DBC-07 update, SBT-90 Gen 2

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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When I built my seventh scratch built light it was based on a huge 124mm reflector and I used one of Richards drivers to power an XHP-35. To power it, I built it around the battery tube of a TK75 and used Richards 4S carrier with a modification, I put a small Omten switch on the back of the carrier to allow me to use a boot in the tail cap for a mechanical clicky. It was somewhat inconvenient but I don’t have a way to make a nice neat side switch installation.

Having received a couple of the Luminus SBT-90 Gen 2 emitters I wanted to upgrade this original build, but didn’t really want to try to convert the carrier to 4P for the new 3V emitter, so I was brainstorming and it dawned on me to use a Q8 like I did with my Ham’r build…

My first thought was to carve a chunk of aluminum to fit all the way down into the head of the Q8 like with Ham’r, but it dawned on me that while the 17 emitters in Ham’r needed all the heat sink possible this light would be fine with the large head as built originally for DBC-07, so…

Hey this looks doable! :smiley: So after lunch I got started, only took a couple of hours to change out DBC-07 from a 12V XHP-35 to the new SBT-90.2… first a cut up top to accept a 26mm Maxtoch board…

Flip it around and cut the first step down in diameter to match the SS bezel of the original Q8 (a BLF version no less, this was the light I had given my Dad before he passed away), then some threads and Presto!

Brought it in the house, got the wire holes enlarged and new threaded holes to bolt down the MCPCB, reflowed the 90.2 and assembled the light which was super easy… works in Moon mode

Works in High mode… (my i8 phone might hold a grudge over this one)

Went ahead and made a copper tail board to house BlueSword large springs with bypasses…

And Voila! The new and improved DBC-07 SBT-90 Gen 2! :smiley:

A quick flash onto a lamp in the living room (in only High mode even!) tells me this one is potent!

And So It IS! Depending on the cells I use (35E or 25S) it makes 4300 to 4800 lumens, tested lux was 1.71Mcd! I only did a 5M test because it was still daylight. But once it got dark I did some beamshots…


The little white barn at 610 yds distant, shot taken with my 6D and 24-105 lens at 1/2 second exposure, f/5.6, ISO 1600 in wide angle mode.


Same settings but zoomed in to 105mm (4X)


And a new image previously unreachable, a hay barn that is 1.02 miles distant! Same settings, still zoomed in.

I meant to get a shot of the water tower that’s 1.9 miles away but it appears to have the light on top burned out, I couldn’t locate it in the dark to show me where to aim the flashlight! Oh well, next time…

Very happy with how this one turned out, also quite pleased with how easy it turned out to be. So now my DBC-07 90.2 has a side e-switch and uses Anduril, a big upgrade in and of itself. Love it!

Not the first time I’ve modified a light I built, but the best result hands down! lol

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To verify, a Google Earth screenshot showing the measurement to the hay barn…

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Fantastic light! Your builds certainly set a high standard, both in craftsmanship and performance.

Lol, your location is safely hidden, since 90% of Texas looks like that!

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Great write up :nerd_face: Roughly how many amps is it taking to get those lumens? And how fast does it heat up? I liked the old sst-90 but they were big heat generators.

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:beer:

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Too cool! = (not temperature) 1.7Mcd... that is rediculous :D

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Good stuff! You are testing lots of configurations. Like PP said some current measurement would be nice.
Please

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In my Crelant 7G5 the 90.2 pulls 23.2A on a single 18650 (Samsung 25S) KawiBoy has done some testing with his and while the 90.2 can take more amps he says it really only makes 5200 lumens max and will just heat up a lot with more amps, so he recommends the 23-25A range as a maximum.

While the beam profile from the 53mm reflector in the 7G5 is really great, at 352Kcd it falls well short of this 124mm reflector in throw. The Crelant is more fun, this one almost feels like a weapon!

I may not quite be getting that here with longer leads up through the big heat sink (they’re about 2 1/2” long), I only used what appear to be 20ga Teflon coated leads… they could be 18ga but there’s no marking on them at all. I have some 16ga Turnigy with the silicone sleeve that is far more flexible and am thinking about re-doing it with this wire but it’s so fat I’d have to bore the wire holes bigger and enlarge the slot in the MCPCB for the fat wire. May do it, but this afternoon I am going to go out to the lathe and adapt the tail cap I’d originally made as it has some flare to it that will help in holding the light.

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LOL Photonica, only if you’ve never been here. :wink:

Large pine forests in the East, big time Hill Country in the Southern Central areas, with big canyons and mountains in the West. The grasslands of Northern Central Texas are vast and of course the Valley down in South Texas grows mega crops. We recently drove to New Orleans on I-10 and I remember counting down the mile markers leaving Louisiana, entering Texas on I-10 the mile marker was 888 if I remember correctly (actually 880 miles)… that’s a LOT of I-10 across Texas and the scenery changes a drastically! And thats across the lower portion of the State.

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Looks like a missing piece of a Nuclear fusion machine.

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At 1.02 miles the beam still looks intense, very impressive! .... meanwhile, I'm still trying to make a clean solder joint.

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Got the original tail cap fitted, the rubber boot no longer has a switch under it but it’s pressed snug so it seals fine.

3.8 pounds of badassery. :smiley:

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Doesn't that seem like a marketable light!

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I wish the reflector were available, as it is… as far as I know, it’s one of a kind. A prototype that never flew.

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If you ever decide to part with it, would be fun to try an auction right here at blf. I bet there could be some serious interest for it.

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I have to agree! Isn't that close to an LEP, beam-wise?

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I have a Maxtoch LEP and while it does throw outrageously it only makes 300 some-odd lumens. To throw over a mile with close to 5000 lumens is just insane!

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And now you're just bragging! LOL! But rightly so!

Better than Giggles?!?!?!?

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:+1: Looks awesome. How’s the balance in the hand? :smiley:

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When I got it done my back was kicking me so I sat down in a recliner in the den to chill a bit. Pointed it at the lamp across the room and turned it on… the intensity made me laugh like the fool I probably am! Giggles, hahaha, not even close!

Balance point is about middle of the cooling fins in the bare al head, some inch and a quarter in front of the switch. In hand, comfortably balanced, the switch sits under the joint of my thumb… easy and simple one handed operation. :wink:

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It’s a wet night, almost foggy with a heavy mist swirling in the breeze. I can see the parallel column of light out in the distance to some 150 yds, but a picture doesn’t show it like that… it almost looks like a Comet is being released out of the column of light. Weird, but there it is…