I have stuffed LEDs by trying to De-dome them its common happens to every one.
Well that makes me feel better. mtn electronics the place to go?
Reflowing LEDs is not nearly as hard as most folks think. And once you learn that skill a whole new world of flashlights opens up for you. Buy something with bad tint? Replace the emitter with a better tint bin! Want more throw? Drop in an HI emitter or de-dome your factory! New higher-flux-bin emitters are out and you’re jealous of the extra output? Drop one in your favorite light! Everybody’s raving about how great the new 219c (or whatever the emitter-of-the-day is) and you want to try it? A few bucks later and you’re in business!
Really, this feels bad now but its really a great opportunity for you. And there’s lots of folks here to help you learn.
Most of the time, yes. They’ve generally got everything you need except for the occasional brand-new thing, like the 219c R90s that are going in a few group buys right now.
Yea you can buy parts from a few shops. Because the A6 is running direct drive you would be better of buy a LED that sits on a direct thermal path copper board. Mcpcb like a noctigon or Sinkpad.
Thanks guys.
Cool info in this thread… thanks everyone
No problem with ME on my recent purchase. They have a re-flow service too, which I chose for the XPG3 emitters I ordered. I made the mistake of placing the wrong MCPCB on my order, but they reached out to me via email to confirm and correct my mistake.
AFIAK they are the only ones in the US who sell budget friendly parts and hosts too. Just a heads up I think they are on holiday / vacation soon though.
Curiousness is killing me. What kind of beam would just slicing the tip top of the dome produce. Very slightly improve throw? Look like crap?
Shaving domes isn’t a new thing. You’ve just gotta be really careful to not go so deep that you cut the bond wires. It’s easier to do on emitters that don’t have bond wires. It does tighten up the beam, and it doesn’t cause as much tint shift as a full dedome does.
All that said, its hard to beat just buying a flat-dome HI emitter to start with if tons of throw is your goal. Dedoming and other similar mods were more common before the HI emitters became common.
The best is to get a DTP Noctigon MCPCB with a XPL V6-3D
That board on newer A6 is crap
The cooler the LED emitters stays the more lumens
On a copper DTP board you get a way better heat transfer to the body, so you stay cooler than with old aluminium board even if the body gets too hot to touch
Replacing with this is very easy
http://intl-outdoor.com/noctigon-xp16-v2-mcpcb-cree-xpl-v6-3d-led-p-812.html
I got this one and it has a really nice tint looks like daylight, not too cool not too warm
Copy that Lexel. That’s probably quite a bit simpler anyways.
Do your best to keep the reflector from getting any dust as the coating is very soft and very easily scratched. When you remove it immediately put it in a ziplock. Take the opportunity to thoroughly clean inside the pill section and bezel. It might have been a small piece of aluminum from the machining process that was burned into the dome. The A6 driver will feed as much current as your battery can supply so everything has to be done right or the led cooks. Check the wire holes for burrs. Keep the solder bumps low and don’t over tighten the bezel as this can cause the mcpcb to twist shearing through the soft wire insulation.
Edit-if you use the sunset icon to upload the pictures then you can set image size to 100%. This fits the image to the size of the thread column.
Thank you sir and will do.
Step one complete
Hey guys bought a noctigon mcpcb with led mounted to put in this thing. Have a few questions about how to mount it to the shelf before I dive in and screw up again all I got is soder but if I need to get something else I can get it.
Hi,
if you already have the correct size MCPCB with your favourite LED soldered on it then your next step would be to install the mcpcb in the shelf. Between the shelf and the bottom side of the mcpcb there needs to be thermal compound to optimize the heat transfer from the board to the flashlight body. I´m pretty sure after removing the board you´ll see some residue from the old paste on the shelf. Best remove this and use new paste, artic silver or whatever you have. DON`T use too much! It should only be a very thin layer between board and shelf. Btw, if you check the shelf, make sure it has a completely even surface, sometimes if you have screw holes in the shelf you can find bumps around the edges of the holes that makes it impossible for the mcbcp to rest flat on the shelf! If you find something, grind it flat.
After that solder the two black and red wires coming from the driver to the mcpcb, normally RED goes to +, black to -.
If needed secure the board with screws. Done!
K.
Ok so I need some of that paste. Thanks for your reply.
Yeah with good machining on the head and a noctigon star your thermal paste can be only very few 1/100mm thick
I use arctic silver from PC modding years back, the 3g last almost forever if you put not too much on the surface
Ok I’m about to order some. When you put it on do you dab it in the center and push down to spread it or just spread on to start?
Any quality brand PC thermal paste is fine. The common recommendation is NOT to spread the paste yourself on the shelf but rather put a blob of paste in the middle of ths shelf and spread it by pressing down the mcpcb. If you spread it yourself there MIGHT be a risk of producing “air pockets” underneath the board… but don´t sweat it. Use some common sense. I´ve been spreading a bit of paste on the shelf with a cotton bud myself before and the light works fine.
K.