Review:Nitefighter L1A first impressions (serious problem)

Have you tried thin Lexan sheets? Or maybe even some cassette case filed to circular shape?

I believe some CD cases even had matte surfaces that contributes to diffusing as well if you need it.

Anyway an update to what happened with my light

I eventually tried Fichtenelch method by prying the LED star.

lols

This guy is tough man

Got the whole thing out eventually with a strong POP shooting the lens and reflector far
Did manage to get everything to work even when I cracked the star AND the LED itself. One corner of the XPE was chipped off but it didn’t harm the die itself other than some EXTRA CLEAN DEDOME

Well this is the first time I manage to dedome an xpe sized LED cleanly leaving no residue or pulling too much phosphor.

I got this

Assembling it all back and give it a shine with the slight warmish neutral tint (of course the infamous green tint is there)
There seems to be less rings after a dedome. But it is still there.
(Pic shows the dedome on the left versus the Convoy C8 with XML2 U2 1A tint)

I am overall impressed with my failures despite scratching a lot of its beauty.
All I need was just some scotch tape to cover the leftover rings.

I do suggest filing the stock lens to a smaller diameter if you plan to reuse it. I filed mine and it is still a tight fit but enough to pop it with a small plier

I wanna ask something. Is the SOS mode on your unit blinks on low power or is it that way since factory? Mine blinks on low.
Plus the SOS isn’t SOS but rather SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOS

So the XPE decided to flicker and break

So here is the XML2 T6 3B in the nitefighter

Had to remove the o ring to make a proper fit even after filing the reflector for the XML2
the hole is a perfect fit


gotta say I don’t like it’s tint with this reflector. Not too sure why it looked odd. Maybe the lack of amps causing different tint? I don’t know.

It sure is more floody and brighter than the xpe

Thanks for review, finally someone made proper review :D!

I was about to buy this flashlight, thanks God I didn’t!

Thanks for sharing the details of this light with us. I’ve been looking at it and considered if I was gonna buy one… but if a light is very difficult to be disassembled it is a no-go to me. :frowning:

But considering its price point I think it is still quite a handy light to have, especially using it around the house or make it as one of your backup lights at outdoor.

I wouldn’t consider this a good light just from how the O ring sank into the light from mere rain.

Maybe I got a dud but this light caused multiple problems when I try to mod it.

It is a reasonably good light if you keep it stock. Modding the light requires creative hands as I have just killed my xml2 t6 3b thanks to the light.

The light kinda pulled my xml2 LED into pieces. It dedomed my light somehow snapping the bond wires.

I gave up modding this light as it has killed 2 of my xml2’s physically.

Yet another observation in the wild of a self-reviewing “so-so” flashlight. I’ve seen it on this one, and found mentions elsewhere of that pattern in other lights going back a few years.

Maybe if you don’t use it in the rain then it is an OK light haha.

unless you don’t mind o ring inside your reflector :wink:

Mind you it has so far happened to one light?
Only because its cheap it gets bad attitude :D? Thats not budget friendly attitude :D!
Cant dissemble for easy modding? Well, its not meant to, like most of lights, so its your fault, not the lights :)!

I thought you mean the o-ring only scrambled inside the reflector after using it in the rain?

I think I got my lens problem figured out, so I will continue working on this little guy.

For anyone who is interested in modding this light, I made a driver for it.

Do you think you can share the lens fix with us? :wink:

I thought about glueing a new glass lens in or makiung a gasket out of POM on my lathe - but hop to get the lens out again? :stuck_out_tongue:

I would love to use a bigger-die-LED like a XM-L to increase the spot

no need for a bigger driver since I use this only as a extra work light on my work bench

To get my lens out, I drilled a hole in the center of it then pulled with the drill bit still inside. So I was left with a lens (donut), the edges were still in perfect shape. What I did was fill in the donut with Gorilla super glue (which dried very clear) and sanded the glue down with fine grit sandpaper. It’s not perfect, but I think it’ll work just fine.

I still haven’t decided what to do about the o-ring yet.

A 14500 can hold a lot more energy than an eneloop, so I did the new driver more for run-time than for high performance. The most it can do is 1.14amps, but I will probably run it at 760ma.

I’m also putting in an XP-L 5A tint.

would a heat gun or boiling the light in a zip lock bag soften the lens or the glue holding it in enough to make removal easier?

There’s no glue, just a very tight press-fit

Those of you who have taken it apart, do you know if it would be possible to put Cree MC-E RGBW LED in it? What modifications should be done then? Bigger hole in reflector, different driver?

I know its out of stock now at GB/BG, but been wondering.

Could as well mod my UF-H2 which hasnt been stellar anyway.

I don’t think it’s possible. You would need to:

- Cut a bigger whole in the reflector (but the reflector is conical, so it will just get shorter and shorter the more you cut)

- Find an mcpcb that will fit an MC-E with wire pads to fit inside (I would say impossible, the solder pads are already very close to the emitter and it’s only an XP-E)

  • Find a 15mm e-switch RGBW driver (which I don’t think currently exists.)

You could make it a tiny bit easier if you used an RGBW XM-L2 instead of MC-E, but you still have the driver issue.

Thanks!

I see, I only found MC-E RGBW, any RGBW would be great to have in cheap host light!

Ok, next time :D!

I finally got mine back together. I now remember how much I hate working on tiny, complicated lights.

I used my custom driver and an XP-L 5A tint. It’s amazing how hot this thing gets on just 1.1amps. I’ll probably take one of the 7135’s off.