My First Real Mods/Builds

I finally got the nerve to try doing something more than a simple spring bypass.

The 2 lights I decided I would either sacrifice, or make better, were the Thorfire C8 and a Small Sun ZY-T16 to try my first real Mods or Builds on.

Both Lights DO have spring bypasses at both ends on these. The ThorfireC8 was a fairly simple removal and swap of driver and MCPCB and replacing both. I used a17mm FET+1 six mode driver (moon - turbo) with 120 second turbo timer and a 20mm Noctigon MCPCB with dedomed XM-L2 U3 1A emitter. A little bit of sanding on the insulator gasket (centering ring) and focus was just right. Getting 4.57 amps at tailcap with 18650 LG HE4’s. I don’t have a lux meter or any way of testing lumen output (just yet).

I added the 175yd shot BEFORE the build (on the C8) for comparison in the beamshots below.

Beam Profile / Light 3ft from Light Gray wall

Gate 100 yards (Turbo)

Before The Build at 175 yards

After build 175 Yards (turbo)

The far WHITE marker is at 400 yards
400 yards (turbo)

400yards ENLARGED

The Small Sun ZY-T16 I used a 20mm FET “guppydrv” for the driver (lots and lots of settings) and a 20mm Noctigon MCPCB with a dedomed XM-L2 U4 1C emitter.
Driver here (scroll down to Universal guppydrv Rev 1), FET Driver - 20mm

After installing everything the heat dissipation and the focus were both pretty bad on this one, so I had to make a copper disk (started out with a piece of copper tubing) to go under the MCPCB to get that fixed and moving some heat. I had to mess with the focus ALOT. I got the heat management doing great and the focus is good now, other than close up when wall hunting it has some slight rings. (these are not noticeable in normal use a little further out)

Made the copper disk from this,

Finished the disk and put it in the pill with thermal paste under it,

Then used thermal paste under the MCPCB and got everything put back together.

The end result with this Small Sun I am really pleased with, as the tint and the output are a lot better than I had expected out of it, and it was being such a pain in he rear to get everything just right. Getting 4.19 amps at tailcap with 4000 mAh 26650 King Kong (black) unprotected button tops.

Beam profile / Light 6ft from Light Gray wall

Gate 100 yards (high)

175 yards

400 yards

400 yards ENLARGED

Nice Job, Rob!

Thanks for showing!

-Chuck

Nice mods! Great tint on that C8, looks CW and not greenish at all.

I’d say that was quite a bit more then a spring bypass :open_mouth: Looks like you’re a natural modder. My modding experience was removing a reflector from a light once.

thanks for sharing, it encourages the faint at heart.

Thanks guys,

Yes the tint is a cool white on the C8 but not quiet as cool or bluish as the photos show. I didn’t adjust anything on the pictures from the beamshots, so they are as the camera captured them, and not exactly as my eye sees them (although fairly close), the Small Sun is a very good neutral white.

Thanks for posting. I plan on attempting a C8 build in the future. Do you remember you camera settings ?

It is a point and shoot camera (Fuji 14mp), I just set it for night time shots and use tripods.

I don’t have a clue what the setting would be.

Well you did a good job on the photographs. If you check the properties of the photo it should tell you camera settings.

I would like to see the settings for the pics with the gates.

Nice job on these mods :slight_smile: i have the same Thorfire C8, but have not modded it yet.

Doh I knew that brain dead ATM I guess………

here ya go….

4608x3440
600 dpi
Bit depth 24

ISO-200
focal length 6mm
Max apeture 3.44
Brightness –4.67
Landscape Mode

It is a good one to mod, the one I have came with the solid screw out pill in it, I have heard they were putting a pill with a hole in the middle of it for awhile.

Got you PM. I m very impressed what these C8’s will do. I am working on a shopping list right now.

Did you dedome the LED yourself ? Thinking I might just get a HI version.

I have dedomed a few LED’s, but I got these from Richard at Mtnelectronics already dedomed on the boards.

Be sure if you do order from him you check the box for it to be dedomed at the bottom of the image if you are in fact wanting a dedomed emitter.

Great mods. The small sun is one of those lights that has all kinds of possibilities.

nice mods, looks great!

Sweetness!!! Can definitely see the difference. The beamshot at 175yrds looks a bit like daylight. Sure you didn’t call on the sun gods to help you in that shot?!??

Nice work. Fun, isn’t it?

It is satisfying to see the results in the end for sure pilot.

Getting there can be a hair pulling experience at times though when you just kind of winging it……lol

The attention to detail shows in the beam shots. I have found that I really like working with the KD C8. If you are looking for a host, they have a complete light for 10 bux with brass pill. They have a good selection of reflectors for XM and XP emitters in smooth and LOP. I actually like to run a de-domed XP-G2 with a LOP reflector so that there is some usable light outside of the pencil beam.

Good focus and good work in general, keep up the good work.

Thanks for the info matt, have plenty of C8’s ATM but I will keep those in mind. Right now I have plans to put a dedomed XP-G2 S2 2B in my XinTD V5 C8 with FET and guppydrv , already got the spring bypass done on the tail end and waiting on parts. I think it will give me a heck of a throw, although I don’t know what kind of spill I will get with it.