E-Series Enyoyment

[Tofty]

Recently i've been working on completing two Surefire E-series compatible lights:
One is a body for a Surefire head and tail,
The other is a head and tail for an E-series body.
Thinking about it, it would probably make sense just to make one light out of those parts, and i did for a while....



But that's not how i like to do thinks so off to the workshop i go.

The first build turned out thus.



A pretty good match and a nice compact size while maintaining a reasonable battery capacity with an 18350.
Using this wider battery does mean however that parts of the body wall are very thin, about 0.4mm.
The body will be sent off to be anodised black.


The second build was certainly more time consuming if not quite as technically difficult.





I bought the body section from a site called Illumination Supply as they were a new-old-stock item, made back in 2006 and forgotten about until recently.
They are however quite odd and don't really match any of the original E-series parts, as the first picture in this post shows, so i hunted around for some inspiration as to what to do with it.
It eventually came from this webpage:
http://peu.net/neoca/index.php?page=The_Pineapple_Gallery
But specifically these pictures:



(pictures by Wave_particle from CPF)

I liked the shape of the light in the first picture but preferred the overall colour scheme of the light in the second picture.
Making a head from one of the choices of metals that can be kept bare (stainless steel or titanium) didn't seem appropriate anyway as my light will end up as a triple and therefore has to move quite a lot of head, for which stainless and Ti are poor at, so it's all made out of aluminium which needs to be anodised, allowing for some bold colouring.

I'll post an update when they're returned from coating.

[enki_ck]

Nice, though I have to admit, when I opened the thread, I expected to see those colorful torch hosts from facebook in action.

[nuphoria]

Nice looking stuff

Why go for the 18350 instead of the 16350? Are you just after the extended run time?

[Tofty]

Nice, though I have to admit, when I opened the thread, I expected to see those colorful torch hosts from facebook in action.

Oh go on then....



I need to rethink the whole printed plastic torch design, these have no advantage over the donor torch other than to be different.


Nuphoria the light engine is going to be a Nichia 219 triple driven at 3A which is quite a high discharge rate for an IMR 16340, while an IMR 18350 is less stressed in the same situation and as you pointed out will also extend run time.

It is not the case however that i went to the trouble of making my own E-series body just so that i could run the larger batteries; black E1E and E1D Surefire body are so hard to get hold of for sensible money that it's actually cheaper to make my own and the chance to increase the capacity a bit is just a bonus.


Lets do some science and mathematics while i'm thinking about it just to clarify things.

A protected Lithium-ion battery has a maximum discharge rate of 3 Coulombs (although it is advised to keep discharge at or below 2C)
An unprotected IMR safe chemistry Li-ion battery can discharge up to 10C.....apparently.

A rate of discharge of 1 coulomb is the discharge of all the battery's capacity in one hour, so a 3000mAh  protected 18650 can discharge up to 9A.
The 7135 type drivers i use have a similar battery draw to their output current so lets say a 3A driver draws 3A from the battery,

My AW IMR 16340 has a capacity of 550mAh,
My AW IMR 18350 has a capacity of 700mAh.

So at a current discharge of 3A:
The 16340 Coulomb rate = 3/0.55 = 5.5C
The 18350 Coulomb rate = 3/0.7 = 4.3C

I don't really trust the stated maximum discharge rate for the IMR type batteries so keeping the discharge rate down just seems like a good idea.

Incidentally an AW protected 17340 or RCR123 has a capacity of 750mAh, so it's coulomb rate at 3A is 4C, definitely a bad idea.

[Gareth]

I actually really like the look of that one myself, but each to their own I guess.

[Tofty]

So do i, it's just that a titanium head on an aluminium body is really the wrong way round in terms of good thermal operation.
Also cutting those fins in titanium would not be fun at all.

[Tofty]

Bit of an update....

The parts came back from anodising recently.

The e-series body came back pretty much perfect. It's not a type III finish like the head and tail but the match is pretty good.








The pineapple build wasn't quite as perfect. While trying to remove the original anodising on the pineapple body i managed to etch it quite badly, leaving it quite pitted. That's why the body has a very matte finish.







I think i may have to get hold of another pineapple body and try getting it anodised again. However my other black body looks quite good with the other parts.

[mvyrmnd]

Oh how I wish I could have that 18350 body!

I have a E2B with a C head adapter and a Triple 219 dropin that's crying out for a 18350.

18350 is my favourite cell size by far.

Have I said 18350 enough in this post?

18350!

[thebullfrog]

I love that etched matte finished look, I honestly think that looks better than it would have shiny.