# 35mm Easy2Led build



## Fourtrax (Mar 17, 2013)

Finally built up a 35mm easy2led housing.
Went with the XML2 T6 3A from Cutter and a B3Flex. CUTE-3-SS optics.

Started building a battery pack with some laptop cells and was just going to solder the cells together but got scared and decided to use some digikey holders instead. Built up a 14.8V pack with laptop cells that were 2200mah and built a second pack with new NCR18650B from Fastech. Had to add some solder to the holders as the unprotected cells are too short. Used a PCM from batteryspace (PCB-S4A5-GS). Got some 94mm heat shrink tubing from all-battery. It was a little too big but worked out okay. Could have probably gone with 80mm.

Only running the driver at 1500mA as I saw a few posts on here that said the housing couldn't handle much more than that.

The T6 3A tint is definitely more "halogen" like as compared to the U2 1C tint on my single XML2 on the helmet. I like it so far although only one ride on it.

Some pics of the build:






















Pack all wired up. I wrapped them with self fusing silicon tape and liquid tape around the wires.


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## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

very nice, looks like a really straightforward build! How are you attaching it to the bars/ helmet? Looks like it could easily deal with more than 1.5A per emitter, crank it up and find out for us 

Oh, and car vacuum pipe fittings make great caps for balance plugs. You can usually get a variety of sizes and they're quite flexible.


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## Fourtrax (Mar 17, 2013)

Thanks for the hint on the vacuum plugs. I'll have to find some and try it out.

I'm using a light and motion handlebar mount from one of their HID lights. I need to fabricate a go pro type mount so I can try out the light on my motorcycle helmet. I'll probably up the current if running with my quad as I'll be moving a lot faster. I set the cutoff at 70C, is 60C better to prevent damage?


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## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

Fourtrax said:


> Thanks for the hint on the vacuum plugs. I'll have to find some and try it out.
> 
> I'm using a light and motion handlebar mount from one of their HID lights. I need to fabricate a go pro type mount so I can try out the light on my motorcycle helmet. I'll probably up the current if running with my quad as I'll be moving a lot faster. I set the cutoff at 70C, is 60C better to prevent damage?


that's a nice looking mount, looks like it should be pretty sturdy. No idea on the GoPro adapter, other than that Scar (of Amoeba fame) uses them and that someone else on here had one 3D printed. Might be worth digging around to see if you can find some details.

funny thing about those vacuum caps is that I've only used it on one of my lights, the others have a piece of road bike inner tube zip tied on to the wires and folded over the plug (held in place with a rubber band). Looks a bit ghetto, but it works 

70C should be fine, I'm pretty sure that's what I've had mine set at for the last 3 years or so. You're looking at ~90C at the emitter for that temperature at the driver and LEDs will work happily (if less efficiently) at >100C. Cree even rates their LED output at 85C now, to more reflect the temperatures they'll be running at.


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## Fourtrax (Mar 17, 2013)

I did the 3D printed GoPro mount.  it's on my helmet light with the integrated switch. I was worried about temperature if I ran the triple at 3 amps so was planning on carving one out of Aluminum. 

Good to know about 70C. Wish I had a wind speed meter so I could figure out how fast I needed to go to keep things cool depending on the air temp. Although I am sure there are some formulas out there to calculate based on surface area, wind speed and temperature. That might be some interesting research.


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## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

ah well, that's one of the benefits of increasing age - I can start blaming my terrible memory on senility instead of being useless at remembering stuff :blush: Or is 35 too early to get away with that?

Extra thermal mass won't hurt for cooling and it probably won't make any difference in terms of weight if you're using a full face. I just like the idea of 3D printing 

As for thermal modeling, some of the 3D modeling programs offer that feature, although it eats up processing power by all accounts, especially so the more accurate you want it. I just figured out my trip point the old school way of going riding on hot nights and finding a temp trip level that got me up the climbs on medium without tripping. I'd go about finding the max power level the same way.


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## Whitedog1 (Feb 3, 2009)

I'm running mine at 3A for some time now with no Problems..... MTB/Roadbike use!


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## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

beautiful build. 

I'm struggling to think of a reason why a 35mm housing will be better than the 20mm housing... I have the RX-labs aka Quazzle L334 in a 20mm easy2led housing...

Does optics with 35mm OD yield better performance than 20mm optics?


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

Cheers! said:


> Does optics with 35mm OD yield better performance than 20mm optics?


Depends on what you like. Larger optics usually are capable of longer throw.


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## find_bruce (May 8, 2011)

In addition to the optics, I am reasonably sure the 20mm easy2led housing would not dissipate enough heat to run a triple XM-L @ 3A. I have not heard of anyone making a 20 mm star for triple XM-L

[edit]Still haven't seen 20mm triple, but I did find a 22mm 9 x XM-L[/edit]


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## Fourtrax (Mar 17, 2013)

Picked up the Drift Go-Pro mount from BH photo so I could mount the light on my ATV helmet. Works great with the 35mm housing. I had to add a washer between the thumb screw and the mount as it was bottoming out in the housing before it was tight.


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## Stuart B (Mar 21, 2005)

Ha! I've been thinking how to mount a light on a gopro mount! I have an eady2led on the way and I already have that tripod gopro adapter!!! Why didn't I think of that! 

Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk


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## Stuart B (Mar 21, 2005)

ooooh my housing just turned up ....looks really good. Now to start with the MTG2 build


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## Fourtrax (Mar 17, 2013)

Good timing! I haven't used the mount yet on the helmet but I will in a couple weeks.

For anyone using this housing, is this typical? I know I have read this housing doesn't handle heat well. I've got arctic silver on the threads.

39C-40C case temp at 2.5A and fan blowing. Light seems to level off at this temp and could continue to run with the fan on. With fan off, case temp at 55C and tripped the 70C shutoff. Since case temp only got to 55C, I am assuming thermal transfer isn't too great or is this typical?

At 3A, case temp got to 45C with fan blowing and tripped the temp sensor set at 70C. I assume at 3A the housing couldn't shed the heat fast enough, or just poor thermal transfer. hence the larger delta to the temp cutoff.

The fan wasn't that large and it is 75F in the house.


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## Stuart B (Mar 21, 2005)

Might try my cateye mount first as it fits in the M4 hole. 

3 xml2s at 3 amps is quite a lot of power to dissipate. A housing that size will get warm with that going on. If it warms up quickly then that suggests the heat is transferring from the pill well.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

When I have tested my builds on my own housings there has never been more than 5C between the case and the trip point using Taskled drivers. If the thermal path for the driver is not too good you'll see a large delta between case and trip temps. How did you mount your driver?


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## Fourtrax (Mar 17, 2013)

I used arctic alumina adhesive with the aluminum standoff from taskled. 

With poor thermal path for the driver I would have thought it would be the other way around. Heat isn't transferring to the driver well so the case heats up more than the driver before it finally trips. Although if the driver had poor thermal path then maybe the driver itself is getting hot from running at 3A rather than the heat from the LEDs.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

Fourtrax said:


> I used arctic alumina adhesive with the aluminum standoff from taskled.
> 
> With poor thermal path for the driver I would have thought it would be the other way around. Heat isn't transferring to the driver well so the case heats up more than the driver before it finally trips. Although if the driver had poor thermal path then maybe the driver itself is getting hot from running at 3A rather than the heat from the LEDs.


Have you checked to make sure the driver didn't pop loose?

The driver running at 3A has to transfer it's heat to the housing and if it can't it will trip before the housing gets to the same temp.

This definitely sounds like a heat transfer problem, just need to figure out if it's LEDs to housing or driver to housing or both.


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## Fourtrax (Mar 17, 2013)

I checked the driver and it's still attached good. Possibly I put the Article alumina on too thick but not sure. I checked it again and it hit the cutoff at 57.5 on the housing. I'll pull the back cover off and see if I can get a reading on the driver and see how different it is.


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## zemike (Sep 3, 2007)

Fourtrax said:


> I checked it again and it hit the cutoff at 57.5 on the housing. I'll pull the back cover off and see if I can get a reading on the driver and see how different it is.


You'll measure the temperature with a thermocouple or an IR thermometer? It is a good idea to measure the temperature on the LED side too.
What is the size of the cable gland you used?


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## Stuart B (Mar 21, 2005)

I haven't tested mine thoroughly yet, but mine is built and running with an MTG2 at 3A

Indoors with no fan it tripped set to 70 degrees on my B3flex. With fan on it didn't trip.

Outside in approx 3-4C, very very light breeze stationary it didn't trip at 70, and was warm to the touch. it did trip when set to 50. Riding around it felt cool to the touch.

Ive ordered another one to do a 3 x xml2 set up for a more thowy companion.

Stu


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## Fourtrax (Mar 17, 2013)

It's a cheap IR thermometer.
http://www.harborfreight.com/non-contact-pocket-thermometer-93983.html

So I checked the driver with the cover off. Driver got to 67.5C and outer casing hit 59.5C before the level dropped. I think I am still in the "break-in" period on the Arctic Silver as I only put it in before I started doing the temp measurements and the temp delta keeps getting smaller.

Cable gland is a Hummel PG7. Got it from work but link to one here. It holds the magicshine cable fine. It's the 3-6.5mm version. http://www.sealconusa.com/strainrelief/ny_standard/nylon_pg7_1_4_npt_std.html


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

Fourtrax said:


> It's a cheap IR thermometer.


If possible, you should check the temps with thermocouples. Due to varying emissivity, IR thermometers can give inconsistent results when measuring different surface types.

http://www.scigiene.com/pdfs/428_InfraredThermometerEmissivitytablesrev.pdf


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## Fourtrax (Mar 17, 2013)

I don't have access to a thermocouple so my IR thermometer will have to suffice. Good to know about the emissivity info though.


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## kwarwick (Jun 12, 2004)

Here's my just completed build. MT-G2 driven at 5A by a TaskLED h6Flex powered by 4S LiPo pack. Power consumption is approximately 40 watts and it gets hot pretty fast! Will trip the 70C thermal protection in 140 seconds inside with no fan... but should be fine outside with some airflow.


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## Fourtrax (Mar 17, 2013)

Nice build! Ya that is putting out some heat. What reflector did you use?


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## kwarwick (Jun 12, 2004)

The reflector is left over from an old "Aurora" P7 based flashlight. I tried a couple of P7 reflectors I had kicking around and this particular one worked surprisingly well. Only concern I had was preventing it shorting on the MT-G2 since it is aluminum... the first picture shows what just a little rubbing from the base of the reflector did to the very soft silicon that covers the LED substrate. For now I've covered the base of the reflector with Kapton tape, but would like to come up with a better solution. Now if someone would come out with a centering/insulating gasket for the MT-G2 that would be the ticket.


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## artemha (Nov 20, 2010)

kwarwick said:


> Here's my just completed build. MT-G2 driven at 5A by a TaskLED h6Flex powered by 4S LiPo pack. Power consumption is approximately 40 watts and it gets hot pretty fast! Will trip the 70C thermal protection in 140 seconds inside with no fan... but should be fine outside with some airflow.


Please beamshots))


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## Stuart B (Mar 21, 2005)

5 amps! Flicking hell!


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## kwarwick (Jun 12, 2004)

Stuart B said:


> 5 amps! Flicking hell!


 Sounds crazy, but from my research it seems that they are commonly being driven higher than the official 3A that Cree specs for the 6 volt versions. Cree is probably being conservative until they have some time to see how they do in the real world... similar to when the XP-G first came out and Cree was saying 1000mA max and then later upped that to 1500mA. I see people over on CPF driving them at 9A! Even EagleTac is driving them at 5A. Nice thing is the TaskLED drivers have temperature protection, so the worse that happens is it will throttle the light down a lot.


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## Stuart B (Mar 21, 2005)

kwarwick said:


> Sounds crazy, but from my research it seems that they are commonly being driven higher than the official 3A that Cree specs for the 6 volt versions. Cree is probably being conservative until they have some time to see how they do in the real world... similar to when the XP-G first came out and Cree was saying 1000mA max and then later upped that to 1500mA. I see people over on CPF driving them at 9A! Even EagleTac is driving them at 5A. Nice thing is the TaskLED drivers have temperature protection, so the worse that happens is it will throttle the light down a lot.


Nice! . I have an MTG2 6V in mine, but mine has the b3flex so limited to 3A. I have another ready to receive 3 x xml2 for some more throw as a partner light.


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## kwarwick (Jun 12, 2004)

artemha said:


> Please beamshots))


OK, but I'm not great at beamshots... you'll probably notice I wasn't terribly disciplined about taking the photo from the exact same angle... oops!

Anyway, I brought along two other lights to give some comparison of different optics.

MT-G2 with 34mm P7 reflector








3 x XML Cute-3 Smooth Spot TIR optic (Troutie Darkness Dominator)








2 x XML Aspheric lens + 2 x XPG flood (Troutie Spider Eyes)








The camera I used didn't allow me to manually set exposure, so it compensated for brightness variations making them all look about the same. 
In reality the MT-G2 is a lot brighter and has a well defined hotspot vs. the 3 XML light which is a lot more flood. The SpiderEyes is in a whole different ballgame and is ideal as a helmet light to complement the other two.


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## Stuart B (Mar 21, 2005)

Just tested mine on its first proper ride....I like it 

Just need to build the other for bar and my two 20mm easy2leds for helmet use .

Stu


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## Stuart B (Mar 21, 2005)

Fourtrax said:


> Good timing! I haven't used the mount yet on the helmet but I will in a couple weeks.
> 
> For anyone using this housing, is this typical? I know I have read this housing doesn't handle heat well. I've got arctic silver on the threads.
> 
> ...


I have my second one built up with 3 x xml2, and at 3A it warms up pretty quick. noticeably quicker than the first MTG2 light. I haven't done any fan runs yet. I just think its an awful lot of power to have to dissipate for a housing this size, and fin surface area.

Have you used yours much in real life yet? any tripping whilst on the move?

Stu


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## Fourtrax (Mar 17, 2013)

On the MTB I only run it at 1.5A and usually drop to level 3 on the climbs so no issues. I ran it at 2.5A a couple weeks ago but it was on my Atv. Typically 15-30mph. It was around 50F outside. Never tripped on several rides I went on. At that speed though I was wanting more throw.


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## kwarwick (Jun 12, 2004)

I don't really think this housing should have a problem dealing with 3 XM-Ls @ 3A as long as you're moving. That's less than 30 watts of heat to dissipate. I've been running the MT-G2 at closer to 40 watts and it has been fine as long as I keep moving... only once when I stopped for a few minutes and forgot to drop it down from high did the thermal protection trip. Now granted it is winter here so perhaps on a hot summer night things could be different. I think the key here is as long as you use a driver with thermal protection, and set it to something reasonable like 70C, no harm can be done if the light temperatures start to get too high.


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## Stuart B (Mar 21, 2005)

That's reassuring. I am going to try it at 3A fot my nex ride and see how i get on. I have it set for 70. I only use full power on the faster sections anyway to save battery. I did have a very quick spin last night. The beam I'm getting compliments the floody mtg2 one very nicely. Tint is pretty close too. 

sent from my phone so apologies for any typos


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## adleysh (Jun 4, 2012)

kwarwick said:


> Here's my just completed build. MT-G2 driven at 5A by a TaskLED h6Flex powered by 4S LiPo pack. Power consumption is approximately 40 watts and it gets hot pretty fast! Will trip the 70C thermal protection in 140 seconds inside with no fan... but should be fine outside with some airflow.
> 
> View attachment 848226
> View attachment 848227
> ...


Hi there, great job on the build looks real neat. I am looking to build up one of these myself and was wondering how you got the h6flex into the pill? I thought it was to large to fit into it?

Adam.


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## kwarwick (Jun 12, 2004)

adleysh said:


> Hi there, great job on the build looks real neat. I am looking to build up one of these myself and was wondering how you got the h6flex into the pill? I thought it was to large to fit into it?
> 
> Adam.


The trick is to flip the pill over so that the flat side is where you install the h6flex and the MT-G2 goes on the pocket side. The only issue you have to consider is where the wires for the LED come through the pill is very tight against the edges of the h6flex. Depending on the thickness of the wires you use your h6flex might require a little alteration (I had previously sanded down the edges of the h6flex PCB so this wasn't a problem for me). The spots to notch the board are right next to the solder pad of the big square inductor and then 180 degrees across from it. Those two spots have a only 1-2mm of board with no traces so be very careful not to cut too much into the board. I would recommend using a fine tooth round file. Obviously if you mess up the h6flex doing this, the warranty is void.


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## adleysh (Jun 4, 2012)

[QUOwarwick;10889929]The trick is to flip the pill over so that the flat side is where you install the h6flex and the MT-G2 goes on the pocket side. The only issue you have to consider is where the wires for the LED come through the pill is very tight against the edges of the h6flex. Depending on the thickness of the wires you use your h6flex might require a little alteration (I had previously sanded down the edges of the h6flex PCB so this wasn't a problem for me). The spots to notch the board are right next to the solder pad of the big square inductor and then 180 degrees across from it. Those two spots have a only 1-2mm of board with no traces so be very careful not to cut too much into the board. I would recommend using a fine tooth round file. Obviously if you mess up the h6flex doing this, the warranty is void.[/QUOTE]

Ahh good idea, now I look back at the photo I can see that you reversed it, I will give this a go. Was thinking of trying a triple xml with the h6flex but think that will be too much of a squeeze, so wud have to use a 3A max driver. Anyway thanks for the tip.

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