(Continuation from post 9028) Eureka! So, the TO50R driver must have been monitoring current where I had tapped into the ground. I found a true ground connection and now moonlight works again!
Congrats. Really nice, I wish I could do this kind of magic. And thanks for showing the innards. Maybe that justifies the breathtakening prices Wuben takes.
Agreed. At first I thought Wuben’s prices were nuts. But that driver really shows that they’re not messing around. They have been in business for almost 40 years which is pretty respectable for a Chinese flashlight company. They’ve certainly got experience.
Nice work pc_light. I’d like to do the same but I’ve never been game to crack open an Olight before.
Do you have any more photos of the process, and could you post a link to the replacement lens?
I didn’t take any in-process photos, I just dove in not sure what I would run into. Before I realized it, I was done.
I can describe the process. I drilled two tiny holes into the plastic lens on opposite edge/sides about 1mm deep. Then used some fine nosed tweezers to work the lens off. I used dual holes in case I needed to twist but as the lens wasn’t glued, perhaps a single hole would have been fine. In any event plan on replacing the lens when done, it’s soft plastic and would be impossible to extract without damage.
The lens measures about 0.8mm thick by about 15.7mm diameter. I ordered from ebay. The sizes available were 15.5 and 16 mm and I ordered the 16 thinking I could sand it down. If I were to re-order I would get the 15.5mm to eliminate the need to sand and simple fill any difference with adhesive (duh), We’ll see when the lens gets here if its worth the effort to reduce, otherwise I may re-order the 15.5mm.
The i5T is currently in active pocket rotation and the warm tint is great for night time use but I’ve decided I might like 3-4K better.
edit:
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Follow-up. I had to sand the glass down to 15.5mm for fit, but in the end during install I still managed to crack the glass. Because of press fit I’m convinced that only a plastic lens will work.
After weeks (months) waiting for some things to arrive (a pack from Simon, at Convoy, and a pack from kiriba-ru), they arrived last friday.
So, I started working right away.
First thing I did was to finish a mod that I started and that went wrong some time ago: turn my Blitzwolf BW-ET1 into a 2x14500 flashlight with Anduril and 6V XHP50.2.
The story stared here and didn’t go well, as the LED burned (I didn’t use DTP MCPCB by that time).
Now, I ordered some *16mm DTP MCPCB*s from Simon and reflowed a 5000K H4-3A XHP50.2 (also from Simon) into one.
This was the final driver structure:
As for the LED, althouh I didn’t take photos the reflow and final soldering , I used a filed 16 x 1.5 mm old copper DTP MCPCB to help on heatsink. I put thermal paste + copper + thermal paste + MCPCB w/ the XHP50.2. I used a 5050 gasket and an+ OP reflector from the On The Road M1+ (I prefered the OP due to the tint shift that the original SMO reflector would aggravate even more).
I didn’t take beamshot, but it has - obviously - a shift in the beam 
. I will get a 3000K led to fit there 
Now I just need to get some longer button top 14500 cells to fit well, as the 2 button top I have are small (Sofirn 14500 900mAh) 
I also received a +Convoy S6 +host from Simon and a S2/S6 triple spacer from kiriba-ru!
So, I joined these with the 17mm driver with Bistro HD OTSM from Lexel and the triple aluramic MCPCB with 3 x Luxeon V 4000K 70 CRI from led4power (that I picked as prize from the OL Contest 2019 
) and a aqua blue GITD gasket from CRX, and put this together 
I only feel sorry (meaning: pissed off 
) because I thought I could do a 18350 S6 as seen here and here with an Astrolux shorty tube, but it didn’t fit in the tail of the S6
Actually, the tail of the S6 didn’t fit in any of the other Convoys I have. The head, however, and fortunately, fits in the 18350 tubes from the S2+ 
Meaning:I’m not pissed off anymore 
The clip is a regular “screw-in” pocket clip and was “flamed” to become more blue
BTW, the spring mod was inspired in this thread/post from Bocian 
BTW, this is a HOT rod!!! My go-to hot rod 
(I’ve calibrated the temperature already, otherwise I’d burn my hands 
)
Nice work MB!
Today’s mod is a work-in-progress.
I wanted to (1) test out my PIC to Attiny816 board and (2) get the recently ported Anduril for the AVR 1-series into an actual flashlight.
So I tried fitting it all together into a spare SC31B I had sitting around. I’m 90% there. I have 2 outstanding things that need addressed:
- It seems like the MCU power is routed through a 3.0 volt LDO for some reason. So I can tell when voltage is getting really low but I can’t actually get a voltage reading before that. I think I’m going to try and find the LDO and bypass it.
- The SC31B has USB charging and the status LEDs are controlled by the MCU. So I need to customize Anduril to properly react to USB charging status.
Sorry for the crappy soldering job, some of these close-quarters mods are frustrating and tedious.
To be continued…
i burned out the driver in my nitecore mh41 and since the led was damaged i ordered the cheapest xhp50 and driver combo i could find.i was posted the 5 mode driver though iirc i ordered the 3 mode. the damn thing changes mode whenever its powered on though. here’s a link if anyone has any experience with it. i’d love to disable the strobe if i could.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32975900309.html
Thanks gchart 
And…I don’t know what kind of black magic you’ll be doing there, but it sound fun
I damaged a driver from the SP32A and I may try to mess with it some time, but not in that way (as I wouldn’t know how to do it :zipper_mouth_face: )
I don’t have any experience with that flashlight or the driver you linked, but…I wouldn’t put much trust on it!
There’s are some store that seem to have nice drivers, with better user interfaces:
https://mantaraylights.aliexpress.com/store/113294/search?SearchText=driver
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/708513/search?SearchText=driver
https://convoy.aliexpress.com/store/330416/search?SearchText=driver
I would rely more on the quality of these stores :+1:
Or you can ask Lexel to make you a driver. Not as cheap as the combo one you managed to get, but certainly more reliable and with much better UIs :+1:
Looks amazing. Great work, MB! :+1:
thanks for the links, but i think i’ll wear out my driver first.
Oh man, I’m so happy! Today after two years of lurking here I did my first mod! It’s nothing really complex, just an old s2+, a copper pill from kiriba-ru and an A17-dd driver.The reason I’m so happy is that it all went well and I FINALLY have a flashlight with moon mode!!!Now I get it guys, why you go to such lengths to mod your flashlights, this was such a satisfying experience!!! Now on to mod everything I got!!!
!https://i.imgur.com/pSLHBpP.jpg !
And that’s the power of BLF and mod friendly hosts such as Convoy, and off course, your own input
Congrats on the milestone Weird_Beard. Now prepare yourself for a life of poverty buying modding goods.
Well done! This is where the addiction gets real. A tool for this, parts for this… some builds you may never get around to. :person_facepalming: Never look back.
And… complete! I did get Anduril modded with a USB charge indicator function (specific to the SC31B, I’m sure it would vary for other lights).
Interesting mod, but I don’t think I’ll be doing this one again:
- The bezel of the SC31B is glued tight. I had to use heat and channel-locks to open her up.
- The driver is glued in. Careful tapping with a wooden dowel popped it out.
- That adapter board is a bit of a PITA. An update board with some lessons-learned may help, but its not a walk in the park.
- I did find an LDO that I needed to remove/bypass so I could read voltage at the MCU.
Overall, an interesting project. But I think my other SC31B will stay un-modded for now. Too many other projects to jack around with doing this one again soon.
Thank you guys!!!I can’t even describe how much you ’ve inspired over these two past years!I ’ve read almost every review/mod/comparison you put out on this forum!
yokiami I've got a skillhunt M150 in my shopping cart because of you! MRsDNF I wish my motorcycle could get a led treatment from you!
@gchart Because of you I ordered an sp40 and an sc31b last week!!!Can’t wait to mod them!
Keep up the good work!There are lots of people inspired by your work!!!
Nice work and welcome!! Be warned though. The ‘budget’ in BLF is actually an element of foreshadowing. Meaning after you join, you’ll NEED to budget. HA
Also, it looks like that mod could use a DTP mcpcb to really extract the most out of the build.
@ JaredM I’ve been meaning to put aside a small budget, but not having swapped even an mcpcb always stopped me from buying more parts!It’s all downhill for my wallet now huh!!!
I wanted to try some luxeon v2 with an DTP mcpcb due to their lower vf values, but I’m all open to suggestions! The only tints I know are xml2 t6-4c and xpl hi 6500k.Do you have anything in mind that falls in between them?I’m always looking for a compromise between runtimes and color rendering!Also,is an sst20 right for this application?