SAiK SA-305 WW XM-L Upgrade

Honestly the real reason I didn’t want to go was having to pay a $100 deductable for the hospital visit. That would have turned this $30 total investment into a $130 torch and it would have killed me knowing what I could have just gone and bought for $130 in the first place. A V60C for example!

Hmm, looks very interesting! It seems as though that hotspot is really tight, at least compared to my MCU-C88 w/ XML, but that might be due to the distance the light was from the wall.

Another good mod for this light. Nice work.

Thanks!

Nice mod, JohnnyMac.

A 26650 will definitely not work. Maybe a 32600.

This si how it looks.

Photo from: http://laserpointerforums.com/f52/2w-saik-sa-305-26650-host-w-massive-mohrenberg-heatsink-58842-5.html

The 32600 cells are 5000mAh.

Just a thought - what about using (3) 14500's in parallel in a battery carrier? I know the existing carrier is series, could it be modded? Probably still easier to go with the 25500 cell. Really disappointed the 26650 and 32650 are a no go! This could have been nearly perfect for my need! What do you think about an XP-G driven with the 1.4A Nanjg driver in this? Stock reflector ok for XP-G too? Looking for good throw with useable spill.

How hard is it to grind the lens? Of course I'll wear safety glasses!

Oh, and what size emitter board fits the p60 pill? 16mm?

Thanks,
-Garry

Nice deatailed info and great mod. Never tought that the saik internals are that bad...

32600? I thought the body is too narrow for a 32XXX cell? Body need bored?

-Garry

Sure would be nice if a 32600 did fit. I think Old Lumens measured the battery tube I.D. at around 31mm IIRC. I will have to break out the calipers and measure mine to confirm. Perhaps older versions were a hair wider or the one in that pic was bored out a little. Rereading the pic description, that is a 26650 and not a 32650. There is quite a bit of meat in the tail cap of this beast. Perhaps someone with a lathe could easily bore out more depth in the tail cap and fit a 26650. Wouldn’t be hard to take another 5mm or metal out of it.

Unlike most 3*AA or 3*AAA carriers that are designed to be 65mm long, they appear to have made this carrier as short as possible to keep the overall length of the light down. A shame really as I'd love to be able to fit a full sized 32650 in it. Would be perfect!!

Yes 16mm, and down.

On the same forum I've found this:

But it all depends on the heatsink size and driver size combination.

Garry, I think an XP-G at 1.4A would work great.

The glass is easy to grind. just very time consuming. I went through 2 or 3 2" sanding drums on my drill press just to grind down 1 lens. Glass eats the hell out of the drums. If you have a belt sander it'd be easier I suppose.

As for 3*14500 cells in parallel I'm sure it's easily doable. Shouldn't be too hard to rebuild the battery carrier or even make a better one from scratch. I'd rather just go with a 26500 for less money and more capacity and keep the 3*AA carrier for emergency use. I'm sure if you had access to a lathe/mill you could take enough metal out of the beefy tailcap to fit a 26650 cell. That tail cap weighs almost as much as the whole rest of the light. LOL.

Hey Johnny,

Just got my Saik in and I'm thinking of maybe changing my mind to an XM-L with either the 1.4A or 2.8A driver. How is the 2.8A driver on 3 AA's? Can the AA's handle that current draw? (Thinking NiMh cells, not alkalines, but what would alkalines be like?) Thinking this light would make a good "flooder" with XM-L.

-Garry

Garry! The batteries or the holder just dont allow it to be bright with the xm-l compared with other lights. If I put in an 18650 and work it to get a connection it really comes to life. If all your using is AA cells then the 1.4A is plenty. If you want to run li-ion then a 2.8A is a must. Let me know what you end up doing. Good luck!

Johnny

Hmm. . . decisions decisions! The only LED on me right now is a DX XP-G R5 (7000k). I’d like a neutral white XM-L really, but not sure where to buy one. Any suggestions?
I’ll probably just put the XP-G in for now and maybe swap to an XM-L later. I would like to go with 3AA’s.
-Garry

Here’s a thought. What about boring the body out a tad and using a D cell NiMh driving an XM-L with a boost driver? I saw a 700mah boost driver - Illumination Supply? I’ve also seem one around 1A at DX. 700mA would give around 250 lumens from an XM-L. Of course I’m not pushing for max output, but a very usable light with great runtime.
-Garry

Ok, three posts in a row, I know . . . I threw some NiMh's in this light and tested it out and I must say that it's not nearly as bad as you all (y'all for you southern USA folk - I spent 2 years in Georgia) made it sound to be. The machining is my only real complaint. It barely has any threads on the tail and seems like those threads will start cross-threading and wearing out pretty quick. The beam is a bit ringy, but not that nasty and not too noticeable outdoors. It does throw! I can easily light up a treeline from the street to my rear property line which is 400'. I would say at about 150' the hotspot is about 10' in diameter (not a pencil beam). Mine tailstands just fine with no mods. The switch only takes a very slight press to change modes (I kept turning it off by accident - it's very sensitive). Mine does not change modes due to battery rattle. One negative though, I already lost the lens! I have no idea where or when. I took a look at it, thought the lens looked really really clean and then noticed there was none there! So what size camera filter would fit this? Would I go with a "48mm" filter (since you mention 48mm lens in the O.P.? Or does "48mm" in camera filter terminology refer to the bezel diameter?

-Garry

I don't know if anyone has ever posted tailcap currents for the stock unit, so here are mine:

High (100%): 0.86A
Low (25%): 0.20A
(On freshly charged Panasonic NiMh cells - very old cells, but holding up well.)

I also found something at Lowes to plug that tripod hole, a 1/4 x 20 set screw:

You can still make out the info on the reverse side of the package.

-Garry

LED Supply. They have 4500K XML's on 20mm star-nicest tint I've found so far from U.S. dealer.

Rich

$11.14 + $4.99 shipping . . . guess you pay for faster delivery! I actually would need a 16mm base though. I looked at Mouser, but it's difficult to look for what you want and they seem to be bare emitters only. I did not check Digi-key, but expect them to be similar.

-Garry