I went modding tonight: The Smallsun C10 to XML floodlight

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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I recently received the SmallSun C10 zoomie and after a quick play araund with it I realized what to me is its bigges plus: Despite its rather big head it is unobtrusive in a pocket. It is short and with no sharp edges to speak of. I tried carrying it in my working pants for half a day and found that it lacked 2 things that I've come to like in a work light.

BIIIG flood. Didn't happen with original setup. XR-E with a zoom lens that did not come close to the led. No sir.

No clip. I can remedy that myself but that did not happen tonight.

So tonight after tucking in the kid and the missus I went to my little workshop. Got out the hacksaw and cut off the lowest part of the zooming head. Cut right behind the second "cooling fin" and smoothed it out with a file.

Now the lens stops about 1 cm from the lens. Not perfect but I did not want to risk that the head got totally wobbly in throw mode. Open up the flood to about double size. Guess my flashlight is now a x1 to x4000 zoomie ;-)

But now the flood was not bright enough! Doh!!

So I opened the light and quickly soldered in a T6 XML on a copper start that I got from DX. Just took the time to sand the star backside completely flat before I installed it thats all.

Now the flood was even wider which is nice - but even on high it was not what I wanted. So apart the light went again.

Out with the original driver and in with a Nanjg 105C board from DX. Made it 3 mode and the plopped that sucker in there.

NOW WE ARE TALKING!

The flood is so bright and wide it will light up a 20*30 meter lawn so you can tell where a leaf fell on it even at the edges. I tried putting the light down and walking away from it until I could not see the small date numbers on my Casio watch. That was at roughly 30 meters.

I was able to read some fine print on another flashlight that I carry at approximately 20 meters.

I went to the edge of my lot and tested the throw and it threw a lot better that I had thought it would with an XML so I got out the meter and took some measurements to satisfy my curiosity...

Here I have to admit that I forgot the measurements in between the lowest and highest. I'll have to re-do those tomorrow when (if) I have time again.

EDIT: I just put a fresh Panasonic 3,1Ah batteri in it before taking these measurements and I can see that the values I wrote earlier have to go.

Measurements:

Low: Flood: 27 candela @ 1 meter

Throw: 1 Kcd @ 1 meter

Med: Flood: 140 candela @ 1 meter

Throw: 7100 candela @ 1 meter

High: Flood: 520 candela @ 1 meter

Throw: 28,9 Kcd @ 1 meter

Thats all for now but I hope to have time for some pictures in the morning :-)

TY 4 reading :-)

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This is where I tell you how my modding went tonight. It is not always this messed up but finding time to pursue this naturally nocturnal hobby is often difficult for me and others I can imagine. Thought I'd share a little of it.

After tucking in the kid and the missus I went to the workshop and... The kid started screaming because he's getting teeth and it hurts. Poor bugger - and me. I nearly dropped the lens of the flashlight but quickly set it down on the table, knocking over the battery tube so it falls to the concrete floor making a loud clanking noise. I go inside the house to check on the baby and the missus is asking me what I am doing? Are you "playing around with flashlights again? What was that sound?" The baby gets tucked in again and the missus drifts off into sleep. Just as I am ready to go back to the workshop I hear metallic clanking noises from the workshop. I just know it's one of the cats playing with the battery tube. As I get there my 8 year old cat Tonic is on his back, holding the tube with his front paws and clawing at it with his hind legs. "NO TONIC!" sends him scurrying under a table where he starts licking himself and looking busy ignoring me.

I notice there is a smell of burnt plastic in the air and look to the soldering iron. Sure enough I had plugged it in expecting to swap the emitter in my beloved Jacob A60 to a XR-E R2 a little later. When I set down the lens I had pushed one of those flimsy little zip bags that holds emitters and stuff when you order it via mail. And now half of it was melted and hung as a cloud of chemical stink in the workshop. I opened the door and a window to create a little draft and I succeeded! So after closing the window again and cleaning up the mess the draft made, counting that I had all the boards, emitters and other stuff that I used to have on the table I tried to focus.

Cut the lower part off of the sliding head of the flashlight and was just about to secure it flat in a vice when one of my dogs barked. They are right outside my workshop in a dog pen. Went to see what that was about - nothing - and went back. Secured the head and picked up the file when the other dog barked! Went to see what that was about - nothing - and told them to keep quiet. They looked like they were sorry but who knows?

Filed away when I heard them barking again. Went to see what that was about and found that they had spotted a stray cat 50 meters away. That cat did not give a damn! It came closer and closer and the dogs wanted to bark but I was there and talked to them so that they should shut up and not wake the baby. Closer it came until I could reach it with a water hose. Then it ran away like it was on fire! Back to modding.

Finished filing the head flat. Installed it. Not good enough - see first post. Dismantle again. Desolder old emitter, put in un-burnt zip bag and find new emitter in what seems to be mountains of yellow envelopes from exotic places. Got it, sanded the star flat, tinned the +/- pads and... then the kid starts crying again :-( OHH MAN!

I go comfort him while trying not to be distraught and remote. I am glad he is still too small to care. He just needs long hug and a soothing voice. Because at this junction of my life I was not focused entirely on his needs.

Back to the workshop where I find Gin, our other 8 year old cat, has placed a dead mouse on the workbench and is now sitting there, licking herself and oblivious to the carnage the leaking remains of the little rodent is leaving. I clean it up and tell her she did a good job. Give her a treat and receive a indifferent look.

Back to modding. I solder the wires from the driver to the led and install the thing in the light. Trying it out inside tells me it is too weak still. Then the dogs start barking again... OHH! Shut up will you! They will and they do.

Inside to find a new driver. A standard 2,8A Nanjg 105C set up for 3 modes. My favorite.

I decide to use a little piece of wire to bridge the third star from the left to the negative rim because last time I did it with only solder I had a hard time getting it to bond to both the star and the rim at the same time. I use a few strands from a wire and twist them together. I then tin the wire and when I then pre-tin the star and the rim I make the perfect little solder bridge by accident! Such is life.

I finish the mod and am happy.

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Sounds like a good mod. Good story.