TR-J18 upgrade options?

OK, sry, I must be mixed up with another light then. Maybe the J12? Anyway, if they are already series, then the KD drivers are the best bet.

wow, thanks… yes the second “reprogrammed” KD driver looks good. Modes are perfect. One questions is that will this driver work with 3 cells? I reason I was looking at the IO driver was that it states it will operate on both two and three cells.

I’m currently using 18650 TF flames and I am not sure if they have enough “guts” to fully drive the light with only 2 cells. Furthermore, I’m worried the increased amperage from running 2 cells on a modded light will just smoke the parts inside (tail cap switch + springs, etc).

Yes, that driver will work with three cells. If you plan to run 2 cells, you will need to get better cells, possibly unprotected cells or 26650’s. The KD drivers could pull up to 5-6A from the batteries. The switch can be a problem at those high currents. I’d recommend 3 cell operation, monitor the cells, and even though it’s a thermally protected driver you should limit the run time on high.

A final note on the LED configuration (series vs. parallel). I looked around, and there definitaly isn’t a consensus on how the J18 LEDs are wired. The best way to know is to check it yourself. If your flashlight still lights up at all, put a volt-meter across the LED wires coming from the driver; if you measure 2.5-3.5V it’s parallel, 17-20V and it’s series.
Better to be safe than blow up another driver.

Yes the light still works, it is just very dim. I tried by-passing the tail-cap and there is no difference.

In this case, how would you go about measuring the volts to the led’s? The wires/contacts are in the head and if I pull the driver out to gain access to the wires I can’t turn on the light (battery tube is disconnected). Sorry if this sounds like a really dumb question.

Jon.

I’m not 100% but the reflector is screwed in from the back, pop the driver, if there is a screw in there, its probably holding the reflector down. If not, unscrew the bezel on the front, remove the lense, the reflector should just come out then and you can see the led stars.

Good point. I have a bench power supply that I use for this. For some reason I assumed everyone has one. oops

I am wondering about the same things for my j-18. please let us know how this goes for you. and if it is the right driver. thanks I think my j-18 could be brighter , It is only about as bright as my SR King now. I tried three 26650 s but they were a little too long so I’m running it with two 26650s and one 3400, 18650.

Mi Bill, I’m sure somebody more knowledgeable will chime in soon but my understanding is your should ALWAYS run matched cells when having batteries in series. Unmatched could cause really big problems (read explosion).

As for the drop in power, mine was fairly noticeable. I means when I first got the light it was bright, bright enough for it to be unusable in a room. It also had the power to basically completely wash out a single t6 light.

Now, the flashlight is easily overpowered by a single T6 light

The light on the right is a UltraFire KF-T60. This is a heavily used and fairly old T6 light I have. Both lights are on high for the picture. The result is also the same if I run 2 or 3 cells.

yes Jonney_ Boy I think we could benefit from some electronic parts.

I measured a UV S5 (SRK) at 2159-2077 lumens, and a TR-J18 at 3808-3155 lumens (1st reading is at start, 2nd reading is at 30 secs). Definitely noticeable the J18 is brighter.

that is what I read so I sent for one but they seem about the same brightness.

Ouch! Something wrong there, definitely. I'm running TrustFire 5000 26650's, but tried 18650's but only tested the output with 26650's, but it looked about the same.

That is good to know. I may be able to improve the tr-J18. I tried some king kongs but they were a little long. now I’m using 2 trustfire 26650 and one Panasonic 3400 protected 18650.

Interesting combo... I ordered 4 of the TF 26650's from FastTech when I ordered the J18 from them. Did you try the 2 26650's by themsevles? Wouldn't recommend you run them at any length of time (melts springs), but just to see how they work.

yes I also ordered TF 26650’s from fast tech, I ran the J-18 with two of them and it was dimer with just two. let me know if 3 of the TF 26650’s fit. I also wound some solder braid around the tail spring.

3 26650's definitely fit - I'm using the light that way. I got some wall beam shots - need to post them FF STL-V2 vs. SRK vs. TR-J18.

Slight update,

Parts are ordered and on it’s way. I ended up picking up the KD modified driver along with a bunch of AA/AAA springs. We will see how it goes in a couple of weeks time when I try and swap this driver in.

One question I do have tho is, is there a “need” to attach the driver to the flashlight?

What I mean is, when I took the original driver out to look at it, it was just sitting in the flashlight, held down by a spring (which is in turn held down by a retaining ring).

Looking at the guide for the driver upgrade on the smaller Tr-J12, I see that they where destroying the original driver to get it out, followed by soldering the new one into place… Do I need to do the same on the Tr-J18 or does the new driver just ’drop in”?

This is a pic of my J18 driver: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/10808#comment-289413

Can't recall exactly, but didn't have to do anything nasty to get it out or get it back in. Think I describe later in that thread how to remove it.
To install the new driver, you will need to de-solder the + and - LED wires, then solder them to the new driver at the places indicated for the + and -.

I ordered the I-O driver, looks the same, specs are the same, little cheaper, great support from Hank at I-O, rated for 3 batts, includes thermal pad.

Thanks Tom,

Yes I can get to the driver the same as in your pic, unscrew the battery tube, take out the retaining plate and the driver just “falls” out… I guess there is no need to solder in the new driver (onto the head) as shown in the thread where they modified the J12’s… yay :slight_smile:

Now, my next noob question. What is the thermal pad for? From what I see the driver just “sits” in the flashlight. There is not any “flat surfaces” for you to “glue down” the driver.

Actually I emailed Hank about the thermal pad - it goes in between the 2 boards. Haven't gotten the driver yet and haven't worked with a double board driver before, so not sure exactly how to fit it until I get it and see. I know the 2nd board just dangling by itself hanging by wires is probably not good - you want a path for the heat to go along, escape to. I think guys have been potting the driver in these cases, not sure (potting is taking thermal grease or epoxy and smothering the driver, and maybe filling the inside of the pill).