Convoy L2/L6 modding thread

Or Jawas… :smiley:

(“Moffet! Moffet!”)

When I think of spill I think of the light directly from the LED that doesn’t hit the reflector. The L2 and C8 would have similar amounts of spill if using the same LED, the L2 would just have a more narrow beam.

A lens light (aspheric or fresnel) would have much less spill.

I should clarify, it is not so much black and white contrast as color contrast.

The colors pop more with the higher CRI / neutral tint LED’s. Outside it was proven without a shadow of doubt that we could see things better at range with the warmer lights.

A very good example was my L6 vs S70.

The S70 makes more lumens and have more lux according to the light box/lux meter.

In the real world though it was unanimous with a rather large group of people that the L6 was the much better light as a thrower. In one particular case we were looking off a bridge at a creek and we were shining them at the same spot about ~300m away. Right at the edge of the effective beam.

With the S70 we could just barely make out the edge of the creek bed.

With the L6 we could see the rocks on the creek bed, the bushes, the vines and even a frog jumping (or a mouse, hard to tell at that distance).

It was actually a very eye opening moment as I knew that the S70 was both brighter and threw further on the meter. I even re-tested them when I got home with the same results. Ever since then I have put FAR less weight on lumen and throw numbers and far more on CRI and tint.

This same result was seen with all the lights that night, the neutral tints were always easier to see as the distance increased (and up close as well although it was not as big of a deal besides looking much prettier up close).

+1

Contrast and tint do overlap in defining a usable light that our eyes can use to view or interpret. It is one reason a cool light has more lumens, which would also translate into an increase in contrast.

Edit: As a side note anyone who still remembers an analog TV with knobs for ‘brightness’ and ‘contrast’ could use these controls to illustrate their difference.

A cool light has more lumens because it has less phosphor on the die. The natural output is UV light in blue tones, phosphor is added to produce the desired color results. Or at least that is how I understand it from explanations given earlier.

+1

The Physics of light and how our eyes and brain perceive it could have its own thread. :slight_smile:

Nope, you misunderstood me. I meant “usable” as in the hotspot size at distance. For a dedicated thrower, I would want no spill at all, so as not to hurt my night vision.

This is great conversation, but I think we should keep the topic in mind. L2 and L6 mods. :slight_smile:

There is a tiny bit of spill in my L2 but it only interferes up close. I had to hold it above my head to ensure the white cowling from my boat didn’t light up while looking for markers and shorelines some few hundred meters ahead. Other than that it’s a beautiful beam that lights up just what you are pointing at. I wouldn’t call the beam in mine pencil thin, more like a shaft of light that has negligible spread all the way out.

I’ll see if I can get some decent beam shots tonight.

Since I don't have an L2, what are the common ways to bump up its power?

Do most folks do a driver swap to bump up the amps or mod the stock driver?

Can the stock emitter handle more power or should it be swapped out with a better one on a copper star?

I might buy an L2 just to check it out. I see the xpl-hi is an option, so I'll get that for sure. Maybe a 4 or 5 amp stock L2 will satisfy my needs, if not I can do more extensive mods. I don't want to get ahead of myself.

So this is what I managed to get tonight.

Shoreline is 520 meters distant.

Trees are at 550 meters.

Just the beam.

Edit: Forgot to mention the camera settings. Canon EOS 30D, ISO 1600, f4 at 1 sec. exposure.

Cool, what is the condition of the flashlight, stock xpl-hi?

Wellp, with a different head, you can fit a deep-dish reflector (shaped more like a champagne flute than a salad-bowl) to “capture” more light and aim it straight ahead vs just having it spill out.

It’s still parabolic, just a different section.

The spill can be measured as the cone from the focus (where the LED chip is) to the edge of the reflector. Light outside that cone hits the reflector and is focussed straight ahead. Light inside that cone travels unimpeded in a straight line outwards, diverging outward.

Make that cone smaller, and a higher percentage of light hits the reflector vs “spills” outside. Hence, the champagne-flute reflector.

Oh yeah, that’s why a reflex setup (LED mounted “backwards” on a stick) has an incredible beam and virtually zero spill, because pretty much everything hits the reflector and is focussed out the front. Lousy heat handling, though.

No it’s a dedomed XP G2 S4 2B with a FET driver. Tried an XPL-HI, was nice but the dedomed S4 2B out throws it substantially and has a tighter beam. With XPL-HI V2 2C I got just under 900 meters. Getting 1050 meters with the S4 2B.

If you’re comfortable with a soldering iron here is the parts list:

Host

Driver

Led

Don’t forget to check the dedome box.

Edit: Clarity

Nice, that’s good info.

I’ve yet to try a FET driver due to unknown amp draw it might create. Did you measure the tail cap amp draw on your light?

Oh yeah, I assume your running one 26650 battery?

Yes with a fully charged Basen 4500 I got a surprising 4.9 amps at start. I was expecting the forward voltage of the led to keep it down around 4 amps. With that much current a wire bypass of the tail spring is recommended to keep the spring and switch from overheating. Again, not difficult if you can solder. There are threads here to show you the various methods members have come up with.

The most difficult part of the process for me was finding the right focus. You need to sand down the height of the centering ring a little to tighten up the beam profile for a dedomed led. How much is just trial and error. Order a few of these so you can try varying thicknesses. You can use a lux meter to help you tune the focus if you have one or just go outside and shine it into the sky. You can see the difference in the beam.

I see that the host and centering rings are out of stock at the moment but they will restock soon.

Do we have a list of the resistor mods that can be done to the L6 stock driver?

I’ve heard that adding an R120 on top of the 2 R082’s can bump the amp draw to 6.3 or so.

Also that an R100 bumps it up to over 7 amps.

Does this sound accurate?

Jason , i have installed R100 in my L6 , and i will post the amp draw in 2-3 days , when i receive my clamp meter .

The maximum I measured is about 7.3 amps, with shorted resistor. Wouldn’t recommend it, smells from the driver compartment.

Yes, I’ve heard that the R100 was pretty much like a direct short through the resistors. Also that the stock driver will not reach 8 amps, so a R120 or R140 are the better choices.

I found a good thread on L6 resistors, I’ll add the link here: