14500/AA Host*Kaidomain*

Those are great lights. Still chunky but they work well on NiMh. Good kid lights. Mine put them on neck lanyards when they are out at night in the summer. Cheap enough that I don’t care if they lose them. :+1:

Unfortunately the Sofirn SF10 (and similar lights) has been unavailable for some months now! I do concur that it is a chunky resistant light :wink:

Here’s how it looks compared to other AA lights:

Sofirn SF10 >>> Sofirn SF14 >>> Convoy T2 >>> Jaxman E3 >>> Lumintop Tool AA V2.0

Sofirn SF10 >>> Convoy T2

Convoy T2 vs Olight M1T Raider (CR123a/16340)
(just because being a small or slim battery won’t mean that the light will be slim or small, right? :wink: )

As many have mentioned already, the host is a Convoy T2. After wasting an hour trying to sand down a 16mm copper core MCPCB (to shove an XH=P 50.2 in there :smiley: ) I contacted Simon, who was willing to send me 10 of the 15-ish mm MCPCBs he uses in the T2 for free if I bought anything else.

He’s wonderful.

Yeah looking at the flashlight comparison above it does look beefy. That’s ok with me. I like the simplistic design and ease of modding. Too bad no other colors though.

I also contacted Simon about the 15mm pcb. Hope he’s around today so I can bug him some.

Are there any good alkaline/NiMH-only drivers with decent mode spacing and low moonlight / firefly that would fit this host?

Few and far between. Banggood is about the only source I’ve found for low voltage boost drivers. Haven’t pulled the trigger yet so I can’t comment on quality. Let me know if you find a good source somewhere.

So much talk about the host, yet Hank33 “forgot” to link it in the opening post:

http://kaidomain.com/Flashlight-DIY-and-Tools/diy-flashlight-shell-or-flashlight-host/S028651-95mm-x-21mm-DIY-LED-Flashlight-Host-Black

I have also noticed an S3 21700 host, available in black, desert sand and purple:

http://kaidomain.com/Flashlight-DIY-and-Tools/diy-flashlight-shell-or-flashlight-host/DIY-S3-21700-LED-Flashlight-Host-126mm-x-27mm

I have an S21A grey host on the way home from Simon, and I'm not gonna say I want to change it LoL but… :facepalm:

Nice to know Simon has weird ∅15 mm MCPCBs for this, he also lists these 3030 reflector gaskets for ∅9 mm hole, whereas 3030 reflector gaskets for ∅7 mm hole are listed at Kaidomain…

I know Sofirn sells just the driver for the SP10S which is also a AA/14500 host. The there’s this but I don’t think it’s got moonlight/firelfly mode.

Warning, the SP10S is an e-switch light. It’s driver will not work for clickies like the T2.

I’m still waiting for the parts to arrive, but at the recent request of a BLF member, I put together an extremely basic 1-mode 17mm low-output boost driver. I think the T2 is the target host. Kinda “joule thief” style. Intention being simplicity and efficiency with the ability to drain a cell. I hope for the parts to be in within the next week or two. Can’t wait to test it out. If all goes well, I’ll publish the Oshpark boards and can also build a few on request.

Thanks for the e-switch warning. :slight_smile: yeah if you can build some drivers for these host that be coo! Seems there lots of drivers galore for 18650 and up style flashlights but for AA/14500, not so much? :cry:

That would be great :wink:
Keep us informed about it please :wink:

Are there any 14.5/15mm to 17mm driver adaptors? Thinking of using Rey’s Lan/pineapple driver in either this or an AA tool. I think the tool driver is 15mm? Not sure if Rey’s driver would fit.

Resurrecting a dead thread, as I’m considering buying some of these hosts to mod.

I want to make a single emitter Lh351d with either a MTN-DDm 17mm FET+7135 or 17mm DrJones driver (using just 14500s).

With this build, I’d like to use the FET channel, as long as it won’t destroy the emitter. And I’m wondering whether I need a DTP MCPCB to accomplish this.

I can’t find a 14mm DTP from mtnelectronics, will this 12mm be way too small to use?

If I use this 14mm non-DTP MCPCB from Illumn, will I be in danger or overheating the Lh351d?

I assume I will have to file down the widths of either of these MCPCBs to around 1mm, as well. Is that a correct assumption?

Finally, is Kaidomain a decent source for some “dogfarts” Lh351d? I can’t find any other source at the moment…

This will answer an old question here. I can confirm the ReyLight driver is too tall for a Lumintop tool AA pill. Too bad.

If you only need to shave 1mm from the 14mm board (I imagine ½mm around, actually), then unless the 12mm would be sitting precariously on the narrowest of ledges on a dreaded “hollow pill”, the 12mm board should be fine.

I ordered a bunch of weirdo small sizes from… think it was LEDsupply… for just such occasions. Plain Al, not DTP, but small lights aren’t meant to be screamers anyway. :laughing:

Is MTN still in bidniss, even? Haven’t heard anything from/to/about him in ages.

I would say that DTP is better than non DTP, be it copper or aluminium.

I recently fried a LH351D on a non DTP board in my Tool AA.
BUT, beside the thinness of the board and pill, I used a Vapcell H10, probably the cell that will deliver more “juice” in the 14500 kingdom.

So, in case you use non DTP boards, don’t use that kind of cell. Use the Vapcell ICR14500 (Gold), which will not power up the FET to it’s top.

Or, use a layer of copper, brass or aluminium below the led board to help on heat dissipation.

I guess I’ll buy a 12mm and see. Or try to find a DTP 14mm MCPCB to file down just in case.

I just bought some Convoy C8+ hosts from him to build so he seems to be in business!

Is this just a “spacer” that I buy in the correct diameter? I don’t have the tools to make my own at the moment. Or the skill, I should add.

Your experience makes me think I should be going DTP MCPCB, or with a copper spacer, regardless.

I would say that DTP is probably better, specially if you don’t have tools or materials to make that “layer”.

If you chose the Jaxman E3, you can use the 16mm DTP MCPCB without issues :wink:

Thanks y’all! I’ll probably go E3 on this route.

But will buy some cheaper KD hosts for the future.