What did you mod today?

thanks for the info Djozz

I’ve checked all over, resoldered + and - to the led star, checked the wires and nothing sticks out as abnormal. mkght have to try a diffent driver see if i damged the last one somehow.

Test parts out of light. Just dont let the LED lit for more than a second if it is really gone DD.

My guess is the LED MCPCB is twisting as you tighten the head. With the MCPCB twisting it is pinching a wire in the through hole. Sometimes silicone heals the cuts so it is hard to find without bending the wire to open the cut. BLF, Noctigon and similar boards are nice but the edges are sharp.
To help stop the twisting I lube the Oring on the lens and push on the lens and reflector with a thumb as I tighten the bezel.

Also make sure the wire insulation wraps up and over the MCPCB to the solder pad. As I solder the wire I push the Iron on the wire to flatten the connection where the space is limited. Solder blob on the pads may be touching reflector as you tighten it.
And not to be insulting but you do have the plastic spacer around the LED to reflector? I have lost them during assembly or put a light together and then saw the spacer sitting on the bench.

Thanks, VWpieces,

all good ideas, have checked everything you mentioned. I did find the MCPCB was twisting as I tightened but couldn’t find any cuts in the silicon wire. when I had the bezel off I placed the reflector on with the spacer and the solder wasn’t touching but resoldered and flattened out as you mentioned. Put it back together but still, high mode only :cry:

No offence taken at all mate, im fairly new to this so any suggestions are appreciated.

ive got some drivers on the way so will replace and test when they arrive.

My first guess is that you fried the FET with heat from the solder while doing the spring mod. Whenever working on any of these drivers try not to let the driver get too hot for too long. If your solder doesn’t stick the first time let it cool down for a bit before trying again.

Thanks vw :beer:

The original mod was done a while ago so I can’t remember for sure but the LED MCPCB is probably glued with some cheap compound that should come off fairly easily by twisting slightly with long nose pliars in the wire holes.
There might be a plastic retainer ring in there too.


Sunwayman P25C converted to triple xp-g2 s4 2b on a noctigon. Carclo 10507 and stock driver.

thanks for the suggestion, ill keep that in mind next time.

Direct drive only is usually a short to the negative lead, bypassing the driver and going direct drive. This is typically because the reflector is touching the negative lead or the negative lead is shorting on the MCPCB. I like to use Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive to glue the MCPCB in place so it can’t twist. If you’ll check the negative lead path, it could be shorting on the side of the pill at the driver, or pinched/cut at the emitter shelf or the edge of the MCPCB. Given your lights symptoms I’d be tracing the negative lead. Fix that and if it still acts up, well then it’s time to dig deeper. :wink:

Thanks DB Custom,

I have tested the light with the reflector and bezel off, the still high mode only, so don’t think its shorting on the reflector/bezel

maybe I should try with a new Negative wire, don’t think I have any spare right now though.

Thanks CRX, will try! :beer:

I have built Jaxman E2L with Nichia 219C sm503-D240-L1-R9050 and LD-B4 9Amp 17mm constant current LED flashlight driver. The biggest challenge was to solder everything on MCPCB, especially a small transistor. Also I had to sand the MCPCB to get it to fit in the light. After first try I checked MCPCB with multimeter and there was a short, so I sanded it “upwards” (so top black layer is folded towards leds) and it helped. The hole in the shelf was also drilled to fit more wires. Everything togheter produces a beautiful tint. According to this review it should make around 2400 lumens at 9 amps and 2000 lumens at 7 amps. At 7A (2000 lumens) stepdown occurs after 70 seconds in room temperature. It’s a bit dimmer than D4, but at least output can be sustained for over a minute and even longer outside in lower ambient temperature. There are beam shots and skin (?) shots in the album.

Very cool build g_damian,
did you do any thermal sinking to driver?
and good find on the MCPCB conductive layer and sanding it back.
I got some LED4P stuff for the single Luxeon V on 9A in S2+ build

Thank you :slight_smile:
I’ve used “B” version of the driver, so the mosfet is on MCPCB, not on the driver board. According to the data sheet, additional thermal sinking in that case is not necessary.

I’m also going to build Luxeon in S2+, also with thermal enhancement kit.

OK, I did get the “A” and thermal kit too. Selected the NTC for the driver, luckily that tiny thing is already on the Luxeon V MCPCB. 3 colors of tails too. Need to check the brightmess, had no idea what to select when ordering.

I ordered 9 amps version, too. Check in this review, 9 amps is max and makes 2400 lm:

EDIT: if you meant tailcap current, here they are:

I did mean tail caps. I got Orange, blue and gold. I went 150uA on all. I wanted kinda dim but I messed up.
I have the orange ILC-0 in my Luxeon V S2+ LD-4A 9A w/ thermal kit. Orange at 150uA is just a little too dim. Thanks for the color/current list. It will help dial them all in.
After seeing yours I went to building mine tonight. I like the light but I think the external NTC is a bit too low at highest setting but turned off the light gets too hot. My ext ntc is on the Luxeon V MCPCB and I soldered the MCPCB directly to the brass pill. I think I am going to take it apart again to put some MX4 thermal paste on the pill threads to body too. Overall it was a pretty neat build with all his parts.
Anyway, I will make another post with pics and more details of my 9A single emitter Cell Sucker.

Got the resistor sorted in the tail LEDs. After 5 tries, I was getting good at it. Ended with a 7.5 kΩ. I like it. will be hardly visible in daylight look good at night but not be annoying on the nightstand. Real hard to get pics to make it look as I see it.

Light is done,
Grey S2+, SMO, AR glass, Luxeon V 4000K 70CRI LED On L4P 4040 16mm DTP MCPCB soldered directly to brass pill, 20AWG on spings and LED. LED4P LD-A4 9Amp driver and LD-A4 Thermal Enhancement Kit squashed in there. Orange ILC-0 lighted tail SW with 7.5 kΩ resistor. Pulls initial 8.4A on my DMM with fresh HG2 from a Single Emitter.

OP reflector currently installed.

Best I can do to represent the tail LED indoors or night.

Beam shot with SMO, if the Pic hurts your eyes you see it in person.

Now has OP reflector installed.

^ That is a very nice build and at least on the picture it looks like a beauty of a beam!
I’m considering (almost) the same build (with a BLF-A6 driver and selfmade tail-led ring), how do you like the light as it is now?

vwpieces, good work, nice light, hope that mine build will be as good as yours :slight_smile: (still waiting for s2+ host).

I like the light, Killer LED. it Can compete with a triple. I wish the driver external ntc had a little higher temp range. Shuts off in short time on DD. But when its disabled in UI the light Will get too hot. I think the ntc on the emitter MCPCB is too close to the heat source. Even a large hefty light I think will shut off quick with the ntc on the MCPCB, before the body can soak the heat. The LED can take a beating and survive, I tried to kill it with ext ntc off but the driver on board thermal shuts it down completely. :smiley: I have Fet+1 Nichia triples on Bistro that have a better thermal regulation. I haven’t played in the UI too much on CC, I mean it’s a 9A driver and it’s pulling 8.4A DD. I can also lower the variable CC down to 7A and still keep DD. I gotta play more and maybe I will get it dialed in better.

But, in the back of my mind, I am thinking Fet+1 and Cresendo running that Luxeon V in something other than a Convoy S. Maybe a different light build with the Luxeon too. C8? Nothing built here that I can find except Dales D4 using the L.V. I am curious if it can throw, and considering a C8 first. No idea what it would look like sliced if needed in a C8.