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! 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!
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