MOD: Shortened blue Convoy S2+

I actually found I could run the shortened S2+ on the second highest FET setting for extra output. The head gets too hot to comfortably touch after awhile. The body tube especially near the head gets hot, but not too hot for the hand and the battery is fine. The temperature sensor kicks in to keep the light from getting too hot.

It’s perfectly usable like that even when left tailstanding. However, I’d probably want to wait 30 seconds for it to cool before putting it back in my pocket.

Does it work with a lit tailcap?

Btw. I like your strip and polish. I stripped mine and did minor cleanup. I think I’ll polish because I like how tired looks.

Unfortunately no.

If I hold the illuminated switch to the end of the battery tube without the tailcap I can see the 2 blue LEDs on the tailcap dimly lighting. But when I assemble the tailcap their output is far too dim to actually make it out of the cap. And this after I replaced the metal washer above the switch with a transparent one and verified that the rubber gasket around the metal plunger is full transparent.

I need an illuminated tailcap switch mechanism with a brighter LED in it.

Does it work with that driver? No bleeder resistor needed?

Works as is without a bleeder resistor. Just not very bright.

What’s the bleeder resistor do? If I add one will it be brighter?

Got the lighted tailcap working in my shortened polished S2+. It’s not blazingly bright, but is quite visible in the dark.


Since I had 8 of the lighted tailcap switches from Banggood, I decided to try resistor modding one by stripping the resistors from one module and stacking them on the other. This resulted in slightly brighter LED output.

  • I then took the stripped module and jumpered over where the resistors used to be. This resulted in even brighter output. Since the light still seems to still work even with no resistors on the switch I used the jumpered module as it had the most output.
  • I did not install a bleeder resistor on the driver. The driver still seems to be fully functional so perhaps this one doesn’t need it.
  • To get the light from the tiny LEDs on the switch module around the edges of the button, I needed to do two things:
  • The module rests on an opaque metal washer with just the switch protruding through. I needed to replace this washer with a transparent one. I didn’t have a transparent washer on hand of similar size and thickness, so I cut up a 2x18650 storage box from Mountain Electronics and made that into a washer. It’s mostly transparent and worked well, though I could probably get slightly greater output making a washer from a plastic lens from Flashlightlens.com.
  • Surrounding the top of the button, between the button and the housing is a thin ring of hard white plastic. It was opaque enough that the light wasn’t getting through. At first I removed this ring completely. That let the light through, but it was mostly only visible if you looked straight down the top of the plunger. The ring also served a second purpose of keeping the plunger from falling out of the light (unlikely since it actually locks into its rubber gasket) and helps stabilize it from wobbling side-to-side.
  • I replaced this plastic ring with a transparent one. I noticed that the bottom of my transparent plastic x-acto knife cover was almost the same size diameter as the white ring. I sawed off the end of the cover then filed it till it was the right size. In installing it, it did split into a c-ring, but that was ok as the break aided in fitting. It’s not needed for waterproofing as the gasket takes care of that. There are grooves at the top of the housing that lock the ring into place.

Nice mod! I find flashlights more EDC-able if they are short.

Also nice to know that the DrJones driver works well with no bleeder and no resistors for the tail leds.

I do not really understand what happened in thse post above though.
Are you btw aware that there are led-rings allowing 6 leds in a circle available at Oshpark, that can replace the washer in the tail assembly, so that the leds shine more efficient through the gap?

I have an H17F+ that is the same as the H17F but made for multiemitter higher output lights. It should be the same outherwise and it works with the lighted tailcap and no bleed resistor. Actually, the driver starts freeking out if a bleed resistor is added.

I am now! I should get one of those. Should be much better than what I am using now.

I really like this mod. The shortened s2 with the 18350 tube is so small! :open_mouth: Nice job! I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like when you replace that washer with the PCB LED ring!

Thanks so much for the inspiration Firelight2!

I have built a few blue S2+ configurations. Never loved them, so sold them all. Seeing what you did inspired me.

So, I went ahead with a few mods.

  • Built the pill (spare copper Reylight one) with an H17F and triple 4000K Nichia 219B. Added a frosted trit optic and glow sticker. This part is pretty usual for me, nothing special.
  • Stripped and lightly sanded the anodizing. The blue was decent, but didn’t quite do it for me. I wanted a silver S2+ but it has not come out yet so made my own. It was pretty nice but I did some polishing of the smooth areas after seeing yours. Barely touched the knurling, just cleaned it a bit with worn 2000 grit sandpaper. It’s a nice contrast to the polished surfaces and provides better grip. The strip and polish really makes the light cooler.
  • Didn’t like the stock convoy clip (flimsy, too long, black, some awkward details). I took my favourite slip on clip (same as found on a DQG mini 3/4 clicky 18650 light) and machined/filed the clip ring to be as skinny as the convoy clip. It’s not perfect but looks and works a lot better. Better size too.
  • Had a spare lit tailswitch from a BLF X5. I swapped out the black gasket in the tail to clear. I think my host is newer stock as it came with a white plastic washer instead of aluminum (from Mtn Electronics) so no work needed there. Now the tailring has a nice soft blue glow. Fairly even (only 1 LED, 2K resistor). It’s about as bright as a single small trit. Not bright, but very good for my needs (I don’t like it to be too bright). I seemed to have lost tailcap lockout (even though the threads are still anodized) so I will need to remember to charge the battery every month or so, since the 18350 will be drained in 6-8 weeks with the lit tailcap.

EDIT: never mind, just needed to unscrew it more.

I didn’t shorten mine (yet?) because I like the way it looks with 18350 tube, and because I wasn’t comfortable reaming out the head threads.
I’ll need to pick up a few more lit switches for future mods! So glad you told us about the H17F not needing a bleeder resistor.

Can you take a picture of your current shortened 18650 light next to say, a standard S2+ with 18350 tube, a Zebralight 18650 light, and the Sunwayman V11R? I want to get more of an idea of the size. I may try shortening the head on mine. I have a short copper pill I can use after some modding.

I was all gung ho about getting a Jaxman E2L for modding but this mod is too sweet.
I’ll try to post pix soon.

Here you go:

Left to right: Shortened Convoy S2+ with 18650 tube (105mm long), Zebralight SC600w III HI, Convoy S2+ 18350, Sunwayman V11R


Left to right: Zebralight SC600w III HI, Convoy S2+ 18350, Sunwayman V11R, Shortened Convoy S2+ with 18350 tube

One option for those who don’t want to shorten the head of the light: If you shorten the pill only, you can use the stock head and 18350 tube with an 18500 cell and the metal clicky. This would give you a light more compact than my metal clicky 18650, while still having a lot more power than an 18350.

With the tailcap clicky, the shortened S2+ isn’t really my most compact Convoy. That honor belongs to my old Convoy S2+ sideswitch mod

The S2+ with sideswitch is shorter than a Zebralight SC52, but uses an 18500 cell. However, the sideswitch mod left a lot to be desired. My efforts to paint it to match the anodizing look lousy, and I doubt it’s as durable or waterproof as the metal tailcap clicky. If I were doing that mod again I might just leave it bare aluminum.

Ok. I was feeling like I needed to do something for this light. It’s cool but needed something. So I did a shortening like this thread indicates.

I took the short copper ReyLight pill that came with the triple ti. It was meant to be used with a single LED and reflector and was about 4.5mm shorter than the stock triple pill.

Then:

- I used a dremel and hand file to remove the big copper lip. A big pain.

- Drilled a centre hole in the pill and sanded and polished the heatsink surface.

- Filed the top few threads on the pill. Smoothed out a section around 5mm to allow the pill to screw in farther.

- Cut the smooth section off the Convoy S2+ head and filed/sanded smooth. This removed about 10mm.

  • Filed and sanded the top of the battery tube because it was hitting the pill. Removed about 1mm.

The end result is a nice 108mm Convoy S2+ triple! It fits button tops too.

When I have more time I’ll need to grind out the head to allow the use of an oring in the head again.

Here are some pix.

After the initially stripping.

Polished up with the DQG clip.

The shortened pill vs the stock triple pill.

The pill drilled, sanded and polished.

The end result. 108mm long! I don’t have any stock lights to compare.

In comparison to the 18350 E2L

In comparison to the 18350 E2L and a standard 18650 battery.

In comparison to an 18650 E2L. Not a huge difference. Still smaller.

Small update. :). Very small.

Didn’t really like the clip. Doesn’t stay in the slot well enough. Went back to the old convoy clip.

Can you provide more details on the grinding bit? It’s needed to get the head to seat onto the battery tube properly. The threaded section rests on the ledge of the battery tube at the base of the threads.

Ah. Never mind. I found that my dremel kit had the right cylindrical grinding bits and a buffing bit I used to grind out a few mm of threads. The head seats properly now and I can use the proper O-ring.

Note, I didn’t need to touch the battery tube, after grinding out the threads everything fits. I can even take a bit more off but will stop for now (107mm).

There’s a lot of space to be gained in the tail too.
Unfortunately the coloured S2+ has a fairly tall button assembly, but with a black or grey S2+ you can do several things to gain space.

I had a look, and you could basically skip the whole battery tube for a 18350 triple light.
You would then need a tall piece of threaded tube to join both.

That would be insane! A bit too short for me but a cool idea.