Just swapped the emitters between a blue Emisar D4 and a grey Emisar D4v2.
Now the D4v2 has XPL HI 5D. I much prefer this to the SST-20 4000K that were originally in it. XPL HI has better tint (especially at lower power settings). Itās also enormously brighter and my batteries last longer with it.
Emitter swapping the D4v2 was a pain since in addition to the 2 big wires for the star there are 4 tiny wires for the aux LED board.
The trick was to go slow and be methodical. Donāt force anything. I found it easier to solder all 6 wires with both the star and aux LED already installed and screwed into place. I also temporarily soldered 4 small guidewires to the aux led wires to help me thread it through the star.
Iāve been on a CSLNM1 thrower craze, I needed to make something more pleasant to look at. I used Ruspike C8 that was on sale for $8 a while ago as a host. Quality wise - that is the right price. But if itās going to have a beautiful tint, I have to gussy up the outside too. I used Easy Off Oven cleaner to remove the black dye then sanded with grit 220,400,600,1000,2000 and finally polished with Mothers Mag using a microfiber cloth. Iām quite satisfied with what amateur efforts can yield with this stuff. I used it on a bunch of other lights too. Inside is Nichia 219b sw45k (azhu) and kaidomain 17 to 20mm ring with Biscotti 6 x 7135.
Thatās a thing of beauty. Nice job, CRX! :+1: In this mod, did you beef up the pill? Wondering how thermal management is working with this seriously small form factor.
EDIT: Ah, found your original post ā with all the answers. LINK. Yeah, I was wondering why you went with a quadā¦ that cutoff on the optics kind of bugs me. Iād have gone triple too, like you originally recommended. Anyway, great work there! I love your talent. When Iāve got the extra cash, Iām going to see about a projectā¦
Cool. Yeah I didnāt want to do it, said it will affect the beam, way too much heat for such a small steel host etc and I even built the head as a triple first, it was really nice, perfect, but thatās what he really wanted.
Well youāve got till the end of Feb to come up with a nice mod or build to enter the Old Lumens contest too
Yeah, my brain hasnāt been working on full todayā¦ didnāt get a good nightās rest. :weary:
Also digging your Xanes XT01.
Generally, is a triple about the best balance on efficiency & head clutter for output? I have an old Astrolux S43 and a Lumintop FW3Aā¦ and have to say that output is very comparable. Iāve got a more focused hot spot optic in the FW3A, which makes the spot brighter than the S43, with less spill. But overall, I donāt see an advantage with the quad.
Admittedly, my links arenāt very obvious though, hidden in the image & brief description
I do like steel or titanium lights much more than ano aluminium.
Me either really, quads are interesting for the novelty in smaller hosts but triple setups are better in my opinion. Not much noticable increase in output, you notice the heat more
Could be a little more efficient.
The 106xx optics are good for filling slightly larger heads at 24mm compared to the 20mm triple optics so can be useful for that & more flood.
Oh, theyāre obvious. I was just not thinking to click & check.
Iāve got enough ano-aluminum bodied lights at this point that Iām going to be drifting over to steel & titanium. I had been thinking about a SS FW3Aā¦ but I donāt want to start duplicating lights. That LM10 just mentioned by Neal (LINK), looks terrific, but is overpriced IMHO. Iām hoping Neal is just testing the waters for Lumintop right now and that a more agreeable price will come out of it. Either for release or after the fact when sales languish. The bronze treated Ti looks amazing. But I wonāt be interested unless thereās an 18350 tube accessory available for it.
Very light dayā¦ I changed the led in my E05 to an XP-L V4 5A2 and built up a beautiful copper P60 shell with XP-L Hi V2 5A3ās and a TA FET+6+1 that I soldered up. I really like the tint and output of the Cree XP-Lās in the 5A2 and 5A3 range. I would love to try out the 5A1 or 5A4, but have never seen them forsale.
Well, actually changed the led in the E05 twice, never drop an XP-G3 in that light! Had the strangest artifacts I have ever seen! Tiny little bit of the center was very bright and the rest was very splotchy. I really thought it would be a good candidate for the XP-G3 5 bin.
Over the weekend I built an old SmallSun ZY-T08 host I picked up from a member here over the summer. No build pics so Iāll just have to tell yāall about it:
Sst-20 DA L3 (5000k)
TA 3ch 22mm driver piggyback on stripped factory driver for contact board
Bistro fw
Blue springs @ tail contact
Itās currently doing 100kcd and 920lm but the sst-20 is just a place holder while I wait on the 28mm 5050 mcpcb for the 5700K SST-40 I have for it.
I built it to run an old matched pair of 30qās that still have near full capacity but are getting a little old to use in the 2s light they came from so I figured Iād keep them together but in a 2p config for near 6000mAh while being a bit safer with their age and all.
Sucks is an understatement. I have never seen such a bad reflector/led combo! I really did not expect that! I expected the relatively larger die surface and the small smooth reflector to really work well! But the XP-L works very well. It came to me with a Luxeon V2 5000k and I could not stand the 5000k and it just felt odd in the reflector.
I agree. The 2mm^2 emitter approaches XPL HI output with much higher luminance, as long as you are ok with the cool color temp. What driver did you use? Iāve been eyeing the constant current FET drivers from convoy. Seems like this type of driver could replace all the FET+ drivers if we can get the right FWs on them.
