Many thanks for all the information and the images! H)
yes thanks for all the images. Does that “pill”/plate thing screw in or how is it attached?
I’m not sure about that 3mm thickness… definitely not enough for an XHP build but maybe if it has a good heatpath to the rest of the light it would be fine for XM class?
The pill is not screwed in, just slight press onto the seat area which has been coated.
Heat transfer would be lousy. Pure copper pill can distribute better but surely will add a lot more weight to this heavyweight BOSS1!
(More photos here: BOSS1)
+1 :~
Hmmmmm, problems but solvable ones. I can see cutting a spacer ring and threading it so that the bezel would screw on and accept a much thicker emitter shelf. Perhaps even a big solid copper adapter if copper can be found in that diameter. I know aluminum can, so it’s at least correctable but the issue remains… is it worth it?
The light obviously works well as made, but to hot rod it will take some doing and some specialized equipment of sorts, like a lathe. A new shelf could be cut with a cup on the top side to embrace the reflector, gaining a doubling or tripling of essential mass for heat sinking and if done carefully actually allowing the reflector to act as a heat sink as well. This would allow leaving the external apperance as is, optimizing available space between the driver/contact board and the reflector. 
I’m not altogether sold on total throw, a CBT140 would be a nice candidate for this big reflector, the XHP series would be a pita to get the “+” out of the beam. A big fat MT-G2 would be nice in there probably, so there are options that might not require going crazy on extra heat sinking, albeit new problems arise if a 6V or 12V emitter is desired.
If there’s 3 mm above the components already on the board then it’d be easy to sandwich in an FET driver that would run our Cree emitters all out, raising lumens output to much more smile producing levels. Our FET drivers are single sided, fairly easy to solder a copper sheet to an incoming power supply after first attaching the other end to the battery contact on the FET driver, this keeps it very flat, only about 2mm more thickness than the components already on this driver board. Doable. Not too difficult really. So that would get some 6A to an HI emitter, the sheer diameter of the emitter shelf would help offset the lack of thickness. If need be, a hole could be bored in the aluminum emitter shelf to show the driver underneath, easily allowing clearance then (since the shelf doesn’t screw in, this would be doable but probably not necessary)
All that remains is to mount the XP-L HI on some copper sheet material to raise it off the mcpcb so it’ll sit high enough into the lens to be in focus, should produce a nice tight spot. Should be interesting.
Anyway, those are just some initial thoughts, I’m sure Tom will show us the way in the next few days…
Yes, if you have a lathe, otherwise you are pretty much stuck with stock emitter shelf which is quite disappointing and major limiting factor in any modification…
Yeah, well, it didn’t stop me before I got the lathe… a drill and a rotary tool and I made what I needed. Threads were the only problem and that was because I didn’t have a tap and die set. Where there’s a will….
my goodness, that ‘shelf’ is a freaking disappointment :_(
I’m sorry. Freeme, I’d like to be removed from the list for this light. I’m not in a position to do or pay for any machining or copper bits.
I’ll wait to see what Tom thinks
I’m not sure why the shelf is that much of a disappointment…? Yes it could be better but DTP star is going to do way more for cooling the led than anything else.
The anodizing is a thermal restrictive point but see how much contact area there is on something that diameter and compare it to something like a convoy s2 (which some like to hotrod). Saturating the shelf (with heat) is not going to be a problem with that kinda battery capacity but who here is looking to mod this (super thrower) and have it running for a half hour at a time?
What is the main issue with the pill design? Is it:
- Too thin.
- Insufficient contact with the wall.
- Non screw on design.
- Not enough head room to piggy-back driver.
Done.
Given the size of the led shelf disc I would say this is no major problem for a 3V emitter, I built a Courui without changing the shelf dic, instead used thermal epoxy to fix it and it did alright. Of course the large copper heatsink heated up much quicker but after 5 minutes there was really no difference at all. This disc is much larger than the courui’s and seems like it has about the same contact area. But for a behemoth like this, that is a serious bottleneck!
Some would say all of those are issues. For me, #2 is the biggest issue. #3 would be one way to attempt to solve #2.
What’s the point in toting around that big heavy body if it isn’t soaking up heat? What’s the point of big battery capacity if I can only run it for 2min before output starts reducing?
Again, I’ll wait to see what Tom thinks before deciding anything, but that’s my train of thought. It could very well end up being a non-issue, that’s why I’m not backing out now.
Wasn't it determined that anodization has very little effect on thermal properties? IIRC someone did a fair bit of testing on an anodized shelf directly under the mcpcb.
nothing I've seen yet is a deal breaker though I'm still not sure what the heck I would use a giant, long-lasting, super thrower like this for..
Looking forward to seeing what yall can do with it.
- As pointed out by will34 the courui is also thin. So is a tk61. I’ve never had an srk with a shelf but I imagine that is also light-on for 3 or more emitters.
- With the larger diameter I expect it has more contact area than the above mentioned lights.
- Point taken. Still no biggy to me, when it’s all assembled it doesn’t rattle around does it? So one would assume it is being pressed into the body allowing for heat transfer.
- That has little to do with the shelf and more to do with the design of the light. But none the less, this is a problem, I agree.
Looks to me like 4-5mm of contact area around the radius. I didn’t find the measurement but I guess the shelf is over 70mm diameter??
I’d might still buy it, say $30.00 maybe? Looks to be Cheap, down and dirty, perfect BLF light, if you can get it for $30 bucks!
Wow what a pathetic light.
maybe sell as host with unpopulated driver to use as contact plate?
that way the costs could go down
and i think no one planned to use it out of the box for more than 30 seconds
Will see.
High anticipation usually lead to big disappointment when people do not get what they want. It is totally understandable.
If you do not like what you see here, just submit your name and walk away from this deal.