Skilhunt H03 Review

The H03 has a 5050 footprint, so the TIR should be set up for this
The difference should not be that big

I’m thinking of swapping a nichia led in, what size is the mcpcb?

It is 12 or 13mm and 2mm thick

So you have most likely get a small one or get a 16mm and get it smaller as you need DTP to get the Nichia to 3A

The board gets pressed against the body only by the reflector centering ring

Use thermal adhesive like artic silver.

It’s a 15mm or so. I did a bit of filing of a 16mm noctigon but decided to just reflow a new neutral xml2.

I replaced the front glass with one from my Jetbeam Jet-1 MK

I think that was 14 or 15mm diameter, the LED board has a bit less diameter

As the LED light has a Turbo stepdown a DTP board would not be really better than a good copper board
The MXL2 footprint is better on normal boards as it is bigger than XPL

I did a mcpcb/led swap to a noctigon and xpg3 90cri 5700k led. I had to trim the 16mm noctigon down to about 15mmish with a dremel. The stock board is held on pretty good with thermal paste, but a tiny flat head got it out. It didn’t take long to do the swap after I trimmed the mcpcb down. I might swap out the led to a nichia 219c 90cri from the group buy, but it’s not bad the way it is now. While I had the solder out, I did a spring bypass on the tail end but I didn’t have the time to get the head off to do the bypass on the top end (I’m not even sure it will help much at this power level).

good news the BLF A6 short tube fits

as the threads are longer you have to move orings from the original inner position to the outer
but BLF o rings are way too thick, also the Skilhunt orings are a bit too thick or the BLF tube too thick,
cant describe it better with my english so look at the picture
the BLF tube O-ring inner diameter is 20.5mm and skilhunt 20.2mm
so I need some thinner o-rings or reduce the blf tube diameter


If anyone is looking for semi-hardshell cases for headlamps, A guy from CPF told me about them. Gloworm cases. $3.00 plus a couple dollars shipping. I don’t know if they will ship out of the US or not.

So to make the BLF O-rings fit I used carefully a Dremel to remove anodisation
and then a saw to get about 0.5mm less diameter

now it fits perfectly
the BLF Tube is only 2.5g lighter as its thicker, but with smaller battery and magnet removed its a lot lighter





Thank you very much for this well documented modding !
I’ll surely do the same, but I have to order the short A6 tube before :slight_smile:

Thanks for the info lads!
The shorter tube is cool for EDC use.
I would stick to my 18650 just because when i use a headlamp its on for a while. But if your fishing and just need like a basic low light setting so people can spot you and dont want the extra weight its a great mod!

I did swap the LED as it had a noticeable green yellow tint probably 3B or 3C

replaced with a XML2 U3-3D from intl outdoor
http://intl-outdoor.com/cree-xml2-u3-3d-bare-led-p-904.html
I am very pleased with this batch already modded one into my Nitecore P12

There are nice things to report and I did some measurements for modding

the front glass is 17mm wide and 1mm thick,
ecxactly the same as my Jetbeam Jet-1 MK so I got an AR one inside

the driver uses a 0.082 Ohm resistor for current sense, so it could be modded easily

the Star in it has 15mm size and is a true DTP, so no filing down a Noctigon needed

there are markings on the back of the star looking like the footprint

it is flat with some marks of machining
sanded 5 seconds with little press with 600 sandpaper, see its almost flat, the edges are rounded towards the LED side

sanded down 10 more seconds and all machining marks gone
quick polish with 1500 and 5000 sandpaper

In the head the heat paste is evenly across the whole star and also squeezed out on all sides

The head has about 15mm flat machined surface it looks really bad in the picture but in real its almost flat

Reflowing the LED

first heat it up on my induction stove with a 10mm iron plate and 5mm aluminium plate with thermal paste on top of it, till the solder melts
then removing old solder with a qtip and regulating the heat down
the LED is also heated up on a clean part of the metal plate

adding Sn60Pb37Ag3 rosin flux core solder or solder paste, the 0,5mm solder wire is not easy to melt as the temperature is not much above the melt point

I use the one with lead as its melting point is lower and thats less stress for the emitter

placing the hot star on it, let it pull on its own in the centered position
then tap on the star to push out solder to close the tiny gap to increase heat transfer
and this makes all 3 pads covered on 100% of the surface with solder

putting Arctic silver on the body, was too much but it will squeeze out

placing the Star in the head, it is a bit bigger than the anodized hole so I had to put it in sideways, thats why the star is not round all the way
the arctic silver squeezed out at the holes, but wasnt enough to do on the rounded edges

Nice than u for posting the mod very usefull

I have done several mods to mine as well.

1) Added a second magnet so now the magnet is like 3-4x as strong

2) Did the 18350 battery tube mod, combined the light can hold it’s own weight from only the head of a screw (althought currently running a 16340)!

Picture is me cutting boxes to wall hang a TV.
3) Swapped the emitter with nichia 219c 4000k http://www.kaidomain.com/p/S026300.Nichia-219C-Neutral-White-4000K-CRI92-LED-Emitter-with-KDLIGHT-3535-16-16mm-x-1_5mm-DTP-Copper-MCPCB-(~~1-pc~~)

The emitter on the board was the right height and fit in the head with no sanding (tight fit though!) The optic still presses on the MCPCB and the optic still screws down perfect. However of the optic is made for a larger LED, although the pressure seems to be holding it in place and the board does not really have much room to move (well maybe a little)…

It seems to work fine like it is, but does anyone know which 219c TIR I could replace the stock one with? Anyone know what the stock one even is?

Thanks!

I’m running a 4000k 219c in mine. So far everything has been good. Still just a nice floody light. The LED has to be manually centered. I got the emitter on a 16mm board from Kaidomain. The Kaidomain boards may be a bit thinner than noctigon boards (At least my tripple was), but they are still direct thermal path and the single emitter boards are also gold plated I think. Interestingly the TIR makes the LED appear more white and less creamy than my other lights with reflectors and tripple optics using 4000k 219c emitters). Now it could be tint lottery but I kinda doubt it as I have the same KD stuff in them.

I had an issue with the U4 neutral white that came in mine. When using it in the yard the tall grass would make my eyes go buggy, might have something to do with the tint, and TIR combination but I know it made me feel kinda funny when trying to walk in tall grass. I know it sounds weird but the only other time I have felt strange while moving and using a light is with old lights with poor PWM. I no longer get this feeling with the nichia 219c 4000k, and colors render much better, of course I lost come brightness, but it’s still very bright and usable. I absolutely love this headlamp now that the 219C in there. It may not be my fanciest, or prettiest light, but functionally it’s amazing now!

The stronger magnet made it was more useful too.

Now I’m contemplating cutting off the top headband strap rubber (but I can see it being useful if running I guess). I dunno, I’m not a fan of over the top of the head straps…

Just buy another band with just one strap, they are cheap!

I found one for $3 but there was a $10 shipping charge. Have any suggestions? I'm probably searching for the wrong term or something.

in US Zebralight has a nice headband with free shipping

this one will work with short tube mod nicely

Have a look at aliexpress, there are plenty. For example this or this on fasttech.