limited production :: hand crafted :: high performance :: rechargeable :: premium flashlights

This is my blog about creating a startup LED flashlight business. I'm a designer, fabricator, and strategist and I'm passionate about making ideas real. I believe that products are about people, that they should be built to last, deliver real value, and that we need to do a better job than we have in the recent past.

Most of my career has been contract or freelance work and I've crafted products and strategies for both big international companies and startups. I also used to work in the "industry" fabricating special effects for film and TV, along with the occasional hot rod. Bottom line, I love making things.

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Monday, February 7, 2011

srfreddy's question answered!

WARNING: FLASHAHOLIC CONTENT

srfreddy said:

"In your "DtD Update: surprising success!" post, the shot is the head, right? Does the head and the tailcap screw off? I'm interested in your heatsinking. The driver is on a copper "pole" of sorts, which isolates the driver, and will concentrate heat, and how is the heatsink for the LED itself? I see you are using 7135 linear drivers-how many? If a user decides to use 2xCR123s or RCRs, the 7135s will be putting out over 5 watts of heat!"

Yes, that's an image of the back of the head. Both the head and tailcap unscrew from the body. 

The driver in this photo is a Shiningbeam 1.4A driver
I'm using a Shiningbeam 3 mode 2.8 amp driver that has components on both sides of the board. The copper sleeve is actually the heat-sink for the driver. This sleeve is press fit into the back of the head. The LED is on a 20mm star and thermally bonded to a solid, one-piece aluminum head...so my expectation is the thermal path is about as good as it can get without soldering the LED directly to a copper pill.

You can check the Shiningbeam site for driver specs but I think it accepts a maximum of 6 volts, so you can use 2x CR123 (primary) batteries but you can not use 2x RCR123 (rechargeable) batteries. However, I'm not sure that CR123 primaries can handle that much current draw. Someone else might have to weigh in on that one!

This is really intended to be an 18650 light. 
Posted by Jason at 11:39 PM
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