What did you mod today?

Did some tint mixing with newly arrived Luxeon V2 5000K from DigiKey. I’m running out of lights with bad LED’s to swap but I picked my 1st batch D4. I also flashed the latest Anduril on it since I had it apart.


Before:

  • D4 VTC5D Nichia 5K 80CRI
    3,650 lm

After:

  • D4 VTC5D L1V2 4K+5K
    4,207 lm @ ~19.xx amps

  • D4 VTC6 L1V2 4K+5K
    4,180 lm

Luxeon V2 4000K+5000K+dirty TIR


The hot spot is much more defined and throwy. The star pattern thanks to the non-rotated 1st gen MCPCB is even more obvious now. The tint in the hot spot is pretty good, not at all green like the 80CRI Nichia 5K. There is a bit of a pinkish/purple tint in the spill though. I think it’s partly due to smooth narrow optic and partly due to what I assume is both of these LEDs being below the BBL and now that they are mixed they are even lower.

Petzl NAO 2 with Samsung LH351C 5000K CRI 90+ from Arrow 0,25$ action… :money_mouth_face:

Low

High

CRI-2

Another Maratac CR123 Rev3 triple Nichia 219B 9080 with lighted tail clicky.

Triple Nichia 219B 4500k R9080 emitters
18mm LD4 DTP triple MCPCB
10511 Carclo optic
ARC glass
Green GITD glow disc
L4P LD-A4 3A driver
Copper heatsink
Copper lined aluminium pill
Copper switch enclosure
Copper contacts
Reverse clicky warm white lighted tail switch
Lockout-able

Max - 630lm (3A)
Length – 70mm
Width – 22mm
Weight – 101g (with 16340 cell)

I tried a Luxeon MZ (90CRI, 5700K)in a (desert tan) Convoy C8 today. The build was straightforward, I used the stock XP-type board and a Convoy OP reflector. Just the centerpiece was a bit of a challenge: because the led is slightly rectangular and should be off-center a bit, a simple round hole does not work. I made some cutouts in a butterfly-type XM centerpiece, that worked. A bit off-center would perhaps even help getting rid of a donut hole.

The result is not what I hoped for. The output is good, over 1400 lumen and I can get more out of the led if I use a better cell (used a PF for a start). But the beam has a too pronounced donut hole despite the OP reflector. Much more diffusing is needed than that. On top of that the tint is not as good as maukka’s tests made me expect. The bare led at 0 degrees measures 91.3 CRI with a R9 of 69, tint on top of the BBL (maukka measured 95 CRI and R9=89), and the hotspot measured just 88 CRI with R9=46 (changing the AR-coated lens to uncoated did not changed that significantly).

The result now is that I do not feel like finding the ideal diffusing method (changing focus of the led and/or frosting the lens) for this light, but just think of a next nice led to put in that has not a quad die.

I was just about to spray the inside of a SMO Eagle Eye X6 lens i’m using a Luxeon MZ inside but now you have me second guessing doing it. Right now I just have a piece of diffusion film under the lens.

The Convoy C8 OP reflector is not really heavy OP, perhaps you can create a heavier OP like that?

I dont remember the donut hole even looking as pronounced when I had no film so i’ll give it a shot. If all else fails this will probably turn into a triple with a spacer down the road. It’s an X6 after all :slight_smile:

I do agree this LED is almost too difficult to work with but I think you are being a little unfair with the CRI/tint. Mine is doing over 2,000lm with a single 18650 and the tint is very even across the entire beam. I dont perceive with my eyes anything I would typical call above BBL either. Sure it’s no 219B or Optisolis but the output is ridiculously high for what you get.

For me this will be a test for a future Q8 build. If we can make the Q8 reflector slightly OP then you could tint mix and move up to 12V Luxeon MZ’s with the upcoming carriers. I would imagine it could be low amps and 9,000lm @ 90CRI.

I’m a bit spoilt lately with flashlight builds that go over 95 CRI and below the BBL, but admittedly they do not make close to 2000 lumen.(with a spring-bypassed tail from another C8 and a 30Q battery I see 10.3A and 1830 lumen at 30 seconds, and pretty stable at that)

Well the gloss spray paint didn’t do enough. I suspected as much cause it just takes the sheen off and doesn’t actually dimple it much. I went with a new scorched earth method: 320 grit sandpaper. You can see the sanding marks everywhere.

To me, this is better than diffusing the lens but only by a little. It retains some hot spot and has a noticable spill. The spill doesn’t really fade out though. The remaining beam outside the “hot spot” is pretty even all the way to the edge. I’m sure I could spend more time re-polishing it but I probably wont bother. It’s good enough until I have a better use for this light.

It’s still not recommended though cause the hot spot turns into a bit of a star burst pattern from a distance. I think it’s pretty much only going to look good under a TIR unless you want a completely floody beam.

My SMO C8 reflector didn’t go well with the Luxeon MZ… Plus I find the tint quite green.
I ordered a Convoy M1 host to see how it goes with the smaller reflector.
We’ll see, but maybe I had my hopes a bit high for this one

With my xhp50 C8, I have tried diffeeent OP reflectors to find a good one.
I think I have a good reflector from fasttech.

The Eagle Eye X1R has had some great deals going, comes with both tube sizes, and is a nice lightweight angle light, and very decent quality. I recently completed a full mod on one, 20 mm MtnE MCPCB, 351D 4000K 90+ CRI, 22 mm DEL driver sanded down to ~21 mm to fit, Infineon FET. For this mod, the tricky stuff is:

Here's some pics of the mod.

Stock setup:

Stock switch board:

Smarts on the back side of the switch PCB:

Stock LED setup:

Removing stock driver:

Here's the rotary tool work. The stock shelf extended to the blue edge, so it had to be cut out maybe ~2 mm so the replacement driver mounts on a thin shelf and can clear the SMD's:

Also the other side was a bit too thick for the driver's SMD's:

After sanding (sanding bit on the rotary tool):

The MtnE 20 mm after filing out spaces for the screws. The screws don't hold down the PCMCB, just keep it from spinning:

351D 4000K, nice reflow (maybe I'm getting better?) with trimming the excess:

New populated switch PCB. All parts removed, replaced LED's with pink ones and using 2 10K's, but probably could have used higher values - it's fairly bright:

The head modded parts at this point, sanded the surface as smooth as I could get but there is the slightly depressed spot for fitting the USB charging circuit there with the blue anodizing shown on the MCPCB mounted surface. I can only assume they were slightly off in clearances:

The new front end stack:

Driver installed with extra length on wires for driver re-programming, using the stock spring with a bypass:

On an Aspire 1100 cell at 4.19V, measured 4.8 amps, 1120 lumens at start (probably a little lower than my normal (non ANSI) numbers.

On a 30Q at 4.19V, measured 6.36 amps. Lumens is difficult to get an accurate # with a right angle light in my PVC light box.

No pics of the beam/tint, but very happy with it - nice milky white, nice soft hot spot with it's OP reflector.

Nice milling work to get the driver to fit. It looks like a real nice light now.

Thanx! Took some time but not really that bad as I thought. Just had to check clearances closely. The driver s now unglued, but the batt tube holds it down - not idea for when changing tubes, but so far working ok.

Tom E, you’re the first person I’ve seen calling X1R lightweight….myself I consider heavy weight to be a killer misfeature and I never used mine because of that. :frowning:

Tom E did you thought about keep the charging somehow?

I dunno, compared to the PL47, or the D4Ti I worked on today it's super light weight. My regular head lamp is a spark SX5 with a 26650 and built like a tank, but of course the batt is on the rear so it's well balanced.

I'ts been eliminated, as in many of my other mods. Would love to have been able to keep it but not in this light. The EE X6R and X7R I've modded was able to keep it in tact. Don't know enough or been able to spend time on USB charging circuitry to consider including it. If you know of any public OSHPark driver design that is our BLF FET+1 and charging, love to know.

My new Eagletac G25C2 "Evilboy"
HA3 (Sanodal Red B3LW) , Cree XHP70.2 6500K , W1900 circuit board from eagletac t25l-r, Ledil IRIS XM optics

That is a cool build Hemionline! The large TIR looks good in there. But I always thought that HA3 only could be done in black.

Sorry older post from Dec 12th, but oh no, didn't hear bout this, so I may be the last hold out. My conversion factor is/has always been 0.34.