What did you mod today?

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1513


In post #1451 I started this small AA zoomie mod, tonight I did more work on this light.
I noticed that the output was not stable and I could tell that the stock switch was the cause. If I could source a retaining ring, a common small Omten switch could be fitted, even a lighted tail could be possible. So I found an old 16340 light in the parts box that had the correct tail threading, a slice of that made for a fitting retaining ring for the AT-007. With the Omten switch, the output became completely stable (so the stock switch was rubbish), the output went up to 500 lumen, and throw (measured at 7 meter, 30 seconds after switch-on) went up to 41 kcd, that is 25% increase because of a better switch!

The rest of the evening was spent with getting a lighted tail to work but despite trying every combination of bleeder value, number of tail leds and all values of tail resistors, the UI was screwed up (backwards modes lost, no reset to low even after been switched off for minutes). This host combined with XP-G2 and 15mm Bistro driver is not suitable for a lighted tail.

Still wonder what electronic secrets happen with the lighted tail circuitry making drivers go weird, as a layman equipped with just Ohm’s law I can not get any grip on it.

1514

I’ll explain what you need to know later when I have a little more time djozz. :person_facepalming:

1515

only taking apart the quantum required a lot of time.
I had to heat it a bit and then I used a couple of nails in the wood to win over the 2 bezels, but the first one was the most time consuming.

For the quantum, given the very small space on the board , I let the board in the pill and heat it everything with a heatgun from the bottom. Did the same for the new emitter. Then I had to resolder the solder spot on the metallic switch cover, for that I used the normal soldering station.

1516

Nice work Budda. The little lights are tough to work on as everything is so close together and heat to work on one thing spreads quickly to everything else.

Anyone have a great way to remove a Lummi bezel that has no cut-outs or holes for tweezers? Smooth on top, it came to me with no o-ring, when I tried fitting an o-ring it got stuck… can’t screw it all the way in to lock the pill down nor can I remove it.

1517

Hi guys. I haven’t done a thing in four months due to lack of energy. My doctor still hasn’t figured it out what’s wrong with me, but today I dragged my butt to the work table to build a light I should have finished in the spring.

Jaxman Z1 zoomie.

I decided to go for the XPH35 HI emitter. I know there’s been a few XPH35 builds done on the Z1 using boost drivers, so I decided to go with the 4S 16.8V MTN-MAX buck driver set at 2.5A
It’s a pretty easy build, which took all the energy I had. I really only had to solder two wires and color the white centering ring with a black Sharpie. (No, not that Sharpie! The kind you draw with. :person_facepalming: )
It’s not the Jaxman supplied centering ring, but one I had that was just right for the XPH35 in this light.

The centering ring was a perfect fit and came out okay with the blackening on it.

Four series 26350s to go with 4S 2.5A buck driver, which ended up with 2.8A at the tail.

It’s really bright on high. Wall shot of the zoomed in HXP-35 emitter. Looks nice. Doesn’t have the visible quad matrix of the HXP 50 and 70

It was a good day. I got something done, and I’ll test it this evening down in the ravine during my “Doctor suggested ” daily walk.

1518

That sounded like a good bit of therapy Of. All the best buddy.

1519

Decided to resurrect the large fresnel lens from my spotlight build from a long time ago.

I made some Al arms to mount this lens on my UF-1504. I took out the aspheric lens and screwed the arms to the bezel.

A bit of “garage engineering”. Well, porch engineering in my case.

In the light I have a dedomed XPG2 S4 2B (old production style) and the precollimator lens I installed a while back. The beam is not great. It is yellowish and rainbow-y on the edges. I have a XPL HI V2 1A in another pill that maybe will counteract the yellowness. I measured 4,700Kcd at 10.25m. Similar result to the large fresnel thrower that djozz built.

1520

Thanks MRsDNF. I hope you made it through the magpie swooping season safely.

1521

Wow. What a project. Keep at it and get us some beamshots.
A continuing saga that will always be in the Beta mode.

1522

Nice projects, both Ouchyfoot and EasyB!

And I wish you better times Ouchy, glad to see some flashlight work again!

1523

I did a thing.
I modded my Klarus G20 with a tail clicky switch to eliminate any parasitic drain, plus eliminate the accidental activation with the protruding side switch when in a pocket or the holster.
I also swapped the cool white XHP70 with a 4000K MT-G2, so now it has a nice neutral tint, and no more greenish hotspot and no more purplish blue spill. It’s still not the claimed 3000 Lumens, but the annoying bugs i didn’t like about this light are fixed. Now i have a G20 with a mechanical lockout, and a perfect tint monster pocket flooder light.

1524

That looks very impressive EasyB.

The Magpie swooping season is about to start Of.

1525

This was going to be a Quad but I decided against it. Keeping stock. Except for the 20 AWG And bypassed driver spring And XP-L HI V2 3A on Noctigon And stripped Polished exterior. OK, not 100% stock anymore.



1526

That’s the funniest craziest thing I’ve seen! Please tell me you live near Licking County, ’cause I wanna come over and see that thing!

1527

Took the stock driver out of my XinTD C8 (V5) and replaced it with a FET driver. I was going to dedome the XP-G2 S4 2B , but decided against it , as I did not want a pencil beam out of this light.
Getting 4.31 amps at tail with a rested LG HE4 (taken with Uni-T clamp meter from GB) think I can get the amps up just a bit more with a spring bypass at both ends, may try that later.

A couple of beamshots ……….

125 yards to Dead Tree

175 yards

1528

Nice solid C8 right there! :slight_smile:

1529

Nice work robo :beer:

XinTD C8 is one of my favourite lights :wink: I really like the quality of it .

1530

Thanks. Yes i really like the overall quality of the Xin, certainly well built lights.

1531

Do you remember when you purchased it ? For old or new xp-g2 , it performs really well for a domed emitter .

1532

In post #1451 and #1532 I modded a very small AA zoomie with a dedomed XP-G2 S3 3D and a 15mm Bistro-driver. It worked very well and I got 41 kcd throw out of the tiny 18 mm lens. I liked it so well that today I did the exact same mod on a Cofly AA zoomie, that is almost as small but has a bit wider lens: 21.2mm, that promises 21.2sq / 18sq = 1.39 times 41 = 57 kcd, assumed that everything else equal which is seldom the case.

Here’s the zoomie:

I used again the 15mm Oshpark board that was designed by wight ages ago and reflowed the components of a Banggood Bistro-driver, except the FET, that is too big, I used and LFPAK33 FET from Mountain Electronics. And again the driver works well, not every combination of board and components is blessed, but this one just works!

For clamping the driver into the aluminium pill, my trick is solderering a small solid copper wire into a ground-ring-via near the FET, bend it over the edge of the board to the other side and then solder everything in, then filing it to shape. This wires sticks out when pushing the driver into the pill with a vice, the driver is now well fixed to the pill, and it has good electrical contact.



The led was reflowed on a 16mm Noctigon and dedomed while still hot. This host requires no thinning of the Noctigon, luckily the focus is correct with full thickness of the board. I glued the board in with Arctic Alumina Adhesive and soldered the led wires. Then with a permanent marker everything around the die was blackened for an artifact-free beam.

The switch received some attention too, I did not trust the stock switch with 3.5+ amps of this mod, neither its resistance or that it will not fail. I have no pictures but with a hacksaw I sawed a slice off the aluminium switch housing, widened the opening with the drill-press and sanded it nice and flat, that was the new retaining ring for a standard 16mm switch-board with small Omten (spring bypassed). The boot cap was replaced by a thinner 6mm height blue one, so the light tailstands now.

It is another very succesful mod, first the tint is again very pleasant neutral ~4000K, and the rest: on a purple Efest 14500, 30 seconds after switch-on, the output in flood modus is 560 lumen, in spot 260 lumen, the throw, measured at 7 meters, is 58 kcd, almost exactly as predicted. For reference: that is over the stock throw of an un-modded Jacob A60 :smiley: