What did you mod today?

[EasyB]

@EasyB

A teaser for a scratch-build I’m planning. It will be a 7x C8 reflector light with dedomed XPL emitters. 125mm diameter head. 2s 26650; the same electrical setup as my 7xXPL convoy L2. The drawing is actual size, with a convoy C8 for scale.

A drawing of the head, with my 7xXPL L2 for scale.

Should do around 9000 lumens OTF and 800+ Kcd. Made from “off the shelf” aluminum plate and tubing.

The build is coming together. This will be the back of the head, with fabricated flange and tailcap, and 6 heatsinks. C8 for scale.

[MRsDNF]

How about your own thread for your build EasyB. It will make following your build easier and more interesting.

[EasyB]

I plan to make a thread with a write-up and pictures when I finish the light.

[MRsDNF]

@EasyB

I plan to make a thread with a write-up and pictures when I finish the light.

:+1: Thanks.

[1C3]

Hi everybody!
I’ve been lurking here for a while and I thought what best first post than one showing my modded lights
So here they are:

On the top is a thrunite th20 which I emitter swapped to a sw57k 219b.
Left is a zebralight sc600fd, with a minus green filter on the lens to correct the greenish tint ( not cool having to do this on a $100 light :person_facepalming: , but on the other hand I love everything else about it ).
Right is a jaxman m8 with a shaved dome sw40k 219b and the convoy biscotti driver.

Here are some beamshots ( 5000k wb, from top to bottom: th20, sc600, m8 )

Now these may be some fairly simple mods, but I have a feeling I will be doing increasingly complicated stuff as I fall deeper into the rabbit hole

[pinkpanda3310 (Pinky)]

Great first post 1C3 :+1:

Welcome

[khas]

Very nice first post

Welcome to BLF 1C3

[KawiBoy1428]

Right on 1C3 welcome aboard the crazy train!! Now that’s a true BLF’er in the making in my book, first post in the Mod thread!

Not a group buy thread, :confounded: You gotta be impressed with that!

Pretty sweet mods to boot!

[maukka]

@1C3

Left is a zebralight sc600fd, with a minus green filter on the lens to correct the greenish tint ( not cool having to do this on a $100 light :person_facepalming: , but on the other hand I love everything else about it ).

I’ve been considering this myself. With a Lee eighth minus green my sample of SC600Fd would become pretty much perfect on H-modes. Would eat about 10% of output though and isn’t quite enough to correct the lower modes which are greener.

[MorePower]

I did an emitter and driver swap on an Ultrafire MCU-C88 that I had lying around. Replaced the original XR-E and 3 mode driver with an XM-L2 U4 and a 1.9 amp QLITE Rev.A driver.

Using lithium primary AA cells and an integrating sphere at work, it measured 123 lumens out the front with the original setup and 535 lumens after the swap.

I’m rather pleased with the upgraded performance.

[ToyKeeper]

@maukka

@1C3

Left is a zebralight sc600fd, with a minus green filter on the lens to correct the greenish tint ( not cool having to do this on a $100 light :person_facepalming: , but on the other hand I love everything else about it ).

I’ve been considering this myself. With a Lee eighth minus green my sample of SC600Fd would become pretty much perfect on H-modes. Would eat about 10% of output though and isn’t quite enough to correct the lower modes which are greener.

Somebody (or a few hundred somebodies) needs to tell Zebralight to stop using AR-coated lenses on their high-CRI lights. :person_facepalming:

[ToyKeeper]

I upgraded my mother’s SRK. It was completely stock, one of the first batch of SRKs available in black, and IIRC it did 2500 lumens in a cool white tint. I gave it a 32x7135 driver with the Ferrero Rocher ramping UI, which should increase output a bit and lets it ramp to any of 64 levels from moon to about 3000 lumens.

It’s pretty close to what the BLF Q8 was originally intended to be.

I think it’s funny that she calls it “the small light”, given that a SRK is one of my biggest lights. But then, “the big light” is a Fenix TK75, so I guess that’s fair. I’ll have to borrow the TK75 sometime to upgrade it too. It could really use a set of XP-L HI emitters.

[MRsDNF]

Your mum is a lucky girl TK. I cant imagine my mum with a light like that. She’d probably have a heart attack.
The Ferrero Rocher firmware you used. Did it need modifying to work on the 32 x 7135 driver?

[Rufusbduck]

The chocolate coating needed to be reflashed.

[1C3]

@maukka

I’ve been considering this myself. With a Lee eighth minus green my sample of SC600Fd would become pretty much perfect on H-modes. Would eat about 10% of output though and isn’t quite enough to correct the lower modes which are greener.

While I haven’t got any tools to measure the actual difference, my subjective experience is pretty similar to what you hypotesized. I used a lee filters zircon minus green 4 which should be equivalent to the 1/8 minus green and while high now looks like pure white the low modes are still a bit too greenish for my taste.
Because I mostly use the low modes, I’m thinking about trying a minus green 3, it would cut 20% output compared to stock but that’s a hardly noticeable difference in output in exchange for a big difference in tint.

@ToyKeeper

Somebody (or a few hundred somebodies) needs to tell Zebralight to stop using AR-coated lenses on their high-CRI lights. :person_facepalming:

I don’t think the glass is the problem with this light, but rather the binning of the led, which puts most emitters above the bbl ( 5000k red circle in the image )

[Henk4U2]

Ferrero Rocher is excellent test software. It detects cavities other software can’t detect.

[maukka]

@1C3

While I haven’t got any tools to measure the actual difference, my subjective experience is pretty similar to what you hypotesized. I used a lee filters zircon minus green 4 which should be equivalent to the 1/8 minus green and while high now looks like pure white the low modes are still a bit too greenish for my taste.
Because I mostly use the low modes, I’m thinking about trying a minus green 3, it would cut 20% output compared to stock but that’s a hardly noticeable difference in output in exchange for a big difference in tint.

Do the Zircon filters stick to the glass lens or did you manage to remove the steel bezel from your SC600Fd and stick the filter under it?

[Rufusbduck]

The AR coated lenses I’ve used typically have a net effect of filtering shorter wavelengths. Maybe UCLP is better?

[giorgoskok]

1C3 can you give a link to those really nice lanyards you use on your lights ?

[ToyKeeper]

@MRsDNF

The Ferrero Rocher firmware you used. Did it need modifying to work on the 32 x 7135 driver?

Not really. I calibrated the voltage and turned off the red/green indicators, but that was about all it needed. It makes high-pitched noise on some modes, but she can’t hear it.

It’s not as nice as Narsil, but I don’t have Narsil drivers hanging around, so this was as close as I could get.