The Trigon XML (Mk 3)


I have now to develop the new MagnumStar, I wouldn’t think its rocket science to see where it will go, there is a waiting list building up for it and it hasn’t even been announced yet!

Hello Roy

I trust I am on the waiting list for the upgrade to my existing MagnumStar :thumbup:

I believe No 1

EDIT
Yes, No 1 upgrader, outright purchasers is 5.
I have a good system whereby people on the waiting list will be advised of new spec and new price in their order of orders if you follow. They can then re affirm or cancel
I think that this is fair.
The only issue is ordering components. If I make too big an order I risk having large stock when there is a big price drop, too small an order risks running out when delivery times beyond a joke.
Still, I will do my best.

---

Never mind.

If it's worth having it's worth waiting for 😉

Never mind.

If it's worth having it's worth waiting for ;D

And guess who is no 1 on the outright purchsers!
(You beat one guy by 10 minutes, he will blame his server)

---

Good stuff Roy :thumbup:

The MagnumStar is performing well, very pleased with it. 🙂

Hence the shades in the post!!!.
O. G.

MagnumStar XML (Mk 4)

Well I have finalised the specification for this mother of all lamps, and it is a right mother as well.

The new model retains the same extra switch as the old, which means that it is not free to rotate all the way round, but rotates clockwise through 2 positions to reach a third, then rotating it backwards brings 2 more main modes on line. This gives a total of 5 main settings, in addition to 3 sub modes on the first position gained by turning on and off.

It also retains the cast aluminium reflector with 5 reflector borings, same as the previous model. However, 4 of 8mm circular apertures have been machined out of the face of the reflector in the spaces between the outer borings.
These hold 4 Cree XP-G R5 emitters with heat sinks turned down to fit, this is in addition to 4 Cree XM-L T6 in 4 of the borings, plus a single low power LED emergency light in the 5th.

I shall describe each switched position.
SW1 Is exactly the same as the beams of the Trigon, there are Standard, High and Turbo modes gained by turning on an off. Standard is the same 168 lumens for a modest 1.6 watts draw on the battery, while turbo is the same 1600 lumens.
Noticeable is the fact that this lamp has a much broader beam than the Trigon, logical as the reflector borings are smaller.

SW2 Lights up 2 of the 4 XP-Gs, however I have reduced the drive current from that of the Trigon because of the thermal path to ambient been longer. I am driving them at just over 1 amp to produce about 700 lumens from the 2 which are connected in series.

SW3 Brings on line the emergency light, exactly the same as the Trigon. This as I have said before is bright enough to get you out of anywhere and would burn for about 3 weeks on the 10 cell belt mount battery pack.

Turning back counter clockwise reaches SW2 again, but this time it brings on line all 4 bare XP-Gs to give a ‘daylight mode’ of about 1400 lumens. This position also causes the emergency light to go out as it quite noticeably spoils the effect of the bare emitters. Unfortunately, the plastic surround of this catches a small amount of light which under some circumstances can be seen.

Turning back to SW1 will bring all 4 XM-Ls on line to give an output of 3200 lumens.

Now I have to say here that in the economy department the new lamp is vast improvement on the old. With the exception of the emergency light all the other emitters are series wired, and this together with good driver design means that the 3200 lumens maximum output is achieved for a battery draw of 37 watts, less than the old one took to generate 2400 lumens. The new one is also an inherently simpler lamp having been able to dispense with a certain amount of circuitry, although rather expensive to produce with its large array of powerful emitters.

The lamp I am using is my own old battered model, I tried this originally as a sort of lash up, now I have improved the design a bit. The beam output is much wider than that of the Trigon, and certainly a lot wider than the previous MagnumStar which obviates the need to incorporate any kind of flood for peripheral lighting. As I have commented on before, underground it is difficult for the eye to see the advantage of doubling up the output from 1600 to 3200 lumens, however a camera tells a different story, and this is where I see the main appeal of the lamp. It will be ideal for photography or video especially from a helmet mounted camera with both hands being left free. In contrast to underground use, the high power jump to all 4 is readily discernable on the surface at night, this could be another possible use for it.
I have also worked the lamp over stripping it to the bone taking the opportunity to replace the bashed heat sink from when I went sprawling and my lamp came off the bracket and hit some rocks.
I will post a photo as soon as I have a ‘nice one’ assembled for sale.

It has been quite a battle, I got fed up with it at times and christened it the “AggroStar”. Trying to better the Trigon is a challenge I would not recommend.

I considered a lot of alternative arrangements, but this is the best I could come up with.

---

3,200 from 4 XMLs equates to 800 each if my maths is correct.

Not dissimilar to the output Fenix have got from the XM-L in the TK35, albeit that's OTF lumens which will depend on reflector design etc etc etc.

Presumably that's quite a power drain? 37 Watts you say: er, what sort of battery is required: I'm thinking motor bike battery here? 😉

---

3,200 from 4 XMLs equates to 800 each if my maths is correct.

Not dissimilar to the output Fenix have got from the XM-L in the TK35, albeit that's OTF lumens which will depend on reflector design etc etc etc.

Presumably that's quite a power drain? 37 Watts you say: er, what sort of battery is required: I'm thinking motor bike battery here? ;)

Yes, its 800L an emitter from a drive current of 2.5 amps, which is probably the way that a quality manufacturer like Fenix see it. 3 amps is asking for trouble according to the data sheet and only permissible if the heat path to ambient from the PN junction is hardly anything.

The 37 watts on max is less than the old model, which was 39 watts. It will run OK on the 4 cell helmet pack but keep full power modes to short duration. The 10 cell belt pack handles it well, and is half the size of an Oldham lead acid and one third the weight. I have had full day trips (using the old model) into Maen Offeren using full power frequently and never had my voltage below about 7.2V at the end of the day. The new model with its super efficient standard mode is better still, loss on roundabout is more than made up for by gain on swing.

Having gone on about it though, visually the Trigon is as good a lamp as anyone will ever need, and is a very sweet lamp to use.
I am becoming hyper fussy in my old age I suppose.
I mean I aught to take pride in the way I have managed to produce enormous power as well as different lighting options. The bare XP-Gs certainly have a 'wow' factor.

---

MagnumStar XML

Now that I have converted my own lamp to the new spec and fitted a new top heatsink and new front cover to replace the battered ones, I thought that I would upload a picture.

🔗Personal-Album-128-Image-61633[linkphoto]Personal-Album-128-Image-61633[/linkphoto][/link]

---

That would go nicely on Darth Vader's helmet........

It looks like Darth Vaders helmet! :lol:

---

When you wear it Roy, do you that deep heavy breathing and find yourself surrounded by gimps per chance?

http://www.tk421.net/gallery/sounds/breathe.wav 

---

I recon a new **** take has started, anyone who is seen wearing one will be greeted thus:
"Greetings Lord Vader"

---

and if you see any of your lamps in the future Roy you can say to them "I am your father"....

and if you see any of your lamps in the future Roy you can say to them "I am your father"....

:lol: :lol: :lol:

---

Sorry no sales or support until May 2nd, away on holiday up the Nent.
:thumbsup:

---

So, will the next lamp in the range be called the "Death Star"?

---

Situation Report
In line with my policy of honesty and transparency I have to notify of a few issues. This not only for the benefit of my own customers but other lamp builders.

Problem Log
Initially, and this is some time ago, I had a few power packs fail due to the ingress of water ( the curse of the Dave’s, insider joke). This was easily rectified by a change in assembly procedure and there has been no more occurrences.

Up until recently I had no lamps returned at all, however I have now had 2 returns of lamps and 1 of an 8V power pack.
It caused me great personal distress to be advised that a MagnumStar failed completely on an expedition caving trip by an Italian caver. The reason was not a single issue but a combination of 2. The lamp was working OK but was going into thermal shutdown a bit prematurely, and in doing so was experiencing a very brief current surge. I have identified this to the P7 flood driver, the lamp was the Mk3 not the latest XML. This would not on its own been a major issue however it was enough to cause the power pack Li Ion protection circuits to disconnect. They would normally reconnect in less than a second, however the batch of cells that I used had different protection circuits which made them unsuitable for a permanent series connection.
The result of this is that both a 10 cell belt pack and 4 cell helmet pack failed in service.
I have now had a return of another 4 cell helmet pack for same reason.

I think that all customers affected by this are reflected in the above returns, the issue does not affect 4V packs as used on the EcoStar and WorkStar Standard and Pro.

New consignments of Li Ions cells have been tested by me and the above problem does not exist. The situation will be monitored by me in the future.

I have also had the first MagnumStar I sold returned due to the failure of an LED. This did NOT leave the user without a light and was only noticed by accident, such is the power of the lamp. The reason was the use of superglue to retain the difficult to position correctly XP-G emitters used on that model. I only became aware of this issue regarding superglue later.

I have had one comment about disappointment with burn times of the Mk2 Trigon on power settings. This was my mistake as I failed to take into consideration voltage drop on the high settings.

Again, none of the above affects 4V lamps.

On the positive side I have had heaps of praise for the lamps, not one single note of disappointment on the performance of the lamp, this is not surprising if you think about it. Also some extremely kind remarks.

I always in business went by the saying that “If you don’t treat your customers properly you end up without any”
The Italian caver who had the worse of the bad luck has had a gratuitous extra free lamp included in his return package. Its only an 8V version of the WorkStar Pro designed to run of his 8V power packs, but I think he will find a good use for it. I threw a spare charger and some other bits in as well.

And I don’t want any wise ass suggesting that he can carry it as a spare for when his MagnumStar packs up again
😉

EDIT
Oh sorry, forgot to add. The new MagnumStar XML. I never thought I would ever see it happen but I have been snapping away underground just off the lamp, no flash. And some of the pictures look good as well

---

Shop closed until Monday June 6th, off to Cornwall.

Issues with 8V power packs.
It appears that due to differing designs of LiIon protection circuits some 8V power packs do not come back on line for recharging after being run down to the voltage level where the protection circuits disconnect.
To rectify this issue I have designed my own charger which will replace the out manufactured blue chargers and adaptor leads.
The new unit will incorporate everything into a single tidy unit with a "reset" button to reset LiIon protection circuits ready for the recharge.
Details and pics to follow

---

Bit of bad news on the current MagnumStar, basically it’s NBG!

I had a lot of difficulty upgrading my own, and found it impossible to do on a customers lamp.
Thinking about it all while down Cornwall I have come to the conclusion that being such a difficult lamp to produce must cast doubts on its reliability, this was born out by my own playing up on me.

As a result of this I have decided to redesign the lamp so as to follow the basic design of my other lamps which have a proven track record or reliability and straightforward construction. Basically built up on a copper plate with LEDs mounted on the outside and drivers etc on the inside with reflectors fitted over the LEDs with a suitable compound.
This will entail using smaller bore reflectors so the beam will be wider, but at 3200 lumens this will probably be an advantage for photography and video etc. Also I can then mount the bare XP-Gs on copper stems same as the Trigon and this will enable them to be driven at the full power.

So it looks like a Mk 5 in the pipe line.

If it all works out the lamp should be little more trouble to produce than the Trigon which means I stand a good chance of satisfying demand, I get more orders for MagnumStars than I can ever hope to fill, this situation may well change with the latest development.

---