What did you mod today?

Hum, very interesting! I may need to try it. I only have frosted TIR, not frosted glass lenses. Obviously the TIR will reduce more the throw

I tried it outside yesterday at night and despite it was not in a picth black environment, I still noticed the hole. It bothers me a little bit, but I will try to reduce it somehow. This weekend I will test it on darker environments to see how it looks and will report.

BTW, before finishing the mod, experimented the S2 OP reflector: the hole was even more noticeable!

Thanks for your input :wink:

Hey, the tailcap board works GREAT. I just need to pick a different light for it. Also you didn’t do anything wrong - everything met the specs I provided, that light was just never going to work. I just have to accept that and pick a different light for it. My Jaxman E3 is already getting nervous…

Thrunite T10T with 620nm XP-E2
AA Eneloop outputs: 0.1, 2, 26, 105 lumens

I have nitecore D10 Q5.
I want emitter swap with stock driver.

What’s the best between 219c 4000k or sst20 4000k.

No easy anwer, both LEDs are quite different in many respects.

modded a Copper Drop Tool Head, running on a Maratac body,
to SST-20 3000k

I could not unscrew the pill, the driver came out, ripping both wires… after that I got the pill out, replaced the wires, and started over.

So the 200mmx200mm hot plate was sighted for $64.99 on the ’zon, with Prime shipping. It arrived today…

Using the hot plate, I finally reflowed the brass ring from my old Supfire M6 driver onto the new one. Generously applied kapton tape to the top side of the driver in the hopes I didn’t lose anything, and heated the whole thing up to 180C. From there, a brief application of the soldering iron allowed me to lift the brass ring free. Basically repeat in reverse order to apply it to the new driver.

Got it all hooked up and no light. Drove myself nuts for a bit, but I eventually tracked it down to the reflector shorting to both LED+ and LED-, cumulatively across the three XHP50.2 3V MCPCBs. I disassembled the head, re-evaluated the underside of the reflector, and decided I needed that liquid electrical tape someone mentioned on here. For now, I used some UV-activated adhesive applied thinly to all six MCPCB soldering points. Given that I killed the previous driver with a similar short (back then, I was planning to use three Luxeon V), one of the Convoy L6 driver swaps I did, and at least one other mod, I think I’m just going to habitually apply the stuff in every single mod I do, so I placed an order. (I’ve tried Kapton tape and it never works out for me.)

While I was doing silly things, I also decided to reflow the ATTiny85 from the old driver in place of whatever was on the new driver. It has NarsilM, so I have to go figure out how that works, but the basic ramp/moonlight/turbo things seem common with RampingIOS and Anduril, so that’s working. The new driver came with some version of Bistro on it, but I’m not entirely convinced it was the correct version based on some un-assembled testing I did. (It seemed like a clicky version of Bistro HD OTSM or something - I forgot to specify firmware when I ordered the driver long ago. Regardless, the e-switch never seemed to work.)

I think my next batch of projects will be learning to flash drivers. I could go for some Anduril, and not just on this light…

Anyway, I need a set of four married 30Qs. I know this light can handle more than the (married set from my MF02 and BLF LT1) four 35Es I’ve got in there now

Went ahead and reflowed my Luxeon V2s into my Sofirn C8F. XP-L2s can take their tint rainbow and go home.

Reflowing on the hotplate was magical BTW, I highly recommend it. I set it to 180 and when it was about there I noticed one of the LEDs on the C8F MCPCB looked wonky… bumped it with the tweezers and it moved. Picked it right up. I was able to gently rub the end of my solder on the MCPCB to freshen up the LED pads, and then I just carefully set the Luxeon V2s on there. One was off a bit and I watched it correct itself. I gave them the recommended “tap” on the dome with a q-tip but none of them ejected excess solder. Double-checked the polarity and then removed the MCPCB to cool.

removed the sst-20 3000k from the AAA Tool head
because it was too green for me.

am giving a 3500k LH351d a chance.

did not want to bother with the hotplate,

the reflow was done by holding my soldering iron to the copper mcpcb

Now that’s my kind of emitter swap :wink:
I find the tint good with dome on or off but prefer the dome off.
To me with the dome on it looks like a beam out of a TIR, makes a defined round hotspot.
With the dome off (shaved) you get a tighter hotspot but it fades into the spill.

yeah, the big hotspot is kind of fun :slight_smile:

I recently modded a drop AAA and tool ti AAA as well. Wish I could find those 1mm thick copper mcpcbs for sale.

Modded the RovyVon Aurora A23!
More details here: “REVIEW”: RovyVon Aurora A23 Black – EDC – 1000 Lumens - Rechargeable [Beamshots Post #17] - #22 by MascaratumB

I replaced the whole PCB for a led4power 16mm x 1.5mm MCPCB with a Luxeon V2 4000K. I had to file/sand/dremel it on the sides to shorten the diameter for less than 15.20mm

I also replaced the original TIR because after the mod there was a huge tint shift from corona to the center of the hotspot. I used other clear TIR, but with a larger diameter in the led opening, to reduce that shift.

Ideally, a pebbled optic would be better for that, but then it would lose a lot of throw! I opted to maintain it.


BEFORE > AFTER

Comparison with the OTR 311 also with Luxeon V2 4000K (OP reflector)

Is this a 15mm x ~9mm TIR? Where did you find it? The Stainless “Enogear” uses the same one I think but with small LED opening

Edit; I was wrong, I clicked into your post and it’s a bigger one. Still, if anyone knows where to find a 15mm TIR let me know

No, this is a bigger TIR :exclamation:
This is the original one, as shown here:

The one I used in the mod has similar size, but the opening for the led is different, seems more suited for 5050 leds instead of 3030, hence the difference in the beam too!

The optic on the Enogear light is surely smaller, but I didn’t open it yet to know if other TIRs I have will fit ! :+1:

Cu Tool aaa head, mod to shaved LH351d 5000k

the LH351d is 14% brighter than than the sw45k

Piece of copper and silicone cube for a bit more high mode:

I put in 3 SST-20’s 4000k from from the Sofirn store and a MTN Fet DD 20mm in a C8F. More of a parts assembly than a crazy mod, but it suits my needs so far. I like rear-clicky’s but maybe I’ll put in a sofirn driver with e-switch eventually. Removed the internal switch for now and re-installed the silicone boot too keep water/debris out. Used 18ga wire but left it long enough to not blow the sst-20’s and be able to swap drivers later if I decide to. LG MJ1’s get the light warm pretty fast but don’t seem to change the color or threaten blowing the LED’s. I probably won’t try a 25R, but will look for a high capacity 21700 with less extreme discharge in the future. Still haven’t gotten on the 21700 train yet.

I forgot what a pain teflon coated wire can be to work with, but the skinny slots under the reflector and solder pads made it a good choice and I made it work somehow without destroying any thing :beer:

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I had to leave the leads long enough from the MCPCB to solder to the driver after the head and reflector was assembled. Kind of a pain for a novice modder like me, but it worked out.

Sorry, I forgot pics of how I coiled the teflon wired inside the body, but it’s not hard to imagine and worked pretty well. I’m pleased with the beam profile and want to build another one. Wish I had the confidence to slice an sst-20.

<img src=“https://imgur.com/Mer1XUz” alt=”

sst-20 with reflector assembled and light thermal paste, pre-fingerprint removal and lens/bezel install. Very easy light for a novice modder.
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<img src=“https://imgur.com/6icBKqP” alt=”

After finger print removal and bezel install
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<img src=“https://imgur.com/LblYnNu” alt=

Tail switch polished parts and De-oxit applied to all contacts. Is there an easy way to make a lighted tailswitch with the Mtn fet driver? Do I need a bleeder resistor if I put led’s on the 21mm board? Stock switch is very beefy already and has spots for leds it looks like.” />

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<img src=“https://imgur.com/Ug7KLHm” alt=

Mtn fet DD 20mm fit nicely in 21mm slot. De-oxit applied to contacts, already came bypass (older version of driver, still works though) Guppydrive rev 2” />

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<img src=“https://imgur.com/hAl9s0f” alt=“Beam shot on protected 6a battery just to make sure I didn’t blow anything. Nice beam, even on protected battery it’s bright enough to hurt your eyes on turbo reflecting off a wall about 8m away.
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And I suck at computers. Fixed the images by using “simple post editor” instead of advanced, because I’m simple. Sorry for the sloppy post. :stuck_out_tongue:

Good work! :+1:

I sliced an SST-20 C8F once and it wasn’t as nice as I hoped. I felt it lost too much output. The focus might not have been ideal with stock insulation rings but its been too long. Ymmv

Why the beefy Teflon just to coil it up? Just use 20G silicone don’t punish yourself :slight_smile:

If you decide to enable e-switch consider doing Anduril with last mode memorized setting enabled and your fwd switch will come on in the last brightness you used.

Now order stainless bezel!