The spacer is just to make up for the lack of reflector. A triple optic is smaller so we have to fill that gap. The spacer doesn’t help with long-term heat transfer either, but it does allow short bursts of direct drive for 30+ seconds. It’s possible this might not direct drive well because there’s not a chunk of metal to eat the heat, however, the pill is quite solid yes? It will handle non direct drive just fine, a triple can actually run cooler than a single LED because it’s running at a lower amperage so they are in a better efficiency range.
Spacers in traditional S2+ (for instance) builds are required because the height of the LED PCB + Optics != The height of the original LED PCB + Reflector. Therefore, something is needed to fill in the excess space, and a Cu or Al spacer is used because they conduct heat well. However, this Jaxman was designed for a triple setup to begin with, so a spacer is simply not needed for parts to fit. It also has an integrated shelf, meaning that the part of the light the LED sits on is actually integrated with the body of the light. This means that thermal transfer between the LED and the body of the light is greatly aided. However, having a spacer means the light will have higher thermal mass, meaning that the light will take longer to heat up.
TL;DR? This Jaxman will conduct heat from the LEDs to the body of the light to be radiated off better than a spacer build, but a light with a spacer takes longer to heat up initially.
You can most definitely use XP-L HI in this light (if you can get past the glue . This light will have less thermal mass than one with a large spacer, but will also wick heat away from the LED quicker due to it’s direct thermal path. This means that if you have a direct drive triple with a thermal threshold, it will heat up faster, but also cool quicker. as far as actual results vs a spacer S2+ build, I guess we have to wait until someone does it
I am confused about something… exactly what is glued to what in the stock light? I saw the pics earlier, but:
- is the MCPCB glued to the built-in shelf?
- is the optic (feet) glued to the MCPCB?
- is the driver glued in (and how)?
Are the head-to-body threads (or any other threads) glued?
My “impression” is that only the MCPCB is glued to the built-in shelf, to prevent the MCPCP and optic from spinning (and causing the optic to chop off the emitter) when screwing the bezel and o-ring in.
If (note the “if”) that is the case, then, modding (e.g., replacing the emitters with some other emitter) would only encounter the glue because of having to somehow getting the MCPCB unglued from the shelf?
Maybe instead of doing that, could the emitters be reflowed “in place”? I have done that in the past with some lights (Nitecore) using a heat gun. They weren’t triples though…
I mentioned… probably in this thread, not sure… that it looks like plain ol’ Fujik, not thermal-epoxy, so it’d be the typische rubbery goop that’s often used in lieu of actual thermal paste.
Once someone gets a light and dissects it, we’ll know for sure.
Wonderfully thick chunk o’ copper from the looks in the pic, so you could probably just shave right through it with an Xacto™ blade.
That should go perfectly well, especially with a heatgun. The emitters may wait to reflow until the entire head has heated up enough (but the driver is removed anyway I suppose), but that will not have been different with the Nitecore.
If you haven't ordered yet, you may want to check with the OP to see if the following offer from post 75 still stands. If not, your reflow in head idea sounds promising. It would be hard to pry out the MCPCB from inside a head on a fixed shelf without causing some damage.
EDIT: If there is a part of the MCPCB exposed over a hole in the shelf, you can probably push the MCPCB up. It will likely bend the MCPCB, but they can sometimes be reflattened or replaced at not too much cost.
Are you going to stalk every tube 18650 light thread with your request ?
I, for one, love compact tube light 18650 but you will not make a supplier create a flashlight just for you…
Short answer…… Nope.
I taught school for almost 30 years, I had some Jr High kids that could no doubt have “broken” a superbly heat treated steel brick if given just a bit of time…… :person_facepalming:
It always utterly amazed me at how easily they could tear something up that would have lasted me a lifetime.
And they were not doing it on purpose either………… :person_facepalming: