Overhauled one of my first 3up X6’s and played around with GITD stuff applied to some optics,
This X6 had a glued Al-Heatsink, 3 badly dedomed 219B on a FET driver and additinal glass lens. Board was also glued down. I managed to force the board out. Heatsink was left in place but I drilled and tapped two holes into it to secure the board. Sanded down the 32mm board and soldered it under the new one. LEDs are 219B-V1 R9050 sw57, by the way. Sanded down the bezel a bit and now it’s a perfect fit without additional glass lens. While the optics are curing, I prepared a 105C based driver. It’s a dual channel 11+2 AMC7135 driver now, 4.67 A max, running BLF-A6 firmware with BATTCHECK_VpT (EDIT: doesn’t work), 6- and 4-mode-groups, where in the 6-mode-group, 4 modes are running solely on the 2nd 2×7135-channel, in the 4-mode-group, 2 modes are 2nd channel only. Didn’t dare to touch the optics yet, hope they’ll turn out nice.
EDIT: Got it working now, BLF-A6 with BATTCHECK-VpT. TK could have done that in an instant I guess, just a green quest, but for a coding newb like me, it’s quite an achievement.
I did the RMMSRK driver swap. Now I have 7 nice even modes. First thru hole I’ve done. Got a Trustfire 12 led on/off only which I’ll put the old SRK driver into and at least have L/M and high…I hope. Still learning
Fitted a BLF A6 driver into an Ultrafire F13 using a couple of 16/22mm copper washers to make an adapter. Not pretty, but it works.
Now just trying to get my head around the UI.
One unforeseen problem: the spring on the A6 driver is about 7mm shorter than the original so now only protected batteries will work. Kinda defeats the object. DOH!
Well not really a mod but I slopped mud on 6 – 17mm blf a6 Driver kits from RMM’s shop today…
Actually on second thought these are for modding some of my flashlights…
I have bought a bunch of 3000K 92CRI 2ndGen. Oslon Squares for two multi-emitter mods I want to do, but I wanted to see the tint before doing those. So today I did a test-mod replacing the cool white XM-L2 with one of these Squares in an Olight S15. I managed to scratch the reflector and by using a different centering piece (or because of the shape of the Oslon Square) the focus is not perfect. it turns out I dig the colour very much: there’s more yellow in it than the 3000K 80CRI XP-L Hi that I used recently in two mods and I like that: the XPL’s were also nice but just a bit over the top rosy. (yellow without enough red is horrible, yellow with enough red is very nice).
I must be the only one modding today, last mod was mine too
Ok, so I liked the led, today I made the triple: my shorty bare BLF-A6 (dedomed XP-L 5A led) had a non-descript yellow-ish low CRI just under 4000K tint, time for the triple Square 3000K 92CRI. The parts:
The result (how to draw an owl )
It was not all great:
-even though I used the stock lens over the optic, the o-ring kept popping out (when do the chinese learn to make a proper groove for the o-ring instead of a flat shelf?), finally I found a thin black o-ring from a sk68 clone that did the job fine.
-I fried a switch because I shorted the light at the driver spring because of an improper spring bypass, had to solder a new switch in (small Omten)
-the spacer was 1.5 mm too thick, so the head did not close fully, which would have been fine if not the threading is so loose (sloppy manufacturing) that the head pulls itself at a slight angle when tight . The only solution is disassemble and sand a mm off the spacer so that the head tightens over the rim. Someday I will do that
-I love my new 80W solder iron, I use it for ledwire-to-copper-board soldering, done in a second: it is a beast!
-It will have a lighted tailcap, for that I already put a 470 Ohm bleeder in the driver, but I'm out of PD68 6-led washers, ordered new ones from Oshpark
But... it works, and works very well:
*On highest level 7: light output OTF 1420lm at start-up, 1250lm after 30 seconds, on a lila Efest 18350. Current at start-up is 11.5-12A, and 9A after 30 seconds. The efficiency on high is still 40lm/W which is not all that bad for a 3000K 92CRI hotrod.
*On level 3: light output OTF 40lm wit 166mA current, efficiency 60lm/W (my most efficient light is my Nitecore P12 neutral, on medium setting I measure 130lm/W, that is a low CRI XM-L2 reflector light with very efficient driver)
*and the light quality is warm yellow and nice, just as intended.
-I love my new 80W solder iron, I use it for ledwire-to-copper-board soldering, done in a second: it is a beast!
It took me a second to remember the how-to-draw-an-owl joke. delayed lol, heh.
What new 80W iron did you get?
Nice (albeit abbreviated) build pics. The numbers sound nice too.
Thanks , the solder iron is a 80W Antex bought on Ebay, it is so hot that if you melt a blob of solder on the (massive) ‘tip’, it forms an thick oxide layer over it in a fraction of a second.
I do not have a solder station but have a separate 18W, 25W and now 80W solder iron for different uses.
I might have to pick up a 80W iron, my adjustable can’t quite handle 18awg on copper glued to a heatsink. I managed to make it work, but man it’s probably the ugliest solder job I’ve done.
jhalb, the BTU Shocker really rocks with 3 of the 9V MT-G2 emitters. These run an 11.4+Vf when pushed hard, so 3 18650’s in series is fine. Around 10,000 lumens and they look awesome in the Shocker.
Past few days, I started modding a MecArmy PT-16 by converting it to a quad Nichia 219C. Then I changed the driver to an FET, took a 15mm piggybacked onto the stripped OEM board… zip for room in this tiny light! So I carved out the emitter shelf on the lathe, doubled the quad mcpcb with a sanded down 20mm Noctigon, soldered those 2 together and they sit on the fairly wide ledge around the outer walls. Potted the driver and glued in the double copper star with Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive. Then removed the built in charger from the top of the 16340 tube, made it work as a stand alone charger complete with red/green charge/finished lights and magnetic leads to use with my power bank. Bored the tube for an 18350, made a delrin outer tube for a brass inner section for a spacer to take up the slack on the 18350.
The end result of all this in the PT-16? Went from 1100 lumens CW Triple XP-G2 to 2187 lumens Quad 219C, from 2.94A to 6.11A. The driver is flashed with TK’s ramping firmware, 64 levels, reversing, with last mode memory and instant moon/turbo from off. Way cool little light, or way neutral little light, mucho giggles.
Here’s the PT-16 driver, it was the old UI and not really very nice, the newer ones have a much better UI and I knew this from the get go, ordered it knowing I was going to sacrifice the driver.
Literally had to file a flat on the side of the 15mm pcb to sit against the switch, mounted it as flat down onto the stripped board as the 20 ga lead wire would allow. Since there wasn’t an adequate positive through the board (original power to mcu was on battery side of driver) I drilled through the brass button and soldered the lead wire from through the board. Works fine. Had to get creative though, tightest fitment I’ve worked on before, and that’s even considering modifying the driver to an FET in a ZL SC52!
Then, after finishing the Mec-Army on Monday morning, my Solarstorm SP-03 came in for the SRK driver from Richards group buy. So, straight out of the box, I modified it. I made a massive copper pill to attach to the big reflector, de-domed the stock emitters and put them on 20mm SinkPAD’s, used 20ga leads from the SRK driver and stacked 9 7135 chips for a total of 41. The light now weighs 2.25 lbs with cells, spring bypasses in the tail allow 3726 lumens with in excess of 235Kcd from the triple.
-the spacer was 1.5 mm too thick, so the head did not close fully, which would have been fine if not the threading is so loose (sloppy manufacturing) that the head pulls itself at a slight angle when tight . The only solution is disassemble and sand a mm off the spacer so that the head tightens over the rim. Someday I will do that
The day has come, had some sleep and got it done: sanded the spacer to size (1.5mm aluminium is almost an hour sanding) and while the light was open, decided to have a go at the red Noctigon with a black marker, I have enough triples with red front end, and this light is all black and silver so black suits it well. And the head closes perfectly now
OK after only removing 2 stars from a flashlight I wanted to bake the X5
The wires to the star need to be desoldered and thus also soldered back on
The space in the X5 is not very large but YAY I am proud of myself, I managed to solder them back on and the light is working while looking different.
Ouchyfoot wrote:
Quote:
025
And the specs of the Meteor clearly say it IS HAIII! Puzzled
True HAIII anodizing shouldn’t turn colour when baked. I don’t think there is any true HAIII that isn’t black. Time to question the specs. I’ve blasted real black HAIII with a blow torch with no change at all.
Well I thought the Kronos set is HA3 right?
I baked the X5 just now.
It took very long to change color, much much longer then the rest.
It shined bronze/golden very brief (too short for even tone) and well I didn’t dare take it further so here is the result:
025
And the specs of the Meteor clearly say it IS HAIII! Puzzled
True HAIII anodizing shouldn’t turn colour when baked. I don’t think there is any true HAIII that isn’t black. Time to question the specs. I’ve blasted real black HAIII with a blow torch with no change at all.
I didn’t bring it up at the time, but I didn’t really understand why black HAIII couldn’t be baked to a different color. I was under the impression that HAIII has a smaller pore size and thus is unable to be dyed lighter colors. I was also under the impression that HAIII required dye to reach a “black” color rather than the dark “natural” color. My understanding is that the dye is what changes when baking – why wouldn’t this also apply with HAIII?
OTOH baking HAIII to achieve a light color seems pretty questionable and may indicate that it’s actually Type-II anodizing.
EDIT: With that said about the “dark” colors, some fairly reputable folks have claimed to sell HAIII in some very light colors. I’m specifically thinking of PhotonFanatic and Fivemega.
It certainly acted different from all the previous baking sessions.
Those were done in a less then 2 minutes, this took longer, as if the alu struggled to make the change.
First my old SRK, now with a 32× 380mA 7135 driver, Noctigons, springs bypass, extra copper heatsink and illuminated aluminium switch.
Second was my Xeno Cube triple, now with 3x XP-L HI on Noctigon, Carlco 10507 TIR optic, handmade 5×19mm copper spacer, spring bypass, trit and 17mm FET driver. 6A startup from a Red Trustfire 14500 IMR cell.
A short mod, but one that I wanted to do for a long time already: replacing the led of a AAA cheapy (brand-less, from Fasttech, but it is exactly the same build as the Singfire/BLF 348) with a ‘led4power’ 365nm led and replace the lens with a 10mm ZWB2 UV-pass filter. I thought it would be great for banknotes, but it is actually too bright for that without protecting glasses, unless it is for checking for a brief moment. It is not as innocent as it looks..
This one is my favorite! Pulls 1.3 amps with regular cr123s, and 3 amps with IMR123s. Per the Cree product characterization that is good for 1100 lumes and 2300 for this J4 XPH-50. On the IMR batteries it will make you giggle!
Beamshot on low, 2 feet. This has no donut holes, just one sweet smooth beam. Oh, and exposure on phone is -2 for the shots. These are with just cr123 batteries
Same temp and same time, in a cheep light. It took a gold finish.
300.000 Cd running a gas dedomed direct drived XP-G2 .
EDIT: Got it working now, BLF-A6 with BATTCHECK-VpT. TK could have done that in an instant I guess, just a green quest, but for a coding newb like me, it’s quite an achievement.
Nice results.. I will have to start baking my lights as well
USB power meter/tester thread
I did the RMM SRK driver swap. Now I have 7 nice even modes. First thru hole I’ve done. Got a Trustfire 12 led on/off only which I’ll put the old SRK driver into and at least have L/M and high…I hope. Still learning
Fitted a BLF A6 driver into an Ultrafire F13 using a couple of 16/22mm copper washers to make an adapter. Not pretty, but it works.
Now just trying to get my head around the UI.
One unforeseen problem: the spring on the A6 driver is about 7mm shorter than the original so now only protected batteries will work. Kinda defeats the object. DOH!
Still fine, still on a break. One day I’ll catch up with you folks! previous wight catchup
list of my drivers & variants (A17DD, FET+1 stuff, WIP stuff, etc)
I made a JAX mini C8 with a BLF A6 driver and a XM-L2 T6 4C on a Noctigon.
In the process of soldering the driver to the pill I also did my first hot dedome :-/ .
JAX C8 (left) BLF X5 Alu 3B (right).
The dedome tint is starting to grow on me, and it’s pulling 5,8 amps on a fresh Samsung 30Q.
Well not really a mod but I slopped mud on 6 – 17mm blf a6 Driver kits from RMM’s shop today…
Actually on second thought these are for modding some of my flashlights…
With some advice from Randy of PflexPro I did a forward switch conversion on my Convoy C8
I have bought a bunch of 3000K 92CRI 2ndGen. Oslon Squares for two multi-emitter mods I want to do, but I wanted to see the tint before doing those. So today I did a test-mod replacing the cool white XM-L2 with one of these Squares in an Olight S15. I managed to scratch the reflector and by using a different centering piece (or because of the shape of the Oslon Square) the focus is not perfect. it turns out I dig the colour very much: there’s more yellow in it than the 3000K 80CRI XP-L Hi that I used recently in two mods and I like that: the XPL’s were also nice but just a bit over the top rosy. (yellow without enough red is horrible, yellow with enough red is very nice).
link to djozz tests
I must be the only one modding today, last mod was mine too
Ok, so I liked the led, today I made the triple: my shorty bare BLF-A6 (dedomed XP-L 5A led) had a non-descript yellow-ish low CRI just under 4000K tint, time for the triple Square 3000K 92CRI. The parts:
The result (how to draw an owl
)
It was not all great:
-even though I used the stock lens over the optic, the o-ring kept popping out (when do the chinese learn to make a proper groove for the o-ring instead of a flat shelf?), finally I found a thin black o-ring from a sk68 clone that did the job fine.
-I fried a switch because I shorted the light at the driver spring because of an improper spring bypass, had to solder a new switch in (small Omten)
-the spacer was 1.5 mm too thick, so the head did not close fully, which would have been fine if not the threading is so loose (sloppy manufacturing) that the head pulls itself at a slight angle when tight
. The only solution is disassemble and sand a mm off the spacer so that the head tightens over the rim. Someday I will do that 
-I love my new 80W solder iron, I use it for ledwire-to-copper-board soldering, done in a second: it is a beast!
-It will have a lighted tailcap, for that I already put a 470 Ohm bleeder in the driver, but I'm out of PD68 6-led washers, ordered new ones from Oshpark
But... it works, and works very well:
*On highest level 7: light output OTF 1420lm at start-up, 1250lm after 30 seconds, on a lila Efest 18350. Current at start-up is 11.5-12A, and 9A after 30 seconds. The efficiency on high is still 40lm/W which is not all that bad for a 3000K 92CRI hotrod.
*On level 3: light output OTF 40lm wit 166mA current, efficiency 60lm/W (my most efficient light is my Nitecore P12 neutral, on medium setting I measure 130lm/W, that is a low CRI XM-L2 reflector light with very efficient driver)
*and the light quality is warm yellow and nice, just as intended.
link to djozz tests
What new 80W iron did you get?
Nice (albeit abbreviated) build pics. The numbers sound nice too.
Still fine, still on a break. One day I’ll catch up with you folks! previous wight catchup
list of my drivers & variants (A17DD, FET+1 stuff, WIP stuff, etc)
Thanks
, the solder iron is a 80W Antex bought on Ebay, it is so hot that if you melt a blob of solder on the (massive) ‘tip’, it forms an thick oxide layer over it in a fraction of a second.
I do not have a solder station but have a separate 18W, 25W and now 80W solder iron for different uses.
link to djozz tests
I might have to pick up a 80W iron, my adjustable can’t quite handle 18awg on copper glued to a heatsink. I managed to make it work, but man it’s probably the ugliest solder job I’ve done.
I really like the little mini C8, I did mine with an XM-L2 4C and a FET+1!
EDC rotation:
FW1A, LH351D 4000k (second favorite)
FW3A, LH351D 3500k
FW3A, SST20 FD2 4000k
FW3A, Nichia 4000k sw40 r9080 (favorite light!)
FW3A, Cree XP-L Hi 5A3
Emisar D4V2, SST20 4000k
S2+, XM-L2 T6 4C
jhalb, the BTU Shocker really rocks with 3 of the 9V MT-G2 emitters. These run an 11.4+Vf when pushed hard, so 3 18650’s in series is fine. Around 10,000 lumens and they look awesome in the Shocker.
Past few days, I started modding a MecArmy PT-16 by converting it to a quad Nichia 219C. Then I changed the driver to an FET, took a 15mm piggybacked onto the stripped OEM board… zip for room in this tiny light! So I carved out the emitter shelf on the lathe, doubled the quad mcpcb with a sanded down 20mm Noctigon, soldered those 2 together and they sit on the fairly wide ledge around the outer walls. Potted the driver and glued in the double copper star with Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive. Then removed the built in charger from the top of the 16340 tube, made it work as a stand alone charger complete with red/green charge/finished lights and magnetic leads to use with my power bank. Bored the tube for an 18350, made a delrin outer tube for a brass inner section for a spacer to take up the slack on the 18350.
The end result of all this in the PT-16? Went from 1100 lumens CW Triple XP-G2 to 2187 lumens Quad 219C, from 2.94A to 6.11A. The driver is flashed with TK’s ramping firmware, 64 levels, reversing, with last mode memory and instant moon/turbo from off. Way cool little light, or way neutral little light, mucho giggles.
Here’s the PT-16 driver, it was the old UI and not really very nice, the newer ones have a much better UI and I knew this from the get go, ordered it knowing I was going to sacrifice the driver.
Literally had to file a flat on the side of the 15mm pcb to sit against the switch, mounted it as flat down onto the stripped board as the 20 ga lead wire would allow. Since there wasn’t an adequate positive through the board (original power to mcu was on battery side of driver) I drilled through the brass button and soldered the lead wire from through the board. Works fine.
Had to get creative though, tightest fitment I’ve worked on before, and that’s even considering modifying the driver to an FET in a ZL SC52!
Then, after finishing the Mec-Army on Monday morning, my Solarstorm SP-03 came in for the SRK driver from Richards group buy. So, straight out of the box, I modified it. I made a massive copper pill to attach to the big reflector, de-domed the stock emitters and put them on 20mm SinkPAD’s, used 20ga leads from the SRK driver and stacked 9 7135 chips for a total of 41. The light now weighs 2.25 lbs with cells, spring bypasses in the tail allow 3726 lumens with in excess of 235Kcd from the triple.
Here’s some of the work on the SP-03
Easy carry D80.
!!
The day has come, had some sleep and got it done: sanded the spacer to size (1.5mm aluminium is almost an hour sanding) and while the light was open, decided to have a go at the red Noctigon with a black marker, I have enough triples with red front end, and this light is all black and silver so black suits it well. And the head closes perfectly now
link to djozz tests
OK after only removing 2 stars from a flashlight I wanted to bake the X5
The wires to the star need to be desoldered and thus also soldered back on
The space in the X5 is not very large but YAY I am proud of myself, I managed to solder them back on and the light is working while looking different.
Well I thought the Kronos set is HA3 right?
I baked the X5 just now.
It took very long to change color, much much longer then the rest.
It shined bronze/golden very brief (too short for even tone) and well I didn’t dare take it further so here is the result:
It is done when it is done
How my BLF Specials generally work, please read before asking Qs
The Q8, Exciting a groupbuy for a Premium BLF special high lumens soda can light!
The GT, A BLF special GIGA thrower
The FW3A, a TLF BLF special small, elegant, powerful triple
Lithium Ion safety 101 important read
Sorry grammarlovers, I am a real King Typo.
OTOH baking HAIII to achieve a light color seems pretty questionable and may indicate that it’s actually Type-II anodizing.
EDIT: With that said about the “dark” colors, some fairly reputable folks have claimed to sell HAIII in some very light colors. I’m specifically thinking of PhotonFanatic and Fivemega.
Still fine, still on a break. One day I’ll catch up with you folks! previous wight catchup
list of my drivers & variants (A17DD, FET+1 stuff, WIP stuff, etc)
It certainly acted different from all the previous baking sessions.
Those were done in a less then 2 minutes, this took longer, as if the alu struggled to make the change.
It is done when it is done
How my BLF Specials generally work, please read before asking Qs
The Q8, Exciting a groupbuy for a Premium BLF special high lumens soda can light!
The GT, A BLF special GIGA thrower
The FW3A, a TLF BLF special small, elegant, powerful triple
Lithium Ion safety 101 important read
Sorry grammarlovers, I am a real King Typo.
I cross-posted an edit as you were posting your response The Miller. I’d forgotten about those CPF folks selling brightly colored HAIII.
Still fine, still on a break. One day I’ll catch up with you folks! previous wight catchup
list of my drivers & variants (A17DD, FET+1 stuff, WIP stuff, etc)
My God that SolarStorm is entirely off the hook! What talent, Jeeez! I definately need to get a mill and a lathe.
The X5 looks close to some of the pictures of non dyed HAIII I’ve seen. How hot did you have to get it to have it start changing?
I did my Solarforce M8 in the oven at over 550º, took FOREVER. lol Same military drab olive green look.
t was on the gasflames and after a mnute of 2 the change started.
The cheaper lights were all changed withn two minutes tops.
It is done when it is done
How my BLF Specials generally work, please read before asking Qs
The Q8, Exciting a groupbuy for a Premium BLF special high lumens soda can light!
The GT, A BLF special GIGA thrower
The FW3A, a TLF BLF special small, elegant, powerful triple
Lithium Ion safety 101 important read
Sorry grammarlovers, I am a real King Typo.
Got two finished today.
First my old SRK, now with a 32× 380mA 7135 driver, Noctigons, springs bypass, extra copper heatsink and illuminated aluminium switch.
Second was my Xeno Cube triple, now with 3x XP-L HI on Noctigon, Carlco 10507 TIR optic, handmade 5×19mm copper spacer, spring bypass, trit and 17mm FET driver. 6A startup from a Red Trustfire 14500 IMR cell.
- LEDs & Other Stuff - - UI CheatSheets - - CRX Flashlight Builds - - Stuff for Sale -
I modified a broken LED Lenser P14 by removing the (mechanical) driver, changing it to one mode direct drive.
Flashlight designers should look at lighthouses and pottery.
这些谁设计的手电筒应该看灯塔，以及在陶器。
That is very nice!
NovaTac with Ti Flame bezel
This one is my favorite! Pulls 1.3 amps with regular cr123s, and 3 amps with IMR123s. Per the Cree product characterization that is good for 1100 lumes and 2300 for this J4 XPH-50. On the IMR batteries it will make you giggle!
Beamshot on low, 2 feet. This has no donut holes, just one sweet smooth beam. Oh, and exposure on phone is -2 for the shots. These are with just cr123 batteries
This one is twelve feet away
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