I also use white centering ring off course. It is far easier to put a dab of artic silver under led mcpcb than to solder to pill and then you see it is a just bit off center. No difference in performance in my book and I tried both.
Yeah I don’t like semi/permanent thermal glues either, I normally use Ceramique II. I just didn’t know if that ring was causing some of the beam “blemishes” since it sticks up above the emitter.
Just don't white wall it :) Use it.
Nah, once it starts being useful, I'm out! 
I have soldered the board to the pill btw. Before heating, I used two pieces of a match between board and side of the pill to keep the board centered while the solder melted.
The nasty beam ring artefacts when fully zoomed annoy me a LOT in real life frequent use, i’ll have to emulate Djozz’s black paint mod
My lights get used to “show off” indoors more than anything (I live in a city apartment, and don’t get out as much as I would like to) and ugly beams don’t impress 
When I am actually outside with them, it doesn’t matter nearly as much.
Suit yourself guys. I have mirror foil on the order. I plan to put it around emitter and in combination with precolimator lenses I plan to get spill effect and pump bit more lumens. As for the black paint: once when even tiny particle of paint gets on led burnout follows :) Maybe that will not happen to you... Maybe it will happen to lets say your buyer if you are selling some.
Nah I don’t usually sell. I’ll cover the emitter with a straw to protect it, but worst case scenario I have to replace a $2 LED
Why not? You can buy 5 B158 sell 4, one stays with you for free :)
But mostly "poor" people like myself have to think this way. If I would have decent monthly incoming I would definitely not do this selling stuff.
Selling is too stressful. I sell things that I don’t want anymore, but I rarely buy things for the purpose of selling. I can accept when something doesn’t work perfectly, but i wouldn’t sell something like that. It drives me nuts.
I received my red light b158 yesterday. I am having a hard time removing the driver. How do you remove it? And also the mcpcb is difficult to remove because it’s glued to the pill.
- Put driver in bench-vise.
- Desolder +- wires from mcpcb.
- Take one tiny nail and put it through +- wire holes
- Take heat gun (or butane torch) in right hand(or vice versa if you are left handed) and start heating from bottom side of the driver
- At the same time time try to press (bit harder) nail from upper side of the pill (U can use hammer or whatever you want here like lets say some wood)
- Take needle nose pliers and put it in a holes of led mcpcb and twitch left or right :)
Same methode than Luminarium iaculator, except i didnt use heat, the nail i used had a blunt rounded point, i tilted it when inserting it in the wire hole so it would rest on the outer part of the driver/contact plate where it meets the wall of the pill to avoid damaging any component, a small deliberate blow on the nail head with a hammer was all it took to free the driver.
Hello everybody
This is my first proper zoomy and my first attempt to dedome a led. And it all worked out beautifully 
XP-G2 S4 2B dedomed with arctic silver, BLF A6 A17DD-L from BG, 18AWG wires everywhere and I’m reading 4,5A in the tail.
Since I didn’t have heat resistant paint I used black marker and sugru around the led. It should be heat resistant to 180°C (356°F). It’s not pitch black and not 100% matte finish, but I wanted to try it out anyway. Black permanent marker leaves way more reflective surface. The plastic ring is underneath, so it should be 100% reversible, if need be.
And some pictures of my badass amp reading setup featuring X6 in the last picture
Nice :) Your A readings encourages me that my uni-t clamp meter readings could be correct. Which battery did you used?
Really interesting way of tail current readings with analogue meter.
Did you noticed lower A readings when gently pressed? (gentle press on battery - and exposed aluminum = lower A readings, fair and hard press = higher readings)
I knew I missed something…
I used a fresh samsung 25R and amp readings always depend on how good is the contact between the materials. That’s why I wanted to show off my amp reading setup, witch has a really nice flat contact surfaces
But metal surfaces are never ever 100% flat, so pushing down a bit harder just improves to contact = a bit higher readings.
Thanks, I already removed the driver but the aluminum mcpcb is very hard to remove because of the glue. I already damaged large part of the soft aluminum mcpcb and still it won’t come off.
Mine took a bit of force. You need to find the right-sized thin flat-head screw driver. I worked on several points around the edges and pried. It took me a bit longer than in the video. Even if you damage the board, you can always get another copper board and reflow the LED onto it. Just be patient and work on it slowly.
For stubborn MCPCB's, I've used a screwdriver or nail set and gave it a couple light taps from a hammer on the edge of the MCPCB, sideways force if you can - I think it worked every time for me, to loosen them up.
Yeah the mcpcb was harder than the driver for me. The driver was easy because I didn’t care about saving it. I just torched it until whatever glue/solder that was holding it in went away and it came out pretty easy. The little brass ring stayed right where it was.