What did you mod today?

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
9048

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 didnā€™t go well, as the LED burned (I didnā€™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 didnā€™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 didnā€™t take beamshot, but it has - obviously - a shift in the beam :weary: . I will get a 3000K led to fit there :sunglasses:
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) :beer:

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 :person_with_crown: ) and a aqua blue GITD gasket from CRX, and put this together :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes:

I only feel sorry (meaning: pissed off :person_facepalming: ) because I thought I could do a 18350 S6 as seen here and here with an Astrolux shorty tube, but it didnā€™t fit in the tail of the S6 :weary:
Actually, the tail of the S6 didnā€™t fit in any of the other Convoys I have. The head, however, and fortunately, fits in the 18350 tubes from the S2+ :partying_face: Meaning:Iā€™m not pissed off anymore :innocent:

The clip is a regular ā€œscrew-inā€ pocket clip and was ā€œflamedā€ to become more blue :sunglasses:

BTW, the spring mod was inspired in this thread/post from Bocian :+1:

BTW, this is a HOT rod!!! My go-to hot rod :smiling_imp: :sunglasses:
(Iā€™ve calibrated the temperature already, otherwise Iā€™d burn my hands :stuck_out_tongue: )

9049

Nice work MB!

9050

Todayā€™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. Iā€™m 90% there. I have 2 outstanding things that need addressed:

  1. 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 canā€™t actually get a voltage reading before that. I think Iā€™m going to try and find the LDO and bypass it.
  2. 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 continuedā€¦

9051

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. hereā€™s a link if anyone has any experience with it. iā€™d love to disable the strobe if i could.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32975900309.html

9052

Thanks gchart :wink: Andā€¦I donā€™t know what kind of black magic youā€™ll be doing there, but it sound fun :wink:
I damaged a driver from the SP32A and I may try to mess with it some time, but not in that way (as I wouldnā€™t know how to do it :zipper_mouth_face: )

I donā€™t have any experience with that flashlight or the driver you linked, butā€¦I wouldnā€™t put much trust on it!
Thereā€™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:

9053

Looks amazing. Great work, MB! :+1:

9054

thanks for the links, but i think iā€™ll wear out my driver first.

9055

Oh man, Iā€™m so happy! Today after two years of lurking here I did my first mod! Itā€™s nothing really complex, just an old s2+, a copper pill from kiriba-ru and an A17-dd driver.The reason Iā€™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 !

9056

And thatā€™s the power of BLF and mod friendly hosts such as Convoy, and off course, your own input

9057

Congrats on the milestone Weird_Beard. Now prepare yourself for a life of poverty buying modding goods. :stuck_out_tongue:

9058

Well done! This is where the addiction gets real. A tool for this, parts for thisā€¦ some builds you may never get around to. :person_facepalming: Never look back.

9059

Andā€¦ complete! I did get Anduril modded with a USB charge indicator function (specific to the SC31B, Iā€™m sure it would vary for other lights).

Interesting mod, but I donā€™t think Iā€™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.

9060

Thank you guys!!!I canā€™t even describe how much you ā€™ve inspired over these two past years!I ā€™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! :wink:
@gchart Because of you I ordered an sp40 and an sc31b last week!!!Canā€™t wait to mod them!

Keep up the good work!There are lots of people inspired by your work!!!

9061

Nice work and welcome!! Be warned though. The ā€˜budgetā€™ in BLF is actually an element of foreshadowing. Meaning after you join, youā€™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.

9062

@ JaredM Iā€™ve been meaning to put aside a small budget, but not having swapped even an mcpcb always stopped me from buying more parts!Itā€™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 Iā€™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?Iā€™m always looking for a compromise between runtimes and color rendering!Also,is an sst20 right for this application?

9063

Best recommendation for you is a Samsung LH351d in 5000k. Very good output, 90CRI, and a beam pattern close to the xm-l2. If you want more throw, yet high CRI sst20 4000k from intl-outdoor is my recommendation. Depending on what cells you run, you may or may not over power them with that FET driver. The luxeon V2 is a lovely led I hear, but no first hand experienceā€¦ also, the FET driver might overpower one of those. Probably fine as a triple though.

9064

Well, i wasnā€™t to enthusiastic about the M150, my particular version did not reach half of the claimed Lumen output, and the XPL2 was horrible
One light that i am very fond of is the Lumintop Tool Ti, but that needed work as well, once you go down the modding routeā€¦

Edit, yes that would be my bet as well, the Lh351 is cheap and has a good output, i might just say that itā€™s the successor of the XML2

9065

@JaredM I really want to try the LH351d,from what I ve seen itā€™s right up my alley.I have a triple spacer too from kiriba-ru,should I try a triple with that driver?Sounds fun!

@Yokiami Iā€™m waiting for the blf sp10s or I would already have ordered the Lumintop Tool.I want to order some 14500ā€™s but the M150 had the benefit of intergrated charging

9066

You can give a triple a try, heck, try them all!

A triple 351 will be super floody. For a better general use beam and much better runtimes with the FET driver Iā€™d stick with a single emmiter. YMMV.

9067

@JaredM I love super floody beams on an EDC but I can see how a little bit of throw is also useful.I already have a OP reflector so I should put something throwy to find a middle ground!Any reccomendations for an LED that can take the high current but is not TOO throwy?

(Also someone help me,I canā€™t find the configuration mode for the life of me,is it 15 full clicks from of?That doesnā€™t do anything and Iā€™ve read the cheat sheet a thousand times)