What did you mod today?

So yes, I put the C1 and OTC on wrong. Just pulled both of them and replaced them with the correct new components and it works fine.

Duh!

Edit: Went ahead and bypass the blue spring on the driver with a 22ga turnigy wire, it makes 1510 lumens with either a Sanyo GA or LG MJ1 3500mAh cell.

DBC=back to his regular schedule :sunglasses:

I have actually been contemplating boxing up the table full of gear and just stepping aside, at least for the season. By next Spring if I pick it back up I’ll have to start all over again.

With some 250 lights there isn’t much chance I’ll really need a new one anytime soon…

I have several coming in the mail, and my wife just told me something to the effect of “don’t buy another flashlight… or else!”. I may find it necessary to make myself scarce for a bit.

I’m sure you already do this, but you can spread the light to family/friends to open up the shelf space. I got that 70% off coupon for the Sofirn SC31B recently and gave the light to my mother in law (lots of points for that move, and cost less than $8). I have had several requests from family members who have seen a light or two of mine, and I feel like that list will grow. This allows me to mod, and be generous as well.

Mods I have planned for the near future (waiting on the mailman and some slow boats):

AUX board for FW3CuTi (for me)
emitter swap on D4v2 to practice for D4v2Ti in transit (D4v2 for my brother, D4v2Ti for me)
Install pogo pins on HQ programming key and flash some E07s to the latest Anduril
Jaxman E1 build (possibly for my dad)
Convoy S2+ CU triple build (TBD)

I’ve been slowly selling/giving stuff away until something new and exciting comes along. Sort of just hanging back waiting for the next really interesting new advancement be it LED, battery, driver or a unique host of some kind (rotary, aspheric?). We’ll see…

In any case no worries Dale, i’ll PM you and try to suck you back in when something exciting comes along :slight_smile:

Changed the lighted switch board on my modded Emisar D4v1 with lighted switch:


This is an Emisar D4v1 with Lexel lighted bezel board, a custom-lighted switch board, and firmware update for Aux-board control from the UI.

Previously, I had modded a Kaidomain lighted switch module and used that to illuminate the switch. However, I wasn’t happy with that arrangement since it only had 2 LEDs in it and they were slightly offset to the left side. I wanted the lit area around the switch button to be a solid ring of light. I redid the switch LED board as follows:

  • The new lighted switch board involved no solder or application of heat. It is entirely handmade with all components attached with glue.
  • I started with a piece of thin sheet plastic. I cut it into a ring with a hole in the center for the switch button.
  • I then ran my super glue plastic activator pen over the plastic so super glue would stick to it.
  • I made the traces for the LEDs out of conductive ink from a conductive ink pen. You can see the ink in the picture as it is black, while the substrate plastic board is white. The ink in the pen came out far too much and lacked precision, so I used the pen to put puddles of ink onto a piece of wax paper and then dabbed a sliced toothpick into it and used the toothpick to draw the traces… one outer ring and one inner ring, with appropriate cuts at each side for the positive and negative wires.
  • I then installed the LEDs. These are 0603 blue leds. Hand-placed with tweezers so that each contact pad of the LED touches a different ring. The LEDs were glued in place with Fiberfix optical super glue (cures instantly when blue light shined on it). For ease of use, I mounted the entire board on a piece of double-sided tape on my work area before installing the LEDs.
  • After each LED was glued, I used a cut toothpick to dab on conductive ink on each contact to give a good electrical connection.
  • The base of each bondwire where it touches the inside edge of the board is glued, leaving the tip of the wire bare. Then I liberally slathered the exposed tips of the wires with conductive ink going to the traces.
  • Initially, I started with 11 LEDs and 2 resistors on the left side of the board. The picture above without the cover on shows this version. However, I later decided that wasn’t bright enough and I wanted a more complete ring. I removed the 2 resistors and replaced them with LEDs. I already had a resistor between the MCU and one of the bondwires so the extra resistors on the switch board were not needed. I also added another LED on the bottom arc right side bringing the total to 14 LEDs.
  • The switch cover is the same style as what I’d previously used. Silicone sheet with a small post on the bottom and a metal disk on the top. All glued with Fiberfix with plastic super-glue activator. The retaining ring is a filed down nickel-plated brass finished washer and is glued the same way.
  • The light still needs a polish and wax and the silver-colored epoxy around the base of the retaining ring could use a bit of touch-up, but overall I’m pleased with how it came out. The body tube and stainless steel bezel are from a D4V2. The head, body tube and tailcap are aluminum with anodizing removed.

You would wouldn’t you C? Lol

Truthfully, I’ve been shooting all the flashlight money! :blush:

Nice conceptional work again Fl2! With a classy result!

Dang , that’s really nice , Firelight2 . Nice job . :+1:

For once I have to agree with a couple of members comments here Firelight2. Nice work. :+1:

Finally finished my own 18650 lantern mod. I have no build thread, and I can not recommend anyone making it precisely as I did because it involved so many little customisations and part-making (nothing special but too many to count) that taking a different approach would be highly recommended.

Description: I use an old Supfire A6-T6 as a host. The light comes from a 2000K Nichia E21A driven by a 3x7135 biscotti driver. The optic came from a Philips household bulb. The bezel was heavily adapted, an aluminium ring was made to clamp the optic and attach the roof to, the ledboard was raised with an extra copper spacer, and a sturdy roof was constructed, to protect the plastic optic, but more for aestetics.

It is hopelessly inefficient, at max I measure 1.05A and just 80 lumen, that is only 19 lm/W. For comparison, just yesterday I measured the BLF-LT1 in warmest 2600K setting at 43 lm/W. I think the main reason is the ultrawarm 2000K 90CRI led, but the optic may be less efficient than the LT1 optic too.

Still, it will have high practical use, as a night light for my son (at 25mA/140hrs runtime) when not at home, and when camping 80 lumen is plenty, normal use when sitting in front of the tent will even be lower (we hardly travel by car, the BLF lantern will in most occasions be too large to take with us).

djozz :heart_eyes:
Din 580 eye bolt, most pretty looking thing you can attach to the flashlight ever.

Is that the diffuser of a E27 philips LED bulb in your lantern?

This is an eye nut actually but yes, I bought a few on ebay, rvs M3, especially for this mod because I could not think of a nicer way to attach a ring :slight_smile:

It was a E14 bulb in my case, of this type (pic shows E27 version):

But I think this specific type with smooth illumination is not sold anymore, it is all irregular optics now, apparently people like irregular illumination better.

Exactly that one, i still have a few around :wink:

Very cool, Jos. I like the creativity of it! :+1:

Kinda reminds me (in functionally) of the night light I rigged up in one of my kids’ rooms: a Sofirn SC31 with a custom driver (made for ultra low power and has a watch crystal to keep time so it turns itself on and off). Looking at your creation, I wonder if I should 3D print a diffuser to make it more of a lantern like yours (currently mine is just doing ceiling bounce).

SC31B from their Amazon promo, originally had a SST-20 ~6750K, cool white by anyone’s definition.

Got a little refresh with LH351D 5K 90CRI and the 18350 body tube from SP40. Bezel had to be removed with pipe wrench + old piece of belt. It’s not loctite but it’s not gonna come off with your sandal :slight_smile:

Slight yellow halo in the edge of the corona but the hot spot is nice and defined with the spill looking clean. I may slice it some day but for such a cheap light I may not just to keep the max lumens higher. ~675lm on max.

You didn’t happen to grab any pics of the driver, did you? I’m curious if they actually updated it since the SC31 and if the layout is the same/similar.

Didn’t even try to remove it sorry.

CRX Brass KnuckleHead IV SST-20 2700K 95CRI - R1 - 16340 - Rv Clicky Tail Sw - 250lm.Luminus SST-20 J2 JA3 2700K 95CRI emitter
Noctigon MCPCB
16mm ARC glass
Single mode
Reverse clicky tail switch
Magnetic tail
GITD details
Max - 250lm/ 1A
Length – 52mm
Width – 24mm
Weight – 116g (With 16340 cell)

I've never used an emitter with this low K value as I thought I wouldn't like it but it's not too bad for a little mule.
After seeing Djozz lantern post I decided to make a wee diffuser for it too from an old berocca tube.