Sometimes I launch off into projects that, in retrospect, I might should have not done. This last one is a fairly good example but not a total waste of time as it turned out.
Some background⊠my EDC light that I made from Scratch used to have the tight Khatod quad optics, I had bought several while at it as they came from England I think. The light morphed into a standard quad with LH351D emitters and the Khatodâs sit here unused. Stage 2 of the background, Will34 here on the forum was selling off some lights⊠I bought an X6 and Convoy M1 from him. Both of these were already modified, the X6 into a triple and the M1 a quad with a Khatod optic. Neither was really performing all that well so I rebuilt both of them. The M1 was somewhat oddly done with a T-Pad Quad MCPCB and what appear to be XP-G3 emitters that have damaged domes from the ultra tight Khatod optics. A copper plug and a top section of SS filled the head. No idea why SS, but it was in thereâŠ
I hadnât worked on the lathe in a while, so it was a good project to refresh my amateurish skills. I had a piece of copper, WAY bigger than needed, so I carved it down. lol
I tend to like the challenge of making a heat sink that follows the internal lines of the head, and in this case, fully supports the optic all the way up to the glass.
Like most optics, the Khatod has an injection mold protrusion which made me hand carve some space from the top to get the optic to seat fullyâŠ
But what emitter? I thought about using sliced LH351D in 80 CRI trim, but the entry to the TIRâs in these Khatodâs is quite small, so I chose to use 4 White Flatâs and built a new driver for em using a lesser MOSFET and A6 firmware.
Hot spot is defined, the little quad makes 2510 lumens at 31.5Kcd, pulling 18.5A at the tail from a fresh charged 30Q.
Seems like a waste of White Flats in a way, but it makes for a unique little light and overall I think I am happy with it.
Apart from the inefficiency of the White Flat compared to the bigger die leds (2500 lumen can be made with i.e. a 3V XHP50.2 with under 10A), it looks like a nice performing flashlight with a pretty nice beam.
Colors should be very vivid (intensive).
The tint should become pink at higher currents (above 2A). This should be very noticeable when you compare it to another flashlight.
Where did you buy the Nichia?
Swapped in a new lens on my Jetbeam TCR-01. The old one was cracked at the edge from when Iâd put on the bezel too snug.
Unfortunately, I didnât measure the lens before ordering replacements. Ordered a mixed selection of 22mm lenses when what I really needed was 20mm. Whoops!
Fortunately, one of the lenses I ordered was UCLP acrylic, which I was able to file to the correct size.
Pulled the White Flats out of the little M1 I built yesterday, will apply them where they can be used for throw like they oughta be. I stuck sliced LH351D 80 CRI 5000K Samsungs on a different T-Pad board and used them. They make around 2500 lumens with a larger hot spot and nice neutral to warm white beam. More confluent with the big copper pill under em, works for me.
I also found out today the MOSFET on the driver is a faked one, not original SIR800 some sort of chineese copy
I have measured the FET used on the red MT09R driver
its labeled like the original Vishay cant tell any difference
@4.7V Gate
I got 38.3mV 10A â>3.8mOhm resistance
@3V Gate
I got 165mV 10A â> 16.5mOhm
@2.5V which the original should have around 2.8mOhm as its gate voltage gets very deep till 2V pretty stable
I get only 2A with reasonable input volatge and the stunning drop on the FET of 1.1V
so here the FET has 550mOhm
Conclusion
the FET HL use is definately some sort of fake which wont work on any 1S driver well
with 4.7V on gate it has a usable resistance but still this FET is like the MCU fake
this is just the Turbo static power loss on 60% with switching losses this may be even more depending how fast the FET switches
the bad resistance on lower voltage definately points on a lot longer phase where the FET is not fully switched through
Well you have to consider though Jos, de-doming/slicing takes a toll on efficiency as well, so the normal Samsung emitter would fare better it just wonât fit under this Khatod optic cleanly. This is made for XP-E I think, the opening to each TIR is shallow and quite small. Itâs a 24mm 25.4mm Optic (PL115106, narrow) with itâs legs wider than our standard quad boards, the only ones Iâve found that work are the T-Padâs because they have an open slot instead of a hole.
They say itâs a 10Âș, tested with the XP-E and compatible with XP variants and the XP-L HI.
Yes, the optics will add to how much light makes its way out too, the LH351D has a bigger die even than the XP-L HI so a little bit of the light may get lost in there.
The full copper heat sink may help to keep the light âwarmâ if thereâs losses in the optic, that fresh copper orange color may influence the beam. Looks good, actually more neutral than the same (domed) emitters in my X6 Triple under CUTE-3 optics.
Finally got back to doing a few mods after being sick. Not much of a full post but I may take some measurements and edit it in.
Put MTNâs new 20mm boost driver in a ThorFire C8S. My first XHP35 mod. Sure enough I got the polarity backwards on the reflow cause I just assumed which caused me to waste 45m checking connections when the light didnât work. You better believe I just switch the LED wires at that point.
Side note, this is a never used XHP35 HI on the bottom, whatâs with the charred look? Both of mine were this way. Guessing it could just be oxidation lined up right where that hole is in the reel? They are pretty old.
And also there was an Amazon sale on Tool AA 2.0âs so I decided to get one and put a shaved dog fart (aka; LH351D 5000K 90CRI) in it and a BeCu tail spring just cause. I think the beam turned out nicer than I expected on this mod.
I have seen that little dark spot on so many, always assumed it was something to do with testing, how they bin them. Gold plated contacts right? Gold doesnât tarnishâŠ
The C8 with a 35 and RMM boost is an exquisite build, I get right at 2000 lumens in mine and itâs awesome!
Nice slice on the Sammy, neat little light for sureâŠ
I have a lathe because of Old Lumens. Justin loved working on Maglites, and I had a purple 2D sitting here wanting attention. So yesterday afternoon I did my first ever ChicagoX style Maglite 1D mod.
This is a âhard wayâ to do it, but the results net the smallest possible 1D Maglite. The top end of the battery tube is cut off and threaded inside to accept the tail cap, flipped around, the tail end is cut off and threaded for the head to screw onto. I have yet to fit an Omten switch in the tail cap and finish the build, but I have a couple of options Iâm looking at. I have a TIR that is made for minerâs lamps, called Crystal Mine. It touts a beam angle as low as 3Âș. So Iâm thinking about a White Flat with the Crystal Mine.
It dawned on me this morning though that I have an MCPCB and reflector from a Q8. So now I need to check to see if this reflector can be mated into the Maglite head. If so, Iâm thinking about using it and slicing/dicing 3V 50.2âs for some 15,000 lumens in the stubby mag.