# sst 90 2 cell maglite mod "The Sleeper"



## js-lots (Jul 3, 2010)

I have been modding flashlights for a little while and everyday I learn a little more. Its is amazing what you can find hidden on this forum. Also amazing is the amount of help that many of the members of this forum is willing to provide when a fairly new flashlight enthusiast is looking for help. Before I show the details of the build I want to thank nailbender, Aircraft800 and wquiles for their ideas and tutorials. Their help was essential. There is not much different about this sst 90 maglite build than any of the other builds except the size host I was using for the sst 90. I noticed that the majority of the builds utilized the d cell maglite for the sst 90 but I really liked the form-factor of c cell. I understand the heat issues associated with this led and that it needs to be heatsinked properly. I just finished the project as I was just waiting on the heatsink.

Here are the items used to build the project. 
1. sst 90 -W57S-F11-GN200 from avnet
2. c size britelumens heatsink
3. d2flex driver
4. c cell maglite with laser etching
5. ucl lens
6. 20 guage teflon wire 19 strand
7. 26650 imr li-ion
8. 3 4/5th nimh c cell (trying two different battery config)
9. britelumens mop reflector

I thought the biggest obstacle for my build would be modding the c switch for momentary use. I have heard of a few problems with bouncing and my biggest concern was how to cut that white plastic piece in the switch. I was going to contract out the switch, but I figure I would give it try. I have read a few suggestions and seen a couple of pictures but that is all I have to go on. No real world experience with the switch as I have never modded one before. Well it turns out, modding the switch is not very difficult. Just very time consuming. I followed the online tutorials step by step. The switch came out good and is working fine.













The biggest pain in the *ss was boring out the maglite to accept the 26650. I used a brake hone and it literally took me 2 hours. I went through two li ion drill batteries and had to use an oven mitt to hold the maglite tube but the results were the same in the end.




I used 20 gauge through the switch, but had to use 24 gauge for the led and heatsink. Trying to manage the 20 gauge proved to be too difficult to get the led to lay on the heat sink flush. I didnt want to push my luck and have the sst 90 dome pop off. So I stuck with the smaller wire. I used the aa to seat the led and the d2flex is potted in the heatsink with devcon 2 ton epoxy.














I shortened the tail spring and added a piece of 18 gauge wire to reduce resistance. The heatsink sits perfectly in the maglite body and I coated it with aa to keep it in place and give good thermal transfer.














The project is completed and I put in in my 3 sub c batteries. It works!!!!yeah sort of.
Now here for the crappy part, I measured at the tail and am getting 3A :shrug:. I am pretty bummed. I tried the 26650 and I am getting about 4A. Slightly better, but I am still disappointed. Everything looks good, right wire, right equipment, wrong results. Am I finished? The "sleeper" is more like the "snoozer".
Anyone have ideas or suggestions? I was thinking of shocking the led to lower the vf as others have done with positive results. 
Where can I buy the mag c extender. One that will allow me to pop in another sub c or allow me to run 2 18650 in parallel with some sort of custom holder. That will probably give me the juice I need to get this over the 5amp mark.
Does anyone know what I should use in the space between the 26650 and the tailcap. I am not sure If there is a dummy battery out there or some sort of spacer?

Hope everyone enjoyed the build and photos and thanks again.


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## bigchelis (Jul 3, 2010)

Try 4 NiMH cells!!!!

I am doing a similar build and already assumed I would get 3~4A with 4.2v input, but thankfully you can find a way to increase the voltage input.

I would suggest you put 4 NiMH cells and if you get 6A or so then you are good to go.:thumbsup:


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## jasonck08 (Jul 3, 2010)

Your results are pretty typical for 3x NI-mh's and 1x Lion cell. SST-90's need more juice to be driven hard. I think they usually have a vf of 3.9v or something crazy high when driven at 8-9A. Getting 3.9v under that kind of load from the cells you mentioned isn't gonna happen.


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## ma_sha1 (Jul 3, 2010)

Yes, need 4 sub c.
the mag 2c sst 90 I just sold on BST used an AW spacer to fit the extra 4/5 sub c to get 8-9A.

I have extra spacer, PM me if you need one.


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## mrartillery (Jul 3, 2010)

The reason it took you so long and you went through 2 batteries is because you need a higher speed drill. Cordless drills (at least mine anyway) don't spin at a high enough RPM to remove a great deal of metal. What I have found to work the best is an old Black and Decker 1/2hp drill that plugs in, it is very fast, I can do a 2 C tube in about 30 minutes.


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## Al Combs (Jul 3, 2010)

js-lots said:


> The biggest pain in the *ss was boring out the maglite to accept the 26650. I used a brake hone and it literally took me 2 hours. I went through two li ion drill batteries and had to use an oven mitt to hold the maglite tube but the results were the same in the end.


I read a LuxLuthor post that eluded to the missing component. He did it in the kitchen sink with water trickling through the battery tube. It provides both cooling (big factor with aluminum) and debris removal that clogs the stones slowing their progress. Not much good after the fact, but for next time...


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## Hill (Jul 3, 2010)

js-lots said:


> Now here for the crappy part, I measured at the tail and am getting 3A :shrug:. I am pretty bummed. I tried the 26650 and I am getting about 4A. Slightly better, but I am still disappointed.



Try the "burn in" method described by Techunkie here.


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## js-lots (Jul 3, 2010)

bigchelis said:


> Try 4 NiMH cells!!!!
> 
> I am doing a similar build and already assumed I would get 3~4A with 4.2v input, but thankfully you can find a way to increase the voltage input.
> 
> I would suggest you put 4 NiMH cells and if you get 6A or so then you are good to go.:thumbsup:



Thanks bigchelis, thats what I figured is my only option. How is your build going by the way? I havent seen anything new on it in while.



ma_sha1 said:


> Yes, need 4 sub c.
> the mag 2c sst 90 I just sold on BST used an AW spacer to fit the extra 4/5 sub c to get 8-9A.
> 
> I have extra spacer, PM me if you need one.



masha1, thanks alot for your input. I saw the special sale you had on your light and it looks like you got good amp with the 4 cells. You always do cool work. I may take you up on your offer. PM sent. thanks 



Hill said:


> Try the "burn in" method described by Techunkie here.



Hill, I saw that post and the video and was thinking of giving it a try. I am a little nervous because everything is epoxied and potted. There is no turning back. Thanks for you input bud


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## js-lots (Jul 5, 2010)

Hill said:


> Try the "burn in" method described by Techunkie here.



So I made a custom holder similar to the one made by techjunkie. First I tried the two aw 18650 imr in parallel. I had a feeling that it would really do anything because each of the batteries are 1600 mah. In the video he uses two of the 26650. So I tested it and it pulled about 4A. So then I built a custom holder to utilize two 26650 in parallel. The problem is that the only way I could run the positive end to the switch was by using about a foot of 12 gauge wire. This wire appears to produce a mound of resistance and prevents results seen in the video. I will keep trying to find a solution to repeat the "burn in" method.


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## js-lots (Jul 8, 2010)

So has anyone heard of this,I added a 4th nimh (4/5th sub size) and was expecting to see the flashlight pulling more amps. when I powered it up, it shot up to around 7 amps but then suddenly dropped down to around 2A. Does anyone know what the heck is going on? When I put in the 26650 it seems to be working fine and shoots back to 4A. Do I have a couple of duds? They are the battery junction 4/5th sub c 2000mah. Thanks for the help


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## ma_sha1 (Jul 9, 2010)

measure the battery volts, sounds like time to re-charge.


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## mash.m (Jul 9, 2010)

hi,

maybe one cell is damaged. try a refresh cycle with your charger to check.
did you check the temperature of the d2flex? maybe you should upgrade the d2flex with a bigger fet. i also do this in my high power setups. the d2flex is ratet till 10 amps, but this is the absolute max for the onboard fet.
when you run the d2flex at max of 4 nimh cell, you can also remove the voltage regulation of if it. this bring a little more voltage to the fets gate. the voltage regulation only puts 2,5 volts at the output, so this is also not enough for the gate. to upgrade the fet you can also use a fet from an old computer mainboard (cpu steup down converter).

markus


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## js-lots (Jul 10, 2010)

ma_sha1 said:


> measure the battery volts, sounds like time to re-charge.





mash.m said:


> hi,
> 
> maybe one cell is damaged. try a refresh cycle with your charger to check.
> did you check the temperature of the d2flex? maybe you should upgrade the d2flex with a bigger fet. i also do this in my high power setups. the d2flex is ratet till 10 amps, but this is the absolute max for the onboard fet.
> ...



I thought the battery charge may be the issue. But with the batteries fresh off the charger at 1.28 +/- 2 it jumps up to about 8/9 A and within seconds falls down to about 2A. I have five batteries on hand in case one is a dud but after putting them in the flashlight they all measure proper volts. It appears that it may be a d2flex issue but I dont have the skills to make changes like that and everything is potted and epoxied so there is no turning back. I guess I will have to stick with 1 26650. thanks for your help


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## ma_sha1 (Jul 10, 2010)

js-lots said:


> I thought the battery charge may be the issue. But with the batteries fresh off the charger at 1.28 +/- 2 it jumps up to about 8/9 A and within seconds falls down to about 2A. I have five batteries on hand in case one is a dud but after putting them in the flashlight they all measure proper volts. It appears that it may be a d2flex issue but I dont have the skills to make changes like that and everything is potted and epoxied so there is no turning back. I guess I will have to stick with 1 26650. thanks for your help




The 4/5 Sub C freshly charged Volt is 1.38v. At 1.28v, it'll be < 1/2 of the full stored energy left in the cell.
That's why it fell so fast. Sounds Like you need a new charger.


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## js-lots (Jul 13, 2010)

Wow, I can't believe I missed that. I never have really used nimh before. I thought they were fully charged at 1.28. I didnt really realize how low they were. I am used to using only li-ions. I cant wait to get these charged up and give it another try. Thanks for your help


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## Aircraft800 (Jul 14, 2010)

Nice build! I was wondering what ever happened to that build you were thinking up, and weather I would find a switch in my mailbox.

I used 4 NiMh in my SST-90, and it made all the difference in the world. They were C size, so I had quite a bit more capacity. Sounds like the 3 sub c are just sagging as expected, and a healthier change would help a bit.

I think AW and FM have extenders for the C mag. I'll watch this thread for your progress.


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## js-lots (Jul 15, 2010)

Aircraft800 said:


> Nice build! I was wondering what ever happened to that build you were thinking up, and weather I would find a switch in my mailbox.
> 
> I used 4 NiMh in my SST-90, and it made all the difference in the world. They were C size, so I had quite a bit more capacity. Sounds like the 3 sub c are just sagging as expected, and a healthier change would help a bit.
> 
> I think AW and FM have extenders for the C mag. I'll watch this thread for your progress.



Hey Aircraft800 thanks alot. Thanks again on the offer for the switch but I figured I would try it and it worked out great. Well, it turns out as others have suggested that my charger may have a problem and their theories were correct. It is a Vanson and it was having issues charging over 1.30. Even when I did a discharge cycle. So I went to Radio Shack and bought their universal charger and guess what, it works great. Charged all the sub c's to 1.40. 
So, I was able to get an extender from a fellow cpf member and put in the 4 sub c batteries. Got 9A on start up and then it settled down to about 7A. I am very pleased with the results. I also used 3 tenergy c's 5000ma and it gave me about 4.5A after settling down. It does get noticeably warm after a couple minutes with the 4 sub c's. 

So I have a question. The light doesnt really have any noticeable hotspot. I tried the smooth reflector as well with the same results. Does anyone know what the deal is? I cant get it to focus properly. Thanks for your help.


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## Aircraft800 (Jul 16, 2010)

js-lots said:


> Hey Aircraft800 thanks alot. Thanks again on the offer for the switch but I figured I would try it and it worked out great. Well, it turns out as others have suggested that my charger may have a problem and their theories were correct. It is a Vanson and it was having issues charging over 1.30. Even when I did a discharge cycle. So I went to Radio Shack and bought their universal charger and guess what, it works great. Charged all the sub c's to 1.40.
> So, I was able to get an extender from a fellow cpf member and put in the 4 sub c batteries. Got 9A on start up and then it settled down to about 7A. I am very pleased with the results. I also used 3 tenergy c's 5000ma and it gave me about 4.5A after settling down. It does get noticeably warm after a couple minutes with the 4 sub c's.
> 
> So I have a question. The light doesnt really have any noticeable hotspot. I tried the smooth reflector as well with the same results. Does anyone know what the deal is? I cant get it to focus properly. Thanks for your help.



I know your pain! I dismantled my SST-90 mod right after the flashlight show here in Dallas. After seeing the Olight SR90 Intimidator and it's huge 4" reflector! My SST-90 was a better bin, ran at 9.8A, and the Olight blew it out of the water! It had a beautiful beam that even out threw the smaller HID's in attendance. You really need a large, smooth reflector to do that huge LED justice, your definitely reflector limited. I am in the process of transferring my parts into a FM Elephant, I'll let you know my results.


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## js-lots (Jul 17, 2010)

Yep, IM THAT GUY. I was tinkering around with my sst 90 to much. I was running the light on 4 sub c's fresh off the charger and the led went . :shakehead:sick2:. I am so mad at myself. Now I have to figure out what I am going to do. I removed the led from the heatsink. I am tinkering with idea of putting in a sst 50 instead. I guess it is not the sleeper sst 90 anymore.


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