Has anyone torn down an Olight S20?

When I got my S20 I finally lost the tint lottery in a big way. It’s a great little light and I really like the size and UI, but it’s the most disgusting green tint I’ve ever come across. I haven’t seen that color since the time I tangled with a jug of cheap wine back in the ’60s.

I was wondering if anyone has tried changing emitters, or if there’s some way to improve it. It appears to come apart from the front, but I suspect there’s a special wrench of come kind to fit the notches in the bezel. Has anyone had a go at one?

I’m working on it. It’s pretty damn tight. Hope it’s not glued down.

I recently got an old Fenix L2P and a Convoy S3 apart by putting the head in a ziplock bag and dangling them in a pot of boiling water for about a minute. Seemed to re-liquify whatever glue they used long enough to unscrew them. Oven mitt on one hand and a 4” square sheet of exercise elastic in the other. Grippy as hell, that stuff.

That's discouraging news since I have a S10 on the way.

Why not try e-mailing the seller or olight?

I tried using that grippy rubber shelf liner material. Then I tried a retaining ring pliars on the inside notches…nope. Next I tried twisting with pliars using liner over the bezel…just hacked it up a bit, there’s just not enough Bezel to grab.
Okay you son of a b…h, here comes brute strength. I used the shelf liner for traction, and twisted until my fingers hurt, and it came off. Once I got it loosened by a hair it unscrewed easily.
I too have been wondering how a different LED would look in this light. It could also be the driver that causes the green because of over regulating it. I have been carrying this light extensively for months now, and find it to be one of the slimmest, most compact 18650 EDCs out there. I was at a mall checking my rad fluid when the cap dropped into an inextricable crevasse. Crap! I held my S20 by the bezel…lowered it down…snap…the magnet clapped onto the cap…saved.
What kind of LED are you thinking of trying?

I would be interested in pictures of the inside

I hadn’t really settled on anything specific, but I much prefer something in the 3C/ 4C color range.

I haven’t pulled out the lens or reflector yet. I’m still resting my fingers. It looks like the standard, orings, lens and very small reflector. The LED will have to be mounted on a very small diameter round.

I’ve been on a 4C binge lately. I don’t know of any place to get a bare 4C LED, so one would have to be reflowed off a 16 or 20mm base onto a smaller one.

Mouser have XM-L2 T5, 4500k in stock. Bare led.
Check my signature.
Currently the XM-L2 datasheet is sorted after bare emitters and kelvin. :wink:

Breakdown pics coming momentarily.

If the bezel is glued get some anti adhesive gunk and apply it carefully. I’ve removed quite a few glued bezels and drivers lately with anti adhesive, and it’s really easy and doesn’t require any force, stress or abuse.

Also what’s the tint like in high mode? If I remember correctly from selfbuilts review it uses a non pwm driver which can cause colour change in an xml in lower modes, but in higher modes it should be at it’s normal colour. The fenix TK75 works like this, in moon mode it’s green.

The things I do for science. I hacked my bezel and o-ring a bit, but, for my Bros at BLF, no problem.

Here is what comes out of the head. The whole set-up is like a little P60.

There is a small groove cut out inside the battery tube to accommodate the little tab on the side.

I'm not even going to mess with the driver. It is tiny, and very propriatory looking, with a unique mounting set-up.

If anyone mods theirs...I want to see. Just curious about who's putting which LED into it. I wonder how an XP-G2 would work with the S20s XM-L reflector.

That doesn’t look like something I’d dare mess with. I guess I’ll just have to learn to live with it, at least until one of our more experienced modders breaks trail…

Actually, swapping out the emitter is just as straight forward as any light. I wouldn’t touch the driver though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otCpCn0l4Wo&t=0m18s :stuck_out_tongue:

Good one Bort. I liked that.

Wow! You must hate the tint even more than I do!

I swapped the emitter in my S10. I don’t have an S20, but it looks to be of very similar construction. to access the emitter:

(1) use one of those rubber jar opener pads from the grocery store. Put the pad on the palm of your left hand. Hold the light in your right hand while pressing the bezel very firmly against the pad in your left hand. Twist. The bezel should come right off.

(2) With the bezel removed, insert a battery into the battery compartment. Push on the back of the battery. This should push, the lens, reflector and pill right out. The reflector is screwed into the pill.

(3) Use tweezers to remove the plastic isolator / centering device from around the emitter.

(4) The star should now be easily accessible. Replace the emitter with one of your choice.

In my S10, I tried replacing the very greenish XML with a different cool white 6000k XML (looked very green, even though the exact same emitter in a different light at 2.8 amps produced a beautiful pure white beam), neutral white 5000k XML (still didn’t look good due to low current. Everything looked yellowish), a 3000k XML (everything looked orange), a 5000 XPG2 (still yellowish, but more throw), and a Nichia 219 (finally perfect tint… but not very bright).

I think one problem is the Olight just pulls fewer amps than what I’m used to. The later Cree leds tend not to look very nice at low current.