BLF style 18650 1s thrower( poor mans Olight M2X)

I`ve modded a M3X today with S4 1A, running at 4.8 amps( a slight bump from the driver default) ….440k cds, the beam profile is quite scope frendly :slight_smile: the default emitter bracket needed a little bit of sanding

Yet, like in this case here i think that the beam profile becomes quite narrow for a 24/7 non scope BLF use, even for my taste, and i like tight beams

Yes… My first one came with Kan-28 and other ones came like you mentioned.
Is there really a need to shorten the tube? I think there is no need for that. Tube threads all the way and touches the pill but then it leaves small gap(it swallows original o ring and oring does not looses its function but small gap is seen).
I just thread lock it and put additional oring there:

Mitko thanks for this light. I will modd and sell some to old school hunters.
But IMHO and I am very sure what I am talking about nothing can compete with a aspheric light fitted with precoolimator when it comes to scope hunting.
For example 220 kcd modded 1503 flashlight with precoolimator vs lets say 300kcd supwildfire, both fitted with same driver and xpg2 dd led.

1503 has significantly larger hotspot and not only that 200 kcd of 1503 aspheric beam visually outthrows 300kcd reflector soupfire beam pattern. Confirmed by several people that where standing and just observing next to me. So light meter says one thing but in real use aspheric wins. That why I like them so much… Cause it is very important what I can see in the night not just the numbers.
Some of you will say numbers are numbers and that they should not make a difference but I say opposite: “you’ll see further in a night with aspheric beam pattern”.
I can explain and give my theory about that phenomen but this is Soupwildfire modding thread and it is very nice reflector flashlight and I really hope my old and probably broken meter under reads mentioned 260 and 280kcd I got… I will report new measurements with new uni-t meter when it arrives… :slight_smile:

I have shortened the battery tubes but at the same time had to bore the inside a little deeper as well to clear the pill.
For orings that work I’ve been using 1.8mm section, not sure of the OD but around the same as the standard ones.

Ah, knew it was not that easy. I noticed the one side is bored to fit around the pill, but not that it was that shallow. Thanks for the heads-up!

Too bad everything around the pill is so screwed up with this light. Would make a nice outdoors beater light if the fit is made more secure and reliable.

Thread lock it for more secure and reliable fit as I did. No one will be able to unscrew it after that… Not even Arnold :slight_smile:
Only way to unscrew after that is with heat gun when thread locker melts.

I had to drill a hole in second 26mm modded pill and while I fiddled with centering that made no difference… Still 260kcd on bad old lux meter.

So it could be couple of things like possibility that noctigon dtb board is better than maxtoch, emitter variation, reflector variation, human factor(although I don’t even doubt that I gave my best in this modds) etc…

That red mcpcb of noctigon board makes beam warmer than white maxtoch in mentioned “drill through reflector modd”.

Now heat transfer redneck test… Two flashlights(one in left and other in right hand) and it seems that noctigon one gets warmer few seconds quicker which means that it has somewhat better heat transfer although 26mm maxtoch pill is made on better way with bigger copper chunks beneath 26mm maxtoch dtpb and everything, and that why I mentioned that it could also be some dtp board performance differences although I don’t have any proper equipment to measure that.

If I would have to choose which method is easiest and the best for me it would be 16mm drill through reflector modd. Cause you don’t have any pill modding here. You just have to accurately drill through reflector(that may be easy to someone and not so easy to other one).

But I will have to do harder 26mm pill modd for my next 3 lights since I already have re-flowed and de domed emitters, and re flowing back that dd emitters from maxtoch to noctigon would be recipe for disaster of very rare emitters, god old xp-g2 s4 2b.
But I really do feel a bit sorry that I spend few super throwy emitters to this reflector light instead of a good aspheric light :cry: .

Maybe stock fake xm-l2 re flowed to noctigon would be best solution and 200kcd like some of you got is really not that bad.

350kcd Djozz got is remarkable but maybe mine are close to his results cause I have bad lux meter so I will report results with new budget uni-t lux meter and new modds.

And looking forward for your reports guys.

This is all useful info luminarium iaculator and appreciate you posting it up. Thanks. :+1:

Just got back from France where i was for 2 weeks.
It’s a rural area where i was, so very dark at night and long distances to trees and what not.

As i said before, my Brynite aspheric with old dedomed XP-G2 on a modest 2.8 Amperes makes minced meat of this Supwildfire with XP-L HI on 3.88 Amperes (measured), but “in real life” the Supwildfire is much more practical with its spill and corona added to the beam.
Maybe not interesting for the throw junkies out here :smiley: but it’s a very usable flashlight like this.

BUT
I will never do that MCPCB mod with the bent down soldering joints, because it’s too much work and one of the traces came loose from the copper board because of the bending down….
IF i ever buy and do another one of these lights i will remove the reflector base and use a 16mm board, like above.
The light does look nice and ‘stock’ though with everything fitting nicely.
To add to the old school style i fitted a green GITD switch boot. :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ll put in some thicker LED wires though, i only had rather thin ones when assembling.
This will help the output on lower Voltage a little.

No problem MRsDNF :wink:

Jerommel drill very carefully and get luxmeter :slight_smile:

My next one will be done this way li did and see if it can reach my UT02 results for comparison :slight_smile:

A quick question … Is there any interest for this flashlight , but :

  • Sold as a host
  • Equipped with HQ pill made from brass that accepts 26mm mcpcb
  • Has fixed tube so it will be water resistant

My opinion:

  • Yes, sold as host would be best.
  • I can live with the stock pill, a brass one would add cost and not much benefit.
  • O-rings can make it water resistant too, and i personally like the option to tighten the pill towards the reflector from the rear.

I’m going to try you reflector mod on the next one I mod. If its good it will be a lot quicker modding them than making new pills.
This should also push the pill further out of the head allowing the battery tube to screw all the way in if I’m not mistaken.

A host could be nice, and I don’t think that a brass pill would make it much more expensive, but I would rather see a better designed reflector with solder blob clearance than a pill suitable for 26mm. Those Maxtoch boards are expensive, it would kill the ultra-budget advantage of this light.

Lights such as these should have a solar panel around the battery tube so they could charge all day and we could use them at night, then we wouldn’t have to buy expensive cells to power these cheap lights…

Yes. I am sure that you’ll like it better but note that you’ll have centering without centering ring here… You’ll have to perfectly center 16mm noctigon in the pill itself before final reflector centering (you can see in my pics that I used oring).

My solution for final centering since I added additional 16mm noctigon beneath main 16mm one was thin oring under upper part of reflector + when properly centered by hands and eye method by watching hotspot on high ceiling all is locked with super glue which is resistant to any harder abuse(like centerfire recoil).

I also had to to slightly ccw the pill since I removed original pill oring (pill is copper taped in my modd so I did not have any need for stupid original oring on the pill) and that made small gap on battery tube part but tube did screw all the way to the pill(pill support and better heat transfer) + everything thread locked and additional oring added so it is waterproof…

I am sure that there are maybe even better and easier methods for centering in “drill through reflector mode”. So I am really looking forward to see something different :+1:

That is certainly a disadvantage of removing the reflector base.
It’s why i decided to leave the base as is.

I did notice the reflector base kind of fits inside the pill rim.
But then i widened the LED shelf for a 20mm board. :slight_smile:

Thanks. I was wondering how you held the MCPCB to the pill.

Yes it fits inside pill rim but it does not matter that much for centering… As you can see in my pictures drilled reflector base can even be fitted to flat 26mm pill modd which does not have any rim at all…

To me that is fairly easy but for someone centering could be nightmare. So if you are used to centering ring than better stick to that method and 26mm pill mod.

It all depends what is easier for you guys:

- to modd or not to modd a pill? You don’t want to modd it? Not one single thing on the pill? Than reflector drill through modd and 16mm mcpcb. Centering without centering ring? Can you do it? Challenge :slight_smile:

- you want to modd a pill for larger 26mm mcpcb? It will be hard without a lathe or any other appropriate hand tool… A lot of work and fiddling with file or rasp and then final centering of 26mm mcpcb… Can you do it? Challenge :slight_smile: Centering? Easy… Just thin centering ring and you are good to go…

  • There are other methods like Jerommel and Djozz one… I would really like to see other unique modds

Edit:

Artic Alumina MRsDNF… Permanent and quite expensive thermal glue compound thinly applied and hard pressed. After curing it is concrete solid. It can only be removed with heat gun and chisel after that.

Modded a Fandyfire SP02 with dedomed XPL V6 1A. This is not the same light as in this thread, but I thought it was appropriate because it’s the same style and has the same reflector.

A little back-story: I was looking for this style light (single 18650, large-ish reflector) before Mitko found the supwildfire, and had bought the Fandyfire. My C8-to-fresnel lens thrower conversion turned out really well, so I converted the SP02 to a fresnel lens thrower (with precollimator lens), shown below. I made a PVC tube extender to hold the 62mm diameter lens and modified the pill to increase the distance between LED and lens to accomodate the long focal length of the lens. With a dedomed XPG2 I got around 320Kcd. This was less than I was expecting/hoping for with the 60mm active diameter of the lens; I think this fresnel lens was just not great. Then, when I was taking beamshots for my 7xC8 high output thrower I decided the beam of my SP02 fresnel light was just too narrow, so I decided to convert it back to its original reflector.

This was made difficult, however, by my prior modifications; I destroyed the original pill (this pill was not great anyway) and I removed the lip in the bezel that holds the lens. So to do the mod I made a new pill from aluminum. To make a lip on the bezel I put JB weld all around the bezel ID where the lip was, then machined a lip out of the JB weld on a lathe. It worked pretty well.

I used a 20mm noctigon MCPCB, and to get around the focus issue with this reflector I made flat and thin contact extenders using some copper tape I had. This worked to flatten the area around the reflector and it could sit close to the MCPCB for good focus. I then covered the contacts with tough adhesive plastic gaskets from mtnelectronics. This reflector has a 10mm opening. XM sized centering rings that come with C8s have an OD of right around 10mm. I filed down the thickness so it didn’t obstruct the LED then glued it down to the MCPCB/gasket.

So, with the dedomed XPL V6 1A and a fully charged 30Q, I measured 243Kcd at 6m at around 20s.