a lion?







Yeah, those suckers are STRONG... I bet they would break the whole flashlight, not just the boost converter!


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## Led_Blind (Jan 7, 2007)

It was a bugger getting it out to!


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## ace0001a (Jan 8, 2007)

I've had 3 orders with FU and I'm in California...all three got to me within 2 weeks....one got to me as fast as 10 days...


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## EngrPaul (Jan 10, 2007)

The most disappointing thing about this light is the thinly silvered (inefficient) polycarbonate lens. 

The driver lights the emitter respectfully, but much of the photons go right through the lens.

If you've put a cree in this flashlight, and you happen to have a Brinkmann 1W or 3W, try putting the Brinkmann reflector over the emitter. The result is a fantastic bright spot, which reminds me of the throw of the D-mini.

Which means I better mod my Brinkmann with a cree


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## Hellbore (Jan 10, 2007)

Could someone measure the reflector dimensions so we could look into possible replacements?

Also does anyone know what the reflector dimensions are for a Mini-mag?


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## Hellbore (Jan 10, 2007)

FYI in case anyone missed it, the Elly is available once again:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1120

This is just FifthUnit with a name change.


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## EngrPaul (Jan 14, 2007)

This should give you a good idea of how much light is being lost through the lens. I turned the lens upside down during an aided tailstand. The red and blue features to the right are the attachment wires to the PCB.







@Hellbore, The size of the lens:

Overall height: .582" (as modified by me for the cree, may have been as much as .600" to start)

Widest diameter at lens: .930"


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## howl of the yeti (Jan 14, 2007)

SuperNinja said:


> FifthUnit sells it too.
> http://contents.fifthunit.com/html/products.5th/sku.79.html



After clicking the link, I get a login box and if I cancel it I get:

"You are not authorized to view this page" :huh2:


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## taschenlampe (Jan 14, 2007)

howl of the yeti said:


> After clicking the link, I get a login box and if I cancel it I get:
> 
> "You are not authorized to view this page" :huh2:


 
fifthunit is now www.dealextreme.com

Tom


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## taschenlampe (Jan 14, 2007)

ELLY


Tom


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## Turbo DV8 (Jan 14, 2007)

I just received two Elly's. one reflector was so thinly coated that it was spotchy. They just sent me out a replacement, free of charge, don't even have to send the original one back. Great customer service (once it's in my hot little hands)


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## Meduza (Jan 14, 2007)

From just looking at the reflector i picked out of mine and compared with a cree optic, it may fit perfectly...


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## Curious_character (Jan 14, 2007)

ace0001a said:


> I've had 3 orders with FU and I'm in California...all three got to me within 2 weeks....one got to me as fast as 10 days...


So far I've gotten two orders direct from Hong Kong, one from FifthUnit and one from AW. Both took 20 days to get to me here in Oregon. I have to be really patient if I want to buy from those folks.

c_c


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## lightbug (Jan 14, 2007)

bought two from ebay, took them just 6 business days shipped to me.


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## Turbo DV8 (Jan 14, 2007)

Meduza said:


> From just looking at the reflector i picked out of mine and compared with a cree optic, it may fit perfectly...


 
If it turns out to fit and gives a good beam, I would like to either:

A) Buy one from you, or...
B) Know where to buy one...

to put in my Elly which came with a bad reflector. Thanks.


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## IsaacHayes (Jan 14, 2007)

EngrPaul lol yeah that's bad. I've seen some lights like that.


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## mcmc (Jan 15, 2007)

can we re-silver the reflector w/ some paint or spray or something?


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## Turbo DV8 (Jan 15, 2007)

mcmc said:


> can we re-silver the reflector w/ some paint or spray or something?


 
I was thinking, but not sure if even the shiniest silver or aluminum paint wouldm reflect as well the LED light glancing off even bare clear plastic. Water is clear, but a lot of the sun's glare can reflect off the surface at an angle. Don't know if silver paint would be an improvement. Worth a try, I guess.


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## chevrofreak (Jan 16, 2007)

I finally got some runtime tests done for this light https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/148998


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## mcmc (Jan 16, 2007)

Turbo, I was thinking silvering the back of the reflector?

chevro - thanks!! =)


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## Hellbore (Jan 17, 2007)

I finally got my order of these!

I'm pretty happy with them so far. They seem nice for the price! 

I put a Cree P3 bin star in one of them and it's noticeably brighter with the Cree, but the biggest improvement is color. The Cree light has a much nicer color, the LED that came with the light is pretty bright but very very blue. The Cree has a beautiful color, seems like perfect white light.


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## Hellbore (Jan 17, 2007)

Hey guys, question - 

I have an extra Luxeon, an old batwing type emitter. It is from a Terralux Ministar TLE-5 that I put a Cree emitter onto.

I also plan to put a Seoul Semiconductor P4 emitter on my MagLED, so I will have the Luxeon 3 emitter left over from that mod.

Do you guys think that either the batwing Lux I or the Lux III will be brighter than the LED that came with the Elly? It might be worth it even if not brighter, just for the better beam color... I know for example that the batwing emitter had a very good light color...


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## Nake (Jan 17, 2007)

If anyone wants to upgrade their lens, the 24.7mm from Flashlightlens fits well. With LDF it smooths out the beam and gets rid of the rings.


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## ace0001a (Jan 17, 2007)

mcmc said:


> Turbo, I was thinking silvering the back of the reflector?
> 
> chevro - thanks!! =)



Yeah, I was thinking the same thing too... I figure some good chrome paint on the backside of the reflector could do the trick. So how do you remove the reflector and lens??


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## EngrPaul (Jan 17, 2007)

I think you need to put the paint on the inside of the reflector to be reasonably efficient. You remove the reflector by unscrewing that big washer that has two holes in it. As usual, a sharpened pair of needle nose pliers does the trick.


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## carbine15 (Jan 17, 2007)

dont paint the inside. The smooth plastic of the reflector acts like a clear coat. Paint the outside for the love of god!


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## EngrPaul (Jan 17, 2007)

If you wanted to make your snowman reflect light the best, would you silver paint his inside our outside?


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## Hellbore (Jan 17, 2007)

carbine15 said:


> This is my snowman. He's way shorter now from the thaw. Someone stole his glasses and his pipe and his blue squeezelight. I'm setting up a sting operation with paintball guns tonight.



Uh oh, I was gonna come back to steal more but I guess I won't now...






what kind of paintball guns you have? I'm a paintball nut... or I was anyway...


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## Turbo DV8 (Jan 17, 2007)

carbine15 said:
 

> dont paint the inside. The smooth plastic of the reflector acts like a clear coat. Paint the outside for the love of god!


 
Too late ... painted the inside today with chrome paint, first once, not impressed at all, then tried a spray can I save for special occassions, which has lots of silver flakes in it. Still worthless. So you are right... painting the inside of the lens is worthless. Not sure how much better painting the outside will be, but worth a try. But I am leaning toward just5 replacing the lens with the 24.7 mm from flashlightlens. Nake, how much does that cost? Probably more than the entire Elly, right?


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## mcmc (Jan 17, 2007)

Turbo: thanks for taking one for the team =) Btw, did you mean you sprayed the inside of the reflector or the lens?


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## carbine15 (Jan 18, 2007)

yeah, spray the lens. YOu guys, sometimes I wonder if you all went to public school.


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## EngrPaul (Jan 18, 2007)

Your snowman has limp wrists. No wonder everybody picks on him.


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## carbine15 (Jan 18, 2007)

Should I give him a gun?


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## Turbo DV8 (Jan 18, 2007)

carbine15 said:


> yeah, spray the lens. YOu guys, sometimes I wonder if you all went to public school.


 
I sprayed the outside of the lens black, and light output was unimpressive!  Of course, I meant to say I painted the inside of the "reflector," the side you can see looking through the lens. Long day...


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## lightbug (Jan 20, 2007)

I have stacked 2 ELLY flashlights together and made it into a SINGLE 2AA flashlight (you have to sand end part of the flashlight to fit into the other one). Dug out the old circuit board and replaced it with the 2009sho 500mA micropuck. Soldered the wires to a CREE XR-E P4 star, and the job is done. Comparing it to my Fenix p1 and Inova T3, it is definitely brighter.
My brother is so impressed, he took the light.  

My first flashlight mod  .


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## carbine15 (Jan 20, 2007)

lightbug said:


> I have stacked 2 ELLY flashlights together and made it into a SINGLE 2AA flashlight (you have to sand end part of the flashlight to fit into the other one). Dug out the old circuit board and replaced it with the 2009sho 500mA micropuck. Soldered the wires to a CREE XR-E P4 star, and the job is done. Comparing it to my Fenix p1 and Inova T3, it is definitely brighter.
> My brother is so impressed, he took the light.
> 
> My first flashlight mod  .



Um... were gonna need to see some pics of this and beamshots.


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## carbine15 (Jan 21, 2007)

I ordered some clearance lenses from flashlightlens.com for $5 shipped and they sent me these beautiful (albeit thick) glass lenses. They would not fit in the Elly but I was determined. I just received these glow rings and I came up with an idea. Since the lenses were so thick the o-rings can sit on the edge. It was very tricky and impossible to keep them there without help. I used super glue to convince them to stay and scraped off as much as I could after. The glass is a billion times clearer than the old scratched plastic lens. Here are some photos of my results.


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## Hellbore (Jan 21, 2007)

Wait I'm confused... Did you get super glue all over the lense?

Why didn't you clean it off???

That kind of seems counter-productive to me, to go to all that trouble to glue glow rings on, only to end up with super glue all over the lense...

If you can't get it off try using nail polish remover (acetone) it's supposed to soften up superglue. It has worked for me in the past.


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## carbine15 (Jan 21, 2007)

the superglue cleans off easily with a razor blade once it's set up. It just chips right off leaving a clean smooth transparent glass. The artifacts in the lens area in the photos are from the reflector. Allow me to demonstrate. Pics to follow:


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## Hellbore (Jan 21, 2007)

Hahah ok man that is good to hear... whew... for some reason in the pic it looked like you left superglue ALL OVER the lense 

Anyway good job on the mod! I like glow in the dark rings I need to add some to my flashlights.

I am pretty happy with my Elly especially with a Cree in it!


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## carbine15 (Jan 22, 2007)

did you have to shave the reflector to get the cree to the right focal point? did you use the old star or a cree on a star.


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## Hellbore (Jan 22, 2007)

I didn't shave the reflector, the hotspot seemed tight to me. I might not have the best focal point, I'm not sure how to tell, but it looks good. I used a Cree on a star (I had bought some Crees already on stars).


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## Aepoc (Jan 22, 2007)

has anyone found a replacement reflector for the Elly yet? If so, where?


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## Nake (Jan 22, 2007)

I installed a McR20 today, nice. The depth of the reflector is perfect. I have a Cree emitter on a Luxeon star. With the FLuPIC, Cree, glass lens, reflector, 14500 batt., and Kroll tailcap the $6 light has turned into a $60 light, oh well.


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## Hellbore (Jan 22, 2007)

What size lens fits? Why did you use flupic, what's wrong with the stock board?


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## Nake (Jan 22, 2007)

Hellbore said:


> What size lens fits? Why did you use flupic, what's wrong with the stock board?


 
The 24.7mm from Flashlightlens. The FLuPIC on burst is 1.2A. Truthfully I don't see much difference between the high setting at 700mA and burst.


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## Hellbore (Jan 22, 2007)

Is it possible to make the stock driver board put out more wattage, maybe by swapping out certain resistors or something?


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## mcmc (Jan 22, 2007)

Nake said:


> I installed a McR20 today, nice. The depth of the reflector is perfect. I have a Cree emitter on a Luxeon star. With the FLuPIC, Cree, glass lens, reflector, 14500 batt., and Kroll tailcap the $6 light has turned into a $60 light, oh well.



but the joy of modding and of knowing you made a $6 light a pocket rocket: priceless =)


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## Nell (Jan 22, 2007)

Mine is putting out 3.3Vf stock. Isn't that sufficient to push a P3 or P4 Cree?


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## EngrPaul (Jan 22, 2007)

I didn't see the value in putting a $9 emitter in a $6 non-waterproof flashlight, doubling the output only to lose half of it's output behind the reflector. My tailcap was ripped from the factory, the o-rings were threaded over and in bad shape... mine went in the trash.


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## Nake (Jan 22, 2007)

EngrPaul said:


> I didn't see the value in putting a $9 emitter in a $6 non-waterproof flashlight, doubling the output only to lose half of it's output behind the reflector. My tailcap was ripped from the factory, the o-rings were threaded over and in bad shape... mine went in the trash.


 
It's not about value, it's about performance. Didn't you ever put more money into a car's engine than the car was worth?


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## tc535i (Jan 22, 2007)

Just ordered one to show my friends what even an inexpensive AA LED flashlight can do... I'll probably end up giving it to my brother or something, we'll see


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## Hellbore (Jan 22, 2007)

Do we really think the loss due to the reflector is that bad, to say 50%?

That seems hard to believe.

Isn't it possible to do something about it, other than replacing the whole reflector?

If not, does anyone know of a source of cheap plastic reflectors that don't have this problem, that could be used? I don't think I can afford to put those MC20 reflectors in my $6 flashlights.


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## carbine15 (Jan 22, 2007)

I know that surefire g2, and sams club cyclops xenon reflectors fit fine. I'm just looking for a used one to dremmel away on.


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## EngrPaul (Jan 22, 2007)

Hellbore said:


> Do we really think the loss due to the reflector is that bad, to say 50%?
> 
> That seems hard to believe.


 
Mine was probably about 30-40% efficient, based on holding up other reflectors to the LED and comparing brightness of the beam. Not everyone's is as bad as mine.


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## Nake (Jan 22, 2007)

When my stock reflector was put up to a light bulb you could see areas that were semi-transparent. I would say it got 20% brighter. After the swap I compared it to my PID CE at 12ft., both on rechargables. The hotspot is the same brightness but about 50% bigger. The spill dia. is a bit larger and brighter.


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## chevrofreak (Jan 22, 2007)

I just measured a stock "MXDL 1W" in my home made integrating sphere using a Ni-MH cell thats been sitting around for a while (so there would be less initial output drop) both with and without the head installed. With the head on I measured 259, and without it 324. That's a 20% reduction in light output with the head on, which isn't near as bad as I had expected based on the reflector coating looking as thin as it does. That's also assuming my numbers are accurate.


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## EngrPaul (Jan 22, 2007)

How about compared to another reflector that moves the light in approximately the same manner to the measuring transducer?


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## Hellbore (Jan 22, 2007)

Yeah what's the average loss for a GOOD reflector?


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## chevrofreak (Jan 22, 2007)

I don't think I have anything else that will fully expose the LED like that, but if that 20% is accurate then that isn't bad at all.


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## EngrPaul (Jan 22, 2007)

It was discussed here:

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=111807


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## Hellbore (Jan 22, 2007)

But the reflector looks totally shiny...

I don't see how a thicker coating would make a difference. I bet if you had a metal reflector or a thicker coating, the difference would be that instead of being able to SEE the light passing through the reflector, it would just absorb into the material as heat...

How do losses with an optic compare?


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## carbine15 (Jan 23, 2007)

Led doesn’t throw much in the way of heat. If you coated the outside with enough reflective paint it should improve things a small margin. Probably no more than 20% and that would likely not be noticeable by the human eye because of the logarithmic nature of the way we see increases in light. All in all it's an aesthetics thing. An optic just takes all the stray light that we see as spill and forces it all back into the beam in a more cohesive manner. It doesnt recover any stray photons that weren't already inclined to go forward.


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## 2xTrinity (Jan 23, 2007)

carbine15 said:


> Led doesn’t throw much in the way of heat. If you coated the outside with enough reflective paint it should improve things a small margin. Probably no more than 20% and that would likely not be noticeable by the human eye because of the logarithmic nature of the way we see increases in light. All in all it's an aesthetics thing. An optic just takes all the stray light that we see as spill and forces it all back into the beam in a more cohesive manner. It doesnt recover any stray photons that weren't already inclined to go forward.


I don't think he's saying there's any IR (radiant heat) from the LEDs. I think he's just referring to efforts to paint the _outside_ of the reflector not providing any benefit. As it is, stray light that "leaks" through gaps in the reflective coating simply get absorbed (converted to heat) by the flashlight casing. His point is that painting the back of the reflector would likely just cause the same amount of stray light to be absorbed inside the reflector, rather than actaully improving the reflectance. 



> I just measured a stock "MXDL 1W" in my home made integrating sphere using a Ni-MH cell thats been sitting around for a while (so there would be less initial output drop) both with and without the head installed. With the head on I measured 259, and without it 324. That's a 20% reduction in light output with the head on, which isn't near as bad as I had expected based on the reflector coating looking as thin as it does. That's also assuming my numbers are accurate.



20% sounds somewhat low for total reflector and lens transmission losses. However, running the Elly without the head, some of the You see more than that much loss just comparing the lumen ratings of standard light bulbs with the reflector type bulbs. (Although I guarantee you a reflector bulb is still a lot more efficient than a lampshade...) However, one point worth remembering is that any omnidirectional source is going to have a greater percentage of reflector losses than an LED all else equal, as all of the light that goes "backward" must be reflected "forward". In the case of an LED, beam pattern is naturally 180 degrees or lower instead of 360, so a lower percentage of the light even needs to be redirected in the first place.



> How do losses with an optic compare?


Theoretically optics would have much lower losses than reflector + flat lens combos. If you get an LED that naturally transmits in a tighter angle (different primary lens), 100% of the LEDs lumens could be directed into an ultra-clear secondary optic, which could pass well over 90% of the original light into a concentrated beam.


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## Aepoc (Jan 24, 2007)

Has anyone tried putting an optic in the Elly yet? If so how does the beamshot look? Where did you get the optic and what optic are you using? 

I am kindof partial to reflectors but if someone can convince me that an optic would be the right thing, I might change my mind.

thanks


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## Aepoc (Jan 24, 2007)

I am thinking of taking all of the elly's hardware out... would the fluPIC be a sufficient replacement? Would it run the XR-E p4 alright. What circuitry could I use to run the the XR-E at max output with a 3.7v rechargable AA? 

I have been looking at some sandwich mods at the sandwichshoppe. I don't know what to pick... I'm not an electrical engineer... do I need to worry about mah, voltage, or wattage?


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## Hellbore (Jan 24, 2007)

So has anyone actually measured what mAh the Elly driver supplies to a Cree XR-E?

If nobody has, I think today I am going to measure this. I also am going to try giving the driver 3 volts and see what the resulting volts / mAh to the Cree are (only for a few seconds, in case it's too high, don't want to burn out the Cree).

Who knows, maybe it would be suitable for use with an 18650 cell.

Last night I tried using 2 AA batteries with a piece of wire, just for a few seconds, and it was A LOT brighter. I'm interested to see if the voltage gets out of whack at a 3V input or if the mAh just increases.


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## Aepoc (Jan 24, 2007)

Hellbore,

I am interested to hear the results from your 3v test. Are you running the cree star with the stock elly converter? Do you think I will gain anything by putting a different converter in the mod?


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## mcmc (Jan 24, 2007)

Haven't measured the output from driver to led, but I have run 3v AA lithiums (harvested from CR-V3 camera battery primaries), and actually Chevrofreak did a runtime/output plot on one of these batteries at the previously mentioned thread here:
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=148998&highlight=elly

The circuit seems to be able to handle 3v fine - but this was on the Cree. I don't know what would happen if you ran a 3v on the stock led - when the Elly's return, I'll try it out...


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## 2xTrinity (Jan 24, 2007)

> Who knows, maybe it would be suitable for use with an 18650 cell.
> 
> Last night I tried using 2 AA batteries with a piece of wire, just for a few seconds, and it was A LOT brighter. I'm interested to see if the voltage gets out of whack at a 3V input or if the mAh just increases.


I actually did this exact test myself, but used an ammeter to momentarily close the circuit rather than a wire. With just a 1.2V NiMH the Elly drew about .8 amps, or just short of a watt (I have another that only draws .5, it is significantly dimmer). With two NiMH (2.4V) the Elly drew about 1.3 A, or almost 3 watts. With a 3V CR123A, the circuit drew about 2.7A, about 8 watts. I decided not to test it with a 3.6V Rechargeable 123...

Of course, I don't know how much of that power actually gets to the LED. Efficiency of the circuit might be dramatically different for any one of those input voltages. To investigate efficiency I would need to disconnect the LED, and connect that part of the circuit with an ammeter there as well.


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## Hellbore (Jan 24, 2007)

2xTrinity said:


> To investigate efficiency I would need to disconnect the LED, and connect that part of the circuit with an ammeter there as well.



That's what I plan to do today with my 3 volt test.

With its plastic reflector and the heat-handling situation, how much mAh do you think would be safe to run at? Just wondering in case I wanted to try a different driver, or in case the stock driver puts out acceptable voltage at higher mAh with 3 volts.


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## Hellbore (Jan 24, 2007)

Hey guys, 

One of my Elly lights has a slightly different driver PCB than the others.

All my other Elly lights have an inductor coil that has the number "100" printed on the top. This one has a larger inductor that has nothing printed on it.

Then there are 2 black SMD pieces missing from the PCB, they have white letters "000" printed on them. They are absent in this odd board.

The odd board also has a piece with 1 leg on one side and 2 on the other, that says "1906" but the others have the same shaped piece that says "2302". All 3 legs connect via traces directly to another part that says 501C1 on the odd board. On the normal boards, the 2 smd pieces that say "000" are in series between the 2 legs of the different IC's. 

What does any of this mean? I dunno I'm not an EE 

I'll see if the voltage or current is different.


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## Hellbore (Jan 24, 2007)

Oh I just also noticed that the odd board says 
S10420 
and 
HT-043
printed in white on the PCB.
The normal boards have no printing on them (that I can see).


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## Hellbore (Jan 24, 2007)

Hmm, Ok here are my results but they are confusing.

First of all, my multimeter is not very good so it's probably not giving me accurate readings. The brand is "GB Instruments", whatever that is. 

In any case, my readings were the same with the "odd" board as the "normal" board.

Readings with 1 alkaline AA battery (1.3 volts, a little low):
Voltage measured in parallel with the Cree LED: 3 Volts
Current measured in series with the Cree LED: 200 mA

Readings with TWO alkaline AA batteries (2.6 volts, both batteries were a little low):
Voltage measured in parallel with the Cree LED: 3 Volts
Current measured in series with the Cree LED: 200 mA

So it appears to me that this driver will feed the Cree LED with 200 mAh regardless of whether it is 1.5 volts or 2.6 volts input.

Now, I am wondering if there is some threshold you have to cross, like the 3 volt barrier, in order to make the amperage increase. Is that possible? Should I try maybe with more voltage?

These results seem inconsistent with my experience yesterday running an Elly on 2 AA batteries. It DEFINITELY was shining significantly brighter than with just 1 AA. But I can't seem to make the measurements match up with that...


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## Aepoc (Jan 24, 2007)

Hmm... not the results i was hoping for.

I am really wondering if i should just gut the whole thing... I am already going to replace the star, but i think i might get a regulator or even the FLuPIC to throw in there.

I wish i knew more about the stock circuitry of the Elly. I want to run the XR-E at its max output.


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## Hellbore (Jan 24, 2007)

Well I just finished installing Cree P4 bin stars into the 4 remaining Elly lights I have, now they are ready for service.

Now I have 4 of these generic chinese LED stars that came in the Elly lights. What to do with them? I'm tempted to drive them hard in some kind of 4-LED flashlight design. If they burn out who cares...

They seem like they are decent brightness, maybe comparable to a Lux 1? Now i need a project to use them LOL... Maybe a dome light for my car or something...

It's funny, those Elly are so cheap right now, I could probably buy 4 of them and just unscrew the piece with the driver and star, and wire 4 of them in series hooked to the dome light


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## EngrPaul (Jan 24, 2007)

Paste them to the ceiling of your bedroom. It will remind you of what your parents did when you were stuck in a crib.


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## Hellbore (Jan 24, 2007)

LOL...

Hey anyone have any idea what the Vf of these chinese LED's would be? And what mAh they can handle?


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## x2x3x2 (Jan 24, 2007)

So is it safe to assume that the stock circuit is current regulated since Hellbore's tests seem to indicate so?


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## Hellbore (Jan 24, 2007)

Well I took the 4 LED's I removed from the Elly lights and installed them in my car for the dome light!

I posted about it here... maybe you guys can give me some advice 
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/150221


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## chevrofreak (Jan 25, 2007)

x2x3x2 said:


> So is it safe to assume that the stock circuit is current regulated since Hellbore's tests seem to indicate so?



The curved shape on the runtime graphs and different output with different cells would suggest otherwise.


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## Turbo DV8 (Jan 25, 2007)

2xTrinity said:


> I actually did this exact test myself, but used an ammeter to momentarily close the circuit rather than a wire. With just a 1.2V NiMH the Elly drew about .8 amps, or just short of a watt (I have another that only draws .5, it is significantly dimmer).


 

One definitely does not know what one will get when purchasing an Elly. I have two Elly's. One is significantly brighter than the other. I just measured the currents at the tails using the same NiMH cell. The brighter one draws 680 mA, and the dimmer one draws 430 mA. So much for consistency.


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## Hellbore (Jan 25, 2007)

All of my Elly lights have Cree stars in them now, and all are fantastically bright! I have 5 of them.

I measured them all at the tailcap and with a fresh alkaline AA, all of them draw 900 mA at the tailcap. All of mine read the same.

Out of my 5 there was one oddball: The bored out and threaded end of the battery tube where the driver board + star module screws in is not perfectly aligned with the flashlight bore. It is at a slight angle. You can tell because when you screw in the light module the lip of it only touches on one side, and the lip isn't deformed or anything, I verified with other modules from other Elly lights. It works fine though, doesn't seem to effect the performance and isn't visible with the head on. It's just wierd that they bored out the front at a slight angle! hehe... not the best quality control in the world, I consider myself lucky that all my lights work well.


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## Hellbore (Jan 26, 2007)

Those of you who are talking about removing the reflector, putting in a glass lens, etc.... How did you remove the metal retaining ring that holds the reflector and lens in place?


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## carbine15 (Jan 26, 2007)

Hellbore said:


> Those of you who are talking about removing the reflector, putting in a glass lens, etc.... How did you remove the metal retaining ring that holds the reflector and lens in place?


Use a pair of needle nose pliers. Place the pliars into the two holes drilled into the retaining ring and turn counter clockwise.


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## Nake (Jan 26, 2007)

I use a pair of snap ring pliers. The points are smaller than on needle nose. Once you break the ring loose, put a ballpoint pen in one of the holes and turn it out.


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## mcmc (Jan 26, 2007)

Mr. HB: The retaining ring should have two small divots, spaced 180 degrees from each other. Stick a spanning wrench, a pair of calipers, or even just a large paper clip twisted to size (that's what I did - but make sure you give it good force along both arms) that fit, into those divots, and twist counterclockwise. It's threaded like a normal screw (RHR and everything). Good luck!


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## mcmc (Jan 26, 2007)

Haha, oops - didn't realize other people had already answered! =)


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## Hellbore (Jan 26, 2007)

Cool thanks.


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## Aepoc (Jan 29, 2007)

Has anyone put a FLuPIC in the Elly yet? If so what size did you use? What battery?


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## infection0 (Jan 31, 2007)

Hi, just updating:
Currently you can get a Cree Elly for $15 delivered at www.dealextreme.com

Links: CREE Star + P4 Bin, Elly Light
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1302
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1120

Simply unsolder and resolder, and tuck the blue wire under the star.

All this for $15 total is an incredible deal for a CREE light - I had to pay $20 each for mine, and that's buying a lot of Ellys and a lot of stars to make up for shipping. Now you can buy just one for $15 delivered... this was my first solder project and it was EASY!  This is the light to tide me over to the next CREE light, since Jetbeam flaked on us big time. I'm glad I jumped, despite the larger cost.


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## Nake (Jan 31, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> Has anyone put a FLuPIC in the Elly yet? If so what size did you use? What battery?


 
Mine has a FLuPIC in it. It is #1 in this link.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1341098&postcount=1

I use a protected 14500 battery.


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## Aepoc (Jan 31, 2007)

The 1.6 mm thick sammie sized board? Do i need a heat sink with that? Did you just take everything out of the Elly and put the flupic - star sandwich in?


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## Nake (Jan 31, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> The 1.6 mm thick sammie sized board? Do i need a heat sink with that? Did you just take everything out of the Elly and put the flupic - star sandwich in?


 
Yes the 1.6mm one. The stock heat sink is fine. Mine has a Luxeon star with a Cree emitter. The Cree star is .040" thinner than the Luxeon. You might have to shim the star up.


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## Meduza (Jan 31, 2007)

Or just put in a Cree optic instead of the reflector, fits perfectly


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## carbine15 (Jan 31, 2007)

Meduza said:


> Or just put in a Cree optic instead of the reflector, fits perfectly


got a link where to find an optic that fits?


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## Hellbore (Jan 31, 2007)

FYI - I ordered a UCL lense for my Elly and it came today. When taking out the old lense, I found out that there was no o-ring on the lense! This light wasn't at all waterproofed on the front!

The new lense came with a fat o-ring so I used it. Now I just need to replace the thin, stretched out o-ring that goes where the head screws onto the body, and maybe the o-ring at the tailcap too. After that I would think the light would be waterproof but I am not sure how sealed the rubber tail clickie is.

The UCL lense looks great though, the stock plastic one was already getting scratched up.

I also put a UCL lense on my 3D Maglite, it's wierd though, these lenses are so much clearer that now when I look at my lights it looks like there isn't a lense there! Kinda made me do a double-take.


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## Hellbore (Jan 31, 2007)

Hey has anyone measured the reflector's dimensions?

I wonder if this reflector would work:

http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.com/product_info.php?products_id=917


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## carbine15 (Jan 31, 2007)

I know that the surefire G2 reflectors fit fine. So what lamp assemblies are they that fit in the G2.. the p60 and p61? Yeah I think those are them.


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## Nake (Jan 31, 2007)

The stock reflector has an OD of 24mm and is 15mm deep. The McR19 is 20.6mm deep. You will have to take a lot off the back of it, probably screw up the focus too.


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## lightbug (Jan 31, 2007)

Received 10 of my Elly from Dealextrem.com today. All working probably, 3 out of 10 with nice cool white color, all other 7 have some sort of blue tints.
Just too bad the RC helicopter came with the package doesn't work.


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## carbine15 (Jan 31, 2007)

where can I buy an optic that fits for less than $5 shipped?


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## Meduza (Feb 1, 2007)

It is the optics from Cree, look around in dealers corner/groupbuy and passaround forums and you should find!

I think that user davidefromitaly has some optics remaining from the groupbuy he did for 3$ + Shipping.


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## Hellbore (Feb 1, 2007)

What's the beam like with the optic? how does it compare to the stock reflector? Beamshots?


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## Meduza (Feb 1, 2007)

the optic is a very nice tight round spot


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## Aepoc (Feb 2, 2007)

heres a link for some optics:

http://www.cutter.com.au/categories.php?cat=30

the price shown is in Australian dollars... US ends up being a little less. 

Shipping takes a little while.


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## carbine15 (Feb 2, 2007)

so what optic do you recomend for a LuxIII in the elly?


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## ManBearPig (Feb 2, 2007)

I just bought 3 Elly's + 3 CREE stars. Looks like I found a new hobby. This place is awesome.


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## carbine15 (Feb 2, 2007)

Excelsior!


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## FlashCrazy (Feb 2, 2007)

ManBearPig said:


> I just bought 3 Elly's + 3 CREE stars. Looks like I found a new hobby. This place is awesome.


 
I just did the same thing last night! Always something else to spend money on!


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## Nake (Feb 2, 2007)

Today I thought I would take the Cree emitter off my Elly and replace it with a Seoul. I like the beam much better. I'm sure the McR20 helps, but I also had that reflector with the Cree. Sorry, no camera for beamshots.


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## Walt175 (Feb 2, 2007)

Nake said:


> Today I thought I would take the Cree emitter off my Elly and replace it with a Seoul. I like the beam much better. I'm sure the McR20 helps, but I also had that reflector with the Cree. Sorry, no camera for beamshots.


 
Which was brighter, the Cree or Seoul?


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## Nake (Feb 2, 2007)

Walt175 said:


> Which was brighter, the Cree or Seoul?


 
Just eye balling them I would say the Seoul, but not by much. The beam of the Cree had a more defined bigger hotspot. The Seoul's is smaller and more intense then smoothly goes out to spill.


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## KWillets (Feb 3, 2007)

Can the regulator be removed? I just looked and couldn't find a way to get it out.


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## carbine15 (Feb 3, 2007)

KWillets said:


> Can the regulator be removed? I just looked and couldn't find a way to get it out.


It's just behind that part that unscrews. I'm pretty sure you have to take off the star.


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## KWillets (Feb 3, 2007)

Ah, the star piece fooled me. Now is it soldered in?


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## carbine15 (Feb 3, 2007)

i think they used thermal adheisive. If it doesnt budge.. heat makes it gooey and cold makes it brittle. Freezer poping we called it when removing heat sinks from video cards to upgrade them.


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## KWillets (Feb 3, 2007)

Thanks. I'm thinking of upgrading the board, but I'll wait until I have a plan before I try it.


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## lightbug (Feb 4, 2007)

Here is the Elly mod I have had it done two weeks ago. I used two ELLY flashlights and made it into one, and used a 2009A-SHO 500mA micropuck as the driver.

Here is my first ugly mod






Elly with CREE Vs. Inova T3






ELLY with cree Vs. Fenix p1


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## carbine15 (Feb 4, 2007)

I'm done modding this host. I don't think I'll do another becasue of the horrible reflector and lens.
So far:
* I've waterproofed this light with o-rings mostly glow rings.
* Scraped old led die off and glued on a Lux III. (it's all I had) and wired it in.
* Placed a glass lens (that has since suffered a crack that I repaired with acrylic)
* Ground down an aluminum reflector to a near perfect height.
* Attached a silly lanyard.
I'm pretty happy with it. But that's it. No more!


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## lightbug (Feb 4, 2007)

It is cheaper to buy a new CREE XR-E light than do the mod.

The 2 ELLY flashlights cost ~ $16

2009sho micropuck ~$12 

Cree XR-E p4 ~$12 

Total cost is about $40 USD + 2 hours labor.

While you can get a multi-stage AA CREE light at $30..lol
This going to be my first and last 2AA ELLY mod, just too much work.
:nana:


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## abvidledUK (Feb 4, 2007)

lightbug said:


> It is cheaper to buy a new CREE XR-E light than do the mod.
> 
> The 2 ELLY flashlights cost ~ $16
> 
> ...




Why would you need the 2009sho micropuck ~$12

As the built in circuit seems to do a great job.

Any output figures and RT's for all three types, anyone ?

1) Original
2) Cree no puck
3) Cree with puck


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## infection0 (Feb 4, 2007)

As I posted earlier, at DX it's
$7.50 1 x ELLY
$7.25 1 x CREE P4 Star
$14.75 delivered for a decent light. You significantly overestimate the cost of these products and add an unnecessary item in there. It's currently the cheapest CREE light I've ever seen. And, why do you need 2 Ellys, especially when you are comparing the 2AA Elly mod with the 1AA CREEs?


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## Nake (Feb 4, 2007)

lightbug said:


> Here is the Elly mod I have had it done two weeks ago. I used two ELLY flashlights and made it into one, and used a 2009A-SHO 500mA micropuck as the driver.
> 
> Here is my first ugly mod


 
Damn that's ugly.


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## lightbug (Feb 4, 2007)

For some weird reason, both circuit boards in the ELLY flashlights dropped dead after I took out the original star emitter. Since I had a spare 2009sho lying around, so I just used it and made this ugly light.


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## carbine15 (Feb 4, 2007)

I noticed that too. As soon as I pulled the star the board went dead. I moved the wires around and insulated the leeds from the body and the boards worked again!. You may want to try running the board outside the body in case it's grounding on the aluminum where it seats.


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## Hellbore (Feb 5, 2007)

Nake said:


> Damn that's ugly.



I second that...BARF!






EDIT: Also regarding the forum lately: BARF!!!!!!! Not working so well today!


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## Hellbore (Feb 5, 2007)

Nake said:


> Damn that's ugly.



I second that...BARF!


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## lightbug (Feb 6, 2007)

Modded 3 ELLY lights tonight with new CREE XR-Es. All 3 LED lights's color varies little bit. Two of them shows cool white, and the 3rd one is more like warm white color. Good news is none of them show tints and all 3 circuit boards didn't fried during installation.  :naughty:


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## davenlei (Feb 6, 2007)

Has anyone put a Seoul LED in an Elly yet?


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## Evan (Feb 7, 2007)

Yes, I did. Works pretty good, but I need a spacer to put the reflector at the right focus, and keep it from shorting the exposed pins on the emitter, or grabing them and tearing the emitter off if I screw the head down too tight.

This isn't a complete mod, but it suited my purpose. I have a Cree star in another ELLY and wanted a direct comparison.

The cree mod was a snap; just replaced the star and the focus was good enough. But when the head isn't screwed down all the way on the Seoul, I think it has the better beam.

Both the Cree and the Seoul make the stock ELLY LED look like a 5mm.

But I do not like the Seoul's gummy.


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## abvidledUK (Feb 7, 2007)

Evan said:


> Both the Cree and the Seoul make the stock ELLY LED look like a 5mm.
> This isn't a complete mod, but it suited my purpose. I have a Cree star in another ELLY and wanted a direct comparison.



And what is the direct comparison.

Beam, RT, output ?


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## Walt175 (Feb 7, 2007)

abvidledUK said:


> And what is the direct comparison.
> 
> Beam, RT, output ?


 
YEAH! What he said!!! :rock:


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## davenlei (Feb 7, 2007)

Nice. So it looks like the Cree in the Elly is still the simplicity king. Any pics of the comparison available?

Also, is it possible to just use a 14500 battery instead of a regular AA to give it ~3.6v instead of 1.5v (regular AA) for the Cree? Wonder how many ma it would be pushing to the LED.
Will it burn out the LED and/or regulated circuit in the Elly?


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## Evan (Feb 7, 2007)

DO NOT use a 14500 in the ELLY. I did that. It burned out. Lukily I had another to move the Soul emitter to.


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## davenlei (Feb 7, 2007)

Ah, I see. Oh well.


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## davenlei (Feb 7, 2007)

Evan,


Did it burn out the boost circuit, the LED or both?


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## Evan (Feb 7, 2007)

The lithium just burned out the boost circuit, the LED survived.


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## Aepoc (Feb 8, 2007)

I have been running a 14500 in the stock elly... nothing has happened so far. Are you saying that I will need to find a new boost circuit to use if i want to use the 14500's? any suggestions for a boost circuit? I wanted to use a flupic but goldserve hasn't answered my questions. Maybe he doesn't have time for the enlightened...

What else could I use?


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## Aepoc (Feb 8, 2007)

Another question just came up... Could it be that it didn't work with the soel because it is different then the cree XR-E? Maybe the soel puts a greater strain on the circuitry...


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## Aepoc (Feb 8, 2007)

I just completed an investigation... I found that i did in fact cause damage to the boost circuit. I found pieces of burnt silicon and there were char marks on the sides of the assembly. The light still works though so I am going to continue to use the 14500's until something gives. 

Evan, were your batteries protected or unprotected?


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## davenlei (Feb 8, 2007)

Hmmm.. Wonder what the max voltage battery we can put into the unit and keep it safe? 2.4v, 3v?


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## Aepoc (Feb 8, 2007)

Does anyone know why the blue wire goes under the star? My stock Elly was getting really hot so i clipped the clean part of the blue wire (the part that goes under the star) and now there is no heat problems. 

One of my lights came with the wire going under the star and one did not... they both don't have them now and they are working fine.


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## lightbug (Feb 8, 2007)

Out of the 3 ELLY 1AA mod, only 1 needs the blue wire to go under the star in order to work. The other two are just fine without doing so.


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## Scattergun (Feb 8, 2007)

> My stock Elly was getting really hot



I´d say heat is a good thing! That means the LED is sending the heat somewhere....as long as it isn´t heat derived from something else...


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## Evan (Feb 8, 2007)

I have noticed some ELLY have a red & a black wire, like the one I fried with a lithium, others have a blue and a white wire. Perhaps there are more than one version of the boost circuit.

Since the Lithium alone has enough voltage to drive the LED, it may be that if your circuit fails in just the right way, you convert the ELLY to direct-drive. In mine, the filter cap an one transistor burned; I suspect excessive voltage shorted the cap, and then the short took out the drive transistor.

Yes, some ELLY may work without the bare negative wire under the star, but then you are counting on the conduction of the edge of a copper trace on the circuit board coming in contact with the aluminum ring when the board was forced into the battery side of the ring. That clipping this wire would solve a heat problem is truely bizarre.


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## lightbug (Feb 8, 2007)

I think you assumption of different versions of boost circuit board is correct. I have purchased total of 12 ELLY flashlights. Some are definitely brighter than the others. Likely some circuit boards are drive around 600mA, others only 400 or even 300mA.


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## abvidledUK (Feb 8, 2007)

lightbug said:


> I think you assumption of different versions of boost circuit board is correct. I have purchased total of 12 ELLY flashlights. Some are definitely brighter than the others. Likely some circuit boards are drive around 600mA, others only 400 or even 300mA.



Is that a random effect, or is it somehow related to DOP ?


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## lightbug (Feb 8, 2007)

I don't really understand your question. Are you talking about random effect on the same flashlight or do you mean all of them? 
What I'm trying to say is some flashlight are brighter than others. Might be the different quality of the LED die or the driver. Perhaps Both?!
Anyway, each ELLY's brightness seems pretty constant over time. (Most likely the circuit board is regulated)

Hope that answers your question


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## vetkaw63 (Feb 9, 2007)

He means date of production. Is each light in turn getting brighter, dimmer, by date of production? Or are you getting one bright light, then one dim light, then one bright?
Mike


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## lightbug (Feb 9, 2007)

I bought the last 10 at the same time from dealextreme.com, but still most of them have different brightness.


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## Turbo DV8 (Feb 9, 2007)

lightbug said:


> I think you assumption of different versions of boost circuit board is correct. I have purchased total of 12 ELLY flashlights. Some are definitely brighter than the others. Likely some circuit boards are drive around 600mA, others only 400 or even 300mA.


 

I have three Elly's, of various tints, brightness, and current draw at the tail cap. I can't offer any input on whether there maybe different drivers. (The color of the insulation used on the two output wires does not suggest different drivers ... it's just insulation, fer the sake of Petey!) However, I can offer with certainty that the LED's themselves are causing at least some of the variations we are seeing. My Elly's have two different part numbers on the LED star. The LED's diameter on one star is visibly larger, albeit slightly. This one also the brightest and draws the most current, and also a more bluish tint. I set my HP power supply up for 3.13 volts (the value I measured it was receiving from the boost circuit with a NiMH cell) and limited the current to 200 mA, and tried each LED hooked up to it. _The various LED's used in the Elly's are themselves limiting the amount of current drawn._ The LED in the brighter light (larger dia.) drew 80 mA. The smaller ones with different P/N drew significantly less. They seem to be limiting their own maximum current draw, as the draw would not increase beyond a certain point even as I increased the available current limit at the HP PS. So, I can't say whether more than one boost circuit was used, but the fact that more than one type of LED was used is definitely causing differences in brightness. 


I just bought three P4 Cree's from the group buy and installed two in two of my Elly's. Hey, I thought these P4 Cree LED's were supposed to be cream-of-the-crop, perfect white with no variation in tint. Well, my two have very different tint. One is on the green side, the other on the blue side. The difference is every bit as noticeable as the variations I experienced in the good ol' Luxeon lottery. What gives?


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## Evan (Feb 9, 2007)

Agreed that wire color is just wire color, but there isn't much in the way of a serial number or such. Using lithium in an ELLY is like the "waters of life" in Dune; some become enlightened and some die. It would be nice to figure out which can take the voltage and which can't. There are numbers on the surface-mount chips on the driver board, but you have to take the star off to see them, and they may not predict either.

4 of my ELLYs are from eBay, and 3 from DX. I believe it was a silver one from eBay that I burned up on lithium.

I agree that the emitter seems to affect current draw. I suspect it is the Vf of the LED. In a quick check, my Seoul mod draws more than the rest at .89A. The Cree mod draws .72A, and the unmodified ones draw .51, .58, .73, and .77A. I believe the 3 highest current ones are the pucks from black ELLYs I bought on eBay.

Most stars are ZY-1, 2 are ZY-01A. I've counted 7 LED chips on some and 8 on others. Wish I'd been more systematic but I've run out of time right now.


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## Nake (Feb 9, 2007)

Evan said:


> Using lithium in an ELLY is like the "waters of life" in Dune;


 
 Good one.


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## mzzj (Feb 9, 2007)

Has anyone measured effiency and/or regulation vs batt voltage of elly step-up converter?


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## lightbug (Feb 9, 2007)

Turbo,
I think the tints you getting is due to the donut effects from the reflector came with ELLY. 4 of my ELLY lights are installed with CREE P4 WC. The hot spot and the side spill are almost perfect with color of warm or cool white, only the donut ring area has little bit of tint color.


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## Turbo DV8 (Feb 9, 2007)

mzzj said:


> Has anyone measured effiency and/or regulation vs batt voltage of elly step-up converter?


 

Only indirectly. I measured 80 mA max through the emitter at 3 volts, and the whole system is pulling about 700 mA from about 1.2 volt cell. 3v/1.2v = 2.5 ratio ... 2.5 x 80 mA = 200 mA emitter draw if it were being driven by 1.2 volts. So 200/700 = 29% efficiency for the boost circuit? Hmmm ... can this be right? Is my logic and/or math incompetent ... anyone?


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## Turbo DV8 (Feb 10, 2007)

lightbug said:


> Turbo,
> I think the tints you getting is due to the donut effects from the reflector came with ELLY.


 
Not in my case. The tint variation stays put when I swap reflectors, and you can see the tint variation even when looking at the bare emitters side by side.


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## mzzj (Feb 10, 2007)

Turbo DV8 said:


> Only indirectly. I measured 80 mA max through the emitter at 3 volts, and the whole system is pulling about 700 mA from about 1.2 volt cell. 3v/1.2v = 2.5 ratio ... 2.5 x 80 mA = 200 mA emitter draw if it were being driven by 1.2 volts. So 200/700 = 29% efficiency for the boost circuit? Hmmm ... can this be right? Is my logic and/or math incompetent ... anyone?


Your math seems ok, but I truly hope that your measurements are somehow wrong. One possibility is that led/battery currents are highly pulsating and your multimeter doesnt show correct result.

I should get my ellyes in a week and I am planning to measure it also.


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## Curious_character (Feb 10, 2007)

Turbo DV8 said:


> I have three Elly's, of various tints, brightness, and current draw at the tail cap. I can't offer any input on whether there maybe different drivers. (The color of the insulation used on the two output wires does not suggest different drivers ... it's just insulation, fer the sake of Petey!) However, I can offer with certainty that the LED's themselves are causing at least some of the variations we are seeing. My Elly's have two different part numbers on the LED star. The LED's diameter on one star is visibly larger, albeit slightly. This one also the brightest and draws the most current, and also a more bluish tint. I set my HP power supply up for 3.13 volts (the value I measured it was receiving from the boost circuit with a NiMH cell) and limited the current to 200 mA, and tried each LED hooked up to it. _The various LED's used in the Elly's are themselves limiting the amount of current drawn._ The LED in the brighter light (larger dia.) drew 80 mA. The smaller ones with different P/N drew significantly less. They seem to be limiting their own maximum current draw, as the draw would not increase beyond a certain point even as I increased the available current limit at the HP PS. So, I can't say whether more than one boost circuit was used, but the fact that more than one type of LED was used is definitely causing differences in brightness.


I think what you're seeing is simply the normal difference in forward voltages between LEDs. At a fixed voltage of 3.15 volts, a spread of currents of 3:1 would be perfectly normal. If you're designing a circuit to drive an LED and want the same circuit to work with multiple LEDs, you make it a constant current source, not a constant voltage source. I don't have an ELLY so can't check, but it sounds from the anecdotal evidence that it's not a very constant current source. But I'd be very surprised if it was simply a constant voltage source like you're trying to imitate. If you set your HP supply to some constant current, say 200 mA and set the voltage to something higher than any LED would have for a forward voltage at that current -- say 5 volts -- you should see a fairly constant brightness from LED to LED. When connected across one particular LED, you could measure 3.15 volts, but you'll see different voltages for other LEDs. That's the way a good LED driving circuit _should_ work.

c_c


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## cage (Feb 10, 2007)

It would be nice to see some hi-resolution pictures of the Elly's driverboard. How much room does the elly have for it? I am possibly going to try and make a new driverboard sometime in the future by using this or some other similar ic:
http://www.maxim-ic.com/quick_view2.cfm/qv_pk/2307
My elly is on the way, but I am impatient.


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## Hellbore (Feb 11, 2007)

I agree I think the differences are in the LED not the driver. I had 5 Elly lights, one of which was a different PCB than the others, but when I tested them all with the same LED star, they all drew the same amperage and such, all performed identically.


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## abvidledUK (Feb 11, 2007)

For comparison RT graph and output EV's for Elly, L1P and 602A1, see....

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1846208#post1846208

PS:
RT's for Elly standard, Cree & SSCs's due next week.


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## mzzj (Feb 14, 2007)

Turbo DV8 said:


> Only indirectly. I measured 80 mA max through the emitter at 3 volts, and the whole system is pulling about 700 mA from about 1.2 volt cell. 3v/1.2v = 2.5 ratio ... 2.5 x 80 mA = 200 mA emitter draw if it were being driven by 1.2 volts. So 200/700 = 29% efficiency for the boost circuit? Hmmm ... can this be right? Is my logic and/or math incompetent ... anyone?



I finally got mine from dealextreme and made some measurements. Step-up converter effiency is 74%-79% with WIDE range of input voltages, but it is not regulated in any way(as expected)

Minimum start-up voltage is around 0.9-1v , but once it gets going it will run until battery is completely dead. 0.48v input voltage still produced usefull amount of light(led current about 20mA) and led didnt go off before supply voltage was below 50mV (barely noticeable glow in led)

Modified with XR-E led measured current consumption was following:
0.9v 300mA
1.0v 540mA
1.1v 850mA
1.2v 1240mA
1.3v 1610mA


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## mzzj (Feb 14, 2007)

I finally got mine from dealextreme and made some measurements. Step-up converter effiency is 74%-79% with WIDE range of input voltages, but it is not regulated in any way(as expected)

Minimum start-up voltage is around 0.9-1v , but once it gets going it will run until battery is completely dead. 0.48v input voltage still produced usefull amount of light(led current about 20mA) and led didnt go off before supply voltage was below 50mV (barely noticeable glow in led)

Modified with XR-E led measured current consumption was following:
0.9v 300mA
1.0v 540mA
1.1v 850mA
1.2v 1240mA
1.3v 1610mA


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## r0b0r (Feb 14, 2007)

Just got my first Elly. Very impressed with it for the price. Looks and feels nice and sturdy.

Can't really guage the output as it's daytime... but it seems quite satisfactory. Very bluish but hey, it was $6 
Nice beam profile.

Will def be buying some more of these.

Looks to be a perfect gift


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## 2xTrinity (Feb 15, 2007)

> I think what you're seeing is simply the normal difference in forward voltages between LEDs. At a fixed voltage of 3.15 volts, a spread of currents of 3:1 would be perfectly normal. If you're designing a circuit to drive an LED and want the same circuit to work with multiple LEDs, you make it a constant current source, not a constant voltage source. I don't have an ELLY so can't check, but it sounds from the anecdotal evidence that it's not a very constant current source. But I'd be very surprised if it was simply a constant voltage source like you're trying to imitate. If you set your HP supply to some constant current, say 200 mA and set the voltage to something higher than any LED would have for a forward voltage at that current -- say 5 volts -- you should see a fairly constant brightness from LED to LED. When connected across one particular LED, you could measure 3.15 volts, but you'll see different voltages for other LEDs. That's the way a good LED driving circuit should work.


I think it may be a bit more than that though. When I replaced the LEDs in my ELLY lights with Cree LEDs, the one that was dimmest before was dimmest with the Cree -- current drawn from the tailcap is still about the same in every case (for the dimmer one, about 700mA from a 1.2V NiMH -- the others pull 1000mA. This suggests it's not due to random variation in the original LEDs (as I replaced those) but something else in the circuit.


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## Calina (Feb 15, 2007)

Did you try to clean the contacts? 

I could also come from the switch. This is easy enough to check, just try a tail cap on a different light.


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## 2xTrinity (Feb 15, 2007)

Calina said:


> Did you try to clean the contacts?
> 
> I could also come from the switch. This is easy enough to check, just try a tail cap on a different light.


I've interchanged all the caps, no difference. I didn't try to clean the contacts, but I don't think it's that. The current draw is _very_ consistent, not wavering like what is usually seen with dirty contacts.


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## LV426 (Feb 16, 2007)

Some Q's...

Will any replacement switch to a MiniMag fit? (i.e. Kroll, Nite-Ize)
Will a MiniMag UCL Lens fit? (haven't had any MiniMag for 10 years so I can't measure it myself.)


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## carbine15 (Feb 16, 2007)

minimag lens is too small (by exactly the width of an GITD o-ring)
here is my lens replacement





I never thought to try it but my minimag tail piece screws on just fine. The spring is a bit long but the threads all seem to catch so a replacement switch should fit as well.


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## Nake (Feb 16, 2007)

I use a Kroll switch in mine. Had to mess with the spring sticking out of the plastic threads for better contact.

I used a 24.7mm lense from flashlightlens.


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## cage (Feb 16, 2007)

Woohoo mine arrived today I love it :thumbsup:


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## LV426 (Feb 16, 2007)

Thanx a lot!
(To bad lighthound don't have the 24,7mm, and flashlightlens don't take PayPal...)


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## mcmc (Feb 16, 2007)

are you sure? I'm pretty sure I used Paypal for my last flashlightlens purchase...


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## LV426 (Feb 16, 2007)

mcmc said:


> are you sure? I'm pretty sure I used Paypal for my last flashlightlens purchase...


Not at all, but the site states:
"We encourage you to feel comfortable using your credit card to conduct commerce on our site. If you wish, you may also send us a U.S. Postal Money Order (only) or a personal checks. Personal checks will delay your order as we must wait for your funds to clear before we ship any merchandise."

Not mentioning PayPal, just made me figure...


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## Nake (Feb 16, 2007)

I used PP also.


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## LV426 (Feb 17, 2007)

10-4!
Roger, Roger!


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## joedm (Feb 17, 2007)

OK, for what it is worth, here is my very first review, and it is a review of the ELLY.

Be kind.


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## Nake (Feb 17, 2007)

Good review. To make the head tighter and to be able to stop it where you want and still be snug, I put on teflon tape till I got the feel I wanted.


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## martytoo (Feb 18, 2007)

joedm said:


> OK, for what it is worth, here is my very first review, and it is a review of the ELLY.
> 
> Be kind.


 
I am kind! Like I kinda wanna build one myself.





What are the components? You started with and Elly and then??

Battery type,
Any mod needed on the tube of the Elly?
Where did you buy the LED?
Did you have to swap out the circuits and run the LED with just a resistor?

Thanks in advance.


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## KWillets (Feb 18, 2007)

joedm said:


> OK, for what it is worth, here is my very first review, and it is a review of the ELLY.
> 
> Be kind.



Agreed, this is the cheapest LED bike light ever. It's about as good as a light can be without special optics.

If that DX mount doesn't do it, 3-4 rubber bands holding it under the bar turned out to be surprisingly robust.

Try the light on your helmet too, with a few bands looped through the vents on top.


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## scubasteve1942 (Feb 18, 2007)

I think I might order one for my first modding project. They are cheap enough that if I mess up I wont be totally disapointed.


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## joedm (Feb 19, 2007)

martytoo said:


> What are the components? You started with and Elly and then??
> 
> Battery type,
> Any mod needed on the tube of the Elly?
> ...



Components:
1x Elly
1x Cree XR-E P4 (star)

Battery: AA Nimh (2200mah)
No other mods needed apart from soldering the new led in place.

Led was purchased together with the Elly from DX.
Led is currently running with the stock circuit.

I haven't bothered taking any measurements as yet.
Have fun.
:laughing:


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## nanotech17 (Feb 19, 2007)

scubasteve1942 said:


> I think I might order one for my first modding project. They are cheap enough that if I mess up I wont be totally disapointed.



you won't mess it up,trust me.


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## Aepoc (Feb 19, 2007)

Agreed... very hard to mess up. Although, on the first Elly that I modified, I pulled one of the wires too hard and ruined the circuit board below... not a problem however because i am planning on throwing a flupic in the next one. it looks like the fenix sized pic will fit nicely.

I have a nice beam on my XR-E mod but it doesn't throw very far... Does anyone else realize that their beam doesn't throw far? This is most likely only caused by the HS reflector but i still feel like it should throw farther. Does anyone have a after-market smooth reflector in their's? How far does your light throw? I would say after about 30 feet my hot spot disappears.


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## nanotech17 (Feb 19, 2007)

Actually,
I still waiting for Elly's from DE together with the Cree star.
But i have mod the lumapower LM301 with SSC P4 USWOJ & USYNH each,very good mod so far.
As for the optics maybe you can refer here - https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/152857


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## abvidledUK (Feb 19, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> I have a nice beam on my XR-E mod but it doesn't throw very far... Does anyone else realize that their beam doesn't throw far? This is most likely only caused by the HS reflector but i still feel like it should throw farther. Does anyone have a after-market smooth reflector in their's? How far does your light throw? I would say after about 30 feet my hot spot disappears.



My CREE'd Elly has a better spot than the original LED, did nothing other than replace LED, same fixing, same height.

RT graph for Elly v Elly CREE is at

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/153283








SSC to follow...


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## 2xTrinity (Feb 19, 2007)

> I have a nice beam on my XR-E mod but it doesn't throw very far... Does anyone else realize that their beam doesn't throw far? This is most likely only caused by the HS reflector but i still feel like it should throw farther. Does anyone have a after-market smooth reflector in their's? How far does your light throw? I would say after about 30 feet my hot spot disappears.


Mine actually throws reasonably well with a Cree, much better than any other lights I have with reflectors that small. I actually upgraded one of my other DX lights (Vinet) to a Cree, and the reflector that came with it did not even work at all -- it looked like a mag on wide flood (donuts). So I pulled out my best Elly reflector, dropped that in, and now it's perfect. That light is a 1A (Fresh), 800mA (Typical) direct drive 123 light throws amazingly well. On low, it's about the same intensity as the Cree Elly (around 350mA). Altogether cost me around $20.


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## Nake (Feb 19, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> Does anyone have a after-market smooth reflector in their's? How far does your light throw? I would say after about 30 feet my hot spot disappears.


 
I have a McR20 in mine. It's not smooth, but from what I remember it throws pretty good. I'll check when it gets dark.
I had to enlarge the hole and sand the bottom on the McR20 for it to fit right. When finished it fit over the ring on the Cree. I noticed at the Shoppe they have a McR20 Seoul now. I looked at the dimensions and they are the same as the one I modified, so it will fit a Cree emitter.
To add I now have a Seoul emitter in mine and the reflector works with it. The reflector bottoms out on the plastic surrounding the dome lens.


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## Aepoc (Feb 19, 2007)

Did you use the stock Elly board for the Seoul?

Also... I have the mcr20-joker and it makes the beam way more floody. Like i said the reflector i am using now makes the beam a really nice spot... perfect looking beamshot, but not a whole lot of throw. 

The HS reflector I am using is from an old mcgizmo cree light that my friend overdrove too much. It is really deep (when in the Elly I can only screw the head on about two turns) which is why i thought it would have more throw.


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## vetkaw63 (Feb 19, 2007)

Is the Elly reflector aluminum or plastic?
Mike


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## 2xTrinity (Feb 19, 2007)

vetkaw63 said:


> Is the Elly reflector aluminum or plastic?
> Mike


It's plastic, and though mine all appear okay, a couple on this thread have had problem have with the reflective coating being too thin, and light actually leaking through. The lens is also plastic, which in my opinion is a bigger deal (as that makes it prone to getting scratched up), but if you're doing any sort of serious modding (such as replacing the battery and circuit board to push 1A through a Cree or something) it may be worth $4-5 to get a glass lens.


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## Nake (Feb 19, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> Did you use the stock Elly board for the Seoul?


 
I use a FLuPIC.


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## Aepoc (Feb 19, 2007)

Yeah... both of my Elly's reflectors had too thin a coating, and were scratched hardcore. The lenses also had a great deal of scratching... flashlightlens.com... nice UCLs


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## Aepoc (Feb 19, 2007)

Nake said:


> I use a FLuPIC.



Sorry I should be more clear... by board I meant star or other heatsinking device. 

I wouldn't run a seoul on the stock circuit board either.


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## Nake (Feb 19, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> Sorry I should be more clear... by board I meant star or other heatsinking device.
> 
> I wouldn't run a seoul on the stock circuit board either.


 
I use a Luxeon star.


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## Aepoc (Feb 19, 2007)

Thanks. Does it really matter whether you use a luxeon star or one specifically designed for the seoul? Did you mount the emitter yourself?


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## Strauss (Feb 19, 2007)

The reflector in Aepoc's light came out of an A19 CREE-XRE from the Shoppe. I believe that reflector was specifically designed for the CREE-XRE LED. In my A19 driven at 825ma, that damn thing threw pretty well.


Is it possible that he may have to sand some of the reflector down to focus it properly?


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## Aepoc (Feb 19, 2007)

Right... which is why I was so surprised at the Elly mod's throw.

If anything I think i would need shim... the beam seems to be at its best focus after about one turn of the head. This is not enough thread to hold the head on and have me feel comfortable using the light so I turn it about another turn untill the reflector hits the ring around the emitter (two turns is about as far as it can go). I wish I could mill a deeper head.


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## Nake (Feb 19, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> Thanks. Does it really matter whether you use a luxeon star or one specifically designed for the seoul? Did you mount the emitter yourself?


 
A believe a Cree star would be better since it's thinner. That's the reason I had to sand the back of the reflector. The star I have doesn't have an indentation for the emitter, it's flat. The Cree was first mounted on it then the Seoul. I didn't use any spacer.


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## Nake (Feb 19, 2007)

Continuation of post #346; I compared the throw against my P1D CE (with a R123) at a house about 60ft away. The hotspot on the Fenix was about 20ft across and the Elly's about 17ft. The Seoul was a little brighter.


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## Turbo DV8 (Feb 19, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> Right... which is why I was so surprised at the Elly mod's throw.
> 
> If anything I think i would need shim... the beam seems to be at its best focus after about one turn of the head. This is not enough thread to hold the head on and have me feel comfortable using the light so I turn it about another turn untill the reflector hits the ring around the emitter (two turns is about as far as it can go). I wish I could mill a deeper head.


 

Jeepers, with the Cree star, my Elly's head turns eight times before bottoming on the Cree.


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## Nake (Feb 19, 2007)

Aepoc,

Does the reflector hit the top of the ring on the emitter or go down around it? I experimented and found the best beam was when it went went around it and almost touched the contact strips.


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## 2xTrinity (Feb 20, 2007)

Nake said:


> Aepoc,
> 
> Does the reflector hit the top of the ring on the emitter or go down around it? I experimented and found the best beam was when it went went around it and almost touched the contact strips.


Agreed -- this is actually the reason that Cree LEDs don't work in most flashlights -- most light have LEDs that are on thicker stars, and elevated with little pedestals. This means that the Cree LED sits too far behind the reflector, leading to the "donut hole" effect. In the case of the ELLY though, you can just keep screwing the head on more and more until the reflector sits flush against the star, which is perfect for focus.


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## Led_Blind (Feb 20, 2007)

I have 5 of these, 3 with the SSC 2 with the Cree. I much prefer the ssc output patern  


THey are a looooovley little light when upgraded  presents for all!


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## LV426 (Feb 20, 2007)

I’ve read that the spirit leave the circuit board when running 3.6V Li-ion (in the form of gray smoke, aight?!), does this mean a Cree P4 is in “direct drive mode” then?
Life expectancy on the LED if this is the fact? Output?


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## joedm (Feb 20, 2007)

Aepoc,

Your signature says you're running your Elly with an AW 14500. Are you using the stock circuit, direct drive or another circuit altogether?

And if you are, did you notice much difference between a Nimh and the 14500 output?
I'm thinking of a very simple constant drive circuit, although not sure whether it will fit in the Elly.


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## abvidledUK (Feb 20, 2007)

Led_Blind said:


> I have 5 of these, 3 with the SSC 2 with the Cree. I much prefer the ssc output patern



I am just doing RT on SSC'd Elly.

Initial thought, yes the SSC is a nicer, smoother beam pattern, no grey ring, but due to the higher mounted height of the led in the Elly, unless I unscrew the reflector a couple of turns, it is more floody.

Then head secured with tape, at the moment.

The CREE however, sits nicely in the Elly, right height for reflector etc.


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## joedm (Feb 20, 2007)

so is there any reason why people don't use optics instead of reflectors in flashlights?
Would an optic fit in the Elly? has anyone tried this?


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## Scattergun (Feb 20, 2007)

Earlier in this thread someone said the Cree optics was a direct drop-in.


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## abvidledUK (Feb 20, 2007)

I've updated my Elly CREE RT's with the Seoul RT figures now..

So now it's Elly / CREE / Seoul RT's


https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1854502#post1854502


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## Aepoc (Feb 20, 2007)

Nake said:


> Aepoc,
> 
> Does the reflector hit the top of the ring on the emitter or go down around it? I experimented and found the best beam was when it went went around it and almost touched the contact strips.



My reflector just sits on top of the ring... just as it did in the A19


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## Aepoc (Feb 20, 2007)

joedm said:


> Aepoc,
> 
> Your signature says you're running your Elly with an AW 14500. Are you using the stock circuit, direct drive or another circuit altogether?
> 
> ...




Yes, I am running one of AW's 14500s in the Elly. There was a warning earlier in this thread about doing so, and with good reason.  For the first 20 minutes that I had the stock light on with the lithium batteries, there was a steady smell of burning circutry. Upon examination, I found that part of the circuit board had in fact melted. The light however still worked (and still does now) so I went ahead with the XR-E mod.

There was a noticable difference in output of the stock Elly with NiMH and Aw's betteries. When I tried to put a NiMH into the XR-E mod, the light wouldn't turn on, so I cannot compare the Cree's output. I believe I burned the circuit board to some form of direct drive and the NiMH batteries are to low of a voltage to run it now...

I have had no problems with the board. I don't consider the melting a problem because it still works fine... I am going to say, however, that when it comes time for a Seoul mod, I'm gonna order two Fenix sized (~15mm) FLuPics (one for the XR-E). With a pen and a little force, the circuit just pops out of the housing (the aluminum ring).

I hope this was helpful.


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## joedm (Feb 20, 2007)

So... if I get this right.. if i want to use a 14500, I should remove the circuit board inside the Elly and have it run direct drive? 

In that case I should use a protected 14500 cell? What type of RT do you get out of the 14500?


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## Aepoc (Feb 20, 2007)

Like i said mine still runs fine, so you don't have to remove the circuit board. It might be a good idea however if this light is going to be more then just a cheap mod for you. A new board would make the light a little more reliable and most importantly ensure that you are running your Cree at max output. Once i got above the $40 range I decided to replace it. 

I wouldn't go direct drive... haven't heard of anyone doing that yet. You can get regulators for whatever current you wish to run your LED at. Check out the BadBoys at the SandwichShop, or FluPICs from goldserve in the b/s/t section. I believe 700ma is what the Cree XR-E is rated for. I wouldn't go for any more then an amp. The diameter of the current circuit board is slightly more then 15 mm.

As for runtime... My only runtime test was cut short because of class... I made it to almost two hours before I had to leave. The body was only slightly warm... the thick metal body absorbs heat nicely. I think I will do a real runtime test tonight.

Also... you deffinately want protected... Unprotected batteries are a pain in the arse.


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## joedm (Feb 21, 2007)

yeah I get what you are saying but putting a $20 (and then add postage) driver in this $5 flashlight is a bit insane.

It kinda defeats the purpose of the Elly mod in the first place.

On the direct drive side, I calculated I need a 1ohm resistor in series to run the Cree at 700mA with a 14500 cell. I thought that Li-ions had a pretty flat discharge curve, so shouldn't this option be sufficient?

Another option I have been toying with is a constant current circuit (similar to the one here).

I may try both out and see what difference in RT and beam shots. Now I just have to order some 14500's.


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## r0b0r (Feb 21, 2007)

Heres a thread from over in the Laser forum where someone has utilised the ELLY as a host for a high powered Red Laser Diode (ex-DVD Burner).
The original ELLY circuitry is used to pump that diode with a healthy ~350mA !!

(sweet jesus!)

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/153641

Just thought I'd post it here - haven't seen it linked in this thread. And it's ******* awesome


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## aljsk8 (Feb 21, 2007)

got my first elly - anyone else think it just sucks a bit?

i mean i put in the seoul and it was nice and bright - as bright as my civictor ss u-bin seoul mod but the head doesnt stay tight - the threads are awful
then theres the leaky reflector and the scratchy lense.

i dont expect anything better for $5 but even putting a $7 star in it seamed a bit of a waste

i put the star in my ultrafire 2aa and felt a lot better

i think the elly will get given away as a gift - but ill glue the head on

Alex


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## r0b0r (Feb 21, 2007)

I was very impressed with it for the price.

In stock trim it's very blue, but power \ runtime are fine as a general purpose kitchen drawer \ toolbox \ glovebox light for those who don't really care about flashlights 
Seems fairly durable.

The head on mine (stock emitter) stays quite firmly screwed in - they aren't meant to be unscrewed anyway. If it bothers you, thread tape works 

I'm not going to bother modding it, as I have far more deserved hosts. But for a cheapie light I'm impressed.


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## lightbug (Feb 21, 2007)

The threads of my ELLY lights are pretty good. I have screw the heads off and on many times and the threads all seemed fine. 

You can cut down the reflector to make the head tight. On my 2AA elly cree mod, I have sanded reflector down to have a perfect fit. 
(Stars purchased from cutter.com.au is a little thicker than the stars I purchased from elsewhere)


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## cage (Feb 21, 2007)

I tried addressing the transparent reflector issue by taping some shiny aluminiumfoil on the backside of the reflector. I'm not sure if it made my elly any brighter or maybe difference is just too small for human eye to notice.


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## rmzalbar (Feb 21, 2007)

1. The Elly boost circuitry *might* be made to survive li-ion by potting in with arctic alumina epoxy so it can dump heat.

2. I don't know what the point of this would be.
a. It seems to be boost-only
b. The (burning) silicon must be dumping/wasting excess power as heat
c. It's unregulated and will run your li-ion all the way down to destruction.

If you want to run li-ion, the above is not better than a 1-ohm resistor, and might burn out.

Really you should use something like a wiz2 that will shut down and protect your 14500 cells, since there are no protected 14500's.


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## rmzalbar (Feb 21, 2007)

How much light is actually lost through the transparent reflector? If you can't actually *see* anything through it, it must be reflecting (or absorbing) almost all of it.

Putting foil on the back won't help a lot because you'll be losing what you're trying to reflect back by the same percentage again on it's way back through.


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## Nake (Feb 21, 2007)

There are protected 14500s.


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## rmzalbar (Feb 21, 2007)

Who has protected 14500s? I definitely want some!


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## Nake (Feb 21, 2007)

AW in the dealers forum, Lighthound are a couple I know of, might be others.


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## cage (Feb 21, 2007)

rmzalbar said:


> How much light is actually lost through the transparent reflector? If you can't actually *see* anything through it, it must be reflecting (or absorbing) almost all of it.
> 
> Putting foil on the back won't help a lot because you'll be losing what you're trying to reflect back by the same percentage again on it's way back through.


I can see my ceiling lamp through the reflector. 

You are right, foiling it was a waste of time. I wish there was simple DIY way of chrome plating the reflector at home with a thicker layer.


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## johnny13oi (Feb 22, 2007)

is there any way to mod the boost controller to output a higher current so that you can drive a cree or seoul brighter?


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## carbine15 (Feb 22, 2007)

To boost the controller simply insert a 3 volt lithium battery from a crV3 taken apart. (not a 3.6 volt or poof)


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## johnny13oi (Feb 22, 2007)

will this drive with a higher current or voltage? I would like to stick with the AA if its possible because AA's are easier to come by and much more readily available. Not to mention I have a bunch of rechargeable AA's. Is there possibly like a way to change a resistor here and there or build a totally new one being relatively cheap that is.


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## LV426 (Feb 22, 2007)

carbine15 said:


> I know that surefire g2, and sams club cyclops xenon reflectors fit fine. I'm just looking for a used one to dremmel away on.


Any progress on that and will actually a P60 LA fit ø wise?

Edit:
can somebody please post a close-up on the reflector in profile and dimensions (ø and height)?


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## mzzj (Feb 22, 2007)

carbine15 said:


> To *PooFt* the controller simply insert a 3 volt lithium battery from a crV3 taken apart. (not a 3.6 volt or poof)



I corrected your typo 

OK, internal resistance of litium battery may save the controller. Even with just 2.0v batt voltage my XR-E modder draws 3.2A from batt. With 2 GP 1800mah nimh aa-cells in series current draw is 4.5A-5A.


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## joedm (Feb 22, 2007)

Carbine, if you take the CrV3 apart then how are you supposed to charge it?


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## carbine15 (Feb 22, 2007)

joedm said:


> Carbine, if you take the CrV3 apart then how are you supposed to charge it?


CRV3 is just two lithium 3 volt aa sized primary cells in parallel. You;re thinking of RCR-V3 rechargeables.


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## joedm (Feb 22, 2007)

ok, so how do you charge these safely? 

just use a RCR-V3 charger? and manually hook the batteries up in parrallel for charging?
Or use some other lithium battery charger like the one here: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/117653


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## carbine15 (Feb 22, 2007)

Okay.. To clarify:
1. Do not use rechargeable lithium ions in the stock elly or it will damage the circuit and possibly the emitter.
2. I never said to use _*R*_CR-V3 batteries in the Elly. 
3. I have used one of the cells from a CR-V3 in the Elly because it will double the input to the circuit and it brings a smile to my face.
4. Do not tear appart an *R*CR-V3 and come complaining to me when it blows up in your hand or destroys your Elly; I don't recomend anyone take appart an *R*CR-V3 batteries. Primaries only.


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## joedm (Feb 23, 2007)

ok, well now I've done it..

I thought well if I'm going to try a 3v battery in the Elly, then I might as well try 2.4V right? i.e. 2x 1.2V Nimh's. 

So I unscrewed the cap of my Elly, and held another AA nimh against the existing battery and used a piece of wire to join the battery to the flashlight shell. (I'd read someone else had 2 AA's running their creed Elly).

AND... holy frickin !!!!!!
The output from the light was frickin amazing.... I'd say on par with my 5W luxeon... and that's only from my just looking at it.. I literally could not believe it.

Anyway, I noticed that the flashlight was getting a bit warm but I thought yeah that's normal... my 5W always gets warm.. 10 secs later the light went out? huh what happened?


I opened the head and straight away could smell a burnt smell... yup that's right ... something got fried.

1st thing I did was check the Cree, used 3 AA's to direct drive the led and sure enough it works fine. So looks like something in the circuit board died. I removed the led and had a look inside and it looks like one of the components (used to be a oblongish shape) had sort of bulged outwards. Testing with the tip of my multimeter probe I accidentally nudged the component and the whole thing disentegrated into dust leaving some bits of what look like plates or switch components..

Can't really say as the bits were too small for my eyes. The component itself was maybe 3mm or 4mm in length and max 2mm width. I know it had some text on top but unfortunately it's no longer readable.

[EDIT] Here is a pic of the circuit:





Looks like a transistor of some sort (3 pins).

Anyway, I pop the led back on and check the voltage reading while clicking the tail switch. 1st a very small voltage less than 0.2V and decreasing... maybe a capacitor discharging ... click again and now ~1.2V. Phew... at least the current is still passing through... looks like my only option for this one is direct drive now... I will definitely order myself a protected 14500 to go in this light.

Oh well.... 
I don't know whether my rashness has sparked something else.... now I have to go and order those lithium batteries... and now I have to keep reading my electronics text book so I can build my own driver to put in it...
damn.. see whats happened


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## kanarie (Feb 23, 2007)

I posted a small review of the Elly running with th Cree and with the Edison KLC8


Elly original - Cree - Edison KLC8






more *here:*


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## 2xTrinity (Feb 23, 2007)

kanarie said:


> I posted a small review of the Elly running with th Cree and with the Edison KLC8
> 
> 
> Elly original - Cree - Edison KLC8
> ...


Are exposure times equal for all three photos? The Edison looks a lot brighter than the Cree, and I find that somewhat surprising based on the specs on paper. Is the drawing more current at the tailcap?


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## kanarie (Feb 23, 2007)

> Are exposure times equal for all three photos? The Edison looks a lot brighter than the Cree, and I find that somewhat surprising based on the specs on paper. Is the drawing more current at the tailcap?



All three are under the same conditions (same exposure/aperture/shutter speed etc.).
As you can see in my review the Edison KLC8 was 1/3 stop brighter.
The Cree has a somewhat higher edge (on the led;I believe it is to stop the yellow sidespilling) and I think it therefore a bit lesser bright.

They draw about the same and I believe on paper the KLC8 produces more lumens (210 [email protected] mAh )


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## joedm (Feb 28, 2007)

ok, I'm back.

My 14500's I ordered from AW arrived today.
Remember my Elly's circuit was previously fried when I tried two AA's in series.
I still don't have my charger (from DX) but I popped 1 14500 cell into the Elly.

CLICK!

Woah... man is that bright!!! :naughty:

I'll take some beam shots tonight (bear in mind I haven't charged these batteries).


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## farscape105 (Feb 28, 2007)

I just ordered an Elly and Cree, but was curious if the stock QIII driver/luxeon would fit as a dropin. Modding my QIII and hate to through those away. If it fits, would make a cheap gift. Thanks


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## protein_man (Feb 28, 2007)

Just finished modding my elly with a cree star. With the original led I was pulling 490mA at the tailcap with a nimh. After the mod the elly is pulling 600mA.

Cant believe how bright this little light is, WOW and the cree is maybe only driven at 200mA or so (guess). This light + mod was well worth it, it has a few rings but you don't notice it if you actually use your torch to do stuff.

I'm thinking of bypassing the circuit and direct driving this thing off a 14500 - shold pull an amp or so.....

Either way I'm happy I should get 4 hours of light on a nimh - awesome.


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## joedm (Feb 28, 2007)

hmm.. this is a bit wierd.
I didn't bother to measure it before modding and frying my Elly's circuit but when I measure it now with the 14500 from the tailcap it only reads 450mA.

At the led its 3.2V. So even though it's direct drive, it looks to have a resistor affecting it. Or maybe it could just be the batteries are low?

Anyway, I took some more beam shots. I realise now after taking them that I should record the actual lens aperture, shutter speed, exposure etc. so that my beam shots are comparable against each other. Anyway, I just tried to match what my eyes were seeing.

Sequence: Left to Right, Elly Original, Elly Cree AA Nimh, Elly Cree 14500 3.7V Li-ion. Top to Bottom: 1 foot, 6 foot, Hallway ~13m.






When I get my other Elly's I will just take side by side shots with the different variations of Elly.

I'll take some more beamshots once I get my charger and if I'm not happy I'll just bypass the circuit altogether for direct drive.


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## joedm (Feb 28, 2007)

ok, more beam shots.
This time I have modified the Elly to be directly driven from the 14500 bypassing the circuitry altogther. My multimeter says theres 3.5Vf at the Cree and according to the data sheet that means 700 mA. The 14500 battery is actually 3.7V however I haven't charged these since I received them in the mail.

In the first set of pics I have chosen to add an extra pic of the direct option because thats how I perceived it with my eyes. All the other shots had the same settings for shutter speed, aperture etc. I think with the 14500 direct option there was too much exposure but I left it there so as to compare against the other beam shots.

Sequence: Orig, Cree, Cree 14500, Cree 14500 direct, what my eyes see.
1foot:





6foot:





Hallway approx 13m:





well there you have it.

One thing I'm thinking is that when I charge these batteries they will possibly around 4.2V. That will probably overdrive the Cree a bit, and even if it was only 3.7V that itself would run the Cree at 1000mA. At 700mA the Elly was getting a bit warm. Nowhere near too hot too handle and since I'm planning on using it on my bike then it should get lots of cool air. I'm thinking I'll just throw in a 1ohm resistor just so as we don't go overboard with the current.


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## farscape105 (Feb 28, 2007)

What do you do to bypass the circuit for direct drive?


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## Vikas Sontakke (Feb 28, 2007)

Isn't this completely ridiculous? The amount of light in the last photograph must be almost an order of magnitude greater than the one in the first photograph.

And from what I have heard, unmodified Ely is about as bright has Fenix L1 i.e. a decent 1W light.

If I understand correctly, you spent less than $20 {$7(Ely)+$7(Cree)+$7(or less 14450)} and you have something now that easily outshines couple hundred dollars or more worth of flashlight you had to buy six month ago to get this kind of performance.

Now that SCC U-bins are available, your next project should be to swap the emitter from Cree to SSC but wait until you have another "oops" and burn out the current Cree  This is my way of telling you to not worry if you are overdriving Cree on a freshly charged 14450. The worse that can happen will be that you get to swap the Cree with SSC U-bin.

If you can find a two stage switch for your setup, this would then become your favorite flashlight, if it is not already the one.

How much 2x14450 and the charger cost?

- Vikas


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## nanotech17 (Feb 28, 2007)

joedm said:


> ok, I'm back.
> 
> My 14500's I ordered from AW arrived today.
> Remember my Elly's circuit was previously fried when I tried two AA's in series.
> ...



Hi Joe,
This optic that you suggested in your blog (15 degree lens for Luxeon LEDs (Black) from www.ledsee.com, can it fit in the Elly head? *
*


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## HarveyRich (Feb 28, 2007)

Joedm: You distinguish between the 14500 Cree and the 14500 direct. I'm confused, since I thought you burned out the voltage boosting circuit with your 2.4V 2AA circuit? Doesn't this mean that the 14500 will be directly supplying the led and not going through the boost circuit? If so, what's the difference? If you put a 14500 directly in the original (or Cree modified) Elly, wouldn't that burn out the boost circuit too, since it burned out at 2.4V?


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## ktronik (Feb 28, 2007)

I fitted a IMS20 in my 'elly'... as you guys know it will work, modded for SSC P4 & Cree led... a little nicer than the stock reflector...

Ktronik


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## joedm (Feb 28, 2007)

HarveyRich said:


> Joedm: You distinguish between the 14500 Cree and the 14500 direct. I'm confused, since I thought you burned out the voltage boosting circuit with your 2.4V 2AA circuit? Doesn't this mean that the 14500 will be directly supplying the led and not going through the boost circuit? If so, what's the difference? If you put a 14500 directly in the original (or Cree modified) Elly, wouldn't that burn out the boost circuit too, since it burned out at 2.4V?



Yes that's what I thought originally until I measured and found that it wasn't quite the 3.5V I was expecting. The data sheet for the Cree says that at 3.3V it will roughly be pulling 350mA (I think) so a little bit makes a big difference. 

Only one component was burnt out in the original circuit. The rest of the circuit was still intact and obviously limiting the Cree only a little.

To direct drive (bypass the circuit) I soldered a wire from the base of the circuit and soldered this to the positive connector on the Cree (RED wire).


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## joedm (Feb 28, 2007)

nanotech17 said:


> Hi Joe,
> This optic that you suggested in your blog (15 degree lens for Luxeon LEDs (Black) from www.ledsee.com, can it fit in the Elly head?



I have already ordered the 25, 15, and 10 degree optics from them, together with a bunch of Edison leds (700mA 160lm). My guess is they will fit in the Elly (minus the reflector).

I'll experiment a bit as i want to see if i can widen the spot or at least smooth it out more for a better spill on the outside of the Elly. From my test runs on the bike track the spot is useful however it is fairly small and I'd like to light up more of the track at a distance.

If I can do that with this Light it will be an Awesome helmet light.

Vikas, I bought my 14500's from AW (thread here: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/140362)

14500 is $9 and I ordered the Ultrafire charger from DX for $8.30.

Anyway, like I said above, I intend to change the reflector for an optic and the Cree for the Edison led. Also, I think I mentioned it in my post that the beam shots were taken with the same camera settings (in manual) however the pic with 14500 direct drive was overexposed. I added another pic to the end to show what I perceived with my own eyes as opposed to what the camera showed. In all fairness the stock Elly does look brighter with my own eyes when compare with the pic the camera recorded.


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## nanotech17 (Feb 28, 2007)

ktronik said:


> I fitted a IMS20 in my 'elly'... as you guys know it will work, modded for SSC P4 & Cree led... a little nicer than the stock reflector...
> 
> Ktronik



photos?


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## joedm (Mar 1, 2007)

Measured my Elly at the tailcap (still uncharged 14500) and initially pulls ~700mA and slowly creeps up to ~850mA. Also Vf at the led is 3.45V.

Pics of direct drive bypass:






The white wire is my addition. 




It goes through a little hole in the pcb and is soldered to where the battery contacts on the other side. Much easier than trying to stick my soldering iron down amongst those components.




Here's a pic of the rubber boot removed from the tailcap. I can't seem to remove the switch inside (without damaging it of course).


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## Byggeren (Mar 1, 2007)

Ok, I just had to rebuild one of my Elly’s to a direct drive CREE with 14500 batteries. With Ultrafire 14500 measuring 4.0V unloaded, I measured ~1390 mA at the tail cap! (The batteries measured 3.95 volts unloaded after testing)

I mounted the star with “Arctic Silver 3” paste to help the heat transfer, and the Elly gets warm quite fast so I’m guessing the heat transfer works. It will probably kill the CREE with long runs at this load, but it’s still worth the risk 

Total light output is similar to the Dealextreme U2-styre CREE on High, maybe even a bit more :naughty:


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## joedm (Mar 2, 2007)

Byggeren said:


> Total light output is similar to the Dealextreme U2-styre CREE on High, maybe even a bit more :naughty:



Byggeren, are you able to post some comparison beam shots?


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## Byggeren (Mar 2, 2007)

joedm said:


> Byggeren, are you able to post some comparison beam shots?



I have the equipment necessary to take the pictures, and could try to make a comparison shot of the two light, I’m not sure if the skills are there though 

There’s only one way to find out, I’ll se if I can find the time tonight to take a few shots. I could compare it to the DX U2-Style Cree and the Fenix L0D CE, all running on LiIons. I could throw inn a beamshot MagLED 3AA just for fun as well.

I assume that if I put the camera on manual, I could take separate pictures and still compare the results? I don’t know if I can find a white wall big enough to compare 3 lights at the same time


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## joedm (Mar 2, 2007)

oh alright then!!!
I'll post some more beam shots!! 







Now here's my updated Elly on low (~600mA) & high (1A) :naughty:

(not comparable to my other beam shots as I had to adjust the exposure so that the camera picked the beam profile, however comparable to each other as taken with exactly the same settings within secs of each other).


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## Vikas Sontakke (Mar 2, 2007)

So, did you make yourself a two-level switch?

- Vikas


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## Byggeren (Mar 2, 2007)

A few shots.

The Flashlights






Elly 14500 vs. DX 3w CREE high




Ok, not as bright as the DX light, maybe I got a bit carried away yesterday 

Elly on 14500 VS. Jetbeam C-LE on 14500 high





Elly on 14500 VS. Fenix L0D-CE on 10440 high 





Elly 14500 vs. Elly CREE NiMH





The pictures are shot on various exposures; therefore they can’t be compared to each other. But the reference light, the Elly on a direct drive LiIon 14500, is always the light on the left side.


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## ace0001a (Mar 2, 2007)

Yeah, this little light is cool to experiment with...but I have yet to have any luck getting the reflector out. Maybe I need a better tool as neither one of my needle nose pliers have worked. Does anyone have any recommendations of a good tool to use to unscrew the ring the holds the reflector in??


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## Nake (Mar 2, 2007)

ace0001a said:


> Yeah, this little light is cool to experiment with...but I have yet to have any luck getting the reflector out. Maybe I need a better tool as neither one of my needle nose pliers have worked. Does anyone have any recommendations of a good tool to use to unscrew the ring the holds the reflector in??


 
I use snap ring pliers. The tiny tips fit well into different ring holes. Here's a link if you don't know what they look like.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200310873_200310873


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## joedm (Mar 2, 2007)

Vikas Sontakke said:


> So, did you make yourself a two-level switch?
> 
> - Vikas



Yeah I guess you can say that.
I tried to get the tail switch out but I'll probably destroy the plastic mechanism to do that. So... I took another angle. 

I installed a resistor in series (behind the star) and used a paperclip on top to short out the resistor when the head is screwed down far enough.

I had to play around with this a fair bit to get just the right height so that a 1/4 turn was all that was required between high and low.

Yes I know... some of you will gawk at what I have done but when you're trying to keep the cost of the light to a bare minimum and you don't have a kroll switch or any other lights to try out tailswitches then you have to resort to good old innovation.:naughty:

I used a 1ohm resistor however the paperclip has a fair bit more resistance than normal wire so may play around with this.

pics to come.


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## joedm (Mar 2, 2007)

Byggeren, thanks for those beam shots... awesome...
At least now I can decide whether to get that U2 Style Cree..

ace0001a, I used a small enough phillips head screw driver in one hole and BRUTE force... the two together ... well what can I say... not exactly the correct way to do it.


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## Hellbore (Mar 3, 2007)

Hey joedm, just a thought, if you still haven't figured out how to remove the tailcap switch, maybe try approaching it from the inner side of the cap, the side with the battery spring. I think it might pop out from that side. I dismantled a switch on a Nite Ize tailcap and it was built that way. Just a thought.


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## protein_man (Mar 3, 2007)

Just finished modifing my elly, I originally changed it from stock to a P4 cree star, the result was great but I just needed more light. I just converted it to direct drive off a 14500 through a 1 ohm resistor, the results are awesome.

The cree is pulling 580mA and she gets just a little warm and its bright... very bright! Here's some beamshot to compare. All torches are on fresh batteries. 













The modified ellys beam isnt perfect but it offers heaps of flood which I like and plenty of throw too.


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## joedm (Mar 3, 2007)

Hellbore said:


> Hey joedm, just a thought, if you still haven't figured out how to remove the tailcap switch, maybe try approaching it from the inner side of the cap, the side with the battery spring. I think it might pop out from that side. I dismantled a switch on a Nite Ize tailcap and it was built that way. Just a thought.



I did try that. It was wedged in so hard... I tried prying it out with a very small flat head screwdriver and even a safety pin,... no luck.

Anyway, here's my cheap attempt at a high low twist switch. Crude, but it works! 

Red arrows show the downward force of the retaining ring (holding the reflector) inside the head of the Elly. Green arrow shows where contact will be made between the end of the safety pin and the negative contact on the led (covered in solder).






Top view showing how the safety pin is bent in a sort of semi circle to allow for the reflector coming down over the led.





Both pics show a spring taken from an old ball point ink pen (bic or similar). Trying to use items you can find around the house. The spring is cut down to around 4mm (3 or 4 coils) and is held in place by the screw which is also holding the paperclip and contacting the body of the flashlight (hence forming the closed circuit).


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## protein_man (Mar 3, 2007)

Thats some great work there joe - you have inspired me to try this on my light! Aren't these cheap ellys great, with the cree and a 1 ohm resistor these little babies put out over 100 lumens on a 14500 no worries! Next step is a seoul U bin.


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## Vermonter73 (Mar 3, 2007)

How much runtime are you getting from a 14500?


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## Vikas Sontakke (Mar 3, 2007)

joedm said:


> Yeah I guess you can say that.
> I tried to get the tail switch out but I'll probably destroy the plastic mechanism to do that. So... I took another angle.
> 
> I installed a resistor in series (behind the star) and used a paperclip on top to short out the resistor when the head is screwed down far enough.
> ...



That's is awesome! Yesterday I was going through McGizmo's PD FAQ. I would never be able to actually have it but one can always daydream!

Anyway, your scheme seems to be very similar to the "killroy" shown on the PD pictures. I don't even know if you got the inspiration from the PD or may be great minds think alike.

- Vikas


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## Bertrik (Mar 3, 2007)

Awaiting two Elly's and Cree LEDs to do the mod as well... 

I wonder if it is possible to mod the boost circuit inside the Elly to increase the current to the LED. Perhaps something as simple as lowering a current/voltage sense resistor. I remember seeing a (bit fuzzy) picture of the circuits in one of the threads here on CPF, but I can't seem to find it anymore . The circuit looked quite simple.
Can someone take a well-focused closeup of the Elly electronics?


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## cage (Mar 3, 2007)

Adding a low esr capacitor in parallel with inputvoltage side may improve effiency.




My cam cant take better closeups


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## protein_man (Mar 3, 2007)

Ran the modded elly for 40 minutes last night with only a slight drop in brightness. At 600mA the elly should run for about and hour on a 14500 with then noticeable dimming.

As long as I can get at least 45 mins runtime at the piercing brightness this thing pus out then I'm more then happy. Can always carry a spare battery!

Any won put a seoul into one of these things yet and posted a pic?


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## refractrfractal (Mar 3, 2007)

ace0001a said:


> Yeah, this little light is cool to experiment with...but I have yet to have any luck getting the reflector out. Maybe I need a better tool as neither one of my needle nose pliers have worked. Does anyone have any recommendations of a good tool to use to unscrew the ring the holds the reflector in??



I managed to it with a bent paperclip, but it took some doing. 

First I unwound it most of the way and bent it into a V shape, so it would fit into both of the holes in the ring. But it was way too flexible to give enough leverage to budge the ring loose. So I sandwiched most of the V inside a folded over stiff cardboard piece from some sort of blister packaging, to give it some backbone, with just enough clip wire sticking out to meet the ring inside the Elly.

That and some patience did the trick.


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## Bertrik (Mar 3, 2007)

It looks like there's not much to mod on the Elly electronics, I can't see anything like a current/voltage sense resistor (or is there something on the other side of the PCB?). I think IC1 is the controller, Q1 is the power switch for the coil, the black thing on the top looks like a fat diode and the yellow thing is a capacitor.
cage, I can indeed imagine that an input capacitor can improve efficiency (no idea how much).

Can you read the print on the components?


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## cage (Mar 3, 2007)

Bertrik said:


> It looks like there's not much to mod on the Elly electronics, I can't see anything like a current/voltage sense resistor (or is there something on the other side of the PCB?). I think IC1 is the controller, Q1 is the power switch for the coil, the black thing on the top looks like a fat diode and the yellow thing is a capacitor.
> cage, I can indeed imagine that an input capacitor can improve efficiency (no idea how much).
> 
> Can you read the print on the components?



There are no components on the other side.





The diode has SS 14 markings, capacitor 476A U2145, inductor no markings, with ic1 and q1 markings have been sanded off, but under bright light I can see that q1 has BF08 markings.
If someone could reverse-engineer the part values in this board, it would be possible to manufacture few and put them in parallel for maximum brightness. :naughty: I am dreaming of a single AA 3W Elly with Cree.


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## nanotech17 (Mar 3, 2007)

joedm,
have u manage to get your optic lens for Elly?


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## joedm (Mar 3, 2007)

protein_man, thanks. Compliment appreciated! Next step for me is the Edison 160 lm at 700ma and 200lm at 1A.

Vermonter73, not sure about runtime as I don't have my charger for the 14500. All my beam shots were taken with the 14500's as they arrived (from AW).

Vikas, it's good that this concept is not the first of it's kind. Says that maybe this is a possible longterm option for me as I don't want to spend too much to switch back and forth between modes which I don't do too often.

nanotech17, I'm still waiting on my order. I expect sometime this week along with my Edison leds. Hopefully I will have my Ultrafire charger from DX so as I can charge my batteries.


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## ktronik (Mar 4, 2007)

You guys got me going...done 4 ellys now...but for my next 2 elly's, going on from protein_man's latest... 2/ AMC7135 LDO driver's (660ma), 14500, cree xr-e & SSC P4 using modded IMS20's...

pics soon...

keep up the great modding guys...

Ktronik


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## joedm (Mar 4, 2007)

ktronik said:


> You guys got me going...done 4 ellys now...but for my next 2 elly's, going on from protein_man's latest... 2/ AMC7135 LDO driver's (660ma), 14500, cree xr-e & SSC P4 using modded IMS20's...


hey Ktronik, what's this AMC7135 LDO driver you're talking about? Have you done this? or anyhone else? 

oh yeah, and got any pics/beam shots of the output with the IMS20's?


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## ktronik (Mar 4, 2007)

joedm said:


> hey Ktronik, what's this AMC7135 LDO driver you're talking about? Have you done this? or anyhone else?
> 
> oh yeah, and got any pics/beam shots of the output with the IMS20's?



Hey Joedm,

I have used this LDO driver a lot... but forgot I was using 3 cells AA nimh ...   so wont really work as well...only 453ma... hey its late...

link 

I could use a ZXSC3000... I also have a heap of these:

link 

or just the 1 ohm resistor...

I have allready sent the IMS ellys off as gifts...so I will post pic's when I am done on these new ones coming from DX... will be at lease 14 days...

Ktronik


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## Hellbore (Mar 5, 2007)

Tonight I ordered some 14500 batteries from Dealextreme, another Elly, and an SSC U bin LED star. I'm gonna do the direct drive mod on this one with 14500 power for super brightness!


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## joedm (Mar 5, 2007)

Hellbore said:


> Tonight I ordered some 14500 batteries from Dealextreme, another Elly, and an SSC U bin LED star. I'm gonna do the direct drive mod on this one with 14500 power for super brightness!



You'll just have to wait in line. I have 15 Elly's on order


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## joedm (Mar 5, 2007)

So how does everyone who uses the unprotected 14500's make sure that they do not fall below a certain charge?

This is the whole reason I paid the extra for the protected ones... I didn't want to have to worry about it.


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## Hellbore (Mar 5, 2007)

Couldn't I put a protection circuit in the flashlight?

Doesn't anyone know of an affordable source for protection circuits?

What if I bought a protected 14500 cell and just took it apart and used the protection circuit?

I just wonder because unprotected 14500 cells are cheaper and apparently also higher capacity than the protected ones I have seen.


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## mzzj (Mar 5, 2007)

Bertrik said:


> Awaiting two Elly's and Cree LEDs to do the mod as well...
> 
> I wonder if it is possible to mod the boost circuit inside the Elly to increase the current to the LED.
> Can someone take a well-focused closeup of the Elly electronics?


Try installing 2 driverboards in parallei :laughing: 

It's a close fit, but I think it is possible to make sandwich of two driverboads and fit it inside the original aluminium "heatsink". If you have access to lathe it would be easy to make more space on the heatsink, othervise you have to try to shave/file/grind upper driverboard to smaller diameter to fit it inside the "heatsink"


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## ktronik (Mar 5, 2007)

Hellbore said:


> Couldn't I put a protection circuit in the flashlight?
> 
> Doesn't anyone know of an affordable source for protection circuits?
> 
> ...



err, might not be a good idea to take apart a 14500 cell... my mate drilled into a li-ion in a LAB...lots of flame came out... like a rocket...  

batteryspace has them...

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=711

but kinda big...


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## mzzj (Mar 5, 2007)

joedm said:


> So how does everyone who uses the unprotected 14500's make sure that they do not fall below a certain charge?
> 
> This is the whole reason I paid the extra for the protected ones... I didn't want to have to worry about it.


If you use 14500 with direct-drive or resistor drive then Vf of the led is protecting battery pretty well from going too low.


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## mzzj (Mar 5, 2007)

cage said:


> The diode has SS 14 markings, capacitor 476A U2145, inductor no markings, with ic1 and q1 markings have been sanded off, but under bright light I can see that q1 has BF08 markings.
> If someone could reverse-engineer the part values in this board, it would be possible to manufacture few and put them in parallel for maximum brightness. :naughty: I am dreaming of a single AA 3W Elly with Cree.


I got one Elly with component markings intact. 
Q1 BF08
IC1 501C1 0549

I had no luck finding out data**** for either of them, but with little reverse-engineering Q1 appears to be N-channel mosfet and IC1 is some sorta switcher controller, obviously for 5v output orginally. (With lower loads driverboard output stays regulated at 5v)


AFAIK elly converter is working "wide-open throttle" and Q1 on-resistance is the limiting factor in output current. I'll throw in some seriously bigger mosfet, lets see whats happen. Edit: IC1 has a maximum duty cycle limit and that is what limits output voltage/current.


----------



## Aepoc (Mar 5, 2007)

I just got my Seoul P4 USWOH star in the mail. I decided to use an optic with this one and when the optic on the star, it doesn't go all the way down. It looks like the optic is supposed to slide right over the LED. Should I shave the optic down a bit? Does anyone else know a bit about the focus of the seoul?


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## emitter (Mar 5, 2007)

single cell protection boards: 
http://batteryjunction.com/prcimopfor3l.html

this is the only place I've found them of all the major battery*.* sites. Be aware this must be in parallel with the cell. as shown here: 

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/theshorelinemarket_1936_17705643

only worth it if you have loads of unprotected cells already, otherwise just buy a new protected cell. is it really worth a few bux to waste time and also risk blowing stuff up? 
dang, I should have added an elly to my order. i went for the big boy 18650 U2 copy. Dispite the seemingly random naming scheme DX and KD use Elly seems appropriate for a "lil" lite.


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## Nake (Mar 5, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> I just got my Seoul P4 USWOH star in the mail. I decided to use an optic with this one and when the optic on the star, it doesn't go all the way down. It looks like the optic is supposed to slide right over the LED. Should I shave the optic down a bit? Does anyone else know a bit about the focus of the seoul?


 
I would temp glue the legs of the optic to the star and see what you get. If it's not good shave a little off and try it. I'm getting the optics that photonfanatic is selling and am going to do that.


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## Aepoc (Mar 5, 2007)

I have Photonfanatic's optic as well. The legs of the optic won't even fit into the metal disc that holds the star and the circuit. I'm going to have to shave it down. Am I correct in assuming that the optic should come down over the emitter and completely cover it?


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## Nake (Mar 5, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> Am I correct in assuming that the optic should come down over the emitter and completely cover it?


 
I couldn't say about that, I've never even seen a light with an optic. Gonna figure it out when I get it.


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## Nake (Mar 5, 2007)

Aepoc,

Did you see these optics for a Cree? The holder is the same size as the Elly reflector. I'm going to try this one too.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1756509&postcount=1


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## Aepoc (Mar 5, 2007)

yeah... i saw those... thought about getting one for the cree. right now i have to finnish the seoul though.

OK so I got the optic in there. Fired it up and all was well... for about a minute. Then I noticed a flicker in the light. Can't figure out what it is. I tried re-soldering the connections... nothing. I wonder if its the stock circuit that I am working with thats causing the problem. Any suggestions?

Also, is there any way to clean the emitter? It is softer then a Cree. You can just wipe the cree emitter off with a microfiber towel. Not so for the seoul.


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## Nake (Mar 5, 2007)

I clean the Seoul domes with a water dampened Q-tip, seems to work. Can't help with the electrical problems, all my problem solving is hit and miss.


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## Scattergun (Mar 5, 2007)

I just finished a Seoul-mod on an Elly, and the result in nothing less than spectacular!! Better beampattern that the Cree, brighter and warmer tint!! The only downside is that the reflector doesn´t turn all the way down, it shorts out the emittor-legs if turned all the way down.. or maybe it´s just pressing the led through the thermal epoxi (wich hasn´t cured yet)... anyway, much better than the Cree. I put some epoxi in the threads wich holds the head secured in the right spot for perfect beampattern.


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## davenlei (Mar 5, 2007)

Scattergun,

Did you use a 'T' bin or 'U' bin SSC?

I have a Cree Elly right now and I think I will do this SSC mod based on what you said.


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## Led_Blind (Mar 6, 2007)

A few points.
- the reflector is fine, and just as good as the ims.... reason? sand down the outside of your ims and you can see the led through the reflector... 
- flickering in this light is usualy related to the earth or negative connection. You will notice the origonal - to the led is also attached to the casing of the light. Ensure that has a good connection and your flickering should be solved. 
- Lion is not recomended, keep the converter and wire in a direct drive if thats what you want. 
 
thats all


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## cage (Mar 6, 2007)

mzzj said:


> .


I made a board using max1763.
Multimeter can read only 230mAmps, but maybe it just can't keep up with the high switching speed. Probably long testleads also cause resistance which reduces measured current. Shortcircuit current without the led appears to be close to two Amps according to my multimeter.


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## Scattergun (Mar 6, 2007)

I used one of the emitters from Photonfanatics groupbuy. It was a loose emitter SWOH U-bin I think. I grinded off the original emitter from the star with a Dremel-tool and then epoxied the new emitter to the star with some AA-epoxy. Just soldered the leads to the star and mounted it again.


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## Aepoc (Mar 6, 2007)

Thanks Nake. I didn't have a q-tip so i just used water and my finger... Worked fine.




Nake said:


> I clean the Seoul domes with a water dampened Q-tip, seems to work. Can't help with the electrical problems, all my problem solving is hit and miss.




I think I ruined the stock circuit and that is what is causing the flickering. I believe it is direct drive and the flickering is just the battery decreasing in voltage. DOn't know why it didnt' do the same for the XR-E. We will see when I get my Wizard2's (932ma).


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## joedm (Mar 6, 2007)

Anyone tried the Nite Ize Tail Cap IQ switch with the Elly?
I'm thinking of purchasing one so I can use the flashing mechanism...

I've read a few posts that state that it can lower the output a bit... however if thats the case, I may just run my Elly on high..

If anyone has one that they can try with their Elly, I'd really want to hear about it. In particular:

- Fit of the thread of the switch into the Elly.
- Affect on the Output.
- Whether the features, i.e. levels and flashing work with the Elly.

I've read an earlier post about someone using the krolll switch in the Elly but not sure if this would be the same diameter and thread that the Elly has.


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## Turbo DV8 (Mar 6, 2007)

joedm said:


> Anyone tried the Nite Ize Tail Cap IQ switch with the Elly?
> I'm thinking of purchasing one so I can use the flashing mechanism...


 

The Terralux is a better switch, and swaps straight over to the Elly. $5 shipped.


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## Nake (Mar 6, 2007)

joedm said:


> I've read an earlier post about someone using the krolll switch in the Elly but not sure if this would be the same diameter and thread that the Elly has.


 
I use the Kroll in my Elly. It fits tighter than the Nite Ize I have for my Minimag. It's not the IQ switch.


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## I'M DK (Mar 6, 2007)

I just tried an IQ switch.
It powered on, then was stuck at full power.
Could not change the output or turn it off.

DK


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## joedm (Mar 6, 2007)

Turbo DV8, where did you get the Terra Lux switch from and does it have more than 1 mode? i.e. other levels or flashing?

I'M DK, is your Elly modded or stock? what type of battery? led?

Nake, your kroll is it two stage?


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## I'M DK (Mar 7, 2007)

PM sent.
DK


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## Nake (Mar 7, 2007)

joedm said:


> Nake, your kroll is it two stage?


 
No, just one stage.


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## Bertrik (Mar 7, 2007)

mzzj, cage, ktronik

With respect to reverse engineering the driver, summarizing the info posted here so far:
* C1 = capacitor. I think 476 means 47 uF (=47 * 10^6 pF)
* IC1 = 501C1 0549 = 5V switcher IC? Couldn't find anything on Google. I think the 0549 part is a manufacturing code: year 2005 week 49.
Could this be similar or even identical to the one used by lamba ( http://home.mchsi.com/~lambda_lights/parts.htm ) or perhaps one of the zetex parts mentioned by ktronic?
* Q1 = BF08, N-channel mosfet according to mzzj
* diode = SS14 = schottky rectifier with about 0.4V forward voltage at 350 mA, see http://www.fairchildsemi.com/ds/SS/SS14.pdf

I find it hard to see how IC1 is connected exactly, but I think it is a classic boost circuit, with the diode and the capacitor attempting to rectify and smooth the pulses from the switcher. I wonder if the capacitor can really smooth the current that much. What frequency did you measure, mzzj?

Perhaps bypassing the diode and the leaving out the capacitor can improve the efficiency of the circuit, resulting in a circuit like the following one in this post by ktronik:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/119137
This would eliminate the loss in the diode and prevent losses from charging/discharging the capacitor (very interesting read here http://www.smpstech.com/charge.htm), but this would also mean that the LED is driven with higher peak current which makes the LED a little less efficient.


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## Cypher (Mar 7, 2007)

On DX it show the maximum diameter as 1.1" and length as 4.7". Can anyone tell me the length of just the head after being removed from the body? Thanks.


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## Nake (Mar 7, 2007)

Cypher said:


> On DX it show the maximum diameter as 1.1" and length as 4.7". Can anyone tell me the length of just the head after being removed from the body? Thanks.


 
If you're talking about the part that holds the reflector and lense, it is 39mm. or 1.5".


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## ideefixe (Mar 7, 2007)

I also find the SSC P4 has a nicer tint and beam compared to a Cree P4, when focused properly.

You might also consider using teflon plumbing tape around the threads to give the head a tight fit, yet adjustable focus. 

I found that I didn't really need a resistor when driving the SSC P4 directly. The body puts about 0.9 ohm of resistance already (make sure to connect the negative pad from the SSC P4 to the Elly body instead of using the blue wire). On a freshly charged 14500, it pulls about 900mA. At some time later I measured again and it dropped down to 700mA. The light gets warm but not hot. I did used some thermal paste between the star and the heatsink. 

Does it sound right, at 900mA I'm getting 160-170 lumens? This is a T-bin





Scattergun said:


> I just finished a Seoul-mod on an Elly, and the result in nothing less than spectacular!! Better beampattern that the Cree, brighter and warmer tint!! The only downside is that the reflector doesn´t turn all the way down, it shorts out the emittor-legs if turned all the way down.. or maybe it´s just pressing the led through the thermal epoxi (wich hasn´t cured yet)... anyway, much better than the Cree. I put some epoxi in the threads wich holds the head secured in the right spot for perfect beampattern.


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## moon lander (Mar 7, 2007)

just modded my first elly, measured 201ma to the stock led, 200ma to the cree after the mod. i definately want to drive it much harder, so ill prob direct drive it with a 14500 or use a 1/2ohm resistor. problem is, a 5w 1/2ohm resistor is really big, not sure it will fit in there. anyone have this problem?

also, with an unprotected 14500, will the light just turn off when the voltage drops below a certain level? and does an led stop drawing voltage altogether at that point or does it draw power and make no light (i doubt this is the case cause of the law of conservation of energy).


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## joedm (Mar 7, 2007)

I think I used a 1W resistor. Anyway, it fit fine inside together with the circuit.

And I only use the protected 14500 from AW.


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## Turbo DV8 (Mar 8, 2007)

joedm said:


> Turbo DV8, where did you get the Terra Lux switch from and does it have more than 1 mode? i.e. other levels or flashing?


 
Two modes: ON and OFF!


http://www.led-replacement.com/tcs-1.html


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## mcmc (Mar 8, 2007)

I might sound like a bit of a heretic but I swapped my Cree out for a UX1J star I had lying around, and I like the color and beam pattern much better. Much whiter, b/c my Cree was being too underdriven I think and thus yellow; the beam is very even (Lux's special quality I guess) and when focused/defocused, gives a much more usable flood while still being able to reach a tight hotspot.

So both of mine are now switched to UX1J's, and I'm thinking of ordering 2 more for my remaining 2 UX1J's. On some old questionable stock Lithium AA's, they shine nice and bright. I finally found optimal my beater and loaner light!! (much better than say the 3aaa light that wonks out every once in a while).


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## ledflasher79 (Mar 8, 2007)

Which CREE LED do I need to put into this light? Please advice:

http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=1340

or this:

http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=1263

The star board looks way too big for this torch.

?


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## joedm (Mar 8, 2007)

ledflasher79, Use the full size star as it fits perfectly in the Elly. The smaller option although good for other mods will not sit well on the heatsink inside the Elly and hence will not be able to transfer heat as well.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 8, 2007)

Has anyone figured out how to reverse engineer the Elly circuit and maybe switch a resister or something on the circuit to increase the current output to make like a Cree shine much brighter. Would it be possible to drive another Led close to 3W with the same circuit but modified?

I would be willing to take a picture of my Elly circuit board even though my flashlight as a whole doesn't work. There doesnt appear to be any markings scratched off and all appear to be there except for the inductor, assuming its the coil thing.


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## Gunner12 (Mar 8, 2007)

Making the Cree run at 3W would need at least 2 amps from a 1.5v alkaline(not able to supply the power) or Lithium and at least 2.5 amps from a 1.2v rechargeable. That is assuming 100% efficiency. So about 3 amps from a 1.2v rechargeable, which is possible, or 2.4 amps from a 1.5v primary, only the lithium can do that.

It would be really nice though, but runtime will suffer.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 8, 2007)

Gunner12 said:


> Making the Cree run at 3W would need at least 2 amps from a 1.5v alkaline(not able to supply the power) or Lithium and at least 2.5 amps from a 1.2v rechargeable. That is assuming 100% efficiency. So about 3 amps from a 1.2v rechargeable, which is possible, or 2.4 amps from a 1.5v primary, only the lithium can do that.
> 
> It would be really nice though, but runtime will suffer.



I am actually going to be using only NiMh's in this flashlight once I get my replacement or somehow fix my current one. Is there any way to drive the LED at a much higher current, it doesnt have to be 3W or anything. I read that the current driver drives a Cree to about 200mA or something. Is it possible to drive it to atleast 400mA or higher.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 8, 2007)

Oh and I was wondering, on the stock Elly, is the bottom of the stock LED a negative connection?


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## KWillets (Mar 8, 2007)

Yes.


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## Nake (Mar 8, 2007)

johnny13oi said:


> I am actually going to be using only NiMh's in this flashlight once I get my replacement or somehow fix my current one. Is there any way to drive the LED at a much higher current, it doesnt have to be 3W or anything. I read that the current driver drives a Cree to about 200mA or something. Is it possible to drive it to atleast 400mA or higher.


 
How did you get the 200mA figure? I have 4 stock Ellys and tested the amps at the battery with a 1.6V Alkaline and got 900mA, 920mA, 1150mA, and 1300mA. I assume there's more than 200mA getting to the LED.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 8, 2007)

Nake said:


> How did you get the 200mA figure? I have 4 stock Ellys and tested the amps at the battery with a 1.6V Alkaline and got 900mA, 920mA, 1150mA, and 1300mA. I assume there's more than 200mA getting to the LED.



Sorry I actually looked at another thread and they claim it to be 250mA going to the LED.
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/153283
I was just wondering if the current can be increased somehow by modifying the circuit within the Elly itself.


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## mzzj (Mar 9, 2007)

Bertrik said:


> mzzj, cage, ktronik
> 
> With respect to reverse engineering the driver, summarizing the info posted here so far:
> * C1 = capacitor. I think 476 means 47 uF (=47 * 10^6 pF)
> ...


I can't find info what IC lambda is using, but definetely Elly's ic is not zetex zxsv300.

IC1 connection is straighforward: (AFTER I draw a schematic) :laughing: 
1. ground
2. (middlepin) combined feedback and IC1 power/vcc
3. Gate drive output. 

Trick with IC1 is that it is powered from converter output! and because of that it can drive Q1 mosfet with up to +5v gate drive voltage(~3.3v when used as led driver)

IC1 is trying to regulate output at 5v, but it obviously have 75% limit on maximum duty cycle. Swithing frequency is 125khz in normal case(used as elly) Switching frequency drops very, very low with low-load such as 2mA as IC1 is PFM modulator, not PWM. On-time is pretty constant 3uS and off-time varies from 1uS to 100uS or more. 3us/(3us+1us) gives the max 75% duty cycle limit. 

Its also possible to modify elly driverboard to start reliably with 0.8v input voltage, some of these require up to 1.1v-1.2v to start. All you need is one NPN transistor and 1k resistor.


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## mzzj (Mar 9, 2007)

moon lander said:


> 14500 or use a 1/2ohm resistor. problem is, a 5w 1/2ohm resistor is really big, not sure it will fit in there. anyone have this problem?


You dont need 5W resistor, 0.5W resistor is enough. You could also use 2x1 ohm 0.25w resistors parallei.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 9, 2007)

mzzj said:


> I can't find info what IC lambda is using, but definetely Elly's ic is not zetex zxsv300.
> 
> IC1 connection is straighforward: (AFTER I draw a schematic) :laughing:
> 1. ground
> ...



So is there any possible way to make the circuit output around 3.7V instead of the ~3.3V?


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## mzzj (Mar 9, 2007)

johnny13oi said:


> So is there any possible way to make the circuit output around 3.7V instead of the ~3.3V?


Not really.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 9, 2007)

mzzj said:


> Not really.



haha thanks for the quick reply. I figured it was worth a try to see if it was possible to make this thing drive LEDs harder.


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## joedm (Mar 9, 2007)

that's why some of us have used a 14500 cell instead.


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## nanotech17 (Mar 9, 2007)

joedm said:


> that's why some of us have used a 14500 cell instead.



joedm,
If run with 14500 thru the board,how long the board can take?
And if direct drive using Alkalines or Nimh any difference compare to direct drive using 14500?


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## mzzj (Mar 9, 2007)

nanotech17 said:


> joedm,
> If run with 14500 thru the board,how long the board can take?
> And if direct drive using Alkalines or Nimh any difference compare to direct drive using 14500?


If operating with 14500 li-on driver board must be thrown away. I believe most have used simple resistor drive with ~0.5-1 ohm resistor in series with led.


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## nanotech17 (Mar 9, 2007)

mzzj said:


> If operating with 14500 li-on driver board must be thrown away. I believe most have used simple resistor drive with ~0.5-1 ohm resistor in series with led.



So where to put the resistor?
This one always confuse me.


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## moon lander (Mar 9, 2007)

Nake said:


> How did you get the 200mA figure? I have 4 stock Ellys and tested the amps at the battery with a 1.6V Alkaline and got 900mA, 920mA, 1150mA, and 1300mA. I assume there's more than 200mA getting to the LED.



hi nake, your actually testing the current drawn by the reg board. since the board has to boost the voltage, it needs to draw alot of extra current from the battery. it will draw around 900ma at around 1.2 volts, and convert it to 200ma at 3.3 volts. my measurements concur with 200ma getting to the led.


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## moon lander (Mar 9, 2007)

mzzj said:


> You dont need 5W resistor, 0.5W resistor is enough. You could also use 2x1 ohm 0.25w resistors parallei.



i thought a 0.5W resistor could only handle 0.5W, but this battery/led combo will be pushing 5W, so dont i need a resistor rated at above the highest current?


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## Nake (Mar 9, 2007)

moon lander said:


> hi nake, your actually testing the current drawn by the reg board. since the board has to boost the voltage, it needs to draw alot of extra current from the battery. it will draw around 900ma at around 1.2 volts, and convert it to 200ma at 3.3 volts. my measurements concur with 200ma getting to the led.


 
So, of the 4 Ellys I have, would the reg board drawing 1300mA deliver more current to the LED than the one drawing 900mA? When testing the lights with batteries, they all appear about the same brightness.


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## Bertrik (Mar 9, 2007)

moon lander said:


> i thought a 0.5W resistor could only handle 0.5W, but this battery/led combo will be pushing 5W, so dont i need a resistor rated at above the highest current?


You're right about the wattage of the resistor, but the resistor is not dissipating 5W. Power in a resistor is simply voltage across the resistor times current through the resistor (P=V*I). Combined with ohm's law you can derive P=V*V/R and P=I*I*R. So for example with a current of 700 mA using the latter formula, you can calculate that a 1 ohm resistor dissipates 0.7*0.7*1=0.49 Watts.


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## mzzj (Mar 9, 2007)

moon lander said:


> hi nake, your actually testing the current drawn by the reg board. since the board has to boost the voltage, it needs to draw alot of extra current from the battery. it will draw around 900ma at around 1.2 volts, and convert it to 200ma at 3.3 volts. my measurements concur with 200ma getting to the led.


All three XR-E modded Ellies I have measure 1.2A +-50mA with 1.200v input voltage. Led current is 300-350mA. 
It's a bit random how much these draw from battery, I mean what can you expect from sub-$ chinese driverboard running full throttle without any sort of regulation. Hell, they can even put different parts to every second board if they like


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## Bertrik (Mar 9, 2007)

mzzj, I created a schematic based on your description. Does this look about right?






As far as I understand the circuit is already running to the max. of its capabilities, so it's probably hard to squeeze out more light or efficiency.

What do you think of the following:
* Make the LED run directly from the output from the coil/switch combination instead of running it off the diode/capacitor rectified voltage. This avoids the loss of the diode (about 10%) and loss from the ripple across the capacitor, but also leads to higher peak current through the LED. A problem is that now the IC sees a nice and smooth 5V across the capacitor and throttles back.
* Use a coil with lower inductance (which probably has lower DC resistance too), so the peak current can go higher in the 3 us on-time.

Do you have any other idea?


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## mzzj (Mar 9, 2007)

Bertrik said:


> mzzj, I created a schematic based on your description. Does this look about right?
> 
> 
> As far as I understand the circuit is already running to the max. of its capabilities, so it's probably hard to squeeze out more light or efficiency.
> ...


Yes, your drawing is right. 

I already tried to replace the coil as I noticed that coil is the hottest component on the board with and diode second hottest. With lower resistance and higher saturation current coil I got something like 20% increase in led current. (47u, 4A "giant" in mechanical dimensions)

I am not sure if there is any gain in lumen output if running with high peak currents without filtering, I was going to try this out but have been lazy.

IC1 input voltage is about the same in this scenario, led Vf is limiting output voltage to aprox 3.5-3.7v and if IC1 is powered from this trough orginal diode and filtering cap ic1 input voltage is going to be around 3.3v

Judging from scope screen Q1 mosfet seems to have about 0.1 ohm on-resistance when driven with 3.3v gate voltage. Mosfet with 0.033ohm rdson @ 2.5 Vgs could bring slight improvement, but replacement mosfet gate charge/capacitance must be low enough to maintain fast swithing transitions.


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## mzzj (Mar 9, 2007)

In case someone didnt notice this on reviews-thread:



mzzj said:


> Turn-on voltage varies from unit to unit because Elly uses mosfet as a switch and mosfet gate treshold voltage is always bit "random". I have one that starts at 0.9v and another starting at 1.1v.
> 
> There is a trick to modify Elly driverboard to start reliably every time with less than 0.8v input, all you need is NPN-transistor and one 1k resistor
> 
> ...


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## moon lander (Mar 9, 2007)

Nake said:


> So, of the 4 Ellys I have, would the reg board drawing 1300mA deliver more current to the LED than the one drawing 900mA? When testing the lights with batteries, they all appear about the same brightness.



not sure, could be that or small differences in the batteries or efficiency differences with the reg boards or a combination.


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## mzzj (Mar 9, 2007)

moon lander said:


> not sure, could be that or small differences in the batteries or efficiency differences with the reg boards or a combination.


Or led Vf or converter maximum duty cycle limit.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 9, 2007)

It appears that my boost circuit is dead after 3 times turning the light on. I took it apart and see that whenever i click the switch on, it is as if it is direct and there is no circuitry in place. Does anyone know a fix for this?

can anyone show me how to remove the boost circuit board out of the metal thing its attached to?

The boost circuit is acting really weird .. it sometimes works and doesn't. Most of the time doesn't. When i power it on and connect the + lead to the LED manually it works but then when I turn it off and turn it back on with the lead still connected it doesn't work unless i disconnect and reconnect the lead. It's like it needs to initially charge up or something and then i connect itll work but not when the led is already connected. Now the circuit doesn't even keep a consistent voltage boost. The voltage it outputs to the LED jumps up and down and the light can be seen getting dimmer and brighter.


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## joedm (Mar 9, 2007)

nanotech17 said:


> joedm,
> If run with 14500 thru the board,how long the board can take?
> And if direct drive using Alkalines or Nimh any difference compare to direct drive using 14500?



Don't run a 14500 through the board unless you want it fried! (refer to this post)

Direct drive only with 14500, Alkalines or Nimh cannot start the led requires >3V to turn on.

In terms of the resistor, and direct drive, here is my post about bypassing the circuit for "direct drive"

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1882764&postcount=411

Basically once you have bypassed the circuit then you can connect your resistor of choice (I use a 1ohm) in series with the led.


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## joedm (Mar 9, 2007)

Good work mzzj & Bertrik.:goodjob:

I am now going to try to salvage the circuit I fried by replacing Q1 with a BF08 N-channel mosfet or something similar. 

I think I'll leave my twist switch in.

Is there a way to modify the circuit (or add to it) to basically sense a voltage > say 2V and divert to direct drive instead of using the circuit?

This would be awesome as I would have a light that could accept any type of cell... hmm..


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## FlashCrazy (Mar 9, 2007)

Man, these Ellies (or is it Elli, lol) are great! I've converted a couple of them to Crees, and have more on order for family. Does anyone know of a source for a glass lens that'll fit these? I know my father and brother will scratch theirs up pretty quickly.


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## Nake (Mar 9, 2007)

flashlightlens.com has a 24.7mm lens that fits well.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 10, 2007)

Can anyone show me the way to taking out the circuit board from the metal heatsink?


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## moon lander (Mar 10, 2007)

where do you find glow in the dark o-rings?


----------



## davenlei (Mar 10, 2007)

Here:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/138277

I bought several and they work just as advertised. Enjoy.


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## joedm (Mar 10, 2007)

try painfulpleasures.com


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## cage (Mar 10, 2007)

johnny13oi said:


> Can anyone show me the way to taking out the circuit board from the metal heatsink?


I got the circuit board out by using these tools:
http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=toolsqd7.jpg
Doing circular motions with sharp and hard tool around edge of the board and then using a screwdriver inserted in one of the edge vias for prying the board out is what it took for me to get the job done.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 10, 2007)

Thanks for the help. And I was wondering, would the original LED be direct driven just fine with 3XAAA NiMh without a resistor?


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## ace0001a (Mar 10, 2007)

Tried plumbers teflon tape on the threads and now I can adjust the focus like a MiniMag...


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## kanarie (Mar 10, 2007)

today I tried running the elly at 2,4V (2x1,2 NiMH) for 10 min. The current from the batteries was over 3A voltage at bulb 3,4V (It worked and it was very bright!)


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## mzzj (Mar 10, 2007)

johnny13oi said:


> Can anyone show me the way to taking out the circuit board from the metal heatsink?


Just give it a whack. Mount it on vice and place small screwdriver against circuit board edge(not against components or copper traces) and whack it couple of times with hand/screwdriver/sledgehammer.  
Some are very loose and others require bit more.


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## kanarie (Mar 10, 2007)

> _Can anyone show me the way to taking out the circuit board from the metal heatsink?_
> 
> Just give it a whack. Mount it on vice and place small screwdriver against circuit board edge(not against components or copper traces) and whack it couple of times with hand/screwdriver/sledgehammer.
> Some are very loose and others require bit more.



If it does not go easy enough try taking out the other side first and give it a "blow" from the other side


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## mzzj (Mar 10, 2007)




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## mzzj (Mar 10, 2007)

mzzj said:


>


It IS possible to modify stock elly circuit beyond 600mA led current..  
Thing is that its way too big then to fit orginal lamp, but could be useful for 1D lantern or something. 

Coil is replaced with 10-20uF 4A rated and schottky diode with biggest badass low-Vf schottky you can find. I used giant to-220 47CTQ020. 
47uF output tantal cap is replaced with 10-100uF 6v MLCC cap for lower ESR.
10uF MLCC does better job in filtering than stock 47uF tantal.

with these modifications XR-E is running at over 600mA but it wont fit even near elly :laughing: I would need low Vf schottky in small smd package, unfortunately these are made from Unobtanium. Synchronous rectification would be another option, but I dont have any cute&tiny mosfets on stock as my projects usually are in 100's of amps, not milliamps...


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## FlashCrazy (Mar 10, 2007)

Nake said:


> flashlightlens.com has a 24.7mm lens that fits well.


 
Thanks for the info. I looked there,  $5.50 each! Maybe I'll just order more Ellies for a couple bucks more when my dad and brother scratch up their lenses.

On a side note, I have the Hemse incandescent from DealExtreme (around $8) and found that the lens is the exact same size, and glass! It now has an Elly lens in it.


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## selfbuilt (Mar 10, 2007)

Looks like Kai is spoiling our moding fun - you can now buy the light with a cree already installed for $11 shipped:
http://kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=1341


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## Nake (Mar 10, 2007)

11 bucks, free shipping, and a glass lens, wow.


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## FlashCrazy (Mar 10, 2007)

selfbuilt said:


> Looks like Kai is spoiling our moding fun - you can now buy the light with a cree already installed for $11 shipped:
> http://kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=1341


 

And it says it comes with a GLASS lens! Hope that's correct, or I'll have to fly to Hong Kong and give Kai a  Just kidding of course... for $10 shipped, I don't care if it has a wax paper lens! Would it be wrong to get these for friends and family, and still say "Yeah, I modded these...pretty cool huh?" :lolsign:


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## Aepoc (Mar 10, 2007)

I got some circuits that are about 2 mm too small. Any Ideas on how to get them to fit?

I was thinking fill the puck assembly with silicone and put the circuit in the wet silicon and let it harden. Would this work? Would silicone hurt the circuit in any way?


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## joedm (Mar 10, 2007)

> Looks like Kai is spoiling our moding fun



If he was going to bother remaking the Elly, then why didn't he look at the following:

1) Redesign circuit to output >600mA.
2) Redesign circuit to accept 3.7V cells (14500).
3) Two stage tailcap switch.

These are the most important things for me. Everything else is easy to do myself.


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## nanotech17 (Mar 10, 2007)

I don't care if it has a wax paper lens! Would it be wrong to get these for friends and family, and still say "Yeah, I modded these...pretty cool huh?" :lolsign:[/QUOTE]

That is good a idea :goodjob:


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## vetkaw63 (Mar 10, 2007)

joedm said:


> If he was going to bother remaking the Elly, then why didn't he look at the following:
> 
> 1) Redesign circuit to output >600mA.
> 2) Redesign circuit to accept 3.7V cells (14500).
> ...




Kai said to give him advise on further improvements,
Mike


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## kanarie (Mar 10, 2007)

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2098

DX also has the new and improved version $9.99 shipped :touche:
:goodjob:


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## Minjin (Mar 10, 2007)

How do you guys think two Creed Ellies would do as headlights on a bike? I really like that U2 style light but its a decent amount more and you have to worry about charging li-ons. And wouldn't two of these put out more light than that U2 style light?


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## 2xTrinity (Mar 11, 2007)

> If he was going to bother remaking the Elly, then why didn't he look at the following:
> 
> 1) Redesign circuit to output >600mA.
> 2) Redesign circuit to accept 3.7V cells (14500).
> ...


My guess is that any one of those would significantly push up the price beyond $11 -- which is quite phenomenal considering a bare emitter is $7. I have the feeling they are probably just modifying the remaining stock they had of the old Ellys (either the manufacturer, or even Kai/DX in house) with the new LEDs and various imporvements.

The interesting thing is that each vendor has different improvements. Kai added some improved o-rings for seal, and a glass lens. DX added an aluminum reflector. Between the two, the reflector would be the hardest thing to do on your own -- adding a glass window and o-rings is much easier after the fact (you could even buy lights from both vendors, pull the reflectors out of the DX lights, and drop them in the Kai lights )

One light though that had all the improvements in one, plus the ones you mentioned (harder max drive current, with two level switch) 



> How do you guys think two Creed Ellies would do as headlights on a bike? I really like that U2 style light but its a decent amount more and you have to worry about charging li-ons. And wouldn't two of these put out more light than that U2 style light?


Total amount of light will probably be about the same. However, with two different lights, you have the advantage of aiming them in slightly different directions to get a wider spill pattern.


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## joedm (Mar 11, 2007)

Minjin said:


> How do you guys think two Creed Ellies would do as headlights on a bike? I really like that U2 style light but its a decent amount more and you have to worry about charging li-ons. And wouldn't two of these put out more light than that U2 style light?



The Elly definitely has a good hotspot however when using it on the bike track you can really only focus it on a small area. The advantage of having two is you can have one focus for long range and the other middle range. 

You don't really need anything at close range because the spill from two Elly's would provide enough immediate illumination.

Another suggestion is to have one on your bars and one on your helmet.
You can even play around with the focus on the second one so that one is a tight spot and the other has more spill.


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## nanotech17 (Mar 11, 2007)

joedm,
for direct drive u just add another wire right thru that pcb board and solder it to the positive contact?


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## joedm (Mar 11, 2007)

correct. I ignore the original red wire coming from the circuit. The black wire goes to -ve so that's fine. My red wire is just tucked inside the space where the circuit is. If I want to return to the circuit I can retrieve it and resolder in place. 

You will probably need to feed the new wire through the little hole in the PCB and solder it on the battery side. It's a bit cramped soldering on the components side and gives the added benefit of a raised battery contact... my 14500 doesn't have a nipple so it works out well.

Sorry I haven't had time to reply with a picture tutorial. If you still have trouble let me know. I may be able to get to it tonight.


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## nanotech17 (Mar 11, 2007)

Thanks Joedm,
I'try that tonite as well.


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## Scattergun (Mar 11, 2007)

Looks like the new version is 3 Watts... how much current is that??


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## johnny13oi (Mar 11, 2007)

Scattergun said:


> Looks like the new version is 3 Watts... how much current is that??



I wonder if it really is 3W because a Cree at 3W should be A LOT brighter.


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## 2xTrinity (Mar 11, 2007)

johnny13oi said:


> I wonder if it really is 3W because a Cree at 3W should be A LOT brighter.


I highly doubt that it is 3W. From the posted specs, I suspect it's just the old Elly driver board with a Cree on it instead, which most of the time was drawing around 1-1.25W from the tailcap.


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## KWillets (Mar 11, 2007)

Minjin said:


> How do you guys think two Creed Ellies would do as headlights on a bike? I really like that U2 style light but its a decent amount more and you have to worry about charging li-ons. And wouldn't two of these put out more light than that U2 style light?



I agree with the suggestion of one on the bike and one on the helmet. The U2 style is also heavy. You'd be in the ballpark with two Elly's.

A good middle choice is the Kai Venture at 700 mA, and a few ounces less than the U2-style, but the optics aren't optimal for riding. Two lights instead of one will give more spread, and the Elly defocusing feature might be worth a try.


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## Scattergun (Mar 11, 2007)

2xTrinity said:


> I highly doubt that it is 3W. From the posted specs, I suspect it's just the old Elly driver board with a Cree on it instead, which most of the time was drawing around 1-1.25W from the tailcap.


 
The leads to the Cree are different color on the new model...might be more things different in there. 
And the runtime is quoted around one hour... a Cree on the old board lasted well over two hours. 
I´m just hoping for it to run 600mA to the LED..... then we have a winner!!

:goodjob:

And just by looking at the threads connecting the head, I think they look a little better than on the old model.


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## Bertrik (Mar 11, 2007)

Don't you hate it too that just after ordering something, the same product gets cheaper or you can order a better product for the same price (or in this case, better product for lower price). Just ordered two Elly+Cree's last week. I hope even those arrive safely, Hongkong Post Mail tracking shows destination Nicaragua (supposed to go to the Netherlands)...


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## joedm (Mar 11, 2007)

that's ok, I had ordered 15.
Still waiting on them.. And I'm pretty sure they won't be the new ones..

In any case, the new ones won't compare to my 14500 direct drive 2 mode version, even with the glass lens.

Seems like KD & DX are competing for price. KD recently changed price to <$10. I may order one just to see what the circuits like.


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## 2xTrinity (Mar 11, 2007)

joedm said:


> that's ok, I had ordered 15.
> Still waiting on them.. And I'm pretty sure they won't be the new ones..
> 
> In any case, the new ones won't compare to my 14500 direct drive 2 mode version, even with the glass lens.
> ...


Well, in your case I would buy the one from DX in order to pull out the reflector to put it in your "hotrodded" Elly. With that light it may be worth buying an AR coated lens for it, which would be a step up from ordinary glass. How did you pull off the two mode, some sort of two mode switch with a resistor like the Vinet and others on DX?


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## moon lander (Mar 11, 2007)

joedm said:


> correct. I ignore the original red wire coming from the circuit. The black wire goes to -ve so that's fine. My red wire is just tucked inside the space where the circuit is. If I want to return to the circuit I can retrieve it and resolder in place.
> 
> You will probably need to feed the new wire through the little hole in the PCB and solder it on the battery side. It's a bit cramped soldering on the components side and gives the added benefit of a raised battery contact... my 14500 doesn't have a nipple so it works out well.
> 
> Sorry I haven't had time to reply with a picture tutorial. If you still have trouble let me know. I may be able to get to it tonight.


 
To Joe and Nanotech: any trouble direct driving? does the emitter get too hot? how long before you have to turn it off to cool down? any idea what the current is? do you use any resistor at all (and if so, is 0.5w rated ok?)

until they figure out a better boost circuit for these, i think direct drive is the way to go. seems like the boost circuit in any cheap light is the weak link. someone should produce 1 amp boost circuits for the elly and sell them packaged with glass lenses, o-rings, and the new reflector - the elly upgrade pack


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## joedm (Mar 11, 2007)

2xTrinity said:


> Well, in your case I would buy the one from DX in order to pull out the reflector to put it in your "hotrodded" Elly. With that light it may be worth buying an AR coated lens for it, which would be a step up from ordinary glass. How did you pull off the two mode, some sort of two mode switch with a resistor like the Vinet and others on DX?



or just buy the Rexlight and be done with it!!!

Here's how I did the switch: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1886734&postcount=424



moon lander said:


> any trouble direct driving? does the emitter get too hot? how long before you have to turn it off to cool down? any idea what the current is? do you use any resistor at all (and if so, is 0.5w rated ok?)



No problems with direct drive. The flashlight body does get warm but that means that it's transferring the heat from the led to the body quite well.

And I don't turn it off... last time I measured the current it was roughly 850mA with an uncharged 14500 (still waiting on DX to send me my charger). I have a 1ohm 1W (or is it 0.25W?) resistor in series that gets shorted out by my two stage twist switch. I have this as I'm not sure how much current will go through the led when my battery is charged. If it starts getting too hot I'll just switch it to use the resistor.


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## r3d33m3r (Mar 11, 2007)

Bertrik said:


> You're right about the wattage of the resistor, but the resistor is not dissipating 5W. Power in a resistor is simply voltage across the resistor times current through the resistor (P=V*I). Combined with ohm's law you can derive P=V*V/R and P=I*I*R. So for example with a current of 700 mA using the latter formula, you can calculate that a 1 ohm resistor dissipates 0.7*0.7*1=0.49 Watts.


 
WOW !!!! I am sorry to interfeere, but that is way wrong.
Your example: 1 OHM resistor at 700mA ( 0.7A ) through it results in a 0.7 Volt drop and 0.7 Watt of disipated power.
Regards


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## joedm (Mar 11, 2007)

Sorry was that comment directed at me?

P = I*I*R = 0.7*0.7*1 = 0.49

V = P/I = 0.49/0.7 = 0.7

So yes you are correct. 0.7V voltage drop at the resistor.
So I must be using a 1W rated resistor to be able to cope with disipating 0.49W of power. How did you get the 0.7W of power?


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## joedm (Mar 11, 2007)

A word of warning for those trying the direct drive option..
Please use a suitable resistor. A newly charged 14500 may burn your switch as has happened to one person. This hasn't happened to me personally but I haven't used a fully charged cell in my Elly, and even if I did, all Elly's may not behave the same. However, take it as a word of warning...

Anyone happen to know what curren the Elly switch shoul dbe able to handle?
Is it possible that >1A is too much?


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## Nake (Mar 11, 2007)

I have two stock Ellys that run over 1A with an Alkaline, 1100mA and 1300mA.


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## r3d33m3r (Mar 12, 2007)

joedm said:


> Sorry was that comment directed at me?
> 
> P = I*I*R = 0.7*0.7*1 = 0.49
> 
> ...


 
WOW again ! I messed it up in the power department. YOU are right about the power. SORRYYYY.


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## r3d33m3r (Mar 12, 2007)

joedm said:


> Sorry was that comment directed at me?
> 
> P = I*I*R = 0.7*0.7*1 = 0.49
> 
> ...


 
YOU are right about the power. SOWWYYYY


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## joedm (Mar 12, 2007)

hey.. it's all good!

I new to this ee stuff but I used to know my math.. used to :duh2:


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## voodoogreg (Mar 12, 2007)

Man, this is frustrating, I can't get the fifth unit site to come up. I remember trying a few weeks bck,, same thing. VDG


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## Zerius (Mar 12, 2007)

where have you been



voodoogreg said:


> Man, this is frustrating, I can't get the fifth unit site to come up. I remember trying a few weeks bck,, same thing. VDG


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## selfbuilt (Mar 12, 2007)

voodoogreg said:


> Man, this is frustrating, I can't get the fifth unit site to come up. I remember trying a few weeks bck,, same thing. VDG


Fifthunit is gone ... Kyle and Kai split, and each run their own site now:
www.dealextreme.com 
www.kaidomain.com


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## voodoogreg (Mar 12, 2007)

Zerius said:


> where have you been



I take it there la fine ? VDG


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## voodoogreg (Mar 12, 2007)

ok, bummer.. VDG


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## hank (Mar 12, 2007)

I recognize that LED --- same thing in the $5 3xAAA Ebay China lights I asked about a while ago, someone identified it as a Hewlett-Packart LED design that had been licensed or sold to Chinese companies a while back. I sent one to Craig at LEDMuseum.

I asked Mosport about upgrading that light I had and he pointed out these HP LEDs are flat -- the yellow blotch is the phosphor over the emitter, but it's just a little flattish blob on the backplate -- so putting a taller LED in would require moving the heatsink deeper into the flashlight head or taking some off the depth of the reflector.

What does the circuitry look like inside this light, if you've taken the LED off?

The ones I got for $5 had the backplate just sitting loose in the head, and nothing but a resistor in the empty space.


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## Aepoc (Mar 12, 2007)

My two Elly mods are finally complete. I have a Cree XR-E P4 bin and a Seoul P4 USWOH each with a wizard2 and an AW14500. The cree has a reflector from an a19, and the seoul has an optic. I must say that the cree is more impressive. Its probably becuase of the reflector but the cree has more lux. The cree is a bit green and the seoul is blueish. I think the seoul is whiter, but the cree has a much warmer tint.

There you have it. The Cree will be my own. Maybe a tritium mod in the near future. The seoul will be a gift.


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## Bertrik (Mar 12, 2007)

hank said:


> What does the circuitry look like inside this light, if you've taken the LED off?


There was some discussion about this earlier in this thread.
See for example here (component analysis):
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1898519&postcount=485
and here (schematic):
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1899430&postcount=499
picture of the circuit:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1869410&postcount=394
(Maybe we should open a thread on this in the flashlight electronics subforum. Would be nice also to have a wiki to concentrate all of the factual info from a forum topic).


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## Nake (Mar 12, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> My two Elly mods are finally complete. I have a Cree XR-E P4 bin and a Seoul P4 USWOH each with a wizard2 and an AW14500. The cree has a reflector from an a19, and the seoul has an optic. I must say that the cree is more impressive. Its probably becuase of the reflector but the cree has more lux. The cree is a bit green and the seoul is blueish. I think the seoul is whiter, but the cree has a much warmer tint.
> 
> There you have it. The Cree will be my own. Maybe a tritium mod in the near future. The seoul will be a gift.


 
How did you anchor the optic? Still waiting on mine.


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## ManBearPig (Mar 12, 2007)

Quick tech question for yall. If I take 3 Elly circuits with Cree's, and wire them in series, Can I power them with a 6volt sla battery without them blowing up? Wouldn't that be 2volts per led? 

What I'd like to do is build a 3 led bike light, now that you can get the elly with a cree allready in it with an aluminum reflector. $30 high power bike light=awesomeness


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## johnny13oi (Mar 12, 2007)

ManBearPig said:


> Quick tech question for yall. If I take 3 Elly circuits with Cree's, and wire them in series, Can I power them with a 6volt sla battery without them blowing up? Wouldn't that be 2volts per led?
> 
> What I'd like to do is build a 3 led bike light, now that you can get the elly with a cree allready in it with an aluminum reflector. $30 high power bike light=awesomeness



why not 4 of them so that they each receive 1.5V which is what theyre rated to take. The Elly has a boost circuit so its not 2v to the Crees but its 2V to the circuits.


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## Aepoc (Mar 12, 2007)

Nake said:


> How did you anchor the optic? Still waiting on mine.



My optic has three evenly spaced legs that fit into the u shaped holes in the star. I had to leave one screw out of the star-pill assebbly so that the legs would fit(if you have the same one I got you'll see what I mean). I also had to shave all of the leggs evenly because they hit the aluminum below the star thus causing the optic to sit too far above the emitter. The optic produced the best beamshot when it sat down over the dome of the emitter. So I shaved the leggs until the emitter was comletely covered and the optic was sitting on the black plastic surface directly below the dome of the seoul.

The Cree XR-E optic is different. Instead of leggs, this optic requires a retaining ring like the one holding the reflector in the stock Elly. I took this out for the Seoul optic.


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## ManBearPig (Mar 12, 2007)

johnny13oi said:


> why not 4 of them so that they each receive 1.5V which is what theyre rated to take. The Elly has a boost circuit so its not 2v to the Crees but its 2V to the circuits.


 
But at 2V they would run brighter right? Some folks have been running them at 3V.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 12, 2007)

ManBearPig said:


> But at 2V they would run brighter right? Some folks have been running them at 3V.



You might be right but I can't vouch for this.


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## mzzj (Mar 12, 2007)

ManBearPig said:


> But at 2V they would run brighter right? Some folks have been running them at 3V.


3 volts is near instant-kill for Elly driverboard. Only possibility for it to survive is relatively small litium battery with high internal resistance limiting the current. 

modded with XR-E 2.0volts input is already pushing your luck. 1.5v is maximum what I would recommend. (true, loaded voltage deliveder to driverboard) 

Despite what topic of this thread is saying, elly is totally UNREGULATED.

It should be possible to easily modify Elly to use supply voltage between 2-5v
but you lose in effiency quite a lot. Just run it with 2-5v supply voltage and insert around 2-3ohm resistor in series with led plus-lead. With this modification it becomes truly regulated, converter board is outputting +5v all the time and extra voltage is burnt up in resistor.


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## joedm (Mar 12, 2007)

i think I'm gonna try this...

Two Elly's with Crees direct drive. 
Strapped together with Velcro
1 Elly with Spot, the other defocussed spot.

Wired in series, supply voltage to match two crees in series..
Maybe 2 lots of (6x1.2Nimhs in series) in parallel???


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## joedm (Mar 13, 2007)

ok, I know everyone is running around all excited about the new DX & KD deals... but for those of use who already have our Elly's and have chosen direct drive, here's some more beamshots of the Ellys I ordered.

Firstly a couple of stock Ellys:






Now here are the stock Ellys again with my Cree 14500 on LOW (pulling 550mA):





And finally here are the stock Elly's with my Cree 14500 on HIGH (pulling 1.3A): :naughty:





And yes all batteries are just off the charger(s). Stock with 2500mah Nimhs AAs.

Camera set at F8.0 1/13 Exp.

I was surprised myself at how much the Cree pulled but the 14500 was straight off the charger. I didn't measure Vf but I'd guess around 4.2V. I'll probably run it on low when it's straight off the charger and then kick it in to high when I need it. It's real handy being able to select modes.


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## Strauss (Mar 13, 2007)

DAMN!!!!! Nice beamshots! That CREE Elly is BRIGHT!!! :rock: I need to take some shots of my friend Aepocs' Elly's....he has one with a Seoul and one with a CREE.....one reflector and one optic. Should make for some good head-to-head beamshots....And don't you think it's time to start some new threads about the ELLY's, this one is getting a bit long


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## joedm (Mar 13, 2007)

yeah I guess.
which section should it go in?

Someone said someting about a wiki... 
Anyway, they also said something about compiling all the info... freak!!


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## LV426 (Mar 13, 2007)

BTW... Did anyone ever manage to disassemble (and reassemble!) the switch?
Plan to put on a bake-on-paint on a few.


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## joedm (Mar 13, 2007)

nope, I almost broke it? does that count?
If you figure it out let me know as if i can get the switch out, I'll be doing all sorts of things.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 13, 2007)

LV426 said:


> BTW... Did anyone ever manage to disassemble (and reassemble!) the switch?
> Plan to put on a bake-on-paint on a few.



Are you talking about the switch of the normal Elly? If so its pretty easy. Mine came undone out of nowhere and it wont stay in there now. All you have to do is push on the switch to apply pressure and also pull on the spring hard. The thing pops out and theres not much inside. its just a spring and a washer. Its pretty basic.


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## joedm (Mar 13, 2007)

alright! I'm gonna try this tonight.
looks like just when I was running out of things to do to the Elly, a few things pop up. If all works out I can even try feeding a wire through the back to a larger battery pack... looks like I'll have to build that constant current circuit. I already have the flashing circuit working =)


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## nanotech17 (Mar 13, 2007)

Joedm,
How do u do that dd the elly with the stock tailcap?


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## joedm (Mar 14, 2007)

nanotech17 said:


> How do u do that dd the elly with the stock tailcap?



nanotech17, here's a pic of what I did. I've since changed it slightly, by adding my paperclip twist switch (found below).





I hope this helps you. 

I have run my Elly on HIGH (1.3A) with a 14500 straight off the charger and it was getting warm. I've only run it like this for a few minutes tops. I had it running on LOW (550mA) for over 15 minutes. Elly was slightly warm but nothing to worry about.

My Cree XR-E has a lot of thermal compound under it. There's enough space behind the led to place the resistor. 

Also, make sure that the wire that comes from the resistor is held in securely by the screw.

Here's what I've done with my paperclip twist switch:



joedm said:


> Red arrows show the downward force of the retaining ring (holding the reflector) inside the head of the Elly. Green arrow shows where contact will be made between the end of the safety pin and the negative contact on the led (covered in solder).
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Something I didn't mention before is that it's important to use plumbers tape around the thread for the head as you will need this to provide a secure twisting action. 

At first I thought "man what a bodgy job!!!" but I must say that after 1 week of extensive use the switch has held up, and it cost me 30 mins of my time. 

I'm quite new to tutorials but since you asked I have made an attempt.
If this helps you (or anyone else) then it's worth it.

I really can't vouch for anything I've done as being the ideal way and it may not be... however it works for me and I'm learning a lot while doing it.

Oh yes and having fun too....

edit: since I now have my charger I want to do some runtime measurements and actually measure the output. Is there a way for me to do this without buying a light meter? How can I estimate the lumens output when I have no other flashlights to compare against? anyone?


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## lightbug (Mar 15, 2007)

Just installed 2 SSC p4 U-bin into ELLY lights. The output beam is floody and white. Probably need extra 0-rings to make the bezel tighter.


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## lightbug (Mar 15, 2007)

Almost ringless with SSC U-bin mod


Elly1 with SSC U-bin Vs. Elly2 SSC U-bin 






Elly with CREE p4 Vs. Elly SSC U-bin mod


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## johnny13oi (Mar 15, 2007)

LV426 said:


> BTW... Did anyone ever manage to disassemble (and reassemble!) the switch?
> Plan to put on a bake-on-paint on a few.



I said it in an earlier post but maybe might have been overlooked. For the switch .. what you do .. is push on the switch into the off mode but hold it there so the spring will help apply pressure to the white part that is just plainly pressed into the tailcap. Then while pushing pull on the spring with like pliers or something as the spring is smaller on the top than at the bottom right underneath the white surrounding so the spring will be just fine. Its hard to explain but if you just do and that pull hard enough it'll come out. The thing is just plainly pressed into there and there are 4 little alignment pin like things that probably help to hold it there but doesn't really do much. There is also a washer in there so be sure to catch it or see where it goes when it pops out with the spring. Just place the washer back in the switch in the middle and press the spring/white holder thing in to reassemble. Sorry I can't provide any pictures right now. But I have done it so much in the attempt to figure out why my Elly doesn't work. Atleast now I know that it isn't because of the switch.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 15, 2007)

lightbug said:


> Just installed 2 SSC p4 U-bin into ELLY lights. The output beam is floody and white. Probably need extra 0-rings to make the bezel tighter.



Are the U-bins noticeably brighter than the Cree? I know you provided pictures and it appears that the answer is yes but maybe the pictures don't really justify it to well.


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## zeeexsixare (Mar 16, 2007)

Err, did anyone notice the CREE'd Elly for sale here:
http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/sku.2098


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## schiesz (Mar 16, 2007)

I just bought 2 of those pre-cree'd Elly's. Can't pass them up at under $10. And I also got 2 of their SSC P4 U-bin stars to put in a few stock Elly's I have. Now to just sit back and wait...

schiesz


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## lightbug (Mar 16, 2007)

Hi Johnny,
The SSC p4 U-bin does looks brighter than the Cree p4 mod. What's great about the SSC mod is once you apply some teflon tape on the ELLY's threads on bezel, you can adjust light's focus beam (spot or flood).


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## vetkaw63 (Mar 16, 2007)

I asked Kai to offer the glass lens that he is putting in his Elly Cree. They are now listed on his site, 2 for $1.
Mike


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## carbine15 (Mar 16, 2007)

vetkaw63 said:


> I asked Kai to offer the glass lens that he is putting in his Elly Cree. They are now listed on his site, 2 for $1.
> Mike



I assume you're talking about dealextreme, I don't see this item anywhere on their site. No searches turn anything up. Is there an alternate universe where you are seeing this?


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## Byggeren (Mar 16, 2007)

vetkaw63 said:


> I asked Kai to offer the glass lens that he is putting in his Elly Cree. They are now listed on his site, 2 for $1.
> Mike




http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=1358


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## johnny13oi (Mar 16, 2007)

Does the lens just fall out when the reflector is removed?


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## vetkaw63 (Mar 16, 2007)

carbine15 said:


> I assume you're talking about dealextreme, I don't see this item anywhere on their site. No searches turn anything up. Is there an alternate universe where you are seeing this?



Kai runs Kaidomain.com. Kyle runs DX. What alternate universe are you from?
Mike


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## carbine15 (Mar 16, 2007)

I reject your reality and substitute my own.


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## bguy (Mar 16, 2007)

vetkaw63 said:


> I asked Kai to offer the glass lens that he is putting in his Elly Cree. They are now listed on his site, 2 for $1.
> Mike


 
I don't know how they do that. Shipping must be über cheap in HK. It would be $0.84 for me to ship 1 ounce internationally. After paypal fees, they are left with about 67 cents. 

Bradley


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## ace0001a (Mar 16, 2007)

bguy said:


> I don't know how they do that. Shipping must be über cheap in HK. It would be $0.84 for me to ship 1 ounce internationally. After paypal fees, they are left with about 67 cents.
> 
> Bradley



Do you have a link to the item page?


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## Nake (Mar 16, 2007)

ace0001a said:


> Do you have a link to the item page?


 
Back up to post #587.


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## nanotech17 (Mar 16, 2007)

Thanks joedm,
I'll try that.


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## kanarie (Mar 16, 2007)

Thanks for the glass lens Tip
ordered 6 pieces


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## nanotech17 (Mar 16, 2007)

Aepoc said:


> My optic has three evenly spaced legs that fit into the u shaped holes in the star. I had to leave one screw out of the star-pill assebbly so that the legs would fit(if you have the same one I got you'll see what I mean). I also had to shave all of the leggs evenly because they hit the aluminum below the star thus causing the optic to sit too far above the emitter. The optic produced the best beamshot when it sat down over the dome of the emitter. So I shaved the leggs until the emitter was comletely covered and the optic was sitting on the black plastic surface directly below the dome of the seoul.
> 
> The Cree XR-E optic is different. Instead of leggs, this optic requires a retaining ring like the one holding the reflector in the stock Elly. I took this out for the Seoul optic.



Some pictures inside your mod cree engine together with the optic on both SSC P4 and the Cree itself would be inspiring.
Please share with us


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## moon lander (Mar 16, 2007)

vetkaw63 said:


> I asked Kai to offer the glass lens that he is putting in his Elly Cree. They are now listed on his site, 2 for $1.
> Mike



awesome! ill take 8! I was wondering - is there a way that we can apply an anti-reflective coating to these lenses?


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## Vikas Sontakke (Mar 16, 2007)

Kai says that his modded version comes with the glass lense. But he has been a "flip-flopper" on that issue 

- Vikas


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## Bertrik (Mar 16, 2007)

Just received my 2 Elly + Cree (for DIY mod, not pre-Creed). I can only say it's a fantastic mod: easy to do and very bright. No wonder the pre-Creed Elly's sell like crazy. It outshines my Luxeon-based Civictor. The spill of the Creed Elly is actually brighter than the spill of my SL 4AA PP Lux (granted, that light is focussed on throw rather than spill). The spot is a bit blotchy and ringy though.
I measured the current draw from one Elly at 1.2A, but the LED doesn't even seem to get hot (actually it seems to be the battery that heats up a bit).

I'll probably won't even try to mod the circuit, since I already find it bright enough.


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## Scattergun (Mar 16, 2007)

Just tried out the optics, and they make the whitewall-hunters happy too!! Very nice!!


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## schiesz (Mar 16, 2007)

Bertrik said:


> I measured the current draw from one Elly at 1.2A, but the LED doesn't even seem to get hot (actually it seems to be the battery that heats up a bit).



Keep in mind that this is the current draw from the battery, at 1.2-1.5V, which is then being converted to 3+ volts to drive the LED. So the current draw at the battery is going to be significantly higher than the current seen by the LED. Hence the battery heating up, but not the LED.

schiesz


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## mcmc (Mar 16, 2007)

When I try to add the glass lenses, the Cree'd Elly itself shows up in my cart...odd.


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## ideefixe (Mar 17, 2007)

The rubber boot on my clicky finally ripped. Worst, the clicky doesn't click off anymore. Browsing around Fry's, I found a replacment clicky (tactical style) made for the AA mini mag...thought I'd try it out. 

To my surprise, it fits! It has the same thread and will screw in all the way. The end cap is smaller in diameter so now my Elly has a less agressive look. I kinda like it, the switch is almost silent - no clicky sound.


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## Bertrik (Mar 17, 2007)

I just added a 100 uF electrolytic capacitor to the input of the Elly circuit. The idea is to use the capacitor to ease the peak currents that the boost circuit draws from the battery. I soldered it 'through-hole style' on the battery side of the PCB (with the capacitor on the circuit side). If anyone wants pictures, I can take some.

Unfortunately I can't see any improvement in output. I have two cree-d Ellys, of which I modified the one that was slightly less bright. After the capacitor mod, it is still slightly less bright than the other. Maybe I should have used a tantalum capacitor, but I don't have any of those at home right now.


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## carbine15 (Mar 17, 2007)

a cap won't change anything in this circuit. Maybe in an incan setup where the pull on the batteries is much greater.


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## Bertrik (Mar 17, 2007)

carbine, you can't just make a claim like that without an explanation.
I have good reason to assume that the capacitor would make some difference (just not how much exactly), so I thought it was worth a try. What kind of incan setup would be improved by a capacitor and how?


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## carbine15 (Mar 17, 2007)

Bertrik said:


> carbine, you can't just make a claim like that without an explanation.
> I have good reason to assume that the capacitor would make some difference (just not how much exactly), so I thought it was worth a try. What kind of incan setup would be improved by a capacitor and how?



The capacitor should help a battery aviod voltage sag under heavy load (ususally associated with high power incans) but could also increase the chance of blowing a bulb by providing a faster innitial discharge through the cold filliment. With an LED setup, the voltage draw on the batteries is nowhere near the levels that involve a sag and so there should be no difference in voltage or current to the circuit board / emitter.


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## Bertrik (Mar 18, 2007)

Don't underestimate this little light! It uses a boost circuit to increase the single AA voltage (1.2V for NiMH cell) to about 3.5 volts (LED operating voltage). This results in an average current draw from the battery that is several times higher than the current going into the LED. I measured 1.2A from the battery. Additionally, the boost circuit does not draw a continuous current, but a pulsed one, where the peak current can be twice the average current (2.4A peak from a single AA!). Batteries as usually more efficient at lower currents than at higher currents. The role of the capacitor is to smooth the load on the battery, making it see a more continous draw instead of a pulsed one and thereby making it more efficient.
Have a look at the standard circuits shown by manufacturers of switching power supply IC's: there's usually a capacitor on the input side.


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## r3d33m3r (Mar 18, 2007)

Bertrik said:


> Don't underestimate this little light! It uses a boost circuit to increase the single AA voltage (1.2V for NiMH cell) to about 3.5 volts (LED operating voltage). This results in an average current draw from the battery that is several times higher than the current going into the LED. I measured 1.2A from the battery. Additionally, the boost circuit does not draw a continuous current, but a pulsed one, where the peak current can be twice the average current (2.4A peak from a single AA!). Batteries as usually more efficient at lower currents than at higher currents. The role of the capacitor is to smooth the load on the battery, making it see a more continous draw instead of a pulsed one and thereby making it more efficient.
> Have a look at the standard circuits shown by manufacturers of switching power supply IC's: there's usually a capacitor on the input side.


 
I'll second that !


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## Ikonomi (Mar 19, 2007)

I put a Cree XR-E in an Elly tonight and I'm not at all enamored with the beam. It's decently bright for 1AA, but the hotspot is very tight, but not especially bright and not that useful. The Cree star I used had the emitter off-center (doh!). This may be why the beam is not well focused.

I hope the Cree 8 degree optic will yield a better beam.

Where did you guys get those glow O-rings, by the way?


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## ScottW (Mar 19, 2007)

Ikonomi said:


> Where did you guys get those glow O-rings, by the way?


https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/138277

For the ELLY, the 7/16" o-rings fit very tightly in the tailcap grooves. They don't stick out at all, but I don't know how long they will stand being stretched that much. The 5/8" size works very well with the grooves in the ELLY's head, and also fits the tailcap grooves but will stick out some.

I just modded my two ELLYs with Crees this weekend. One is definitely brighter than the other, and brighter than my Jetbeam C-LE on NiMH too, although on a 14500 the C-LE owns the ELLY. I didn't measure the loaded voltage to the ELLY Cree, but the unloaded V coming off the board was over 4.5 V with a NiMH. Unscientific testing gave me 90+ minutes of good output from a Cree ELLY with a 2400 mAh NiMH AA, not too shabby. Sometime between 90 and 120 minutes, it was drained enough that it didn't have the juice to start up the Cree.

Both of my Cree emmitters were off center on their stars (and in the reflectors) but the beam doesn't look horribly lop-sided. The hot-spot is a bit splotchy though. I'd like to try one of the 8* optics.


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## lightbug (Mar 19, 2007)

The 7/16 rings fit perfectly with ELLY bezel as well as tail. 5/8 still little too big for the bezel, kinda lose.


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## ScottW (Mar 19, 2007)

I agree that the 5/8 aren't as tight as I'd like on the head. The 7/16 were tight enough on the tail that I figured they'd snap going over the head. I'll have to give that a try.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 19, 2007)

How long would these LEDs that are in the Elly's estimated to last? I am just wondering because I am using the Elly to discharge my batteries.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 20, 2007)

And how low would the Elly typically draw the voltage to?


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## True (Mar 21, 2007)

Maybe we should ask, why are you discharging your batteries?


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## johnny13oi (Mar 21, 2007)

True said:


> Maybe we should ask, why are you discharging your batteries?



haha sorry forgot the explination. I have some new rayovac hybrid rechargeables and they dont seem to be performing well not even in my cordless mouse. I discharged a pair and recharged them and now they work great. The first time I discharged them was in a gameboy and that took forever. I am now trying to find a quicker way to break in the remaining batteries I have left and I think I need to fully discharge them and then recharge them to obtain max batt life I believe. I just dont want the Elly to be discharging the batteries to an unsafe level and damaging the batteries. And I wouldn't want to leave the Elly on if it's going to kill the circuit or led just to discharge my batteries.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 21, 2007)

Whoops .. discharged one till the bulb was barely lit anymore ... now another one


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## FlashCrazy (Mar 21, 2007)

The Elly typically won't come on if the battery voltage is down to around .9 - 1.1V or so. However, if left on, I think it'll pretty much drain the batteries to an undersireable level. (For NiMh anyway)


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## joedm (Mar 22, 2007)

ok time for more beam shots... 

here we have a stock Elly on the left, then two Creed Elly's and my Cree Elly with 14500 direct drive on LOW:






And here we have the same thing but with the direct drive on HIGH!!!


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## vetkaw63 (Mar 22, 2007)

What is the run time for the direct drive on high?
Thanks,
Mike


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## joedm (Mar 22, 2007)

roughly speaking... around 60-90 mins before the output is low enough to tell that it actually is lower, probably around 50% of original output. but thats just a guess.

[edit] actually that was for the LOW mode... I haven't run it on HIGH for too long because it gets real warm...
I'd guess less than 30 mins if the leds doesn't cook... HIGH has the current at 1.3A measured from the tailcap.[/edit]


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## Aepoc (Mar 24, 2007)

Here's some beamshots comparing a Cree and Seoul Elly with a Kroma and PD:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/158520


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## johnny13oi (Mar 24, 2007)

My Elly draws about 600ma from the tailcap from a fresh NiMh battery. Is this normal compared to everyone elses drawing about 1A from the tailcap?


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## ScottW (Mar 25, 2007)

I only have an n of two, but I just measured mine at 1.24 and 1.05 A at the tail with a fresh NiMH. They appear to have roughly equal brightness, although there's a minor difference in tint. But I'd say 600 mA sounds pretty low.


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## protein_man (Mar 25, 2007)

I was unlucky, my elly was only drawed 600ma at the tailcap so I modified it to a direct drive off a 14500 and a cree.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 25, 2007)

would the ones drawing over 1A at the tailcap be much brighter than what it is now? Because I am actually pretty happy with the performance of the Elly right now in the dark.


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## Bertrik (Mar 25, 2007)

I found it depends on the kind of current meter too. My cheapo multimeter at home measured just 0.6A from the tailcap. A better one at work indicated 1.2A from the same battery. I can imagine that the cheaper multimeters are not very accurate at measuring high current and are dropping more voltage when put in series with the battery and the Elly circuit.


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## vetkaw63 (Mar 25, 2007)

I have read that it has something to do with the pulsing of the circuit. Cheaper meters don't read this as well.
I don't think it matters what it reads at the tail cap. Read at the emitter.
Mike


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## Bertrik (Mar 25, 2007)

The current is read from the tailcap because it's easier to do than measuring it at the emitter. I added an input capacitor (100 uF) to my Cree Elly, so the pulsed nature of input current should be greatly reduced but I still see the same low reading on my home multimeter.


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## 2xTrinity (Mar 25, 2007)

Interesting. I've tested my Elly to be about 1.2A at the tailcap with a Premium alkaline, or NiMH cell, and more like 600mA at the LED. The current at the LED cannot possibly be accurate without violating conservation of energy (1.2A * 1.2V = 1.44W in, 600mA * 3.5V = 2.1W out) Based on the brightness I've been seeing, I suspect that the input is closer to reality, and the output current is pulsed, therefore erroneous.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 25, 2007)

vetkaw63 said:


> I have read that it has something to do with the pulsing of the circuit. Cheaper meters don't read this as well.
> I don't think it matters what it reads at the tail cap. Read at the emitter.
> Mike



This would explain my situation GREATLY. I just bought a cheapo $3 meter just for the purpose of finding out what voltage my batteries are.


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## Curious_character (Mar 25, 2007)

Wow, that was the easiest mod I've ever done. I got three Ellys and some Cree and Seoul stars from DealExtreme. Put a Seoul into one Elly and a Cree into another. The total lumen output for both the Seoul and Cree lights is about 52, nearly three times the original. Lux at one meter is about 1600 for the Cree and 1300 for the Seoul. The Cree light makes a beautiful tight spot, and the Seoul is more floody.

Run time for the Cree modded light is a little over 1-1/2 hours on a 2 Ah Eneloop NiMH, with the light at 66% of the initial value at 1-1/2 hours. (It dropped 11% in the first minute, which isn't unusual.) It was still going after that, but the light level was about 25% of the initial level. 

I dealt with the loose head problem by wrapping a single turn of ordinary black vinyl electrical tape around the threads. It makes the head nice and snug. This probably isn't a terribly durable solution, but then they're not particularly durable lights, either.

It looks like the vendor discovered how easy the Cree mod is, too -- about three days after I ordered the Ellys, what shows up but the Cree look-alike for about ten bucks. I have two of those on the way.

These are a lot of fun for a few bucks, and a great platform for experiments. Thanks, DealExtreme!

c_c


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## True (Mar 26, 2007)

The Elly is PFM, so yes, your output is pulsed and the meter is just too slow to see this. 



2xTrinity said:


> Interesting. I've tested my Elly to be about 1.2A at the tailcap with a Premium alkaline, or NiMH cell, and more like 600mA at the LED. I suspect that the current from the LED -- which cannot possibly be accurate without violating conservation of energy (1.2A * 1.2V = 1.44W in, 600mA * 3.5V = 2.1W out) Based on the brightness I've been seeing, I suspect that the input is closer to reality, and the output current is pulsed, therefore erroneous.


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## johnny13oi (Mar 26, 2007)

True said:


> The Elly is PFM, so yes, your output is pulsed and the meter is just too slow to see this.



How fast of a meter would you need to see this. I have a really really cheap one that takes 2.5 times a second.


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## sparkysko (Apr 3, 2007)

johnny13oi said:


> How fast of a meter would you need to see this. I have a really really cheap one that takes 2.5 times a second.



I'd venture to guess that the pulsing is occuring in the kilohertz range. You'd likely need an oscilliscope to properly measure this. Maybe a capacitor on the output side would help? Also the voltage boosters are not 100% efficient. I'd expect this one to be 60-90% efficient. Because of this you will definetly see a lower wattage at the output than the input.


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## Hellbore (Apr 4, 2007)

Hey guys

I modded one of my Cree-ized Elly to run direct drive off a 3.6v unprotected 14500 cell.

What I did was I purchased a protection circuit online so it will turn off if the voltage gets too low (3 volts I think). That way the lithium battery won't over-discharge. The protection board is tiny, it fits under the Cree star in the little cavity. I attached it with some 3M double-sided tape.

It's extremely bright, I haven't installed a limiting resistor yet so I don't know how much current it is running the LED at. I only turned it on for a few seconds. I'm thinking of using a 1 ohm resistor or something to limit the current.

Pretty cool!


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## 2xTrinity (Apr 4, 2007)

> What I did was I purchased a protection circuit online so it will turn off if the voltage gets too low (3 volts I think). That way the lithium battery won't over-discharge. The protection board is tiny, it fits under the Cree star in the little cavity. I attached it with some 3M double-sided tape.


This is an interesting idea. Where do you buy separate protection circuits? For some of my lights, such as 1xCR123 rechargeable lights, I can go through batteries fairly quickly, so I will sometimes bring spares. Buying one protection circuit and installing it in the light will be a lot cheaper than buying tons of protected cells.

too bad such a thing probably wouldn't fit in an L0D-CE, that's probably where I could use one the most...


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## Hellbore (Apr 4, 2007)

2xTrinity said:


> This is an interesting idea. Where do you buy separate protection circuits? For some of my lights, such as 1xCR123 rechargeable lights, I can go through batteries fairly quickly, so I will sometimes bring spares. Buying one protection circuit and installing it in the light will be a lot cheaper than buying tons of protected cells.
> 
> too bad such a thing probably wouldn't fit in an L0D-CE, that's probably where I could use one the most...



Actually, I asked earlier in this thread where to find protection circuits, and Emitter showed me this link:

http://batteryjunction.com/prcimopfor3l.html

I bought 2 of them, I used one on my Elly, I think I will use the other one on another Elly. I like how bright the Cree is at high current with the 14500 cell, I think it's bright enough to be "tactical", it's my new nighstand light. I like this setup because I can buy unprotected cells which are not only cheaper, they are actually available in higher mAh capacities than the protected cells I have found.


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## Hellbore (Apr 4, 2007)

Well last night I used my Elly direct drive with 3.6v lithium cell and protection circuit. I went outside to test. Wow this thing is a THROW MONSTER. It's like a little spotlight. Hopefully I can post some pictures tonight taken of the beam on a distant palm tree or something so you can see the difference.


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## davenlei (Apr 4, 2007)

Did it kill the boost circuit for AA use?


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## HarveyRich (Apr 4, 2007)

> Originally Posted by Hellbore: I like how bright the Cree is at high current with the 14500 cell, I think it's bright enough to be "tactical", it's my new nighstand light.


 
I modded an Elly with a Cree and connected it to direct drive as per earlier in this thread. It's pretty easy to do--and this was my first mod. On 14500 Li-ion unprotected cell it has terrific throw and amazing light output. I measured it at approximately 4400 lux at one meter, compared to about 3300 lux on the same lux meter with my L2D-CE on turbo. I'm going to try converting to direct drive one of the factory "Ellys" when it arrives.


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## Hellbore (Apr 5, 2007)

Well I am not currently using a resistor, probably dumb I know.

With a fresh 14500 hot off the charger, I measure 1.75 amps. That is too high to drive the Cree safely right?

Nominal amperage around 3.6 volts is about 1.3 amps.

I probably shouldn't drive the Cree higher than 1 amp right? Cree has rated the XR-E for 1 amp so I think 1 Amp should be OK, but I worry that right now, the way i have it, with no resistor or anything, that 1.75 amps is gonna kill my Cree or something.


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## carbine15 (Apr 5, 2007)

If it's not shifting in tint (or glowing angry blue) then you're probably alright. Turn it on and watch it as it heats up. It'll start to go into thermal runaway.


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## Hellbore (Apr 5, 2007)

No blue so far, but I have not had it on for more than 2 or 3 minutes at a time. The flashlight body gets hot.


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## Hellbore (Apr 5, 2007)

OH by the way, it can't go into thermal runaway, the battery protection circuit I am using prevents any higher than 2 amp current. Or at any rate, it can't continue in thermal runaway, if it starts to, the protection circuit will shut it down once 2 Amps draw is reached.


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## HarveyRich (Apr 5, 2007)

I ran my cree modded Elly on direct drive with a fully charged 14500 for about an hour with nothing negative happening. In fact, I used an unprotected battery. The flashlight became warm, but not hot. The battery charged back up in about 5 hours after this, on my Ultrafire charger. Does this mean I'm safe in running this on 14500 for an hour now?


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## Nake (Apr 5, 2007)

I think the circuit boards on these Ellys are not too consistant. I have 4 untouched Ellys that I checked current draw on with an alkaline. They were (rounded off) 800mA, 900mA, 1.1A, 1.2A. I then put a 14500 in each one and checked. The 800 one pulled 1.5A, the rest all over 3A. I didn't keep the meter on those very long. I'm going to put a Cree in the 800 one and run it with a 14500 to see what happens.


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## moon lander (Apr 5, 2007)

to those who are using these protection circuits , does that actually fit inside the elly pill, under the emitter, with the rest of its circuitry? and also, it says its made for an 18650. im guessing thats just referring to the size. is that any reason to believe it would not work properly with a 14500? looks like it works for you guys right? anyone test it yet to see where it cuts off? thanks!


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## Hellbore (Apr 6, 2007)

moon lander said:


> to those who are using these protection circuits , does that actually fit inside the elly pill, under the emitter, with the rest of its circuitry? and also, it says its made for an 18650. im guessing thats just referring to the size. is that any reason to believe it would not work properly with a 14500? looks like it works for you guys right? anyone test it yet to see where it cuts off? thanks!



Yes, it fits good (the one I linked to in my post). Just be careful to center it and don't let the soldered wires near the edges ground out on the body.

Yes, it will work fine with the 14500.

I haven't ran mine down to the cutoff point yet but I'll post when I do.


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## HarveyRich (Apr 6, 2007)

I just tried my direct drive Creed Elly on a 14500 cell and measured the current to the led. The current was 1.34 amps. It's not a fresh battery; the battery voltage is about 4.08v (not under load) now--at this current. I've read someplace recently on this forum that you could do this with the Cree, although the specs put out by Cree recommend a tops of 1 amp--or so I read. Any thoughts on this?

The flashlight is inexpensive enough, so some degredation of the led over time wouldn't be a big deal. I've run it out for an hour on a 14500 cell with no adverse effect, and am still using it--no resistor to bring down the current. I really like the awesome throw and light when used in this manner.


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## Hellbore (Apr 6, 2007)

Yeah it's pretty impressive! Brighter than any of my other lights.


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## nanotech17 (Apr 26, 2007)

How about using this circuit - http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=1746

in the Elly ?


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## cage (Apr 26, 2007)

It has supply voltage range of 2.7V...6V. So it will only work with lithium battery.


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## nanotech17 (Apr 26, 2007)

Yes,that is why i intended to use the elly with 14500 cell.


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## cage (Apr 26, 2007)

Ah, ok. I think that it will work as a current regulator if it fits into the elly.


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## nanotech17 (Apr 26, 2007)

and you put this optic - http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=1603
and your Elly will turn into a female dragon


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## Calineczka (May 4, 2007)

Bertrik said:


> mzzj, I created a schematic based on your description. Does this look about right?
> 
> 
> 
> ...




My idea about IC chip:

http://www.ricoh.com/LSI/product_power/dc_up/rn5ry/rn5ry1-e.pdf 

but case its different
schematic:







or maybe:

http://www.aeneas.com.cn/PDF/Ricoh/RH5RH.pdf in SOT-89 (many thx for *WojtasJD from www.elektroda.pl)

*


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## Hellbore (May 9, 2007)

I found a good use for the stock LED's that came in my Elly lights, after I mod them to Cree! 

Used as tail lights on my airplane:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/163874&p=2007626&postcount=27

 :rock:


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## Corona (May 10, 2007)

Yep that's a classic boost circuit and exactly what's in the Elly.

Hey - if you guys want to try increasing the output voltage of the little boost circuit (normally fixed at +5V), you can insert a silicon diode in series with the positive lead on that controller IC (between the boost output and the center pin - you need to cut a trace of course). This added voltage drop causes the duty cycle to increase to increase the output voltage to maintain 5V at the supply/sense pin and close the regulation loop. 

With just a 1N4148, the current through the diode is very low and the output voltage is increased to only about 5.3V. If you put a small resistive load across the chip, you should get about 5.6V.

If you use a red LED instead of the 1N4148, you can expect up to 7V.

Lowering the value of the inductor will provide more output current, but will stress the FET switch more. And if the FET shorts drain to gate, the IC will be toast, too. And as of yet, it seems no one knows what the part is, or where to get them. 

*EDIT - THIS APPEARS TO BE CLOSEST TO THE PART YET!  Link!! *

BTW this little mod / cheat was necessary for a violet laser project where the forward drop of the LD is a little nearer 5V than a white LED, and I wanted to avoid very low resistor values (the LD is $80, that buys a bunch of Crees and Seouls)

probably won't really help but you guys seem willing to try anything


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## mpk (May 10, 2007)

Corona said:


> Hey - if you guys want to try increasing the output voltage of the little boost circuit (normally fixed at +5V), you can insert a silicon diode


Nice inexpensive hack! :naughty:


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## Bertrik (May 17, 2007)

The Elly circuit is not even able to reach 5V because the LED itself limits the output voltage to the LED forward voltage. So adding the diode won't help I'm afraid.


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## katsyonak (Sep 4, 2007)

UV & IR Elly:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/173846


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## Calineczka (Sep 4, 2007)

katsyonak said:


> UV & IR Elly:
> https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/173846



intresting MOD, thx for link


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