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.