# 7* XM-L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power BEAMSHOTS added!



## Epsilon (Mar 13, 2013)

*All pictures are clickable!* 

*Enjoy!*

After a few mods, I wanted to make a very powerful, handheld light which is still very usable. 

A few things that this mod needed to be:
- Very powerful
- Quality parts for reliability
- Almost factory-like fit

I already made a SST-90 mod for power in a Maglite and wanted massively more power, and not only for the wow-factor. It should be powerful when you want it and have a long runtime as well.

So I got to collecting the parts I needed:

- Gunmetal grey FiveMega Elephant II host (without reflector and battery holder --> special note on the last item)
- Maglite Switch from a stock Maglite
- 7* (actually I bought 15 ) Led-tech.de direct to copper bonded XM-L U2 on 16mm PCB's (which really do ~1000lumen @ 3A)
- Taskled HBFlex driver for pushing 3amps of current through the 7 LEDS
- 7* Der Wichtel 23mm Reflectors, about the maximum size to fit inside this host
- Reflector holder, black anodized

The beautiful FiveMega Elephant II Host:




I modified the Maglite Switch to momentary for use with the driver. I used 2mm gold connectors (female) which I fitted to the Switch. The driver will get the male connectors, for "easy" connecting.











Remember that I didn't have a FM 4*18650 battery holder? Not that I had a choice because he didn't have any left, but I would really to have had one. I tried to make the battery holder myself but with no satisfying results.

A few of the left over pieces:





I was fed up with it and decided that it was best to solder the AW IMR cells together with balance leads.
Parts:
- Schrink-wrap
- Balance lead
- Terminals (cut pieces of an old computer case side)
- Insulator pads (cut pieces of plastic from a package)
- 4* 18650 1600mA AW IMR cells with the same charge




Soldered and hot-glued the cells together







Shrink-wrapped







Fits great in the host:




Now it was time to have the heatsink made so I took measurements and bought a big piece of aluminium (200mm * 80mm dia). A friend made the heatsink on a lathe following the measurements to 0.05mm. In return I repaired his Streamlight Stinger flashlight, which I had never seen before and actually is a very nice form factor.







Putting the LEDS on the heatsink







A holder with 16mm holes on exactly the right spots ensures the exact placement of the leds




The heatsink appears to be very flat and smooth, but it really isn't. So I lapped the heatsink to 600grid (the picture makes it look even worse, but it really isn't ).







The same for the led PCB's:




After this stage I ground groves in the side of the heatsink with for the wires

Glued the LEDS to the heatsink with Arctic Silver Adhesive and firmly clamped down to ensure a good thermal path.










Soldered and covered the solder points with 3M Polyamide tape to electrically insulate them from the reflectors (which shouldn't touch, but better to be safe).





The Taskled HBFlex driver was next on the list







Soldered the lead with the 2mm gold connectors. The connectors can cary a lot more current than the wires can, so are never the bottleneck .







Not on picture: The back of the solder points are filed flat and covered with a piece of 3M Polyamide tape to make a flat mounting possible.







Testing: IT'S ALIVE!




The reflectors in the reflector holder (with some dust).




To reduce the amount of dust in the reflectors and behind the lens for performance and cosmetic reasons, I assembled the light in a low-dust environment: The shower. To accomplish this, I made sure the complete shower room was filled with small water droplets by jetting hot water through the showerhead. After 30 minutes, the steam/droplets were cleared, and took pretty much all the dust with them. The stuck dust on the reflectors and lens was cleared off with a jet of air from my camera airclean thingy (not with a spray can of "compressed air"). I do not have any pictures of the assembly itself.

And then, I am very proud to present the finished light  :




















I already have made beamshots and temperature measurements, which I will post in the next few days .
Maybe we can make this into a challenge. *I left out a very key part of this build in the text, and I wonder who notices this first.* This person will receive a virtual cookie . When this missing bit of build info is noticed, I will post the beamshots .

Enjoy 

*All pictures are clickable!*


Edit: Temperatures and cut-off voltage settings:


```
Voltage cut-off settings:
16.8V 	4.20v (full)
13.6	3.40v (medium)	
13.0	3.25v (Low)
12.0	3.00v (Cutoff)

Temparatures, measured with 3A drivecurrent
(On table, no airflow, measured on neck, where the heatsink touches the neck. Sensor with AA).

Secs	DegC	DegF
  0	20.9	69.6
 30	21.4	70.5
 60	22.9	73.2
 90	24.7	76.5
120	26.5	79.7
150	28.4	83.1
180	30.2	86.4
210	31.9	89.4
240	33.6	92.5
270	35.2	95.4
300	36.7	98.0
```

*Beamshots!*

Inside very under exposed beamshot on white wall to compare spot size and brightness. The rebel reflectored XM-L @ 5A (the same copper led-tech board, I will post a build log of this light as well) has a very bright hotspot. I build this light for my dad but always get it when making beamshots because it is a very impressive light .




Outside beamshots is where the spill can be seen and used.

Control shot (1sec exposure)




35mm OP reflectored XM-L T6 light @ 2800mA on standard alu star (taken on a different day with the same camera settings, but put here to put the other two lights into perspective):




Maglite Rebel with XM-L U2 on copper Led-tech board @ 5A:




And the 7* XM-L U2 Light of this topic  : 




Hope you enjoyed the beamshots 


Runtime calculations

```
Runtimes on 4*1600mA 18650IMR = 23.7Wh:
	- 3000mA ~ 77W ~ 7000lumen ~  18min (Max mode)
	- 1000mA ~ 24W ~ 2800lumen ~  55min (not an actual mode, just for runtime perspective)
	-  350mA ~  8W ~ 1000lumen ~ 180min  (not an actual mode, just for runtime perspective)
	-   50mA ~  1W ~  150lumen ~  24 hours     (Lowest mode)
```

Custom Battery holder
Since having loose 18650 cells does have its avantages (normal chargers etc), I took another attempt at making a batteryholder.

No wires, but copper plate epoxyplate for the current.










This time, I am not making the outlite out of perspex/Nylon but am using shrinkwrap to hold the batteries together.










And finished next to the fixed version:







It takes protected and unprotected cells .


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## mvyrmnd (Mar 13, 2013)

*7* XM-L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-h*

Stunning work!


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## jmpaul320 (Mar 13, 2013)

*Re:-L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

Ermagerd ..... nice work!


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## vestureofblood (Mar 13, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

Very nice work, and a good design too. Thanks for sharing.


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## Epsilon (Mar 15, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

Thank you guys 

Added the temperature measurements in the OP. I will test some more (longer times) and also on lower drive current (1A oid).


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## georges80 (Mar 16, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

Great job!

I'm pleased to see some nice attention to detail in assembling the light and also that you have decent soldering skills - trust me, I've seen many 'interesting attempts' and what some people call soldering 

I noticed you also made slots in the heatsink to allow the wires from the LED array to run up solder to the driver - very nice.

cheers,
george.


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## thijsco19 (Mar 17, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

Very nice!
I'm wondering what that key part is that you 'forgot' to put in the OP.




> *7* (actually 15)* Led-tech.de direct to copper bonded XM-L U2 on 16mm PCB's


What do you mean with this?


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## Epsilon (Mar 17, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*



thijsco19 said:


> Very nice!
> I'm wondering what that key part is that you 'forgot' to put in the OP.
> 
> What do you mean with this?


The funny thing is, someone who should notice it, already posted in this topic . That is a small hint.

I was acquiering parts and bought 15 LEDS, but only needed 7 for this build. Changed it in the OP to a more clear description.



georges80 said:


> Great job!
> 
> I'm pleased to see some nice attention to detail in assembling the light and also that you have decent soldering skills - trust me, I've seen many 'interesting attempts' and what some people call soldering
> 
> ...



Thanks! Love the drivers (have a H6Flex in a different build). Very high quality PCB aswell.


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## lucca brassi (Mar 17, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

In which point you measuring temperature ?



> Temperatures (On table, no airflow, meassured on neck, where the heatsink touches the neck)



I overlooked


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## LilKevin715 (Mar 18, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

I can't decide which part of the build I like the best. The beautiful host or the excellent craftsmanship and attention to detail.:thumbsup:

What gauge wiring are you using? Looks somewhere around 20 gauge.


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## Epsilon (Mar 18, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

0.5 mm2 (gauge is weird  when it is a lower number it is thicker..). And 0.25mm2 for the switch, which doesn't carry any current. When I would need to use longer wires, I would use thicker wires, but everything is very short.

Thanks for the complements


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## LilKevin715 (Mar 18, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

Yea us American's are wierd when it comes to measuring standards. I dunno why we decided not to use metric since its universal.


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## arek98 (Mar 18, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

Great work!



Epsilon said:


> The funny thing is, someone who should notice it, already posted in this topic . That is a small hint.



Are you talking about a fact that you had to file a driver a bit to make it fit inside a tube?
It is shown on picture, even sharpie marks to know how far to go 


Do we get to see a beamshots now?


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## Epsilon (Mar 18, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*



arek98 said:


> Great work!
> 
> Are you talking about a fact that you had to file a driver a bit to make it fit inside a tube?
> It is shown on picture, even sharpie marks to know how far to go
> ...



You sir, just deserved the virtual cookie!







Indeed, I filed the driver slightly because it normally doesn't fit a Maglite size tube (a problem which someone who is planning a build with similar parts almost certainly has encountered, probably by just reading the driver specs). With a very bright light, I shined through the driver and looked on the other side to determine where the electric paths are, how far I could go and where I could take some material off. 

George, I take full responsability of my actions and will not claim warrenty . The driver is only a tiny bit too large but I really needed it to fit . Or bore the inside of the host out ofcourse.

I will upload the beamshots and post them in the OP . 

You have a sharp eye


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## snackling (Mar 19, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

This is too awesome! Excluding time, what do you estimate material cost was?


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## LilKevin715 (Mar 19, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

Nice beamshots!:thumbsup: Definately way more spill compared to the rebel reflector in the comparison while still having good throw as well. I can imagine this light would be very useful in a wide open field.


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## Epsilon (Mar 19, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*



snackling said:


> This is too awesome! Excluding time, what do you estimate material cost was?


Thanks! Costs are high, all quality parts. Well inn excess of 500USD.. I rather not count it :x



LilKevin715 said:


> Nice beamshots!:thumbsup: Definately way more spill compared to the rebel reflector in the comparison while still having good throw as well. I can imagine this light would be very useful in a wide open field.


Thanks!

Thats the beauty of this light imho, it is a little bulky, but a Olight SR95 is too. If you really want extreme throw, then you should build a different light. But this light is just a beast in massive output which can still be used for extended periods of time .

I am very happy and proud of this build by the way(did anyone notice this? ). It is by far my neatest build and most impressive I've done.


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## Icarus (Mar 19, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

:goodjob: very nice holder for the reflectors! :twothumbs


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## 1313 (Mar 20, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

That is really cool man - honestly the way you wired up the batteries is my favorite part


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## TexasLumens (Mar 20, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

Beautiful piece of work and documentation! Thanks for sharing!!:thumbsup:

Dan.


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## Hoop (Mar 21, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

Impeccable mod! That battery pack looks pro for sure. I like the star holder as well.


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## blistering (Mar 21, 2013)

*Re: -L U2 in FiveMega Elephant II host build: 7000 Led-lumen power (Very pic-heavy!)*

great work :twothumbs


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## Niyalin (Mar 21, 2013)

Beautiful flashlight! :thumbsup:


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## Epsilon (Mar 23, 2013)

Thanks guys


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## simplec6 (Apr 2, 2013)

*7000 Led-lumen power BEAMSHOTS added!*

How did you make the reflector holder and how did your machinist buddy make the holes perfect for the stars like that?


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## Nos (Apr 2, 2013)

Nice one, i am enjoying every picture


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## Epsilon (Apr 2, 2013)

*Re: 7000 Led-lumen power BEAMSHOTS added!*



simplec6 said:


> How did you make the reflector holder and how did your machinist buddy make the holes perfect for the stars like that?


The reflector holder is machined with a CNC mill from an anodised sheet of 3mm aluminium. Same for the template for the "stars", only thinner.

The stars didn't fit straight away though. 16mm isn't really 16mm if you cut it like that . So I filed every star very finely to make them fit in the template (having a template remade is a lot more expensive ).


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## simplec6 (Apr 2, 2013)

*7000 Led-lumen power BEAMSHOTS added!*



Epsilon said:


> The reflector holder is machined with a CNC mill from an anodised sheet of 3mm aluminium. Same for the template for the "stars", only thinner.
> 
> The stars didn't fit straight away though. 16mm isn't really 16mm if you cut it like that . So I filed every star very finely to make them fit in the template (having a template remade is a lot more expensive ).



Any way you can make more copies of the two template pieces or was it a one - off type thing?


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## KILLER_K (Apr 2, 2013)

*Re: 7000 Led-lumen power BEAMSHOTS added!*

I'm super impressed by this build. Looks amazing and it is very nice to have something to be proud of. The work really paid off for you. I know that I don't post in here like I should. Should honestly be more active here. Thanks for still letting me be a part of this wonderful community of great people.


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## Halfdead (Apr 10, 2013)

I've got a probably stupid question, where does one buy bulk LEDs like the huge strip pictured?


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## shrike2222 (Apr 11, 2013)

Nice job!:thumbsup:


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## Epsilon (Apr 12, 2013)

simplec6 said:


> Any way you can make more copies of the two template pieces or was it a one - off type thing?


Not a one off thing, but I do not make them myself . I have one that is the size of the top ring of the reflector that I had made but am not using. That one has 23mm holes (the outside diameter of the reflector) and can be used aswell. It will sit flush against the glass lens.



Halfdead said:


> I've got a probably stupid question, where does one buy bulk LEDs like the huge strip pictured?


It is in the OP  Led-tech.de. If you buy one you get a separate one. If you buy many, they are still attached to the strip.

And thanks for the complements again guys .


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## Epsilon (May 27, 2013)

Added batteryholder construction .


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## D2000 (May 29, 2013)

I would really love to see some more beamshots. Maybe a shot of the beam in the sky from far away? Or in a feild? Best thing i can do until i get the time to make a monster like this myself!

What run times do you get on this bad boy?


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## Epsilon (Jun 3, 2013)

D2000 said:


> I would really love to see some more beamshots. Maybe a shot of the beam in the sky from far away? Or in a feild? Best thing i can do until i get the time to make a monster like this myself!
> 
> What run times do you get on this bad boy?


Maybe I will make some more beamshots, but not sure .

The runtimes are in the OP, based on 1600mA IMR cells. On full around 18min, but not continuously because of the heat.
Other modes can almost certainly run continously (4th level is ~1700mA).


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## Mattaus (Jun 4, 2013)

wow...one day I hope to be able to do my mods in such a nice clean manner. Absolutely stunning build - everything is perfectly done.

Well done


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## overdog (Jun 6, 2013)

wow.. outstanding built!!! :thumbsup:


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## The_Driver (Jun 7, 2013)

Very nice light. You could de-dome the leds to get twice the lux :devil:


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## Epsilon (Jun 7, 2013)

Thanks guys . 

I'm not dedoming the LEDs, because I'm not so sure about the benefits against using xpg2s on copper pcb's at these drive levels .


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