I have an Olight S1 that I loved to EDC because it was versatile.
Now that it’s not so new, with a few scratches and when I have other lights, I decided to do an emitter swap to get rid of the blue tint.
I read about the teardown procedure. I have the necessary tools.
The original LED is a Cree XM-L2 CW and I would like to swap it with a Nichia 219B SW4500 because I never tried it I would like to see what the fuss is about.
From what I know the LEDs are the same size so the footprint should be the same, right?
The S1 pulls around 1.5A on high so too much current shouldn’t be a problem.
I’m expecting some loss but I hope the 219B won’t be too dimm compared to the XM-L2. Would a 219C or 519A be a better option?
The second issue is the plastic lens. Will it fit the dome of the new LED?
Can I swap it with something else? A TIR optic or something?
Damn. So now I need to take it apart and measure the PCB or find it online and maybe there’s a similar sized PCB with the LED already soldered on or is it more complicated?
I buy spare 12mm mcpcb, onto which I install 219b and 519a myself. It lets me choose LEDs I like best
here is another light that I removed an XM-L2 and installed a Nichia 519a, there are photos of all the different softgoods and hardware I used to do the mod:
yes, you can mod an olight, the hard part is getting the bezel off, and back on, you can use the stock Tir, and if the beam is less than acceptable, you can upgrade to a 17mm pebbled Tir for XM size LEDs Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com it works with Nichia also, as there is no 17mm option for nichia size
this thread shows both optics on my S Mini
good luck w your mod… will be happy to help answer questions
FWIW, the OL S1 Mini LED PCB is both different in diameter and thinner than standard off the shelf PCBs. I wound up reducing in size and thickness a 16mm for a Hi-CRI LH351D (3535 footprint) LED. The regular sized S1 might be different.
The reason for starting with a 16mm (larger) PCB was to ensure adequate clearance between optic and the mounting pads.
Original 16mmx1.5mm MCPCB (left), resized/thinned MCPCB used in mod (middle), Original S1 5050 PCB (right)
To me, replacing the XM-L2 with a 219B would be worth the effort. Especially if you don’t currently have any, including the legendary sw45k! Worse comes to worse, you can still put the old LED/MCPCB back in.
I have some flashlights with XM-L2 LEDs, but I don’t use them much due to the lower CRI and greenish tint. But they do have a lot of lumens and are perfectly fine outside.
Thanks. I’ll have to study everything when I have a bit more time. I’m trying to source everything from AliExpress if possible because of the new customs laws. It’s much more convenient through AliExpress.
Thank you. Does grinding down the PCB decrease the thermal conductivity? The Nichia should get hotter since it’s high CRI, right?
There will be a reduction of about ~30% of the MCPCB mass from resizing which will reduce it’s heatsink capacity but that doesn’t change the thermal conductivity between MCPCB and the light body/shelf. Just be sure both matting surfaces are flat and smooth, and aid the transfer with a little thermal compound and good fit (ever so slight downward press) between optic and MCPCB.
The hi-CRI emitter will be slightly hotter due to lower efficiency compared to the original XM-L, but this light isn’t operatimg at extreme currents and should be fine.
I put a Nichia 219B in an S-mini Ti and a LH351D in an S-mini Al and neither have heat issues.
I’ll see if can find it. I prefer AliExpress because they have the IOSS tax system implement which makes it cheaper and easier to buy. They also have cheaper shipping which is important with things like these where the shipping could be more expensive than the product itself.
Glow in the dark powder or silicone ring?
Can’t be that hard
I found 140°C soldering paste. Hopefully that isn’t too low lol.
I have other things going on and I still didn’t order everything I need.