# Triple Neutral XM-L Mag @3A+Voltage Monitor,overheating protection,0-100% dimming,usb



## The_bad_Frag (Aug 18, 2011)

Yeah I finaly finished THE perfect flashlight for me. Not the cheapest one but its exactly how I want it. :twothumbs






*Features:*

3xXM-L neutral white LEDs running @3A with ~2500 ledlumen
Overheating protection kicks in at 65° heatsink temperature and limits the output to 50%, at 70°C it limits to 25% output, at 100°C it turns off
Voltage monitor shows green, red and blinking red - it turns the XM-Ls off before the cells getting damaged
2 illuminated buttons for stepless dimming 0-100%
Saves the last brightness
USB programmable to configure the overheating protection, the dimming speed and the voltage monitor
Runtime ~1 hour at full power on 12 black eneloops


Here is the complete build log. :wave: Feel free to ask qusetions about anything you wanna know or some translations of the german manuals. *All measurements are Millimeter(mm)! 1" = 25,4mm*

*Parts List:*





1: O-Ring from DW triple kit
2: Reflectors from DW triple kit
3: Heatsink from DW triple kit
4: Mag 4 D
5: Triple XM-L T5 star from DW triple kit
6: Mirco 2800mA driver @3A mod
7: LED Stripe V3 PWM Dimmer (build-in voltage monitor, overheating protection)
8: Thermal pads for mounting the driver
9: SMD sense resistor for mod the driver to 3A (the shop sends them for free when you buy a micro 2800mA)
10: red and green illuminated buttons for 0-100% dim
11: Some ordinary resistor for the leds in the buttons (depends on your battery setup and the brightness of the buttons you wanna have, max 20mA)
12: 2 color led for battery status
13: 10k-ohm potentiometer *(not in use)*
14: USB TTL-RS232 module for programming the LED Stripe (yes I got a different module but mine is now out of stock)
15: temperature sensors I will use only 1 of them




Heatsink for the driver.





Temperature sensor installed.





Apply some Arctic Silver 5. Less is better! On the complete star is as much thermal paste as 1/20 of a waterdrop. The best way to get the thermal paste smooth and without gaps is to wrap your finger in clear plastic foil that you normaly use for food.





Make sure you tighten the star really good for better thermal contact.  If you dont wanna vaporise your drop-in into metal steam... ...dont use a 670Nm impact wrench. 





LED star installed.






3A driver mod. The smd component with "1R00" is the sense resistor that needs to be soldered in paralell with the other sense resistor. I soldered it right on top. Actually this was my FIRST smd soldering. OMG THOSE THINGS ARE DAMN SMALL!  
Then the 0-ohm resistor on the driver needs to be removed too to activate the pwm mode.




There was the 0-ohm resistor that needs to be removed to activate PWM mode. Somehow I cant get the camera focused on it. :mecry:





0-ohm resistor on a Eneloop AAA





The hole in the middle has no purpose. I only made it for better machining on the lathe. There need to be some holes for the 4 cables going through and it needs to be screwed to the heatsink.





The driver will sit somewhere like this on the headsink.





Length of the DW heatsink.





Top of Mag body to switch.





Outside diameter of the DW heatsink.





Inside diameter of the DW heatsink.





Inside depth of the DW heatsink.





Thermal pad on the back of the driver.





Temperature sensor + and - soldered to battery + and - on the driver. This saves 2 cables going to the mag switch and through the driver heatsink. And of course a little of Arctic Silver 5 between led heatsink and driver heatsink.





Now the head is done. Something went horribly wrong with the holes for the screws for the driver heatsink. I dont know what happend...:shakehead They were so close to the edge that I had to file the heads down on each screw. The screw for the driver fits fine.









The hole for the battery monitor led must not be centered! Bore it slightly of center to get a lot easier installation in the final assembly.





































The dimmer connected to the USB TTL-RS232 module. There is no space for it inside the mag.
Before you connect the USB TTL-RS232 module make sure you have *NO OTHER POWER OR LOAD* connected to the dimmer and *ALL 4 MICRO SWITCHES* are in position "0".
Ask me if you are not sure about the connection and how to program it.





All cables connected to the buttons. It is a lot easier when you choose very inflexible cables.





Some testing...








Yes this is a wood stick screwed to the dimmer. You can do that better... ...the dimmer just needs to be held inside the mag tube.









Bridge B1 which you can see at the left side needs to be closed to set the dimmer from 200Hz to 2000Hz. Switch 2 and 4 need to be on "1" to activate the battery monitor and the overheating protection.

















There need to be a small tube around the button that its not getting pressed by the heatsink when inside the mag.













These are automotive connectors used by Mercedes-Benz. If you want I can look up the Mercedes part numbers that you can buy them at your Mercedes-Benz dealership.









The "#" numbers are the same as in the manual of the dimmer module.

#2 - Temp. Sensor
#4 - GND
#5 - Vcc (+)
#12 - Taster #2
#13 - Taster #3
#14 - PWM
1 - +Vs
2 - GND
3 - Vout
4 - Led (+)
5 - Led (-)
6 - PWM
7 - V (+)
8 - GND
9 - A (Led+)
10 - button -
11 - button +
12 - K (Led-)
13 - button -
14 - K (Led-)
15 - button +
16 - A (Led+)


*Beamshots + Video:*

Video download here (I wanted to upload it to Youtube but Goggle wants my phone number to reactivate or create a new account. Screw you Google you never get any personal information from me! :nana: )

The camera just dont gets it how it looks to the eye. I did my best to set the camera in a way that you can still compare the shots and it looks very close to reality

Triple XM-L Mag: (high - very low)


 




Energizer XM-L mod: (high - med - low)


 

 




Wolf-Eyes Krait R5: [flood](high - not so high - med - low) (low is much too dark on the pic...)


 

 

 



Fenix LD01: (high - med - low)


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## mvyrmnd (Aug 18, 2011)

Looks very promising


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## Mattaus (Aug 18, 2011)

A build log would be very interesting plus a list of parts...I'm keen to see how this turns out.


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## moderator007 (Aug 18, 2011)

Parts list would be nice. I have been itching to build one of these also. Most interested in the driver used and the Voltage monitor.
Looks like some nice parts.


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## PapaLumen (Aug 18, 2011)

Looks like a Der Wichtel kit with the voltage monitor from a recent thread.. Is it Der Wichtel driver too?


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## The_bad_Frag (Aug 19, 2011)

Heres the parts list :wave:





1: O-Ring from DW triple kit
2: Reflectors from DW triple kit
3: Heatsink from DW triple kit
4: Mag 4 D
5: Triple XM-L T5 star from DW triple kit
6: Mirco 2800mA driver @3A mod
7: LED Stripe V3 PWM Dimmer (build-in voltage monitor, overheating protection)
8: Thermal pads for mounting the driver
9: SMD sense resistor for mod the driver to 3A (the shop sends them for free when you buy a micro 2800mA)
10: red and green illuminated buttons for 0-100% dim (I will look if I use these or the potentiometer)
11: Some ordinary resistor for the leds in the buttons
12: 2 color led for battery status
13: 10k-ohm potentiometer (not in use)
14: USB TTL-RS232 module for programming the LED Stripe (yes I got a different module but its now out of stock)
15: temperature sensors I will use only 1 of them


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## moderator007 (Aug 19, 2011)

Thanks, the bad frag. Thats a nice list. Maybe you could give us some beamshots when you get it all together.


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## Mattaus (Aug 20, 2011)

moderator007 said:


> Thanks, the bad frag. Thats a nice list. Maybe you could give us some beamshots when you get it all together.



+1....and maybe a build guide for the newbies out there _*cough* me *cough*_


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## The_bad_Frag (Aug 20, 2011)

Mattaus said:


> +1....and maybe a build guide for the newbies out there _*cough* me *cough*_


 
At least you will need a lathe, small tap drills and a lot of other tools...  If you have all that you can build it from my pics that I will take.

Sadly it wont be finished this weekend because tomorrow I need to do other non-flashlight related stuff that wasnt planned. 

And of course I will take some beamshots. :naughty: I hope the picture isnt just white. :devil:


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## The_bad_Frag (Aug 20, 2011)

Heatsink for the driver.





Temperature sensor installed.





Apply some Arctic Silver 5. Less is better! On the complete star is as much thermal paste as 1/20 of a waterdrop. The best way to get the thermal paste smooth and without gaps is to wrap your finger in clear plastic foil that you normaly use for food.





Make sure you tighten the star really good for better thermal contact.  If you dont wanna vaporise your drop-in into metal steam... ...dont use a 670Nm impact wrench. 





LED star installed.






3A driver mod. The smd component with "1R00" is the sense resistor that needs to be soldered in paralell with the other sense resistor. I soldered it right on top. Actually this was my FIRST smd soldering. OMG THOSE THINGS ARE DAMN SMALL!  Big respect to all you out there who do this all day.

And then the 0-ohm resistor on the driver needs to be removed too to activate the pwm mode. This resistor is only 1/3 of the sense resistor but I got it of the driver. I'll show in another pic where and how small it is. 


...btw I already tested the half assembled head on a car battery. This thing is super bright  and it has awesome throw...


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## eebowler (Aug 20, 2011)

Great pictures!


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## richpalm (Aug 20, 2011)

Wish I had the money, and more, the patience, to wait for all this stuff. (shipping)

Used to do small soldering as a job long ago, so I'm good at that part, but I think most of us need a machine shop-free solution.

Awfully nice job you're doing there!

Rich


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## cdrake261 (Aug 21, 2011)

Nice build, I like the heatsink...which part needs to be thrown onto a lathe?


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## The_bad_Frag (Aug 21, 2011)

The driver heatsink is the only part that needs to be done on a lathe. You only have 15,57mm Mag tube from the heatsink to the switch when the head is completely screwed down on the body.

If you dont wanna use a lathe you can use a sharksink-D and glue some aluminum or copper on it to make it fit for the bigger driver. (23mm instead of 19mm) Then you cant screw the mag head all the way down. (your Mag will be 7,43mm longer)

If you still want to have the head all the way down you need to cut the DW heatsink.

There are 2 ways with some compromises to build it without a lathe. :wave:




There was the 0-ohm resistor that needs to be removed to activate PWM mode. Somehow I cant get the camera focused on it. :mecry:





0-ohm resistor on a Eneloop AAA





The hole in the middle has no purpose. I only made it for better machining on the lathe. There need to be some holes for the 4 cables going through and it needs to be screwed to the heatsink.





The driver will sit somewhere like this on the headsink.





Length of the DW heatsink.





Top of Mag body to switch.


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## cdrake261 (Aug 21, 2011)

What's OD and ID of the rear of the heatsink?


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## The_bad_Frag (Aug 22, 2011)

All in mm as usual :wave:


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## cdrake261 (Aug 22, 2011)

The_bad_Frag said:


> All in mm as usual :wave:


 
Thank you, unfortunately I'm not going to be able to fit my driver inside with those specs. My driver is just shy of 33mm...


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## The_bad_Frag (Aug 22, 2011)

Then you need to cut the heatsink.  I think I will be able to work at bit on my light tomorrow. Now I need some sleep. :tired:


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## cdrake261 (Aug 22, 2011)

The_bad_Frag said:


> Then you need to cut the heatsink.  I think I will be able to work at bit on my light tomorrow. Now I need some sleep. :tired:


 
I figured that, I can only imagine how severly my heat management will suffer from loss of mass.


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## The_bad_Frag (Aug 23, 2011)

Today only a little update.




Thermal pad on the back of the driver.





Temperature sensor + and - soldered to battery + and - on the driver. This saves 2 cables going to the mag switch and through the driver heatsink. And of course a little of Arctic Silver 5 between led heatsink and driver heatsink.





Now the head is done. Something went horribly wrong with the holes for the screws for the driver heatsink. I dont know what happend...:shakehead They were so close to the edge that I had to file the heads down on each screw. The screw for the driver fits fine.


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## The_bad_Frag (Sep 18, 2011)

Finally I had some time to work on it after that long break! :twothumbs

I hope I can finish it within this week.

...btw... I got a new camera! :twothumbs







































What is better than illuminated buttons?


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## badtziscool (Sep 18, 2011)

Awesome build! Can't wait to see the finished product.


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## cdrake261 (Sep 18, 2011)

The_bad_Frag said:


> Finally I had some time to work on it after that long break! :twothumbs
> 
> I hope I can finish it within this week.
> 
> ...



I'm curious what you got going on with those lights and extra holes...care to input?


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## The_bad_Frag (Sep 19, 2011)

cdrake261 said:


> I'm curious what you got going on with those lights and extra holes...care to input?


 
The 2 big holes are for the illuminated buttons. You can give more or less power with them. Red button-> less power, green button->more power :wave: The small hole is for the battery monitor led.


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## cdrake261 (Sep 19, 2011)

The_bad_Frag said:


> The 2 big holes are for the illuminated buttons. You can give more or less power with them. Red button-> less power, green button->more power :wave: The small hole is for the battery monitor led.


 
Interesting wiring concept...best of luck to you, can't wait to see it completed.


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## The_bad_Frag (Sep 20, 2011)

It works!:twothumbs:twothumbs

...but its not completed yet.

Some pics for you:



Bridge B1 which you can see at the left side needs to be closed to set the dimmer from 200Hz to 2000Hz.









I did a quick test and everything works as I want it.
I can dim the leds from 0-100%.
The overheating protection kicks in at 65°C and lowers the output to 50%, at 70°C to 25%.
The voltage monitor shows green, red, blinking red and turns the light off when the voltage is too low.


Before I can put that all into my Mag I need to build the battery holder and calibrate the voltage from the voltage monitor to it.

Why do I need so much electronics in a Mag? Its nearly impossible to get everything in without loosing my nerves completely!


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## cdrake261 (Sep 20, 2011)

Don't be like me and forget to check all of your connections from shorting out.


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## The_bad_Frag (Sep 21, 2011)

Now some photos from a test run.




This is when I have the Mag switch on and the XM-Ls on 0%. The dimmer module and driver are on standby. This could be very useful to find the flashlight in the dark. On black eneloops it can run 5 1/2 days on "standby". Sadly the driver is pulling most of the 18mA when its on standby.




The beast can run on very low output, too! :nana: I dont know if this is the lowest or maybe it can run even lower. Need to try that tomorrow...

When I run it like that on full throttle the overheating protection (65°C) kicks in after exactly 4 minutes. (no moving air, 18°C air temp)


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## HB021 (Sep 24, 2011)

Nice build you've got there! Whats the total amount of lumens in your flashlight? That potentiometer you're using is working as your on/off button?
And since I'm using same driver as you will that work for my little project?


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## The_bad_Frag (Sep 24, 2011)

Its around 2500 led lumens. No, I dont use the potentiometer. I choose to build it with a 2 button control. With that dimmer you can see here (number 7) you can have a

1 button setup (3 fixed modes like 25%, 50%, 100%)
or
2 button setup (0-100% nearly stepless dimming)
or
potentiometer setup (0-100% stepless dimming)

The driver itself has no modes. It only has a pwm input which must be connected to the dimmer.

I think the driver will work fine in your project.


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## The_bad_Frag (Sep 24, 2011)

Maybe its a bit difficult to see the wiring on the pictures so I made a simple drawing. (COLORS AND SIZE ARE NOT CORRECT!)






The "#" numbers are the same as in the manual of the dimmer module.

#2 - Temp. Sensor
#4 - GND
#5 - Vcc (+)
#12 - Taster #2
#13 - Taster #3
#14 - PWM
1 - +Vs
2 - GND
3 - Vout
4 - Led (+)
5 - Led (-)
6 - PWM
7 - V (+)
8 - GND
9 - A (Led+)
10 - button -
11 - button +
12 - K (Led-)
13 - button -
14 - K (Led-)
15 - button +
16 - A (Led+)

update: I included the explanation of the connections. :wave:


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## simplec6 (Sep 27, 2011)

Awesome. Build. Man!! Is this the brightest light you have built or own? I bet it is nice to have all of that power adjustability! Can't wait for beamshots and comparisons to your other lights


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## The_bad_Frag (Sep 27, 2011)

Yeah this brighest flashlight I own. You can see the others down in the link in my sig.

I think I can finish it next weekend. I already wanted it finished last weekend but theres so much work atm that I needed to work on saturday so no chance for falshlight fabrication.  But this weekend theres nothing else planned except for flashlight stuff. :naughty:


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## cdrake261 (Sep 27, 2011)

Sweet...can't wait to see end results along with beam shots


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## HarryN (Sep 29, 2011)

Wow - nice work. Can't believe that you managed to cram all of that in there.


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## moj (Sep 29, 2011)

Nice writeup. Thanks for the links and parts list. Looks like I'm gonna be using the same driver/dimmer setup in my 2D with three P7s - but powered by three IMR26500 instead.

How much room do the driver and dimmer take up inside the mag? I hope the three 26500 cells still fit in there.


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## rayman (Sep 30, 2011)

Nice mod :thumbsup:, I like how perfectly you are doing every detail .

rayman


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## The_bad_Frag (Sep 30, 2011)

moj said:


> Nice writeup. Thanks for the links and parts list. Looks like I'm gonna be using the same driver/dimmer setup in my 2D with three P7s - but powered by three IMR26500 instead.
> 
> How much room do the driver and dimmer take up inside the mag? I hope the three 26500 cells still fit in there.



The driver is inside the DW heatsink. The dimmer is between the mag switch and the heatsink. The original position of the mag switch in not changed. So when your cells fit inside a stock mag theres no problem. 

When I finished my light I will make a complete summary with more measurements. Then it should be easy to mid-easy for someone who has a good set of tools, a lot of time and basic metal processing knowledge to rebuild it. All things can be done with handtools except for the driver heatsink. I did a lot of stuff at the milling machine which is a lot faster and very precise but it can be done with more time and less precision with handtools.




Heres my virtual battery holder. Somehow it does not work when I print it and stuff it in mag. :mecry: Maybe I need to actually build it saturday and try again. 




Without eneloops.




With eneloops.


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## The_bad_Frag (Oct 1, 2011)

Mhhhhhhh... ...I did too much chillin' and talkin' so I need to do the final assembly on sunday.


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## The_bad_Frag (Oct 3, 2011)

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! 


I'm currently trying since 3 houres to get everything inside!!! OMG!!! I use a glass Mag tube next time. -.-

Now I need to eat/drink some sh*t and then try again. I think I found the perfect way now... 


...try it on your own to get an elephant with 1,5 km calbes on it to fit inside a mag. Thats what it feels like.


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## The_bad_Frag (Oct 3, 2011)

ITS DONE!!!! YEAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

...need to clean the reflectors first before I can take some photos...

This is the most awesome flashlight I ever hold in my hands!


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## The_bad_Frag (Oct 3, 2011)

I updated the first post with the complete build log. :wave:

Beamshots comming when the weather is good.


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## The_bad_Frag (Oct 6, 2011)

Weather is still bad but I uploaded some indoor beamshots and a video which explains the use of my Mag. :wave:


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## HB021 (Nov 3, 2011)

The_bad_Frag said:


> Weather is still bad but I uploaded some indoor beamshots and a video which explains the use of my Mag. :wave:



I'd love to see outside beamshots, specially when it rains! Go out and bring a camera now!


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## The_bad_Frag (Nov 4, 2011)

Damn! I totaly forgot about the beamshots. I try to make some today.


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## The_bad_Frag (Nov 4, 2011)

Ok here they are! :wave:

Only a few... ...the DAMN RAIN started again and blurred the rest. I took them from inside the car because I dont want trouble with the cops because of stupid people who call them. Why doesnt everyone know when a guy is standing somewhere at the side of a road with his car, a cam on a tripod and a high power flashlight that he is taking beamshots? :shakehead Those "stupid" people maybe think I burn frogs with a lightsaber or some sh*t like that. :devil: I got the cops already 1 time because I brought all my flashlights to a nice evening with some beer at a friends house. My friends where trying them out and 20 minutes later the cops ask what the f we were doing here. 

Enough words :nana:




2xPhilips X-Treme Vision H1 12V 55W @14.1V




2xPhilips X-Treme Vision H1 12V 55W @14.1V + 2xPhilips X-Treme Vision H7 12V 55W @14.1V




Mag




Mag


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## HB021 (Nov 5, 2011)

Very nice output, how about some beamshots against the forest?
On an open field a lot of light is lost in the universe


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## The_bad_Frag (Nov 5, 2011)

Hmmm k 

We dont have a real forrest here but I will find some trees.


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## Al Combs (Nov 5, 2011)

The_bad_Frag said:


> Ok here they are! :wave:
> 
> Only a few... ...the DAMN RAIN started again and blurred the rest. I took them from inside the car because I dont want trouble with the cops because of stupid people who call them. Why doesnt everyone know when a guy is standing somewhere at the side of a road with his car, a cam on a tripod and a high power flashlight that he is taking beamshots? :shakehead Those "stupid" people maybe think I burn frogs with a lightsaber or some sh*t like that. :devil: I got the cops already 1 time because I brought all my flashlights to a nice evening with some beer at a friends house. My friends where trying them out and 20 minutes later the cops ask what the f we were doing here.


Stupid people, you've got them in Germany to?

Just curious, where was the light during your through the windshield shot?


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## The_bad_Frag (Nov 5, 2011)

I held it out of the driver side window just above the left mirror.


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## The_bad_Frag (Nov 13, 2011)

...I still didnt managed to get out in the forrest to take some shots... 


But heres currently a lot of fog! :naughty: I took some random shots. They are not comparable because I used different cam settings.











Wolf-Eyes Krait R5











THE Mag from this thread :devil:





Fenix LD01 on full throttle! :twothumbs Somehow it has a LOT more light to the human eye and has the same tint as the Mag.


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## HB021 (Nov 14, 2011)

Damn that's a sick amount of light on your house! Nice beamshot!


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## HB021 (Nov 16, 2011)

By the way I love the color of the light! I wish they put those in auxiliary lights for cars.


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## The_bad_Frag (Nov 16, 2011)

Hehe thanks.  Yeah it was really awesome that DerWichtel had the led star available in neutral white. All my other lights (except for the Fenix LD01) are cool white so this is a nice variety.

I also found a good place for forrest beamshots. I think I can do them at the weekend.


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## T-roc87 (Jan 3, 2012)

Very nice job The Bad Frag. I really like the fact that the light is running off of aa batteries. Your light is very close to what i would picture my perfect light as being. I was curious if this light is more throwy or floody, or a bit of both? Also could you give an estimate on how far out the light can reach? How is the throw compared to the olight sr51 that you have? Also, i would love to see the forest beamshots if you got around to it. Otherwise it looks like one hell of a light from the beamshots you have already posted.


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## The_bad_Frag (Jan 4, 2012)

Thanks.  Its a floody light but with that big output it can reach some good distance.

...I dont have a Olight sr51...  :thinking: 

Damn it I forgot the forrest beamshots AGAIN!  I will do them now. I also want to see how much more light I have with the UCL lens I installed yesterday. Indoors is a huge difference the between Mag plastic lens and UCL. If you hold the mag lens in front of the light it gets A LOT darker to the human eye. UCL ROCKS! :twothumbs

Edit: Beamshots.  The beam can reach about 250 meters. With floody lights its hard to say how far they iluminate because the particles in the air reflect a lot of light back into your eye when holding the flashlight. I would like to see it on a high mountain at night where the air is cleaner. You dont have that problem with throwy flashlights. They have nice tight beam with sharp edges.




The corner is around 170 meters away.





The cam focused with windshield...


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## HB021 (Jan 4, 2012)

That output is very very good, you have a great camera too though


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## The_bad_Frag (Jan 4, 2012)

The camera is ok. It needs quite a lot of knowledge to get it working in the dark. The auto mode is too stupid for that. I bought it because of the 36x zoom and 1cm macro in 1 camera.  The 240 fps high speed video is really nice too. Most times I use this flashlight as a video light for the high speed shots. It gives enough light up to 2 meters.

I already work on my newest project. It may not have as many lumens but I really like it.


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## HB021 (Jan 4, 2012)

How much did the camera cost :-O?


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## The_bad_Frag (Jan 4, 2012)

It was something like 350€ with 2 extra li-ions and a 16GB Kingston Class 6 SD card. Not even half as expensive as a cheap DSLR camera.


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## HB021 (Jan 4, 2012)

That's still lot for a camera. But it sure takes some nice pics compared to my iphone haha


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## T-roc87 (Jan 5, 2012)

Thanks for the pictures and info. Very nice outdoor shots and lots of light from the looks of it. I must have looked at someone's light list who has an olight. Haha.


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