Zoomie Build!

Okay so I finally got all the bits for my first "host" build. I got the UF-20 host from mtn electronics, single 18650 because I like zoomies, and I don't see many mods or builds. Let's get to it.

First off this is great host. It's super sturdy, heavy duty, and seems to be high quality. Everything is o-ring sealed. Brass pill, good threads, and everything fits nicely. The aspheric lens is glass.

Thick walls on the body!

The switch has a great feel.

Reverse clicky in there somewhere

Nice. It comes apart pretty easy. Unscrew the retaining ring on the lens, remove the lens, unscrew the pill, and the head comes off. Easy! Takes a 16mm MCPCB and 17mm driver.

The driver is a linear FET I got from Convoy on Aliexpress. Came with a bypass wire already installed! Supposed to be good for 6A.

I chose an SST-40 5000K for the LED. It's from the Convoy Store and is the 2nd highest bin supposedly good for 1600+ lumens at 6A.

It goes together pretty easy...The driver presses into the pill, and the LED is held in place by a plastic retaining ring.

That thing was a bear to get on there!

The pill threads into the body, then you put the head on and screw it down a little ways until you feel resistance

The o ring goes in on top of the head, set the lens on top, and screw down the retaining ring until you can twist the head from full flood to spot without it unscrewing

I popped in a Sony VTC6 and away I went! The modes for the driver are weird and wonky, but once you get over the learning curve it's passable. 3 mode groups with turbo, med, low, group 2 is ramping from moon to turbo in steps, and group 3 is turbo, med, low with a hidden strobe and SOS.

It's really bright! The brightest pocketable light I've ever had. Puts the Nebo to absolute shame.

There's lots of usable light, and I need to get used to the fact the hotspot isn't round, but square and you can see the bond wires (pictures don't show since it's so bright). If you don't zoom it all the way, you actually get sort of a normal hotspot pattern with some spill. Zoomed out it's a big uniform round circle of light. Not as bright as zoomed in, but still lots of light.

It throws pretty good, but nothing like a dedicated thrower!

Barely reaches the tree about 300M away.

As far as heat, yes, it does get uncomfortably hot after about 6 min. on turbo. I'm not used to that, but it does keep your hands warm. It will be nice camping when it's chilly. There's no thermal protection on the driver, so it will run until something breaks. The mode selection on the driver stinks and is taking some getting used to.

Overall pretty pleased with my first real host mod. However, I find it lacking, so I am already planning upgrades...Xhp50.2? Luxeon V? SST-50? So many choices!

Thanks for looking.

Thanks for the post! I was looking at a T20 host today, good to see what it looks like on the inside. Also a 1504 host too :wink:

What is it that you find lacking? If you want more throw, it’s actually better to go with a smaller LED in most cases. Technically, you need higher luminance. Bigger LEDs usually put out more light just because they’re bigger, but they don’t have as good luminance as smaller LEDs. If you put a bigger LED in the zoomie, you will get a bigger die image when zoomed, and generally less brightness in the spot, but overall more lumens.

What do you think about the tint? I was planning to build pretty much the same, I’m mostly interested in uniform flood with ocasional throw use. These are several inexpensive zoomies in the market with supposedly good output but I have doubts about their build quality.

Actually someone in r/flashlight replaced the SST40 with a Luxeon V in the Convoy S21A with the thermal protection driver and the output decreased. The only explanation I could give, apart from a bad contact and the flood vs. throw hypothesis, was the driver getting to 55C very fast due to the Luxeon V low Vf and throttling down the output. The ramping driver has no thermal protection but I’m not sure if the extra heat will be healthy.

Nice build. Have you thought of the flat white 1mm² led?

Thanks for the info on tha and you’re right. I was thinking that a bigger emitter gives more light and throw? Maybe I’m used to my xhp70.2 builds! I’m always looking for more power! I impulse bought a new emitter from Simon yesterday. I’l stick that I’m there and see how it goes.

I think this led: NOCTIGON XP16 & Osram CSLNM1.TG LED - OSRAM white flat - LED

Will give you the most throw. should use a driver that gives max 4.5 amps if you want to use it.

Thw tint is good. Maybe a bit cooler than 5000k, but my naked eye could be wrong. Either way it’s i think 70 or 80 cri. There’s some very obvious artifacts though. I ran into the same dilemma. Lots of zoomies out there, but I questioned their quality and design for a high powered setup. I liked this one because it’s heavy duty, glass lens, with thermal mass and a brass pill, not aluminum. For under $7, this driver is great, and you can flash it as well if able since it has the eprom chip.

I recommend the T20. Very good quality. I was surprised! The bigger ones like the 1504 are built a little different with the head and pill design. I think the bigger one would give you a better (cleaner) beam pattern with more flood and throw zoomed in/out.

Nice. I still don’t know what to put in the 1504 but was thinking a 319A for that sweet hex pattern. Some kind of UV in the T20.

I have a Nichia 319 in another project and it’s very unique. You will get an amazing bean profile on the zoomie since it’s a hex die and not square. Output isn’t anywhere near an xpl-hi or sst40 or XML-2, but still decent if you push it. 550lm 3A-4A maybe. Plus you get good CRI in some bins.

I’ll grab one from Clemence (virence.com), don’t need big throw cause I’ve got other dedicated throwers - this is more for fun :slight_smile:

Looked at this: Nichia 319A D440 Output test by Texas_Ace; Hex die LED gives a nice beam

I mean I know it’s 6500k and 70cri, but hopefully I can get 80% of that output….

I’m not a big fan of zoomies but nice build log :beer:

I was really looking at that host. You answered the question I had about retaining the MCPCB. It looks like a 20mm board could fit and holes for retaining screws drilled into the pill. Thank you for sharing your build!

I think you could put a 20mm on there. You’d need to do away with the retainer though. You might br able to glue the mcpcb down with thermal adhesive rather than drill holes in the pill.

Nice Build! I like the T-20 for an inexpensive host zoomie with a smaller lens, bigger lens tends to have more throw though. I use one as a hunting light mounted to a long gun.

I thought about sanding down a 20mm mcpcb to put on the oddly designed pill, but I'm going to order this 19mm MCPB from Sofirn, which I think should fit perfectly and solder it to the pill - will report back when I receive it and try to install in the t20

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32835497615.html

Wonder if anyone has experience with these mcpcbs?

I’ve never used their mcpcbs, but Sofirn makes good stuff. Just be sure to do a good reflow on it.