What did you mod today?

[djozz]

As in many modern leds, the phosfor in the Luxeon V is not a tight layer over the die, but to me it looks like it is mixed into a layer of silicone covering the die area and around it, so by using the solvent you dissolve the phosfor-carrying substance too.

[vwpieces]

@led4power

@vwpieces

For ILC-0 current there are equations on my site:

Current set resistor calculation equations :

Blue,White,Warm white,Pink,Ice blue colors :

R[kOhm]=1/(2*I[mA])

Green color:

R[kOhm]=1/(1.3*I[mA])

Red,Orange colors:

R[kOhm]=1/(0.8*I[mA])

As for LD-x4 temp. threshold, I suppose you know you can change that threshlod to desired level?

There is decription how to do that in datsheet (basically same as with LD-3), but with one difference (which is still not in datasheet,I will update it ASAP): because LD-4 has 30sec timeout fimer while in config. mode(for safety reasons), user must “preheat” flashlight while in normal mode, that means turn the flashlight on max. and wait until it’s around desired threshold temperature. After that user should enter into config. mode and pick ext. temp level sub-menu and then custom threshold level. Further procedure is correctly described in datasheet.

@ led4power

The temp setting did appear to time out on me several times or I had reached max value. I did to try to preheat the light before setting, thinking I could cheat the time out. I tried for a while to get it set to my liking, tried to work around the time out too. At the moment I am using 5 mode with ML, ext ntc disabled, 7.5A, CC. Will also try this setting with ntc ON and try setting thermals again. Maybe work up the CC A scale. My DD tail readings were 8.4A, perhaps max out the CC to 8A, no visible loss should be apparent.

I saw the formulas for the different colors. Thanks. I am picky about the brightness of a tail SW, I tried 4 values and went back to the one I liked best. I have a wide selection but they are 0805, they fit.

Edit:
Some thoughts on the UI…
The strobe when OTP lowers the output is really annoying. That strobe alone makes me want the OTP disabled. Its pretty obvious what happens, Strobe is unnecessary. After the thermal strobe, the light reverts to Low on the next click. With on board driver thermal And external OTP I should be able to go upagain if that output is really needed. I will be honest, I am a fan of Bistro and like the 6+ ML levels with medium click to go backward in mode and in a high output light the 7 choices are useful. But with 7 levels the going backward option is very useful to have. I have your UI set to 5+ ML. This is why I dislike it going to low again on next click after the OTP and annoying strobe.

Edit 2: I am still messing with this light. I have found if you have Memory enabled you can turn off light and turn it back on to get to higher level after OTP kicks in. avoiding the next click to Low after OTP.
Also just applied the MX4 to the threads on pill and body (didn’t take much), definitely added some time to OTP strobe and lowering level.

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

I put together a Convoy C8, a silver one, to get a mix of throw and power. Special request, as it were. So I used an SST-40 with a straight FET driver built from scratch and flashed with Biscotti. For the throw part, I first sliced the SST-40 just above the bond wires. Then I cut into the remaining silicone in a “dice” maneuver getting rid of the silicone on the substrate as much as possible. Then I cut this vertical slice action right beside the bond wires, straight down onto the phosphor, in preparation for a shave… very carefully slid the scalpel parallel to the phosphor just above the point I’d be shaving yellow, cut to the previous dice point and then removed that thin film. The result is that the bond wires are protected, with as little silicone left on the die as possible.

The end result is a C8 pulling 8.68A at the tail, making 2049 lumens out the front and throwing 127.75Kcd for 714.84M. Pretty decent mix of throw, power and some usable spill.

[led4power]

@vwpieces

Edit: Some thoughts on the UI… The strobe when OTP lowers the output is really annoying. That strobe alone makes me want the OTP disabled. Its pretty obvious what happens, Strobe is unnecessary. After the thermal strobe, the light reverts to Low on the next click. With on board driver thermal And external OTP I should be able to go upagain if that output is really needed. I will be honest, I am a fan of Bistro and like the 6+ ML levels with medium click to go backward in mode and in a high output light the 7 choices are useful. But with 7 levels the going backward option is very useful to have. I have your UI set to 5+ ML. This is why I dislike it going to low again on next click after the OTP and annoying strobe. Edit 2: I am still messing with this light. I have found if you have Memory enabled you can turn off light and turn it back on to get to higher level after OTP kicks in. avoiding the next click to Low after OTP. Also just applied the MX4 to the threads on pill and body (didn’t take much), definitely added some time to OTP strobe and lowering level.

"Strobe" is two very short blinks and they appear only once after OTP,but if it's annoying I could remove it. Also, driver goes to low mode on next click after OTP because it doen't store going to previos mode on OTP activation, I will probably update this too, so that driver memorizes mode step down after OTP.

[g_damian]

I don’t mind double blink on step down, but really miss battery check functionality.

[legofaith]

@OscarM

i received my boruit headlamps from gearbest black friday sale. might start a thread about them later on, if anyone’s interested.
one one of them i changed the xp-e to nichia 219a, changed one TIR-optic and put some frosted tape on both TIRs. On the other i put frosted tape on both sides of the main glass lens.

coooool stuff

[Mike_C]

@DB Custom

So I used an SST-40 with a straight FET driver built from scratch and flashed with Biscotti. For the throw part, I first sliced the SST-40 just above the bond wires. Then I cut into the remaining silicone in a “dice” maneuver getting rid of the silicone on the substrate as much as possible.

Nice work. I’ve never got my hands on a SST-40 but wouldn’t mind playing around with a couple. I couldn’t be bothered with the slicing and dicing though. How would the beam profile be of an unmodified SST-40 in a C8? Not too concerned about max throw, but very concerned about ugly beam profiles. And where do you buy yours?

[vwpieces]

@led4power

@vwpieces

Edit: Some thoughts on the UI… The strobe when OTP lowers the output is really annoying. That strobe alone makes me want the OTP disabled. Its pretty obvious what happens, Strobe is unnecessary. After the thermal strobe, the light reverts to Low on the next click. With on board driver thermal And external OTP I should be able to go upagain if that output is really needed. I will be honest, I am a fan of Bistro and like the 6+ ML levels with medium click to go backward in mode and in a high output light the 7 choices are useful. But with 7 levels the going backward option is very useful to have. I have your UI set to 5+ ML. This is why I dislike it going to low again on next click after the OTP and annoying strobe. Edit 2: I am still messing with this light. I have found if you have Memory enabled you can turn off light and turn it back on to get to higher level after OTP kicks in. avoiding the next click to Low after OTP. Also just applied the MX4 to the threads on pill and body (didn’t take much), definitely added some time to OTP strobe and lowering level.

“Strobe” is two very short blinks and they appear only once after OTP,but if it’s annoying I could remove it. Also, driver goes to low mode on next click after OTP because it doen’t store going to previos mode on OTP activation, I will probably update this too, so that driver memorizes mode step down after OTP.

The double Strobe on OTP is annoying mostly because the same intensity on DD or highest CC. If people want to keep it, perhaps, lower the level it blinks at. On my light the Luxeon V is insanely bright for the size. That blinking is disorienting.

Also learned that my thermal calibration (with pre-heating light) wasn’t timing out. It is the driver on board OTP, 5+ blinks before it quit. And I do not believe the other settings changed at that time get stored when that happens. Not sure.

Thanks for participation and considering input from customers.

[Mike_C]

I upgraded my ZY-T08 MT-G2 dual switch modded light (Mod/Driver: ZY-T08 series conversion, MT-G2.) with a new custom 1634 based driver with FET and 8 x A705s (instead of 7135s), and a new lighted momentary side switch to replace the old boring black one.

I’ve seen a few lighted momentary switches, but this is the only one I’ve come across where the actual button protrudes the switch casing. I don’t like the ones with the button level to the casing, very unnatural pressing action on those. This one is sweet.

This is one of my work horses down in mines and caves, it usually gets pretty dirty and beat up so I’ll have to see how the new switch holds up. It’s pleasing for the eye though.

[MRsDNF]

Looks real nice Mike C. Love your lighted switch mod.
I’m not sure what the o’ring seal on your battery tube to head is like but I’ve been using C8 bezel orings on mine for a far better seal.

[Mike_C]

@MRsDNF

I’m not sure what the o’ring seal on your battery tube to head is like but I’ve been using C8 bezel orings on mine for a far better seal.

Good to know, thanks for the tip!

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Mike, I got the SST40’s from Kaidomain. The beam profile is much the same as an XM-L2 would be.

This one wound up doing 2277 lumens with a Sony VTC5A, using every trick I know. Pulling 9.49A at the tail.

[Mike_C]

@DB Custom

Mike, I got the SST40’s from Kaidomain. The beam profile is much the same as an XM-L2 would be.

This one wound up doing 2277 lumens with a Sony VTC5A, using every trick I know. Pulling 9.49A at the tail.

Thanks. It’s an interesting LED. How is the size compared to XM-L2? I have TIR optics that fit XM-L2 perfectly, would these fit without modding the optics?

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Same, difficult to see a difference

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

I have a Nitecore Night Officer that had a tested 900 lumens with the XM-L2, swapped in an SST-40 and got 1400 with no other changes.

[goshdogit]

@Mike C

This is one of my work horses down in mines and caves, it usually gets pretty dirty and beat up so I’ll have to see how the new switch holds up. It’s pleasing for the eye though.

Nice real patina on that light!

Share a pic of it glowing in a puddle of muck!

[Mike_C]

@DB Custom

I have a Nitecore Night Officer that had a tested 900 lumens with the XM-L2, swapped in an SST-40 and got 1400 with no other changes.

Ordered a few for trial. Thanks for the inspiration and info!

@goshdogit

Share a pic of it glowing in a puddle of muck!

I’ll take a photo of it next time it gets down and dirty

[Tom_E]

Though I'd post this here:

Amutorch/Galuxia JM70 XPL HI - from BG, paid: $39: banggood.com/AMUTORCH-JM70-XPL-HI-1200Lumens

Driver diam is 28 mm. No glue accept a dab under the driver - probably to get the switch aligned to the button, but driver still came out easy. Has a thin brass retaining ring on the driver. Very moddable.

The driver does not act like a buck or boost. Output decreases as the cell drops. My first test was with an LK cell at about 4.05V or so, and got 870 lumens, 188 kcd (2.55A tail). On a full LK cell @4.21V, got 950 lumens, 205 kcd (2.84A tail)

Then made a few mods:

• 20 AWG bypass wires on both springs
• 20 AWG LED wires (stock were ~26 AWG)
• bypassed sense resistor with a jumper
• sanded down centering piece a little
• swapped stock XPL HI with a XPL HI V3 2B from MtnE, sanded MCPCB smooth, MX-4 thermal grease

Stock:

• stock MCPCB is a good one: 32 mm DTP MaxToch, screwed down by 2 screws - excellent
• Reflector I.D. is 61.5 mm - outstanding
• Weight: 305g - fairly light for it's size
• nice solid shelf
• the blue bezel is not SS unfortunately, it's aluminum
• the switch looks like a heavy duty one. There's 2 slots next to the rubber switch boot to unscrew the tail - the removable tail/switch housing is plastic though

This got:

• 1240 lumens at 30 secs, 266 kcd (3.74A)

This is slightly better now than the specs posted. Really needs a FET driver though. Because the switch is driver mounted, I'd probably go with a piggyback driver mount.

[vwpieces]

Was working on the Clone M3 again. Final revision. It charges!

Specs: Ultimate EDC Light.
MtnE 15mm Fet+1 with D4 v.2 style rampingIOS,
XM-L2 T6 4C on 14mm SinkPad,
ME4056 charger circuit lowered to 550mA
relocated Red LED from ME4056 to the SW board
Green LED always lit except when charging
Hacked a magnetic charge port adapter and mounted where the micro USB used to be.

By far the most complicated mods I have done to a light. Definitely worth ALL the aggravation.

Wasn’t easy stuffing all that into a small light. Used the tiny ME4056 charge board.

Used a completely waterproof magnetic connector, no more Micro USB.

Green LED is lit all the time but green goes out and red turns on while charging. When Charge completes, no LEDs are lit.

[MtnDon (Don Miller)]

Cool!! :+1: