Modified TrustFire TR-J18 +4800 lumen OTF

Copying my post here from another J18 thread...

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Got the I-O driver, installed

Got the I-O driver, installed it, wow! just wow! 3 simple modes, easy to install, fits perfect, sandwhiched in the thermal pads it came with between the 2 boards, cutting into pieces to fit. Measurements of the J18:

Before with 3 TF 26650 5000 batteries, as is, not fully charged but in the 4.05v range:

tailcap reading: 3.8A down to 3.1A, fluctuates, usually dropping steady

lumens: 3330 @start, 2940 @30 secs, throw: 34 kcd

After with same batteries as is, not charged in between:

tailcap reading: 5.78A

lumens: 4930 @start, 4726 @30 secs, throw: 48 kcd

Waiting on the TF batteries to charge, takes long on an i4, but should get 5000 lumens.

Wow!

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Tried for kicks, using 3 KK 26650's and got: 6.0A tailcap reading, 5570-4930 lumens, throw: 51 kcd

Beautiful job Tom. That’s an impressive number :wink:

Hello all. Could somebody tell if the leds of this lamp are connected with wires or are they planted on a circuitboard?

In other words, is it possible to rewire them to be connected in series?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Guys,

My TR J18 has suffered the same fate. After about 4 months of use it has dimmed noticeably. I’ve only run 18650’s in it and it’s had a gentle life. Something wrong with that board huh?

I have managed to pop out the driver board but there is that wound copper wire thing on the inside stopping it from coming all the way out out. Doesn’t seem like it will come out without breaking it. Thinking they wired in the driver board first then glued in the reflector? It’s so annoying.

Any ideas?

James

Didn’t understand that wound copper wire thing, mine had nothing else keeping the driver than the power wires. The reflector is not glued, it’s attached with two screws which you can loose from the inside after moving the driver away. The leds are glued to the frame. Silly way since you can’t take out a “drop in”…

Few days ago I figured out that the frame is separateable to two pieces, if one would like to do some additional plotting…

Hey man, did you ever manage to get your driver board out? I am thinking I need a really slender screwdriver to fit past it and release the screws on the reflector… seems like the only way. The driver just doesn’t want to come out of the hole as the coil is fixed to the side of the board anf won’t fit - any help would be greatly appreciated.

I emailed the Trustfire factory and they said “Tks for choose our trustfire flashlight.

Fo tr-j18, i suggest you can repair it by yourself.

You can buy j18 circuit board or j18 led light it.”

So back to drawing board.

Hey
Getting to that point there really shouldn’t be anything holding it anymore besides the pretty tight fitting. I had to pull it so hard that the spring deformed a bit. So just go ahead since you’re gonna swap it anyways?

Yea, I have been pulling pretty hard… 0:) but there’s no way it will fit through. The spring will break off before it comes through the fitting. Thanks for the reply though man.

Hey man,

Managed to get it out after a lot of force, prying and angle. Nothing broke fortunately. Now for the next exciting step of getting a new board and PIMPing this puppy.

Does anybody know if the X-100 can be disassembled in this manner also. I’ve been contemplating on modifying my X-100 too by changing its driver. Is it even necessary or safe to do so?

Driver from lightmalls, designed for 7*T6 in series died today.
I had been using the modded TR-J18 for about 3 weeks until today.
With a dmm I find out there is a shortcut between the positive & the negative input if the driver.
Any idea or suggestion for this problemo?

Zeremefico,

Did you open it and try to find out what happened? Is there any component visually broken? Is it that new version without capacitor or older one with that?

The upgraded driver from lightmalls died, not the stock one.

Yes, i mean that Lightmalls driver. I have also, but with big capacitor. I understood that last ones have been without capacitor?

I have sent it back, waiting for a replacement.
I believe it didn’t have big capacitor, I remember a big terroid wrapped with black heat shrink material.

This driver failure happens often?
It was working with 2 & 3 26650 batteries without any problem until it stopped working. Maybe mine was defective from the start, I had some strange measurements about the voltage output.

I don’t know how new version works, hope that they will work cause i think i need to order one more of these. I have been using that older one that takes about 5.5Amps from batteries (3pcs) many months. I have not used it lot, but no problems so far.

How did that warranty work? Did you have to send old one back or did you have to pay something for replacement?

Did you measure current consumption with that driver?

I asked for a replacement, they suggested discount, I insisted on replacement, I send the defective back, didn’t ask them to pay the returning post, just to send me a new one.
I faced some strange voltage & ampere readings and I wrote a post about them in the forum, but I use a mobile now and it is not easy to find it.

Has new driver arrived, have you measured amperes with that?

I did a resistor mod to mine yesterday. My j18 has the “T” shaped driver. My driver had an extra spot to solder a r47 resistor in. I measured 1.1a to emitters with the unmodified driver. After soldering the resistor in I measured 2.48a to the emitters! Tail cap current was 5.6-5.8a with 3 TF26650 batteries. I did have to pot the driver in thermal epoxy because it was getting a bit warm. This is one of my favorite lights now. At 5 meters stock light measured 1170 lux. Resistor mod did 2180 lux.

I didn’t read all the posts on this thread so pardon me if someone already did this. I’m just excited it worked so well!

Ken

R47 - is that 0.47 ohms? Damn - though I tried resistor modding this driver and had no success, though maybe I didn't try a resistor that big.... Hhmm, gotta re-visit this....