Hi guys,
This was a fun project. The Balder SE-1 is a nice little light, but it has a few glaring faults. There is no memory, and the pill weighs TWO GRAMS - not nearly enough for the stock XM-L. The tint was a bit on the greenish side, as well.
My OEM driver let out the magic smoke after less than 30 minutes of use, so this was meant to be a simple driver swap - until the pill's lack of mass was discovered.
A Cu101 round bar was turned down on the lathe to make a 16.5mm x 6.4mm slug. This was affixed using Arctic Silver, as were all other parts requiring adhesive. The new slug weighs in at just over TWELVE GRAMS after drilling for the driver wires. This light has a nice heft to it now that oozes 'quality.'
The emitter was swapped for an XM-L T6 1C from Illumination Supply, and is now a beautiful pure white (cool) with a hint of yellow in the corona. Driver is a NANJG 105c.
The light only takes 14500s now, and the drive level is 2.7A on HI, so please use a good-quality cell or IMRs with this one. Low is a very usable 0.09A, with Medium at 0.9A. One may choose to change the modes by soldering one of the driver's stars, if desired.
All o-rings were replaced with glow rings.
Asking $35 shipped in the USA, $40 Worldwide. I can include the protected 14500 with which I made current measurements for another $4. If you want a "WOW !" light that fits in your pocket, this is it. Did I mention 700+ emitter lumen ?
Thanks for looking. Now, on to the good stuff:
Sharp eyes will spot one of Old-Lumens' custom handmade copper trim rings below. It is used to protect the 7135 chips from damage:
This is the available cell: