What did you mod today?

Yes, I cut some 20mm square, drill a hole in the center, cut a rough circle with a saw and file it fine. Then I mounted it on my drill, and filed it again while turning

Nice combination of host and triple! About the board filing, check for a short between the metal core and the led-minus (I remember some less favorite hobby-moments)

I always clean up the edges with very fine emery paper to get rid of any rough edges or tailings that could cause a short.

I modded a hugsby ml-8. After wrapping the head and tube with rubber i was able to break the thread lock glue with a small pipe wrench and a vice. I took the stock pill and inserted a c8 pill in it to hold my driver (a dd 6v zener mod). On the top side I punched out a 20mm copper disc 2mm thick. polished both sides, added some therm grease, and slapped an XHP70 on top. Soldered it all together and whallaaaa. The factory OP reflector made for a nice tight beam with good unblotched center. If anyone is interested I can take pics and post em. I am making this post because when i did a search for such a couple weeks ago I found very little. So maybe it will be of interest to someone. :slight_smile:

I didnā€™t mod anything today, but I did a lot of deep thinking and modding in my mind.

Very interested. :slight_smile:

I think youā€™re one of two that have been able to open it. No pictures of the internals have been posted afaik.

God work on the Hugsby ML-8. I know I promised pictures of it apart a while ago, sorry totally forgotten. I am currently working on adapting a smo reflector. I also had to order new o-ring for the bezel. Original was like soft plastic and did not seal properly.

Itā€™s called pre modding, bar napkin mulling, or drinking, depending on your emphasis at the time. Iā€™m an avid practitioner.

Yes you did. You are modding your plans for modding :slight_smile:

Iā€™m modding my modding plans all the time! Unless the family interups that and mods the amount of time I spend modding my modding plans.

Today I build my 4th C8 with XP-L HI, itā€™s just another C8 build, but this time I used DrJoneā€™s magnificent H17F driver.

The H17F is beautifully designed and the programming possibilities is just mind blowing, the most amazing feature? A PID regulation that actually works, watching the output go up and down on a light meter is rather satisfying. I donā€™t have a data-logging light meter yet (ordered the UniT 382), but I couldnā€™t notice any output step during regulation, it happens very fast and smoothly. Weā€™re talking about zebralight-level PID hereā€¦

Compared to a regular FET+1 the amps in turbo only dropped 0.16A which is really nothing for 5.3A+ on a single LED. I would confidently use this driver for any triple XP-L build, the FET is tiny, but it can handle some serious power. :wink:

I just posted pictures of the Hugsby ML-8 taken apart in the review thread ā€¦ Better late than never :wink:

Will hopefully try the new smo reflector later tonight. XP-G2(DD), XM-L2(DD) or XP-L HIā€¦.

Wish I had more timeā€¦.

I modified my ankle last Sunday into a constant source of creative interruption. :stuck_out_tongue:

Tweaked a Convoy BD1 to 4.2A and moved the warm white emitter to a copper star. Very cool how this light is built, seeing the charging indicator light up the reflector from around the LED is cool! Nice light, well made, the charger didnā€™t take my Powerizer 26650 to a full state of charge though, terminating at 4.13V. Iā€™ll try again with a newer cell.

Bumped output and changed emitters in a cheap zoomie, went with an XP-L V6 1D over the XM-L that was present, took it up a bit over 4A with the stock driver. (blinkies, blech!)

Spent some time working on an extension tube for a TR20, my ankle hates me. This morning Iā€™ll be enlisting the aid of a more professional modder to address the situation. They call her Drā€¦ā€¦

TR20 extension? Care to share, buddy, pal ? Whatā€™cha got cookin Doc!!

S70 simple driver adapter for a RMM-FETDD26mm, using (3) 30.5mm copper hydraulic washerā€™s (seals). S70 driverā€¦. RMM FETDD26mm driverā€¦ Copper sealsā€¦ Measurementsā€¦ Splitting one of the rings fit it tight to the ID of one of the other rings,this supports the FETDD driver, liberally coat with solder paste, put all 3 together, and heat till nice and silvery. Driver retainer matches perfectlyā€¦ Fits S70 driver cavity with just a tiny amount of slopā€¦ Adapter, and driver in S70 headā€¦ Driver retainer holds everything togetherā€¦ Ready to rock some High Amps!! Next S70 mod will be thermally potting the head, close up some of them holes and get the heat outā€¦ā€¦ Using this stuffā€¦ Pushed it thru the back of the driver cavity and then out. Let it set up a bit, then using a sharp edged tool, skimmed off close to the emitter surface, and then jus finish up how ever you want. Now just drill simple holes for leads and drill and tap for the mcpcb. My S70 is pulling 11.7 amps with the new N41B mounted on the Maxtoch, heat is now felt at the head faster, thermal transfer is way better now, this stuff works well for potting and cost alot ALOT less then Stycast!!

In post #497, I put a 17mm driver in a BLF D80 by soldering it to the wrong side of the retaining ring.

Itā€™s not pretty. :stuck_out_tongue:

Today, I successfully installed a 17mm driver from Mountain Electronics in the other D80.

I was able to center the driver on the shelf and install the retaining ring without issue.

Thanks for the tip, DEL! :slight_smile:

Hereā€™s a photo of both methods:

I built a convoy M2 with qlite 3A driver and a eagle eye X6 XPL HI host from gearbest with the mtn FET+1 driver, both with XPL HI V2 3B emitters on noctigons from intl outdoors.

The M2, at 2.9A, has 31,800cd, measured at 6.05m.

The X6, at ~5.2A, has 71,400cd, measured at 6.05m.

Lux measurements made with tondaj lx-1010b.

The X6 came with a centering ring that seems to work with the XPL HI emitter. It is circular and it rests on the 4 corners of the emitter rather than on the mcpcb. I havenā€™t tightened the bezel all the way down yet because Iā€™m not sure how much pressure the reflector is putting on the centering ring and emitter. For anyone who has this host, what has been your experience with using the centering ring?

Measuring standard is 5M, taking readings from non standard distances skews the results. Just saying.

X6 centering ring SHOULD fit around the emitter, sit on the mcpcb. Sometimes overflow from the emitter reflow makes bumps or ā€œballsā€ of excess solder that will hold the centering ring up. With this one, being round surrounding the square substrate, that shouldnā€™t be a problem. But it isnā€™t supposed to sit on the corners of the substrate.

Edit: The 3 newest ones I received DO have that odd new centering ring. It is cut out on the bottom to fit around the substrate but has a thin shelf on top that partially covers the corners. Beats me why they keep changing things! It appears to put pressure on the mcpcb itself, it will almost assuredly tear the phosphor/silicone off the corners if opened up repeatedly. I think if I am keeping these in this single emitter set-up Iā€™ll trim that overlaying area or change out the centering ring altogether. They also appear to have a copper mcpcb, havenā€™t tested yet to see if they are DTP.

The ideal throw measuring distance is infinity, and what is a good practical distance depends on the type of flashlight. A small aspheric like the Supfire F3 calculates virtually the same kcd when measured at infinity and 2 meter, the Courui big head will need more than 5 meter for that.
So more is always better, and IMO making 5 meter a standard measuring distance is good for standardisation but it is not good for doing fair throw measurements.

Not really today but last days.

Some may know that my S70 driver died, I got the replacement condensator earlier this week. Almost at the same time I got a Nichia 219C from a great member here (thnx Djozz!! :beer: ). He offered to reflow it on a 16mm noctigon. (funny part is, I forgot that the convoy C8 uses a 20mm PCBā€¦ :smiley: )

So had a couple things to do :smiley: .

First I repaired the S70 driver. (that yellowish thing is the condensator)

And while I had it out I also bepassed the spring with some 20AWG silicon wire, which I got from hobbyking the week before.
Itā€™s much easier to do a bypass with some wire than some copper braid/solder wick. Though I find it still be a pain in the assā€¦ :stuck_out_tongue:

Here is the Nichia 219C on the 16mm noctigon, including a o-ring that he used for protecting the led.

First I wanted to use it in a convoy C8 (with the integrated shelf) that has a Fet +1 driver in it. Both the tail and driver spring where bypasses with some copper braid. I removed them both to try to keep the Amps in controle.
Iā€™m not sure what went wrong but it didnā€™t work. It didnā€™t even light up. When I pulled the driver out I noticed both the springs where deformed. Apparently they become quite hot. So that wasnā€™t a succes.
Luckily I had an other convoy C8 which has the removable pill that a modded Qlite in it, so I used this one for the Nichia.
Here is it mounted and soldered. I made some low clearance spacers for the wires from pieces of copper braid that was filled with solder, to clear the reflector. And I centered it as good as possible.

And it works!!

Now I had a XM-L2 on copper laying around that was mounted in the C8 I used for the Nichia, a fet driver without a spring and a C8 host without use.
So I took a piece of a brass plunger, that was used on a tailcap of a cheap C8 clone, and soldered that on the driver.

Also bypassed the tail spring with some 20AWG wire.

Here is the driver mounted in the light and a picture of the XM-L2.

So, Iā€™ve repaired my S70. Put a Nichia 219C in a convoy C8 with a Qlite modded driver (+4 7135ā€™s). And put the remaining XM-L2 and fet driver in the remaining C8.