What did you mod today?

I modified a green Sofirn C8F with three 6V XHP50.2 5000K 90CRI and the XHP70 boost driver of the Convoy M21C-U.

I had to drill the holes of the reflector to 8mm diameter and cover the back with Kapton Tape. The retaining ring was filed on the inside to not touch the outer parts on the driver.

The driver needed some filing as well to fit. I covered the outer parts with white thermal glue to prevent shorts.

At the moment I can use only 18650 batteries because the brass button crushes the top of 21700 cells. I will replace it with a shorter button or a spring. The leds are slightly off center. I may add centering rings as they risk accidental dedoming if I turn the bezel.

The M21C-U driver allows soldering switch leds as well. With the green leds it looks almost like the original C8F. The beam is a nice neutral white and even a bit rosy. The tint shift is not too disturbing. I really like the flashlight this way. The low mode is a bit bright and the ramping is irregular but I got enough Anduril flashlights for that.

Nothing like a Successful mod ‘Skylight’ :+1: Well planned and executed. :wink:

Today I swapped some 219b sw40 into an older D4v2 that had some pretty green SST20’s in it prior. It was sitting around for quite a while because I really didn’t want to mess with those tiny little aux wires. Well, I’m not embarrassed to admit that this task was definitely beyond my comfortable soldering skill level.

I made a decent mess of the wires but miraculously everything seems to be working (for now). We’ll see how long it lasts before the damaged wire insulators give up the ghost and the whole thing shorts and explodes.

Oh and I flashed the 219 version of Anduril 2 while I was at it.

Only pushing 5.6v versus the expected 14.4v off bench power. Same issue off 8xM35A 4S2P. Cells test good. Wires test good. Only leaves the PCB as the issue…

Skilhunt M150 V2 with Nichia 219B sw45k D220 R9080

Skilhunt M150 V2 with Nichia 219B sw45k D220 R9080

Pre-swap:

View post on imgur.com

Skilhunt M150 V2 LH351D (level 2), ReyLight Pineapple Mini 219B D220 (2%), Wurkkos WK01 219B D200 (low)

Any know how transform led switch on a Classic On/off without any parasitic current?

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You can remove (de-solder) the resistors, the LEDs, or both (on each side). You’ll be left with a “normal” (non-illuminated) switch with no parasitic drain.

Thanks
I will try to desolder only the Leds on each side
What Happen if remains a solder bridge on Leds contacts?
Flashlight (S2+ AMC 7135 driver)

Nothing because I do not know what I am doing :person_facepalming: HELP

thx

Bad parasitic drain. You’ll have power flowing through the resistors that are left. You’re just looking to destroy that current path.

Why do it the hard way? Rather than desoldering anything, why not just take a razor or Xacto blade and cut the bridge between LED and resistor?

Also very possible. I’m a bit more deft with a soldering iron. I’m liable to draw blood with a razor blade!

Nah. If it’s just the trace, it’s an easy cut. If there’s a huge blob of solder bridging the components right over it, it takes a bit more effort but still pretty easy. Way easier than risking cooking a switch by hitting it with a soldering iron.

With my Tool i did remove the LEDs next to the switch by applying some brute force with a small screwdriver :innocent:

Tryed swapping emitter on Zebralight SC5w II but one of inductors peeled off. Thx to Loneocean i found exact one and this night surgery was succesfull.

New emitter is dedommed 351D 5000K and beam improved drastically (stock was XPL2)


Good save on the ZL! That’s got to be one of the most haphazard driver layouts I’ve ever seen.

Thx gchart!

Although ZL driver layout is a modder nightmare it’s still a joy working on it.

Hello, I finally made the first modification to my BLF Q8.

Simple thing, I just went around the springs. I thought it was going to improve 10 or 15% but I didn’t notice any difference.

Is it the batteries? I use 3000 mah Sofirn batteries but I don’t know what the discharge is. I’m hoping to get Samsung 20A Q30 batteries. I imagine the result will be visible.

Could someone tell me the next simple change I could make?

Been modding some magnetic ring lights in recent weeks. None of these are pocket rockets compared to modern lights but they are fun to mod:

  • Sunwayman V11R camo - currently modded into a triple using Carclo 10507 optic and 3x LH351D Dog Farts (2x 4000K and 1x 5000K). Soooo floody and not very bright. Thinking of dedoming one or more of the emitters for a bit more punch. Or maybe going back to a single emitter. The ring was loose so I fixed it by adding a thin plastic spacer and relubing the ring with high vacuum grease. Also replaced the stock switch with metal titanium one. Switch electronics replaced with Steve Ku electronic switch module. Also added extra spring and tuned the switch so it won’t switch on accidentally.
  • Jetbeam TCR-01 - now sporting 5000K neutral white LH351D Dog Farts. Also added Lee Zircon minus-green 805 filter. Beam looks decent. Nice tint, but still cooler than what I’m used to.
  • Nitecore SRT-3 Defender - picked one of these up on sale. Fantastic build quality, but as an 8-year old relatively low-powered light it lacks some modern features. For example, the star is relatively thin and small and is aluminum. Stock cool-white XML2 emitter was too dim and too cool for me. I replaced it with a 5000K neutral white SST-40 reflowed onto the stock star. This one was tricky to reflow since the red-blue aux LED was mounted on a separate donut shaped board that sat on top of the main star. There are 4 or 5 tiny wires connecting the underside of the aux board to the driver and those wires did not seem long enough to remove the aux board. There was no way I wanted to try desoldering those tiny wires. I ended up tilting up the aux board then reaching through the center of the donut with my iron to desolder the main LED wires.

Build quality of the SRT-3 feels excellent. It feels great in the hand and works well with a cigar grip. Feels higher quality than the Sunwayman or aluminum Jetbeam. Downside is its huge. Even though it uses a 16340 it is actually bigger than a number of 18650 lights I own.

  • Sunwayman V11R black. Picked this up from Amazon last year on clearance. Replaced the stock rubber switch boot with the stock steel switch button that came with the light. Also swapped out the cool white XML2 for a neutral white SST-40.

From what I can recall, replacing the screws with brass (or maybe brass-coated? I can't recall for sure) screws shows some improvement. I'm referring to the screws that attach the tail-spring board.