What did you mod today?

Very nice mod!

Yup, if you have any interest, there’s Oshpark links and BOM info here. I think I also have parts on hand to build one or two if you’re interested.

Interesting, the hotspot of the 1mm combined with a large reflector is a very tiny hotspot.
Result: it throws like a beast, but actually its more fun to show your lightsaber laserbeam pencilbeam then using it.
Its quite useless actually, but fun.

pretty sure it will still out throw an FT03 without to much trouble, but hopefully light up a larger more useful area than the 1mm

I was initially put off by the unusual widescreen profile, but it seems in a reflector it doesn’t effect beam shape much.

Thanks, might try it !

Two mods

1. I changed the LED in a New RRT-01 to 219b sw35 9080.

The process went very smoothly as I did not have to change the reflector and centering ring (required in the Original RRT-01), and I was not asked to separate and lubricate the control ring.

imo the 219b beam in the New RRT-01 is very good with the stock reflector.

I like that the New version uses screws to hold the LED star down. I like the very firm off detente in the New RRT-01. I also like that it has strobe, and that the pocket clip does not ride on the head when unscrewing to change batteries.

imo the New RRT-01 is a nice light, well built, w nice smooth threads. It is a simple mod to replace the stock XP-L w an N219, using the stock MCPCB.

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2. I disassembled an Original RRT-01 to lubricate the control ring, because it was too loose and turned on in a clients pocket. I used Nyogel 767a which is very thick and sticky.

The light had been previously modded by Vinh to sw45k. He did not modify the original factory grease, of which there was almost none, and he did not change the reflector.

I installed a kaidomain reflector w a customized centering ring. The beam is now excellent imo.

The dial is now very resistant to unintentional movement, but very smooth and can still be turned with one finger. On a scale of 1-10, the dial resistance is now a 10. When I first got it, the dial resistance was a 1.

After missing the NightWatch Stalker NI40 with the 90.2 Luminus emitter I got to looking at mine and decided to use an older SBT-90 in it for something to do. It was on a square copper MCPCB so I filed that to round and mounted it up with 18 ga leads off the stock driver and bypassed the stock springs with 22ga leads. It pulls ~9A off a Samsung 30T for 2100 or so lumens. As usual, I removed the glass window for a better tint. Not the blazing output of the new emitter, but not at all bad for an emitter that’s been sitting around for over 3 years in my kit box….

Yesterday I switched the metal bodies from two Nitecore TIPs. I got a silver one (Cree XP-G2) on my keychain for some years and am pretty happy with it.
I never switched to the (not as bright) black Nichia TIP I got soon after because the silver one was already scratched.
Since I recently ordered the TIP2, I concluded I don´t need two cold white ones and switched the outer metal plates,
so the more beautiful looking Nichia is in the scratched body, and the black one is now ready to be gifted to my little brother.

Today I modded a Convoy S5,

*with a shorty tube from a Jaxman E2L
*a red tailcap
*a blob UV glue on the switch knob to compensate for the different dimensions of the red tailcap
*a Blue spring on the tailboard
*a 17mm 5A lineair Convoy driver
*a KW CULMN1-TG led on a 16mm 4040 led4power DTP board
*an adapted reamed and thinned centerpiece
*a smooth reflector from Convoy, reamed to fit the centerpiece, underside Kapton-taped against shorts from the ledwires

The most critical job as always with thrower-leds was adjusting the centerpiece, I spent 1.5 hours working on that tiny piece: adjusting-testing-adjusting-testing etc… The focus is now perfect, and the beam is super-nice thanks to the (aftermarket) convoy reflector (the S5 has the deep type Convoy reflector, unlike the S2+ that has a shallow one).

I had already modded a S8 shorty with a KW CSLNM1-TG (the 3030 variant of this led), but this new mod is smaller, has better focus, draws less current, has better tint (bit warmer) and throws just a bit better.

The current that measured on a full battery with a clamp meter without tail is 4.4A, and based on the output difference with tail in place or tail replaced by a copper shunt, the real current should be 4.3A. Based on led4power’s bare led results that should be about 895 led lumen. I usually take a factor 0.82 for reflector and lens loss, so output should be 740 lumen. But I measured only 530 lumen so I wonder a bit where those 200 lumen went.

But those 530 lumen do provide a fair amount of throw: 43 kcd at 30 seconds, which makes this my throwiest tube-style EDC to date :slight_smile:

The hunt for the missing lumens, I know that game :smiley:
Very nice :+1:

The typical centering technique is to have a plastic ring. It is fiddly to tweak…
Some manufaturers like Armytek use self-centering reflectors. Then tuning focus requires just centering LED on the shelf and … I’m not sure if you can tune reflector height. But with a pill based light, tweaking height would be easy.

Wurkkos WK30 sesonal edition: My Way

Centering and focusing the White Flat in a smooth reflector is a matter of less than a 10th of a millimeter in all directions, anything other than physical guidance between led and reflector (=the centerpiece) will not be accurate enough to get the perfect hotspot that must be.

Successfully installed Lexel aux board on my friend’s FW3. Tight space and small solder pad makes soldering difficult. Solder is not neat here, after the first power on test, I re-tidied the solder and cleaned the rest of the flux. I was not able to reflash the firmware so I took power directly from the battery. Aux led always lights up even if the main led is on, but it does not affect the beam at all. Love the color combination of the led here.

I added a lighted tail, a ring of six 630nm leds plus two 4k7 resistors under the red silicon cap. It so appears that this Convoy driver leaks enough current for a weak lighted tail without using a bleeder resistor, and the operation is not affected. The current draw is 0.27 A so about half a year on a 1100mAh cell. The light is too weak to be considered bling but it makes the light very easy to spot in the dark.

Edit: I wasn’t happy about the low tail light so I added a 1K bleeder resistor to the driver, soldered at the battery side from the base of the spring to a self-made solder pad by scratching some solder mask from the ground pour. Operation of the light is still fine, the current went up to 0.600 mA (2.5 months on a 1100mAh cell) and the light output is way more visible and to my liking.

Budget 14500 Li-ion charger
Ikea usb charger + 1 TP 4056

^Nice charger build. I wonder if a readymade li-charger is actually more expensive but it is also the fun of building it. :slight_smile:

Djozz, very nice pocket thrower. Is that using a 18500 cell?

Is that 5A linear driver the one discussed here?

How do you like it?

It uses a 18350 cell, the longer reflector of the S5 makes it 4mm longer than a S2+ shorty.

Almost that driver, it is the 5 amp version, but it looks the same. I like that it is cheap, that current is regulated and that it has 4 well-spaced modes and the low is a nice low-low. I do not like the memory it has because I need my lights to behave predictable.

I’ve tried to identify the regulator chip on Simon’s new driver, but no success. It appears to be labelled “SVA11” or something to that effect. I’ve used the QX7138 in a similar fashion, but it’s limited to 3A. You guys have any idea?

The pleasure to mod is priceless ! :slight_smile: