My New (Slighty Modded) Lumintop EDC18

Nice! Would love to see pics of it with the orange setup.

That looks really nice, I’m glad you like it. Do you have a D4/D4v2 to compare it to? I like my D4 and have been looking at the EDC18 for awhile, but it’s a little more money than I want to spend, and the D4 is already great for me.

Unfortunately I do not have a D4 to compare. Although I did find some beam shots here for comparison. From what I’ve read, the EDC18 seems to have arguably better quality and tint compared to the D4. Not sure if that warrants another purchase from you or not though. I picked my EDC18 up from Neal’s for $39. Not sure if he has the same deal going on right now or not seeing it’s the holiday. I have seen others find it for less using other discount codes in places.

Debating whether to set the max ramp on my EDC18 to max turbo.

One of the best things about Anduril is I can set the ramp to be the highest possible “pocket-safe” setting (highest possible setting that won’t burn through my pocket). That way I have peace of mind in knowing I won’t destroy my pocket if it comes on accidentally in the pocket. And I can still get to max turbo with a double-click from on.

However, the EDC18’s button is so good, I’m not sure I need the extra protection. So far I’ve had zero accidental pocket activations and I don’t think anyone else on these forums has reported any either.

Funny cause one of the first things I did when I got my EDC18 was reduce the max ramp for that exact reason. The thought of it accidently turning on in pocket was a worry of mine. However, after almost a month of pocket carrying mine, I’ve had ZERO accidental activations. This light is solid, including the switch!

I also have the Ilumintop EDC01 and I’ve never had the switch come on in my pocket. My Sofirn SP10S accidentally turns on all the time. I think maybe the EDC18 switch is slightly lower plus you have the rubber boot too.

Just got the Tritiums today. Carclo 10507 with orange Tritiums. And I drilled and put them in myself too.

Very nice Hank! Looks great. I see the thinner lens worked out.

I should’ve made photo shots of my build but next time for sure. Yeah I ordered the 23*1.2mm lens and it’s a perfect fit thanks to your advice:-). The stainless lock ring fits flush. One of the hole I drilled actually came out at an angle. From middle to just coming out at the bottom of the Carclo:X. I guess that happens when your’re holding both items with your hands and drilling.

I like the beam pattern of the 10507 with a hotspot that’s not really a hotspot. It’s there but you have too look for it. I l wish the 10507 had a little more spill which I also want but I’m getting the hang of it. The EDC18 for sure gives out a blast of light that suites my needs as my primary EDC.

But the thing that most stands out for me is how the cylindrical flow of the head unit abruptly changes to the flat plane shape housing the switch. It feels good with the thumb too. I also find the switch the hardest to push out of all my lights. For sure an awesome light and wondering what the next model will be like! :money_mouth_face:

Just found this thread, some nice work! Funny, I've found the stock EDC18 do nice, haven't touched mine yet! I carry it pretty much every day. Think I had one accidental activation, but over many days, many hours.

At the least I want to add bypasses and swap the LED's, probably XPL HI 5D's.

Hi,

Just wanted to say thanks for the posts in this thread. I just finished modding follow this guide. Only thing i didn’t do was the trits but i might still! Went with Lava turboglow from Neals and i think its exactly on the money with colour, looks just like it should!

unfortunately my threads were pretty dirty so it was a pig to remove the ring. I put the torch in the fridge to drop its temp then warm the head quickly for a few seconds with a har dryer and boom, she spun loose. After cleaning it all comes off and on perfectly.

Anyway, thanks!

Saw this thread to get mine done too. Both drill tritium, and glued radial tritium. The radial tritium is fast and easy with windshield repair resin, and it has a single dome sapphire vs the flat sapphire on the green on green glow and trit.

and recently added the short tube

What’s the advantage of the domed saphire?

Those look great! :slight_smile:

This is what I did (think posted somewhere else):

Wired in the AUX LED, update Anduril so Anduril controls it now.

Also beefed up the switch, because these switches tend to bend back after a good amount of usage. Added solder in the front and added epoxy to support the back:

It's a standard triple channel BLF driver, FET+bank+1, before the mods:

After the mods:

I was just trying it out - the beam pattern for single domed isn’t much different from the flat because it isn’t very convex like projector. The center corona seems a little tighter hot area. Both of mine are XPL-Hi with CW and NW. The NW seems more warm than my other 5000k lights though. I really like it. The NW is just OK.

There are 2 ways you can put the sapphire, A single dome means domed only on one side, and flat on the other. If you put the domed side facing in, it provides a gap between the carclo and glass affects the bezel height a little not as much as one would think. The beam is more even through out so not as hot in the middle.

They also have double domed meaning dome on both sides, which should affect the beam a little more. I was only trying it out to see what it does. It doesn’t make a big enough of a difference as I was hoping for though. it does feel nice, kind of like a watch with flat glass vs domed.

TomE

Interesting - Aux light I’m assuming the side button light and not a separate aux light board? I know from factory it is just connected direct without control by Anduril. One of my EDC18 has developed a loose switch, and sometimes when I press the switch, it goes through the “reset” routine, or shorts out and turns on the light as if it was just reset. I noticed the driver is glued :frowning: So how did you get yours out? Was thinking of reflowing some NW XPL-Hi because the cold white is tool cool for me (OK for lightening mode, but sucks for candle light mode).

Ha! I was literally thinking that as i read the first part of your text. I did a little watch modding to my Seiko 007 doing that exact thing :slight_smile:

Thanks for the info, i noticed with the pattern on this Carclo 10507 is a little odd with these lines? Does this look right to you? Or do i need to reseat it? Can you see those prisms?

You may need to reseat it. Its definitely not as smooth as the factory frosted optics, but not that bad either. I only have XPL-Hi for reference. I think they had other emitter versions which will change the beam pattern.

Yep, Mine was glued pretty good. Got more pics. A solder pic thru the center LED wire hole, and if I can't force it, I give it a couple light taps with the hammer.

It's not without risks though. Glue all around:

You can see the damage from the solder pick at the corner of the FET, just below R4. Fortunately it didn't effect the driver. You have to kind of feel with the solder pick, try not to put in on a chip when you hammer:

I used the following method to remove the Lumintop EDC18 lens retainer ring.

I wrapped 2 inch wide sticky duct tape very tightly around a piece of 2 inch wide flat bar with the sticky side out so I had a 2 x 2 inch pad of sticky duct tape on both sides of the flat bar. I placed the flat bar on a counter top (where it stuck solidly because of the sticky duct tape) and then pressed the lens retainer ring against the duct tape and there was now enough friction to easily remove it.

Everything else I tried slipped too much. The duct tape originally kept slipping on it's non-sticky side while trying to hold it by hand until I used the tightly wrapped flat bar which kept the duct tape tight so it did not slip after being placed with one sticky side down on the counter top and one sticky side up to place the lens retainer ring against.

Heavy duty double sided sticky tape could also work for extra friction but I did not have any of that available at the time.