New XM-L Light,, 26650/18650/4xAAA Good Price and 57mm head ......... NOTE: The star is solid aluminium !!! :bigsmile:

£20.80 for an hd2010……

I may have to break my abstinence come payday…

Finally got the AAA carrier. Very nice! Anybody stick one in a HD2010?

Wow nice shots 2X better then mine… But man I got gypt too. My lens well how shall I explain this. About 1/2 of the diameter of the lens
there’s these rainbowy effect. Maybe imperfect glass lens is causing this dimming effect 2/3s the way out. It’s not the outer bezel that’s causing it but I think it’s the lens. Also the last millimeters of the reflector there is 2 distinct BENDs! or cutoff that is CREATING some spot adnormalitities. Why would they ruin a prefectly good reflector by making this abrupt corners that bend back in? Shouldn’t a reflector be smooth and not have corners? What it feels like is a souped up Maglite. Instead of a solid spread then a fallout of XM-L lights. I have 3 of them (C8, 3T6 & J12).

I took the reflector off and wow… more uniform beam & has like 100+ degree good solid spread. I suggest other owners to try this if you have the same problem. It also has a tinge of yellow around the ends? Non-T6?

Anyways 26650 bearly fits. If you have any fat ones… they will be chipping each time they go in due to the screw interior of the tube. My skinny Tenergy 26650 was the slimmest, so it got in much better then the others (Flames/Ultrafire). Also the inside of the tube is bored out like a screw like the other parts or something they didn’t bother sanding it o something so I wish they did. Probably I can do it myself but bah that’s two negative ascepts I have for this already.

The grease or lube that came with my flashlight is a bit tangy, sort of like the organic type I get with my cheap 20 dollar ebay swords that leave your hand smelly after touching it.

And lastly my spring on my flashlight fell off it’s held by a tiny bit of solder. I was trying to err stretch the springs a bit for these other 26650 and it came off. Honestly this flashflight will probably kill TopofKing and I’ll never buy from him again.

In conclusion I think I need to buy a UCL lens or something to fix this issue or cut the reflector 2-5mm short to erase that cornering effect that is killing this light. I was amaze u guys say it’s the reflector? I’ll try to redo the solder and see what you guys did to fix this problem.

Oh God, here I go again!!, (and a 26650)

I thought about it, but was afraid of the extra voltage (the 4th cell adds). I'm not sure how the LED handles the extra voltage. I assume a direct-drive driver (like in this 4AAA light and the HD2010) does nothing to "buck" extra voltage. Besides, my HD2010 is now apparently dead.

-Garry

I was able to make a pill/heatsink to fill the gap under the star/led. This was my first attempt at making something like this. I made it out of spare/scrap aluminum belt idler from the machines I service at work.

On my 4th try I finally went to our main shop where we have a drill press, belt sander, press, torch and other tools at my dispossal. This was alot easier when you have the tools that you need for the job. I first squared the end of the roller on belt sander. Then put the roller in the end of a cordless drill so that I could use sandpaper to sand down the outter diameter to the desired size (22.6mm). Then cut it to the desired length (12mm). Where the idler rides on a shaft with bearings there was a hole in the middle (11mm). I filled the hole with random wire that we had laying around the shop and solder. Started heating it with the propane torch and started adding solder to fill in the gaps, worked like a charm. Then cut off the extra wire and put it back on the belt sander to make it flush again. Used a triangle file to cut some notches in the side for the wire from the driver to the led to slide through. Tried to press the pill/heatsink in and it was a no go. Finally i used sand paper in the gap in the torch body to get it to the right width. Was able to press it in then. VIOLA


Here is what I started with


Just after cutting


Sanded smooth


Wire crammed in along with solder - heating it up and adding solder


about to cut off the wire that has been added to the pill


wire cut off and sanded smooth, still needs filling up. Heated again and then filled it with solder


Filled and sanded smooth and notches cut into the sides


heatsink pressed in and smoothed out


Upclose white wall beam shot

I am satisfied with this mod and it now pulls the heat away from the led. The section of the light that was modded is probably double the weight it was. It gets warmer faster then it did before.

Sorry for the pics not beign great all I have is my Iphone 4s to take the pics

Please update on this guys?

some comparison photos:

ebay 26650/18650/4AAA light ~3.5A 35kcd

jetbeam bc40 24kcd

ebay big head, sky ray A0 clone ~3.5A 45kcd

marsfire w-068 ~3.5A 55kcd

ebay UF 3xU2 ~3.5A/led 28kcd

ok read a few posts…Seems a mixed deal and not shipping to Mauritius anyways :slight_smile:

mouse out ebay 26650/4AAA, mouse over skyray A0 clone

Hey viffer750, which cells were you using in the 4AAA light? 26650's? At 3.5A I am sure you weren't running AAA's! And what light is "ebay UF 3xU2 ~3.5A/led 28kcd?

-Garry

Garry it may be The Ultrafire UF T70

that was with a sanyo 18650

the "UF 3xU2" light is a clone of tr-3t6, I won on ebay for $25

there are 3pcs u2 labeled x-ml-s in the head, I don’t know that they are real or not (probably, I measured 2500otf lumen at the light)

I made a "direct drive" driver with some current limiting resistors, and the desired current has been set to 3.5A/led

This cheap little (big) light has turned to be a great buy. I’m loving it, as it has replaced my HD2010, or at least filled the gap. It’s a budget player and we don’t want to ask too much from a cheapie (and we don’t want to run it on low), but it is a nice little thrower.

I agree wholeheartedly! Love mine! I have plans to get two more to give to friends.

-Garry

I gave one to a mate last Saturday for a birthday present. He has often been impressed with my lights, and seemed so with this one. Hope he likes it and it lasts the distance for him.

Mine arrived today, TEN days from china, fastest delivery I ever had from there!!, very nice finish and feel at first glance, have tried daylight shots with 26650/aaa, and the aaa definitely outshoots the bigger batt, maybe it’s because the big one has just got delivery voltage, still waiting for a charger for that one.
Was a bit disappointed with the brightness, but hey, budget after all :slight_smile:

My replacement head arrived today. They actually sent me a head and the middle piece which includes the pill, driver and star. I didn’t need that, but I’m certainly not complaining about having the extra parts. Anyway, the new head screws onto my original body perfectly, so I finally have a torch that doesn’t want to fall apart when it’s put together.

Now for the pill work that I’ve been inspired to do based on what I’ve seen in this thread…

And… here we go:

That is (or rather was) a New Zealand $1 coin.

I didn’t use any fancy equipment. Just ground the face down, reduced the diameter slightly and put the notches in using a combination of various suitable surfaces and an assortment of files. Once it was only ever so slightly too big to press in by hand, I positioned it in the pill, put a thin round piece of cardboard on top of it followed by a larger metal washer, and gently hammered it in (with a small hammer) until it was perfectly flush. I had also applied a somewhat generous amount of thermal paste to the inside of the pill beforehand as well (it was appropriate to be liberal with the application in this case since any excess was certain to be expelled).

I found something at my local Home Depot which may work. It's a 3/4" copper plumbing "plug" (as opposed to a 3/4" cap, which is all I could find elsewhere). It measures 22.25mm and i measured the inside of my pill at 22.6mm. Haven't had a chance to try to fit it. Was a little pricey at $4.50.

-Garry