Thanks for the suggestion. However, I find that firmware can make or break a light and that of East is definitely a breaker for me. I searched for alternative firmware, it seems to use some unpopular MCU, so no easy fix. I see a similar driver that doesn’t seem to be very popular. Still, no different firmware available.
Nevertheless the following:
dedomed SST-40
BLF A6 driver
DTP MCPB
AR coated lens Narrow TIR
bypasses of both springs
can be had for just over $15.
is interesting too. Will the stock switch survive? Anyway, 52% over the budget won’t do.
Thanks TBone, that’s a great info. I did nothing to focus the lens, that may be the problem.
Also, I used the cheapest lens that I could find. Should I expect a Convoy or LEDDNA one to be better?
Some people like TIRs more than reflectors as there is less spill.
“The cheapest I could find” usually is not the best quality. Check the Convoy TIR thread and see if you like it.
I just experimented with focus. Before, I didn’t remove the centering ring. Now I did and it helped a lot, judging by the eye the hotspot is brighter than the reflector now. It seems that the LED itself doesn’t let it sit low enough, so there should be further gains after dedoming. Anyway, I’ll try a better lens too.
Instead of filing down a 20 mm PCB it might be easier to file down the protruding part of the pill where the 16 mm PCB sits. (Just an idea, haven’t done this yet.)
And I don’t believe it’s worth to do spring bypasses as long as you don’t use a FET driver or stack plenty of 7135. Same with thicker wires.
Dedoming is good for throw - and not too difficult with XM-L2.
Coated lens gives only little lumen gain but might worsen the tint.
Most easy mod for throw probably is to get a cheap XP-L HI on DTP board - KD usually has fair prices - and a BLF A6 driver (look for coupons). And spring bypasses and thicker wires in this case.
Most beautiful mod of course is a triple with carclo and high CRI LEDs but this will exceed your budget slightly. KD has triple boards with Nichia 219C 4000K CRI92 for little money, cheaper than single LEDs. But the boards are crap, you should reflow the LEDs to a noctigons. I did this mods with copper spacers but I’ve seen some old posts here where members did it even without spacers.
The opening for the silicone tailcap is bigger than the thread for the metal button.
But a press-in adaptor ring could work. Metal buttons are available as spares.
That close-up picture was shot by me with the help of a 37mm (Google cardboard) convex lens atop my smartphone camera lens. With this driver current went above 6A on an XP-L HI emitter in their C8T flashlight. Steps down to low power MOSFET operation after 3:25 (205 seconds) and has moonlight mode packed together with a funny strobe in group mode 2:
I ordered 2 different 10-degree lenses from leddna. But I can’t help but wonder will my 5-degree lens be throwier? Better quality vs. narrower design. But a more important question: will a good 5/8 degree lens be better than what leddna or Simon offers? And how to find a good one?
I have the 10-degree lens from LEDDNA. came in excellent packaging, gives a good throw from an S2+ (you can “feel” the beam). they had them on sale earlier this year (not sure how much I paid).
Don’t have any results from a 5-degree lens though.
I got 21x12.5 and 20x13.5 mm for $0.40 and $0.54 respectively. I may get a third S2+ here before the lenses arrive, so I may be able to directly compare stock vs. cheap 5° vs. LEDDNA 10°, even if only by the eyes…