Well, I know this build will be pretty basic for some. However it was the next step in modding for me and I’m pretty excited about it as it went to plan perfectly!!
So, it started out when Intl-Outdoor announced on here that they had started stocking the Nichia 219B. I had always been fascinated by the Nichia’s as people really bang on about how nice their tint is, but I was yet to use one myself. Someone in the thread had mentioned the possibility of Hank doing a triple Nichia on a Noctigon which then got me quite excited as I have never used a triple emitter in a build before. Anyway long story short, I purchased the Triple Nichia, a 3.04A Qlite, some extra 380mA 7135 chips, three different Carclo optics and decided to try it all in a Convoy S2 as I already had one and really liked the host.
This would need some heatsinking as well as some extra length to make up the space which the reflector was no longer occupying. I purchased some 19mm copper bar, took some measurements, did a rough sketch and took it to a friend who had a machine shop. A little while later and I had this…
I then took the piece of copper and soldered it to the standard brass pill which the S2 comes with…
Followed by some polishing of the surface using some 1200, 2000, 3000 grit sand paper followed by some Autosol (I know it isn’t perfect )
To power it I was going to need more than the normal 3A of output that the Qlite offered. So I stacked 4 380mA chips to it. I had done this before but to make it a little easier this time I used my dremel and a cut off wheel and chopped off the centre pin on all the chips which helped to stop the solder jumping across which can be quite annoying. At this time I also added some Chemtools No. 2 braid to the spring and soldered the 4th star giving me moonlight, low, medium and high modes…
I then soldered the pads on the Triple Noctigon board so that it would be operating in parallel…
Then fitted the star and the driver into the pill using some Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste…
Finally I braided the switch spring, fitted the pill into the host along with a Carclo 10507 (narrow beam) optic and changed the tailcap rubber boot to a GITD blue one…
And last but certainly not least. Anyone that has stacked chips will know how much of a relief it is to see this after everything has been assembled and operated…
And there you have it… My Triple Nichia 219B Convoy S2 build. Needless to say I am stoked with the outcome. It came together perfectly and the beam is simply awesome. I haven’t got any beam shots yet as it is the middle of the afternoon. But tomorrow night I should be able to get something.