As most now have read, I ruined my UF V3 de-doming it and am now seeking another pill to screw in and go. I figured, why not do a U3 this time? Anyone up to the job? I’ll pay for parts and labor, and then some.
I would volunteer but not sure if Id' do better than you - newbie at this mod'ing, maybe I'll try my UF V3 first, and if it works, maybe... I got drivers and U3's on the way...
Good idea. Cool.
Hey Rusty,
Why don’t I drop mine off with you and we just send them in to a modder and make twins? I’d love to have a hopped up UF-V3. I’m in Lewisville BTW
Sounds like a plan.
If it's me, oh boy, again, new at this - mod'ed my first 2 lights - one worked out very well, the other so/so - think I fried a 7135 chip because it dropped exactly 380mA - a wire came loose and the driver went out to lunch - went into 1 mode direct drive. It works now after the repair, but noticed I lost one of the 8 7135's -- hard to tell which one, so easier to replace the driver for $4.30. I think I can tackle the LED and even piggy-backing 7135's - got 15 of the 380mAh 7135's now. Got high quality thermal compounds as well.
Hopefully learning from this snafu...
The successful mod was a UF F12-A, and I really, really like this light now - just did a driver upgrade and swapped the tail cap booty for a GITD, the modes are great, it tail stands now, lot of power at 2.8A -- it's a 14500 U2 Flood-To-Throw with S.S. trim -- really nice looking, but a bit heavy in the pocket.
Took my V3 apart - 20mm driver and 20mm LED board. The driver is pressed in, as is a retaining ring - pretty easy to take apart though. Two issues:
- all driver boards I know of are 17mm, not 20mm
- the + spring on the driver - it's huge -- wide and long
I'm sure it could be worked out but requires some special fitting, like a collar ring insert or something. No access to a lathe or milling machine though.
You could try making a mega stack on this driver, add 2 more on top of each, http://www.intl-outdoor.com/amc71353-5mode-circuit-board-nanjg-ak47c20-p-596.html
The best way is to use another board and use any 17mm driver inside, http://www.intl-outdoor.com/2-pcs-contact-pcb-204mm-p-410.html
If there is ample room inside the pill, this would be the best method to use and I’ve done it already with great success. It’s a very simple process.
Thanks Hikelite! Yes, I thought there was a blank driver, didn't find this one on Intl Outdoor before. Think guys said they de-chipped the existing driver board to use it as a filler as well - maybe also a possibility. But, how would I connect the 17mm 8*7135 driver board to the 20mm board? the driver board has the 7135's on both sides. Should I cut out the center of the 20mm to fit in the 17mm board inside of it?
You just let the driver inside of the pill. See how This driver is connected to a simple board to fit the 20/21mm standard.
Dang! This would have been my exact post! The 2nd option is my thought for my HD2010 mod, but what about thermal path for the driver? Is this any concern? Pot it against the 20mm board?
That would be an option I guess, but difficult to be precise. I'd think to do what I said above - pot it against the 20mm board with fujik (or AA) being sure to jumper wire the ground and positive contacts from the 17mm board to the 20mm board somehow.
-Garry
Oh, and which diameter board for an HD2010 pill? There's a 21mm and a 20.4. Perhaps it's best to get the 21mm and file down. (Sorry to go off the topic of the UF-V3).
-Garry
Ok - it's been a while with several mods under my belt now, but I finally started looking seriously into a driver upgrade on this UF-V3, dis-assemblying it, but actually, it's a major pain. The pill depth is so small, it won't fit a 20mm blank and a 7135 driver board with it's stock tiny spring, if, you could solder the spring directly to the 20mm blank (wouldn't know how to do it). Also, the aluminum the pill is made out of looks like plastic, even though it isn't -- it's the cheapest, lightest aluminum (alloy I guess) I've seen - scratches real easy, again like plastic would. In fact why this light is so lightweight seems to be because of the cheap, light aluminum it's made from, and there really isn't very much of it. I measured a working depth in the pill of about 6.5 mm. Another option is to use a 1-sided 7135 driver (4*7135) at 1.4A, and directly solder it to a 20mm blank. This looks do-able (I think I could solder that). Then to get it up to 2.8A, you have to add a piggy back 7135 to each existing 7135, also do-able. However, this may barely fit, probably not -- very tight. The 7135's would actually be sitting against the top of the pill, and that may be a problem because the thin, lightweight aluminum at the top of the pill is where the LED star is mounted on to the other side, and I assume that would get really hot! All they have is simple grease under the star - I could easily replace that with Arctic Silver epoxy, which would help, and could pot the pill with thermal grease, but oh boy... I dunno...
Comparing this light to a typical C8, the C8 looks and feels like a tank with gobs of room.
Best option would be extending the pill towards the battery because the spring the stock driver has on it is huge, and could be replaced with something smaller. Or an insert could be built, made of brass or copper that you could mount a 17mm driver directly to, and problem solved! I could spec out the dimensions but I would need someone to make it. Maybe I could write it down and get a mechanical designer at work to draw up a CAD drawing then ask around. If I could get this insert/adapter made, the upgrade would be a piece of cake. I would suggest keeping the amps relatively low at 2.8A (Nanjg) or 3.04A (KD V2) since this light lacks any serious heat sinking. The high grade epoxy and grease should help to keep it cool at those 2.8/3.0 levels. I think this level of amps increase would make a nice, noticeable difference. This light has a nice tight beam pattern, close to a Jacob A60. Actually looking at the light it's sort of a mini Jacob. It should be worthwhile upgrading this light, just wish it was easier.
Johnny Mac has the fix for you here:
I have the UF-V3 as well, like that beam profile/throw and overall quality and size for the price/performance. If I was going to rev the driver, this is what I would do as well.
Thanks LowLumens!! Yes, I see what they are doing. JohnnyMac got the P60 pills for 50 cents each, pack of 5, from CNQG, so looks easy to get, and looks easy to adapt. Crap, wish I came across that earlier - what was I thinkin? I'm on it - got to order the parts now.
UF-V3 mod is done! Used the same method as JohnnyMac - brass pill sanded down, press fit, made a perfect base to mount a KD V2 driver, 3.04A. I added 1 more 7135 to get it up to 3.42A but it sure gets hot pretty quick - measured 115F at the head after a couple of mins. Also, I'm using a de-domed U2 - not as great as I would have liked but only tested in daylight in the house so far. The Jacob A60 is still a tighter, whiter spot but the V3 is not too far off. Gotta do a distance compare tonight. The dedomed V3 certainly puts out more light than the Jacob.
Rusty Joe/ZW99GT: If you are still interested, I would do the pill/driver mod for both of you - only $5 in parts for the driver and pill, 50 cents for an extra 7135 but I'm not sure I'd recommend it - it gets hot, probably better of staying with 3.04A. I use the good Arctic Silver epoxy and grease. The shipping costs is probably the biggest $$$. If you want, I could do a U3 1C tint emitter ($7) - it sounds like you need a new emitter Joe, or I could do a U2 replacement for nothing (got extras).
I'll PM you...
Here's some pics of modified UF-V3 pill.
Old driver on left, new driver on right - piggy back 7135, little sloppy because this was a driver from an early (my first) attempt at a mod, but it does still work. Also old U2 star and replacement dedomed U2. Actually this dedomed LED twisted on the star when I stupidly tightened the bezel with high power on on a C8 light - it blew out a chip on the driver but the LED seemed to survive after I re-mounted it properly (heated it from underneath).
Side view of pill:
Close up of the pill and dedomed U2 (cut off and buffed):
