Modding the Defiant Super Thrower - Mod is done. Not worth the effort? Edit: I don't know

Well, I just went outside and used the light on the locations I did last night, using the Alkalines. I have to say it is brighter. Let's put it this way, it illuminates the same objects better than it did before. I see more detail in the objects, so I would say it did make a difference in the light.

What does that mean? Hell I don't know. Would it throw farther? Or does it just shift the tint a bit and seem brighter? I wouldn't know, but there is a difference visually from last night.

Just out of curiosity, are you using the same battery config as before ? Due to it already being direct drive as standard, if you’re using the same config then it makes sense it wouldn’t be much different.

You’ll only notice a change if you up the voltage so the LED can utilise a higher vf to jack up the amps.

Did you do before and after tailcap measurements ?

Sorry for all the questions O-L :8

My guess is the switch mod improved the current flow and stock switch was acting as a limiter below 12 chip output.

If four sub-C’s would fit, then a regulated buck driver should work great. You would have enough voltage head room to allow the regulator to regulate.

I tried three Sub-C, there is not room for four of them. I now have the original 3 Alkalines in it. I don't intend to do anything else with it except sell it. I thought I would see if any international member wanted it for more modding. Probably not because of the shipping, but you never know and since it's a US only light right now, someone might want it. As far as upping the voltage, it would take a different driver. 4.5v is the max for 7135 drivers without lots of excess heat, (I'm told).

I can't check amp draw. I don't have a meter for that and if I did, I would screw it up. Seriously, I have been there and done that and sold the last meter.

Mine draws 2.5 amps with included Alkalines. If I use 1 18650 that pushes 4A through another light I have in DD, in this Defiant, I only get 2A. I will convert to DD and see what happens.

mod is worth
better driver so maximum brightness during useful life of battery (stock wont regulate correctly. and it reduce drive current in big amount when battery voltage drops.)
New switch also better. stock switch has poor contacts (I experienced it)

Does this mean running 2 x 18650 would fry the driver in a heartbeat or would the switch be able to provide enough resistance to let the driver and also the led survive? Who wants to go first? lol

I’m also wondering if just switching the emitter for a U2 or even U3 would give it about as much extra oomph and efficiency as anything else that could be done to it.

You may feel that your mod was not worth the effort .

But we love to see all of your mods and we all learn a lot and are inspired by your build threads .

Thanks , Old-Lumens .

If you run 2x 18650 in series it will probably fry the driver. That particular driver can only handle up to 4.5v iirc

The 3 Alkalines should be 4.5v with enough oomph to let the driver regulate. It doesn’t make sense. Weird one that :frowning:

Did I read it wrong or is it not giving out as much light as expected? If the modes on the driver aren’t working right, is it possible that it’s also limiting the amperage to the emitter?

Also, this:

I’ve got an extra East-092 driver from an HD2010 laying around. I wonder how that would handle 2 x 18650.

You’ve probably hit the nail on the head. A driver issue is the only thing that makes any sense to me.

Oh, for maybe a second or two under the kind of load this thing provides. They’ll be under 4V before you can say WTF!

O-L, that looks like the generic 105C from FT. Have you used that on any other build to know that low mode works? I have one sitting around but I haven't tested it out yet.

+1

If it is the FT then 2- mode should be center star and 3-mode is what he soldered. Satisfaction guarantee ought to cover it but fast tech cs still needs testing. Doesn’t explain the blank mode either.

The only think that I can think of with a blank mode is like what happens when I program a very fast PWM but don't increase the percentage to compensate. 5% at 9.4kHz PWM isn't the same as 5% at 2.4kHz.

I have used three of them. The other two worked right, but I have noticed that the Medium and Low modes just look “different” between drivers. Kind of like each one was set differently during programming. I think this one has the low mode set to zero. It switches into low from medium and switches back into high from low. Just no light. I think the driver is working, but someone just messed up the program.

FastTech would probably send me another one, but I don't think I want any more of them. I will buy the more expensive ones next time. Unfortunately, I have a couple dozen, so it will be a while... I will be testing each one out now and cull the bad ones. I should have done that before this mod, but I tend to be one tracked. I concentrate so much on one thing, I can't think of anything else. Multi tasking? Never in my life, LOL.