Mod: LuckySun F3X

Huh, I tore mine apart almost a year ago. Figured no one cared much, else I would have taken pics. My head has the cutaways, and the MCPCB is red. XM-Ls only.

I had the idea of doing 3x XHP50 LEDs. Not much thermal mass, so it was just meant to be for high-output fun, but lost interest.

Nice! I still like the look of that host, I’m a fan of multi-emitter reflector lights

Thanks mate awesome job. I have been thinking of doing this to one of these. I like the look they look like a bigger D80.

Very nice.
Cool vid, you have a new subscriber.
First I have seen that DTP method, being relatively new to this.
Been curious of mixed emitters and again that is the first beam shot I have come across with it done.

Thanks for sharing.

If you have any other pics of the light apart I would like to see how it’s made so to speak.

Nice work Jos! Excellent end result, good thermal management and the mixed tint is right down your alley.

I had someone ask me about this light recently and I found it to my liking so I ordered one, about a week ago. Should be here in the next week I think. Cool to see how you went about upgrading it, I’m sure after a day’s work the pride factor really kicks in as well, that was always a big part of it for me, to have worked around the disadvantages and ended up with a light that is really what you wanted it to be in the first place. Always a good thing right there, big plus for the hobby for sure.

:beer:

OH, VW, TK likes low output and high CRI so she worked on figuring out the exact bins necessary for a triple to suit her needs, quite a while back now. She was really happy with it, like Jos is with this one.

The only one I ever mixed was, ironically, a D80 that I made into a Quad XHP50. I used 2 cool white and 2 warm white. That one ended up really nice too and had such an interesting look about it. lol

Thanks for the thread djozz. Nice to see a mod thread like this which seem to be far and few these days. You’ve done a terrific job with the DTP mod. Your another who has more patience than I. :slight_smile:

Nice light. I like the size and form factor. Did you get a chance to measure numbers in stock form?

I’ve been looking to buy this flashlight for a long time now. I think it would be excellent with Hi CRI Nichia’s inside. Great mod with DTP-ing the MCPCB. I love everything about this build, it is a proper BLF style mod. Budget flashlight, scraped parts and lots of skill, knowledge and time invested to make it work. Great job djozz :+1: .

What solder paste do you use?

Thanks, it is the best form factor there is I think. The output stock was almost exact 1000 lumen (forgot the actual number, just remember it was very close to 1000), regardless using 1 or 2 batteries. I did not measure the stock throw, but since the optics and type of leds did not change, you can just derive it from the lumen difference: 2500lm/1000lm=25kcd/ 10kcd.

Thanks, yes today’s stock lights are easier to mod (standard driver size, standard ledboards) than these older models, the process indeed felt a bit like going back a few years. The solder paste was budget too, and it works great, I just have to buy a new pot every year because it dries out over time: https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10003546/1261003-chips-repair-tool-soldering-paste-grease

Beautifully done djozz,
I have been talking to the product manager at Lucky Sun for some time now and he has agreed last night as matter of fact to give BLF members a 15% discount at their LuckySun / NicoNature AliExpress site, which by the way they have 2 brands, LuckySun and NicoNature for those who didn’t know, and their store is here: NicoNature
That would bring the F3X down to about $24 or so,
We are still talking about the details on how to go about getting the discount but as it is now you would just go to the store and send a message through the store and let him know you heard about a 15% discount for BLF members and can say either T18 or Gary mentioned it and then he will do any one of a number of different ways he sent to me last night to reflect the discount on your order and that is another issue I am not clear on yet, is the discount on a light or the order? I will be checking on that.
This all came to be last night so I haven’t posted anything formally yet since there’s still some details but thought I’d mention here first.
I also hadn’t even noticed that round head F3X until djozz took his picture here and it’s clearly on their site as the first picture of the F3X and then the D-80 style head is next one down in the pictures, so I asked about those heads and was told there still are a few of the D-80 styled heads and the others are round like djozz’s here, just thought I’d mention being I like the D-80 style a lot.
WOW such a really great mod djozz… :+1:

Hi T18, good job arranging that 15%, I like the Luckysun lights :slight_smile:

If you have contact with the product manager, could you ask if they can do an update of the F3X?, I think it is a viable model. It has two-third the capability of a SRK in a much better form factor. What I’d like to see (not surprising):
*update of the led type: XM-L2 or XP-L(2)
*DTP copper board
*more power through the driver (the body can handle it)
*at least 4KHz PWM
*better user interface, no blinkies in the main sequence
*perhaps an integrated shelf design (like the D80) instead of a design with a pill.

nice read

thanks djozz!

Yes Sir, that is all potentially very doable…
I would very much like to speak with you djozz, would you mind if I PM you .?
I am at the moment having one of those days, so I might need to PM tomorrow
(Oh, it’s Thanksgiving Day tomorrow) maybe PM later tonight or day after tomorrow, but I seriously do want to talk with you … :laughing: :+1:

Edit: Oh Ya, And Thank You by the way djozz, that was real nice of them for sure,

Yes, a PM is fine, it is late in the evening here though, so you may not get an immediate answer.

My Lucky Sun F3X came today, it’s got the cut outs across the fins like the D80, which I’m very happy with. It tests out at 2.54A and 1024 lumens, pretty lousy for a triple really.

That said, I will, of course, strive to achieve better results. :wink:

Edit: Knowing that the UI will prevent keeping the stock driver, I wanted to see what some changes in the sense resistor bank would do. So I stacked a single R056 onto the bank of 3 R200 resistors, did top and bottom spring bypasses with 18ga Turnigy wire and bumped power from around 3A to 3.68A. (I measured 2.54A originally but it may have been in high, I was forgetting the Turbo sandwiched between Strobe and SOS)

So then I stacked a second R056 and it now pulls 6.10A in Turbo and does 1825 lumens. So 2 R056 resistors and a couple of short bits of wire and it’s nearly doubled it’s output. Interesting. So will it maintain this with 2 cells? Or would that fry it?

I’ll be getting some of Texas_Ace’s new drivers with Narsil on them in the coming week or so, I’ll wait till I have one of these new drivers before I go any further and kill it. :wink:

By the way, I’ve been using a well rested Efest light purple 3500mAh 26650 at 4.16V to begin with. Think I’ll charge it up to full capacity and see how that affects the F3X now that I’ve made the bumps…

Wow Sounds awesome that just two chips and bigger springs woke that baby up.
So what’s next? More chips? Change out the emitters? Dedome them? Change out driver when the Texas arrives?whats the UI like? Sounds awkward that u say turbo is inbetween strobe and sos.

Blueb8lz, mind that the ledboard is non-DTP, that ultimately limits what you can do. It would be awesome if Luckysun upgrades the L3X with a copper-DTP board, I really like this optic and beam.

Nice work! That DIY DTP board is pure skill and commitment.

Hi Dale, I’m really curious what your version of the F3X will be, I’m sure you will keep us informed :-).