What did you mod today?

[FmC]

Thanks 18sixfifty

[Truck]

Just modded my first ever Convoy! A S2+. Now with a DD fet driver. stunning light.

[18sixfifty]

@Firelight2

Did some more work today on a cheapie budget flashlight I had modded last week.

Here’s what it looks like now:

This light now sports the following new mods:

• Lens replacement - 22mm glass lens from Kaidomain replaced the stock standard 20mm plastic aspheric lens. The new lens is slightly wider and has a shorter focal length. Between the lens and the bezel I added an o-ring and an aluminum c-ring. These prevent the bezel from screwing down all the way and help protect the lens. Without these the new lens would protrude above the bezel. I added a second o-ring onto the exterior of the light in the gap between the knurling on the head and the bezel, mostly for aesthetics. The new lens has a nice beam pattern and due to its shorter focal length has a wider spot in throw mode. It is also very slightly throwier than the stock lens. The lens itself had just the right width for the bezel, except that the flat portion that sticks out from the edges of the lens was just slightly too big. I spent a half hour sanding the edges of the glass down with sandpaper to get it to fit.
• Copper plug added below the star - I made the plug using 4 pieces of sheet copper cut into circles and then soldered together. the top most circle is slightly wider as it rests on the shelf for the star. This also raises the star up slightly, which works well with the shorter focal length lens. The plug is glued in with Arctic Alumina.
• Screws added to hold star in place - previously, I was using a plastic insert to hold the star in place, but I was finding the insert was popping out. Now the star is screwed into the copper plug and can’t pop out of position. I also added AS5 thermal grease under the star.
• Driver wire replacement - with the now solid pill, having short driver wires wouldn’t work. Like most side switch zoom lights, the driver is not mounted on the pill. If it were the wires to the switch would probably break when the pill was screwed in. Instead the driver is mounted at the back of the head with a retaining ring. The star is mounted on a separate pill at the front of the head. I still wanted to be able to disassemble the light after gluing in the pill. To solve this problem I used very long driver wires between the star and driver. These driver wires are long enough with enough room to twist that the pill can be completely screwed down without damaging them. There is plenty of extra room in the very roomy head and this actually worked quite well.

These mods were added to the ones I did on this light last week:

• LED Replacement - stock LED replaced with slice-dedomed SST40 on copper Noctigon.
• Driver replaced with 15mm FET+1 driver from Mountain Electronics with Emisar D4 UI. I used brass 20mm adaptor ring so the driver would fit (the light is sized for a 19mm driver. A 20mm fits with a little filing).
• Switch replaced with a 2.5 mm Radio Shack tact switch.
• Switch boot replaced with one from Kaidomain. The new switch boot sits flush with the head of the light. It doesn’t protrude like the original one, making accidental pocket activation much less likely.
• spring bypassses at both head and tail
• Battery Tube and tailcap replaced with ones from an Astrolux S42. I run the light on an Aspire 18350.
• USB hatch on the underside of the light sealed and covered with a circle of black anodized aluminum.

Here are some very short-range beamshots at low power:

I’m still deciding whether I like this light with its current mods:

What I like:

• Excellent UI - gotta love that Emisar D4 UI
• Sideswitch - rare on a zoomie.
• Heatsink fins on the body of the light, not just the sliding bezel - rare on a zoomie. I can only think of a few others with heat sink fins on the body and none of them have side switches.
• Hand Feel - knurling at 3 points on the light. Grip feels quite good.
• Anti-roll - the head shape gives this light excellent anti-roll.
• Output - The SST40 is pretty much the king of emitters for small single-cell pocket zoomies. Takes a lot of current and runs hot, but has considerably more output than XPL HI. At a guess I figure about 2000 lumens out-the-front on flood mode on a fresh cell.
• Large glass lens - hopefully more resistant to wear than acrylic, and larger than the stock lens found on any tube-shaped zoomie.
• Legoable - the threads at the head are compatible with battery tubes from the BLF A6 and Astrolux S42. I can swap in a longer tube to make this a single-18650 light.
• Beam pattern - nice wide flood, coupled with adequate spot beam. The image of the LED is focused in spot mode (can’t see it in picture as the wall is too close to the light). However, some artifacts appear in the beam from the screws and the slice-dedoming of the LED. I could try covering them up with black paint but doing so would insulate the star and might cause heat issues.

What I don’t like:

• Large for its battery size - normally I prefer compact lights that make efficient use of their internal volume. The modded light is 101 mm long. That’s comparable to or slightly larger and heavier than many small 18650 lights like the Emisar D4. This in a light that runs off a cell with 1/3 the capacity of an 18650.
• Heavy - With its battery inside the light weighs 108.6 grams. That’s a lot of weight for a light that runs on such a small cell. The new glass lens, copper plug and extra driver wires jacked up the weight noticeably. they also affected the balance of the light. The head definitely feels heavy.
• Tint - I’m still waiting for SST40s to become available at our regular flashlight supply vendors in neutral tint. Mine are 6500K. Slice dedoming warmed them up some but I estimate the tint is still no warmer than 5500-6000K. The tint is adequate but warmer would be preferable. I’d prefer 4500K if I could get them.

Nice job and great write up.

I agree, a de-domed SST-40 is a great replacement for the XPL-hi. However, in these small zoomies the XP-G2 de-domed still has it’s place, not better or worse than the SST-40 just a different application. If someone is looking for the maximum throw in a extra small zoomie but still wants a decent amount of lumens with good run time the XP-G2 is another good way to go. Even the XP-E2 has it’s place in these small zoomies. Stick one on a noctigon and use a 2.8amp driver with an attiny on it and you can still program it. You get great run times, less heat and lots of throw as well.

I just did a super cheapy SKYwolfeye TLY-6501 zoomie the other day for a friend and used the XP-G2 S4 2B de-domed for this exact reason. Since you like zoomies you might like them. It’s one of the smallest 18650 zoomies, the focal length on the lens is actually pretty darn good for being so small. There are cheap too, you can find them for under $4.

[Persechini]

My first emitter reflow! From the ashes of my deceased D4, the first flashlight to receive an emitter transplant was my Lumintop Tool AAA, from cold white, which I didn’t fancy much, to a loving 90+CRI 5000k!

If the wires look soldered wrong, is because I reflowed the emitter wrong, hehe, still not bad for my first reflow still

Next I think will be my Nitecore TIP, maybe an S2+ and the last one is still looking for a host

[vwpieces]

Good job Persechini. All down hill from there. Especially after the tiny light you did as a first.

[djozz]

I had not touched a solder iron for two weeks until tonight so I had to do something quick to prevent withdrawal symptoms.

I got my Jetbeam E40R in today. I just adore the design, the modes are good, but the user interface is not well thought out (a bit of a disaster really with the loooooooong press for on and off). And at Jetbeam they probably thought they were pretty modern to put a SST-40 in it, but that emitter is too for me.

Nevertheless I like the E40R, for the design, and it has onboard charging which is very nice. So I found it worthwhile swapping the emitter for a XM-L2 3000K 90CRI, sunny and warm , but the output is down to 725 lumen now.

Note for others modders: the bezel is glued tight with blue stuff that only gave way after extensive heating with a small blowtorch and brute force.

[robo819]

I gave my little Thorfire TG06 a complete make over a few weeks ago but never got around to posting it. This one has the smooth reflector in it.
I put a Fet driver in it with dedomed XP-L emitter on Noctigon and spring bypasses at both ends. Then I decided it needed to look different than the other TG06 I have so I sanded off some of the Anodizing and polished out those areas to get this……….

Then a few days ago I got a NEW Convoy L2 host , 20mm MTN FET 7135 + 1 driver , 20mm Noctigon and a XP-L HI V3 3C to put in the L2. I got that all done and of course did spring bypasses at both ends with 20awg Turnigy wire.

The L2 has a great beam and making 1491 lumens now and I was very happy with it , UNTIL I noticed that the Bezel and the tailcap both had the Anodizing just flaking off of them on the very ends , even though the light had hardly been messed with other than the mods and about 10 mins of testing and a couple of beamshots.
The very end of the tailcap was the worst even though it had only been sitting on a wooden shelf and had my thumb over the end clicking the switch.

The rest of the Anodizing seems to be fine , other than the Bezel and tailcap sections.
I decided instead of making a big deal of it or trying to get a replacement or what have you, I would just make the L2 Unique.
I used some aluminum cleaning acid I have and took the Anodizing off the Bezel , Tailcap and the flat ring where the “Convoy” logo is etched in down to the bare aluminum. I then polished those areas just enough to give the bare aluminum a Satin looking finish , instead of the highly polished look. Also I put the Black switch boot back in to match the light better in the end.
Overall I am pleased with the way this project came out.

Here is what the light looks like now and also a beamshot at 175 yards……………….

[BobbyMK]

Another Nichia swap. This time 219b 4500k r9080 in Lumintop Prince.

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Robo, that L2 came out SWEET! The clear area’s have such a nice velvety look to em, beautiful work there my friend, beautiful!

[ZozzV6]

I putted in an Osram oslon square 4000K 96 CRI led to a friend’s Utorch UT01.
And reflowed four same led on to a quad noctigon which is going in to my Thorfire VG10S with carlco 10622 and TA fet driver. Now I’m waiting for the spacer to be done.

[CRX]

Matchbox Instruments HF-R Ti.

I’ve been working on this the last few days and it has finally ended up an XHP50 light with GITD rotary switch markers and a momentary side switch.
There is a thread with a fairly thorough teardown for anyone interested in how these are built.

.
10250/ 10440 configs

.
2 x 10250 XHP50 1260lm max with momentary side switch

[vwpieces]

Built my first driver from parts. Tiny85 and D4 v2 Ramping_IOS was ordered programmed from MtnE. Did the assembly with an iron and a quick re-melt on the stove. 30mm driver, 20AWG and bronze spring

It Works!!

[Persechini]

@vwpieces
Thanks, and cool!

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Excellent work on the HF! Mine was one of the first ones and oddly, it doesn’t look like that!

VW, very clean work on that driver, fun isn’t it?

[vwpieces]

Yeah its fun when its done and works. If it didn’t work I would be SOL with no clue why.
30mm is going into SD26, if all goes well it will also charge.
Have a 17 & 20mm to build next. 17mm is for the C8F.

Any clue if anything needs to be changed in the D4 UI code for 2S like the L6?

[MtnDon (Don Miller)]

Very cool; to both vwpieces and CRX

[vwpieces]

Thanks
I am wanting to see some Hot Air action Don.

[Persechini]

2 emitter transplants today:

Nitecore HC30 with cool white emitter got a spare XM-L2 3B tint I had from from my S2+ triple

Nitecore TIP 2017 also cool white got the 2nd 219C high CRI 5000k from the late D4

Notes:

• Broke the lens on the TIP, and have no idea how to replace it… I hope my local glass shop will have the tools do cut a circle this tiny. Scratched the reflector a little too, but it doesn’t appear to be affecting the beam
• I never quite got the snapping effect people show and tell about reflowing emitters, I had to manually center the emitters and by consequence the MCPCBs spent more time on the pan than I’d like, the TIP MCPCB even started to peel of the positive pad and started smelling a little funny. Is this because there is less solder than needed? I never added any extra solder, I just used what was left over on the MCPCB and back of the emitter
• So far these are 3 (2 from this post and the Tool AAA previously) cool white flashlights that I made into my preferred 5000k tint, 2 of them are now also high CRI. The 3 of them have neutral/warm white versions that where either unavailable, not included in a flash sale, or unknown to me at the time of purchase, so now I have flashlights that I like a lot more than I did before and washed away any semblance of regret I had from buying the cool white versions. I don’t think I would have ever tried such feats if not for everything I see and read shared here, so thanks BLF for that

[MtnDon (Don Miller)]

@vwpieces

Thanks
I am wanting to see some Hot Air action Don.

Me too! I have other stuff “in the way”. I need to complete the big bookcase project first. Getting close to being done; stained the last pieces this morning.

[ZozzV6]

Some pics of the earlier mentioned Osram Oslon square 4000K 96 CRI led replacements:
Smaller than XP but not really difficult to fit because the thermal pad has almost the same width.



Beautiful colors with 96 CRI


One in the Utorch UT01:


On the left: UT01 Osram, On the right: Nitecore TIP CRI

Left: UT01 XP-L CW, right: UT01 Osram