What did you mod today?

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
2371

Today I took some time to mod my second S2+.

Replaced glass with AR coated one.

Replaced OP reflector with SMO.

Replaced XML U2 with XPL HI V2-1A

Replaced 7135x6 3/5 mode with 7135x8 with biscotti firmware

Also replaced stock wires with better ones and black tailcap with blue.

Having problems with driver working too fast and almost impossible to program modes. Ordered tools needed for flashing so I will try to fix it when arrives.

2372

Nice work on these Y3s’ drivers TomE :+1:

XXX-Man , the light is way better now , you should try a fet driver for max results (just sayin) :beer:

2373

Did the mod go smoothly or was it hard to do?

2374

It's perfect now (for me) :)

I think fet would be too much, it's hot in seconds on max now.

2375

The programming hardware costed me below 7€, with the hex file its easy to flash when you follow the programming threads steps

Dont forget to cut leg 5 on the MCU first

2376

Is the throw of razor blade dedomed XP-L2s that bad too? … compared to a dedomed XP-L or XM-L2?

2377

Dunno from what I've done - never attempted it, but from what I understand - yes, it's a bump from stock, loses lumens, but not doubling kcd. I think the bump is 50% of lower in kcd.

2378

More so than it should have been since Dale sent it to me already assembled. The awg22 wires barely fit through the pill but were simply to bulky for the driver to drop completely into place so I swapped them for 28 Teflon. After that it was straightforward. Rich has the same small springs and I renewed the thermal grease(AS-5) as well.

2379

Put an e-switch in my 7xXPL Convoy L2 . I decided I really wanted ramping UI in this light. Inspired by the Thrunite TH20, which I recently purchased, with very nice ramping UI, and DB custom’s video of Toykeeper’s ramping FW on his L6, I took the plunge to finish learning how to flash FW.

FYI, I had to comment out the section in this FW (ramping_table_UI on toykeeper’s FW repository) about the red and green voltage indicating lights.

In the process of trying to flash FW to the driver, I fried the Zener diode. So I either had to get another Zener diode or an LDO from mtnelectronics. I don’t know if some of you are like this, but sometimes I really just want to finish the job, and this sometimes leads to “kludging”. I went to radioshack and got a ~5V Zener diode and wired it up.

The Zener diode is in the place where the capacitor was, and the capacitor is in the Zener diode spot. They are in parallel so it doesn’t matter, the large diode just fit better in this position.

I drilled a small hole through the driver cavity wall and wired up a small momentary switch. I mechanically reinforced the switch body-to-light connection with epoxy.

16mA parasitic drain with full batteries. Eventually I may wire up a LDO, but I’ll leave it for now; it has the tail switch to lock it out.

I just noticed the LEDs are very dimly lit when the light is off, but not locked out. My understanding is that the parasitic drain for lights with the Zener mod comes from current draining through the ~200 Ohm resistor and Zener diode to ground. So I don’t understand how the LEDs are getting the current.

2380

Today I built out 2 Convoy S2+, one with a xp-l2 4000k v5 led w/ a ledil boom reflector (used a dremel to make it fit) and another with nichia 219C 4000k 90cri led w/ a tir lens (not sure where I got it from but it was in my parts bin). Nothing much to show except that I was pleasantly surprised by the distinct beams that they created, so I decided to post pics of the beams. Unfortunately, I only have my cell phone camera to take pictures with. The ledil reflector made a nice big hot spot, the picture shows a hot spot with 2 outer rings but when you see it in person it looks like one big hotspot and one outer ring. As for the tir lens, it has virtually no spill and the beam consists of a spot only.

2381

the rings come from too much jpeg compression, saving at higher quality or RAW will show the real fading

2382

Modified a nanjg105c today. Stacked 4 extra 7135’s for a total of 12. And swapped the attiny13a for a attiny25 with the desire to have temp regulation in a constant current driver. Using a Bistro, converted to a single channel. Bench tests are successful, but I still need to put it in a light to test thermal regulation.

2383

I reflowed a 219c sw403 into a v2 HDS Clicky. The light had an XP-G in it so I didn’t even try to remove the emitter board, which is epoxied and potted into place. Instead I used my hot-air reflow unit to do the swap in-place. No issues, and the light is much improved.

2384

Lumintop Tool Ti - lighted switch

2385

I glued a small clip to my Thrunite TH20 headlamp.

The clip is one that was made to attach to your keys (or anything with a key ring or string) so you can attach them to your pocket. I had to shorten it a bit for it to fit.

Belt clip will offer an additional way to carry temporarily while not in use. Just clip it to the pocket or belt for easy access. Also the angle of the clip is chosen so carrying it on my right side (outside of pocket or belt) projects the light out in front of me, for hands-free use. Doesn’t add any significant bulk or weight. Clip is just superglued on now because I was testing different angles of attachment, but I plan to use epoxy and I think it should hold pretty good.

2386

Modded a Skyewolfeye TLY-6501.

This is a super-cheap 1x18650 zoomie very common on Ebay. They can be had for anywhere from $2 to $15 depending on where you look.

This light attracted me for a number of reasons:

  • 107mm long making it the smallest currently available 1x18650 zoomie.
  • I needed a replacement host for the no-longer-available Aleto N8 18650 zoomie and this was the closest in size I could find.
  • body and tailcap is fully knurled. Light feels quite good in the hand.

It had all the features you’d expect in a super-cheap light:

  • Latticebright XPE
  • thin aluminum star
  • hollow pill (pill has a partial shelf several mm wide with a hole in the center. …. so more than the thin ledge some hollow pill lights have but definitely nowhere close to a full shelf.
  • wobbly tailstanding. Button protrudes just a bit too far.
  • standard press-fit switch, with a shrouded tailcap spring.
  • accepts 16mm star and 17mm driver
  • 20mm plastic aspheric lens.
  • very low output.
  • beam angle is narrower than I like.

Some additional observations:

  • The pill can easily be removed without using any tools.
  • The pill lip is quite narrow. Unfortunately, this means the pill cannot be filed down to the level of the top of the LED for a super-wide floodbeam. The beam is still quite nice, but you’re not going to get a 90 degree beam by modding this light.
  • The only thing stopping the bezel from sliding off the back of the light is the lens, which directly hits the edges of the pill. this is a bad design because a drop onto the head of the light from height could crack the lens.

Last couple nights I did a few simple mods to this light with spare parts I had on-hand.

  • Replaced emitter with XPL HI on Noctigon. Added a generous amount of AS5 on the partial shelf. That combined with a copper star should be all the heatsinking needed for at least moderate operation at full power. (I have another light that uses a hollow pill and a FET driven triple that works just fine with nothing under the star…. the trick is to use plenty of thermal grease to fill in any gaps around the edges).
  • Replaced driver with BLF A6 driver
  • Replaced switch housing and switch with a lower profile one.
  • Added spring at head to prevent skips if light is bumped while in operation.
  • Replaced tailcap with a lower profile black tailcap that allows perfect tailstanding.
  • Filed both sides of the pill lip. Back side needed a bit filed to allow the LED to come into focus with the thicker star. Front side needed filing to allow the lens to retract slightly further.

These mods greatly increased the usefulness of this light. Lumen output and throw are now outstanding.

Other modifications I am considering:

  • Shorten the pill with a file and grinding bit. Doing so would open up more space in the battery compartment.
  • That would allow me to then shorten the entire length of the light by filing off the top of the body where the pill screws in. Fortunately the pill threads are quite extensive so I can chop a lot off and still have the pill screw in. However, this might require filing a new o-ring channel in the body for the bezel, which could be risky in such a thin light.
  • Open up room in the tailcap by grinding off part of the inside of the switch compartment to allow the battery to extend into it.
  • Or file off the back end of the light and install a lower profile switch. Filing off the back end would mess up the anodizing though, so I’d likely end up removing all the anodizing and then polishing the bare aluminum.
  • Replace A6 driver with DrJones H17F.
  • Add tiny reflector around the LED (doing so adds a broad hotspot to the floodbeam greatly improving its usefulness. It also adds an ugly ring around the spotbeam, but the ring isn’t very bright and is only an issue for white wall hunting).
  • Not sure if I’ll bother, but adding a small ring of Sugru on the top of the pill might help cushion the lens in case of a fall onto the bezel.
  • Instead of keeping the tailcap switch I could try converting this light to a sideswitch like I did with the Aleto N8, though for this light I’d want to mount the switch further forward on the side of the moving bezel. Doing so would allow removal of the tailcap switch and could shorten the overall length of the light 15mm.

I figure if I do the above modifications I should be able to remove at least 1 cm from the overall length of the light which would make it even better for EDC pocket carry. Before shortening the light though I’ll need to first obtain another H17F driver.

2387

Almost finished with this one. It has a 219C triple regulated at 1.14A with guppy drive firmware. The brass pill was shortened and copper added back to give minimum driver depth. Short springs on both ends allow for more wood in the middle using a 16650 cell. The brass liner sleeve extends ~10mm past the head threads and seats onto the pill. Here it is between an 18650 A6 and an 18350 S2+.

2388

Nice :+1:

2389

Thats pretty sweet RBD. Lucky you limited it to 1.14A. It may have ended up along the lines of a movie made along time ago by Cheech and Chong. :wink:

2390

Cigar goes up in smoke?