relic38 - man, that solder blob trick is cool. Don't think I could have done all the stuff you did for converting parallel to series... wow. I see you solder wicked the springs - makes a measurable difference on the two T08's I mod'ed - seen that over the weekend.
That looks indeed like small sun! Well done. As I see more mods done with the mtg2 I am really growing into this led. If they only were not that expensive to obtain....
oh. my. god.
i must get an mtg2 build going soon
nice job relic, I love the mtg-2 as you say, it throws a really usable beam. and beamshots cant relay how much light is being thrown about.
Thanks everyone for the nice comments.
I can’t wait to see what everyone does with the 14 emitters from the Group buy. 
Very nice relic. Love the mod. The driver your using, which shop did it come from? all you guys playing with this led is making me feel funny all over. Thats not a good thing as the result is usually, what have you been spending money on now, spoken to me in a very angry voice.
I-O, link in OP
It’s an OK driver, didn’t work exactly as I wanted it to, but that’s probably for the best. One thing I do not like; mode switching involves a one second pause after the quick press before engaging. Minor annoyance, but it happens every time so it accumulates.
It’s little pricey, so I recommend looking for a buck converter for two LEDs first before pulling the trigger on that one. On the other hand, this one is proven to work, so…
the MTG2 tint remind me of light house kind of beam..
how do you think this mod Small Sun compare to Thrunite TN31?
I see a dedomed HD2010 is easily outperformed by TN31 in term of throw and brightness.
just got ZYT08 for myself today, hoping it is not under driven out of the box:)
Is there any way to tell how the driver's handling it when cell voltage falls to, say, ~7v? Automagically switches from buck to boost at some arbitrarily lower input voltage? Does it matter as long as it works?
Is there a better driver option out there for input range of 8.4-6v? Since the LEDs are about to get easier to find I have one in mind for an empty TR-1200 body I have leftover... could be tricky, that one, as the only mounting option for a pill is to be screwed/bolted into the back of a reflector, with the reflector screwed into the head.
And another one, there's this 2x 26650/21mm driver host, only $25 from CNQG. I've tested the OP reflector that fits that light with a MTG2 and it's sweeeet... :bigsmile:
This SS T08 mod with the MTG2 is more about flood than throw - the throw numbers actually drop significantly from a stock light. The TN31 is all about throw, good lumens but great throw. A mod'ed HD2010 does in the range of 95 kcd (XM-L2 U2/SinkPAD, 4.2A), then if you de-dome the XM-L2, you will get about 200 kcd. The TN31 is about 130 kcd stock, so a de-domed heavily mod'ed HD 2010 will be close to a stock TN31 in lumens and better than a stock TN31 in throw.
But of course if you mod the TN31, watch out - maybe 300+ kcd can be achieved with a resistor mod, XM-L2 U2 de-domed on a copper star. The bigger reflector of the TN31 will dominate.
i derived it from here see post #25, it certainly that a dedomed only still can't compete closely with the TN31 eventhough the throw can keep up. an over drive driver is a solution but i don't see any comfortable by holding a light with hot baked potato temperature. now I wondering how an 70-80 mm diameter will perform.
Over-driven? You mean well driven 
. I've done several HD2010's and T08's at 4.2A -- handles the over-driven amps fine, but I always add copper inside the pill directly under the pill top. These lights got a lot of heat sink'n goin on, that's why they are excellent for mod'ing. I'm always figuring for 6 mins on high typical but these lights with the mods can handle longer runtimes than that.
Actually a stock HD2010 (original East-092 driver) was direct drive and can easily go over 5 amps on a decent battery, so 4.2A regulated is cooler and safer.
I have used this driver also and yes it to has a slight pause when mode changing, about .5 of a second. With all the high current drivers I’ve used I like this the most so far as it works and not failed. It also puts out pretty much the current advertised again unlike others I’ve used. Maybe the old age is catching up with me but the pause doesnt seem to worry me. I’ve got another that hopefully will soon find its way into a light but at the moment one hand has turned into a lump of bandages. Have you found any other drivers that will handle the high voltage that this one does. Its running 4 x 26650’s no problems at all. I’ve looked and found nothing.
I use term over-driven for anything more than 3A for an XML…pardon for the noobieness 
I have Trustfire X9 modded and it draw 4.3A. not that I am not happy with it, it just I can't hold the light comfortably after 7 minutes. I wish I can hold the light with that bright level from the start till the end of battery juice (apparently cannot do :D). that's why if the Small sun ZY-T08 stock driver can draw near 2.8A, it will be just enough for long time usage at the high mode.
If that X9 doesn't have any extra heat sinking, sure I can understand it. I'll pretty much always add copper for additional heat sinking though so it helps big time with the heat. Actually on my T08 mods, I'll add a slim copper disc (22 gauge) under the SinkPAD star as well, and with the huge T08 empty pill, you can really pile on the copper - I'll use a copper disc epoxied, then pile on cut heavy copper wire and solder it all together.
Have you done a comparison between two otherwise identical lights, one with a plate of sufficient thickness blocking off the hollow pill but no other extra mass added, and one with the full coppercoppercopper treatment?
Yes, that's a leading question, as I think I already know what the outcome would be... though, if you HAVE done that comparison and found the 'mass for mass's sake' method showed an improvement, I'd (honestly, truly, not sarcastically) love to hear the details.
If your kitchen sink routinely overflows and spills all over the floor, the best long-term solution would be to:
A) Buy a bigger sink, to extend the amount of time water can run before it starts pissing on the floor
B) Improve the drain, by checking for and then fixing any sections that create too much restriction to flow
I actually think sometimes, a heatsink in a light can be counterproductive. You don't want to absorb and accumulate heat anywhere inside the light. Get rid of it. Mass above and beyond the amount required to carry the given heat load not only doesn't transfer heat faster, it can actually slow it down. In the hot-rod PC overclocking world there is such a thing as a heatsink with a base that is too thick, and a thinner base with no other changes to the design can give better performance. The added mass will smooth out the rate of temperature change, but that also increases the amount of time that heat is retained after the load is reduced.
You only need enough mass to serve as a wide enough path to move the heat load (2-lane backroad vs. 8-lane highway (sorry, this is the day of corny metaphors I guess, deal with it :p )), anything beyond that, at best, isn't needed.
(I know you're no dummy with this stuff, but sometimes even smart people do things the way they've always done it without really thinking about why often enough)
;)
I think I understand you, and we basically agree the higher end CPU heat sinks have it right - copper close in, aluminum mass with fins on the outer layer. Copper does the job of pulling it, aluminum moves it quick to the air. Now it's true what you are pointing out - if you retain the heat close in, that's a bad thing. That's why I want to be sure the copper is bonded well to the aluminum housing that surrounds it. Typcial aluminum pills are not ideal - I'd prefer a copper pill tightly fit/bonded to an aluminum outer mass, though percentages, portions, masses do matter and will make a difference. I don't believe a SinkPAD bonded to an aluminum pill is enough copper, but I have no data to back that up.
No, I'm not doing the stuff Michael at OSTS does with all the thermal measurements and tweaks. Im' envisioning the copper heat sink on the other side of the aluminum does act as a buffer, but the aluminum of the pill top and where the heat sink is bonded/touching the outer body of the pill will push heat out. Is there some back-wash going on? Sure, and probably that effect should be studied, tested, researched. I'd be very curious myself in finding out and would adapt accordingly. I'm not adding hugh amounts of copper either - it just seems it's commonly done by BLF'ers here and I'd be hesitant of changing until I get some proof/evidence otherwise. I've learned a ton of stuff off of BLF and have read through these debates before and haven't found anything compelling enough to prove otherwise.
Now on the other side of the issue is perception - from the user. The "ouch" effect of this custom light getting too hot to handle - yes, we know that's a good thing, but the impression is usually all negative.
I think at a certain drive point, a light will not be able to get rid of heat without active cooling. At that point, after enough time it will be too hot to hold.
That is where mass comes in. Extending usable run time. Its not like these lights have a 24/7 up time. My computers hs/f has to keep the heat down for extended lengths of time, but a flashlight on high? As long as the batteries die first I don’t care
coughNITECORE!cough 0:)
Relic. What is the diameter of the stock driver board?