Simple One hour build - Defiant $5 light, $5 led and a few minutes time.

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts Featured Mods
41

Believe it or not, the Nichia is darned near as bright as the XM-L. I believe that is because the AAA cells can’t put out the amps necessary to push the XM-L, so it’s all limited to the AAA bottle neck.

42

Thanks a lot for the suggestion. It’s confusing choosing the right led since there are so many out there. For example why not the XM-L T5 or the U2?

43

You could use a T5, or T4, an XP-G or G2. Any number of leds can be used. It's all in what you want for output and use. As I said, the 3AAA batts limit the output anyhow, so just decide on a small hot spot or larger hot spot. A Nichia would give you a smaller hot spot. A XM-L will give you a larger hot spot. An XP-G will be somewhere in between.

If you don't know, then it's probably good to do some basic searching. Google image search for Cree XM-L, or Cree XP-G or Nichia 219 and add "beam shot" or "tint" and you should find some images showing tints or at least beam shots. Other than that, I would suggest the Nichia for better indoor color rendition and the 5700k and higher crees for "seemingly" brighter beams outdoors.

44

Ok, thank you very much. Is there any other supplier to buy the of Led’s? I tried Digikey but didn’t find them.

45

Mouser is another one.

46

I totally missed this thread. I bought these and modded one too. I didn’t do Nichia, XP-G instead. I also didn’t fill the pill in, But at one Amp it’s not a heater. Driver swapped to AK-47A.
I did manage to get it to fit an unprotected 18650. I had to trim the nub off of the switch retainer.
Not a bad little light; up to three hours run time on high, and throws half-decent too. :slight_smile:

47

Actually, you get two for $10, with batteries. Even better. They work OK as is, but they are decent mod hosts too.

48

Hi,

Does anyone know how to remove the lens and reflector from this light? Are they glued into the head or something?

Thanks,
Jim

49

EDIT:
Whoops, I just noticed, wrong light. Probably the same for this Defiant anyway.

50

Hi,

The one I have (Defiant 3xAAA, in 2 pack, one black, one silver) has a single piece head. There’s no seam at all on the head, so I don’t think there is a bezel. I’ve tried to carefully grab the hole of the reflector from the back (didn’t want to damage it), but it doesn’t budge, or turn, at all).

51

I’m pretty sure the lens and reflector are just pressed in place. At least that how I recall it.

52

Do you push it from the front (i.e., push the lens from the front) and then both the reflector and lens come out the back (the threaded end) of the head?

53

Yes, you are correct. As you probably suspect, it would just push out the front and not hold the LED down if it pushed the other way. I just dug mine out and verified it is just pressed in. No glue. You should just be able to push out with your thumb.

54

Hi,

Thanks, that worked!! It was just TOO obvious :)!

Jim

55

Hi,

I have another question, regarding the 6th picture in the OP, where O-L put in some disks to add heatsinking. I understand that he soldered several disks together, but how are they secured to the pill, such that the top disk is at the level of the bottom of the emitter board?

I’ve been trying to do something similar, but assumed that the disk get soldered to the inside of the pill, and have been TRYING to solder it into the pill interior, but even with a large (50W) soldering iron, I can’t get any solder to stick to the inside of the aluminum pill.

Thanks,
Jim

56

Because you can’t solder to aluminum or aluminium without committing unnatural acts…

57

I’m not sure how O-L did it either. I pound out copper disks or pennies (pre-1984) to a size that I could press fit into the hollow pill. If you use a copper led base (mcpcb), you could reflow the base to the disks. That would give a great thermal connection to the disks and fill in some of the gaps to the aluminum pill at the same time.

Hope that helps. I saw your 3-up build thread for this host. Sounds like a great idea. I’m tempted to copy you and make one too. Best of luck.

58

The disks are soldered together, but not to the pill. I used AA to glue them to the pill and the star. I used a disk that was the right thickness, to match the aluminum thickness and then just used AA to put it all together.

59

Ahh. So when you were all done, was the emitter board permanently (more or less) attached to the pill via the AA?

In my case, I’m kind of hoping not to have the emitter board permanently attached, but rather screwed down to the pill, i.e., so the emitter/emitter board could be replaced.

60

I didn’t have any copper disks, so I’ve been using pennies also, but I probably over-did it when I was reducing the diameter of the penny, so the disk I ended up with won’t stay in place…

I’ll try again, and try to get one that would pressfit and stay in place, but when you say pressfit is it pressfitting into, and filling the hole, i.e., does the emitter board sit right on top of the pressfitted disk?

Actually, I don’t have the Carclo optic yet, so I’m not sure how “high” the emitter board will have to be. I’m thinking that I may actually have to increase the height of the pill so that when the 3up board and the 3up optic are in place, the front of the optic will press up against the original lens. So, right now, it’s more experimentation than anything else :).