Well , when I first got the Skyline 2 , I was like , Im not going to mod this light !
Then the XM-L emitters came out , and I was like , " I should mod the Skyline 2 " [ Then I had to go to school = Bummer ]
Well , Schools out , and Ive been catching up on my home work [ Modifying Flashlights ] , yeah , the important stuff .
Just let me say right up front , Modding the Skyline 2 is a PITA ...
Why you ask , because the darn pill is glued in , and mine was glued hard , real hard ...
It took a serious amount of heat to get the pill out :
In fact the XR-E emitter floated of its base [ de soldered ] , before the pill would budge ...
To get mine out , I drilled two holes , for needle nosed pliers to go in to twist it out , but I needed lots of heat , and multi grips and lots of swearing [ the swearing was mandatory and Im sure I entertained the neighbours during the pill removal ]
The next PITA was removing the emitter base , again seriously glued in place ...
Check out the abuse the pill has taken : Solarforce really put the Skyline 2 together with a lot of glue , %&(*Y^%$&^%^$ Solarforce !
Now you might think it gets easier from here , wrong , the next PITA is removing the old driver ...
The way it works is , the driver is poped inside just under the emitter , the brass ring is pressed over the top of it , so it sits just under the emitter and a contact pad is pressed over the back of the pill , so the driver sits deep inside the pill , and the only way to get it out =
Mash it good , and scoop it out ....
Once the pill is out of the body , the emitter removed , the driver smashed and scooped out ,
You can think about what your going to put in ..
Bear in mind that the ramping feature is in the tailcap , so pick a single mode driver ..
Pictured is my XM-L T6 [ 5000K tint ] and a 1400 4 x 7135 driver ...
The XM-L glued in place ...
The driver soldered ... At this point I test to make sure things work ..
Then I solder the driver in place at the back of the pill ...
I ever so slightly damaged the body removing the pill , *(*^^$&%&(*))(*&*&%$% Solarforce
Front of the Skyline with the XM-L in place ...
Measuring current from the back [ less tailcap ] = 1.44A with a Xtar 18700 , I would expect a small loss with the tailcap in place ..
But I have to say the beam is nicer than the XR-E original , the ramping work perfectly ...
Cant wait till it gets dark , ill post some beams ..
I have really grown to dislike the XR-E , the very small hotspot is a pain to use at close range , as it makes it hard to see anything except whats in the tiny hotspot ..
XM-L has really spoiled me , I love XM-L .. For around the house , the XM-L rules , and for anything out to 100 Meters the XM-L works well , and a XM-L thrower will extend that out to 200 Meters , I dare say the days of the XR-E are numbered , and Im so over tight narrow pencil beams , they are just not practical .. For everyday use , for making it easy to see everything at night , the XM-L rules the roost . It does what the MC-E SSC P7 does but better , cheaper , and easier ...
Though the Skyline 2 mod was a serious PITA , the result looks to be worthwhile ..
Beams tonight ...
Some output figures : [ Fresh of the charger Xtar 18700 ]
High = 455L
And the lowest it will ramp down too is 6L
Low 6L
High 450+
http://www.youtube.com/embed/kcm7pAvmhV8
Really bad video of the ramping ,