What did you mod today?

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. :stuck_out_tongue:

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! :wink:
@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?

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 experience… also, the FET driver might overpower one of those. Probably fine as a triple though.

Well, i wasn’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 route…

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

@JaredM I really want to try the LH351d,from what I ve seen it’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 I’m waiting for the blf sp10s or I would already have ordered the Lumintop Tool.I want to order some 14500’s but the M150 had the benefit of intergrated charging

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 I’d stick with a single emmiter. YMMV.

@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 can’t find the configuration mode for the life of me,is it 15 full clicks from of?That doesn’t do anything and I’ve read the cheat sheet a thousand times)

It has been discussed already, but the LH351D: good output and current capabilities, a bit floody, and high CRI. As long as I don’t need a thrower, it’s one of my favorite LEDs.

Side note: it can have a slight green tint depending on reel to reel variation. I’ve never noticed it, but I’m colorblind and therefore not sensitive to it.

Thank you again gchart!!!

Another basic and slightly silly mod for me today.

I have been looking for hosts for rngwn’s high-CRI 5mm LEDs and recently I came across the first LED flashlight that I owned. It’s a fairly typical ‘shower head’ style light with 14 5mm LEDs powered by three AAA cells. It was given to my by my father but I can’t remember when - could it be 15 years old?

I replaced the original cold white 5mm LEDs with rngwn’s 3400K version, replaced the plastic lens with a glass on, and replaced the ‘driver’ spring which had fallen off.

Stupidly I didn’t take any photos of the light before the mod or even power on, but I’m sure it’s brighter now and it produces a beautiful warm flood of light. The comparison photo shows a similar (but much lower quality) generic shower head light. To be honest, this light is probably perfectly adequate for the majority of my flashlight use.

If anyone can recommend some decent quality (e.g. retaining rings rather than press fit) shower head lights for more emitter swaps I’d be interested to hear. There are a lot of UV flashlights on Aliexpress with 5mm LEDs, but you can’t tell much about the build quality from the photos.

Because I cant leave anything alone, had my Emisar D4V2 a whole day,
then decided to fire up my mini lathe that I have not used in 15 years.
Loving the light, its my new EDC, for now :wink:

Very Nice. Really sets off the blueish grey.

+1 noice

Two and a half years ago I bought the L2 host. Finally I put something in it. Sst40 with a cut and polished lens and TA fet+1 driver with bistroHD.