Some DIY lights by HID45

As I have said in couple of threads, BLF has helped me to put together some impressive shiny things. It's nothing comparable to Match's and other serious modders' works but I'm pretty impressed considering how little experience I have on these things. I thought I share my favourites with you. So today we're gonna take a look at 4 lights. Three P60 hosts and a modded S-mini.

Group photo

Okay, let's take a closer look. First what I like to call the "HID45 SHTF light". Here it is

Disclaimer: I do not believe that S is ever going to HTF in a way that would require building a dedicated light. Here where I live the infrastructure is good, power outages are practically non-existing, political and social situation is stable. There are no hurricanes, earthquakes, major floods etc. I just like building lights to certain specs.

So, It's a Solarforce L2i. In my world, the AA batteries would get bought or looted first if S would HTF. So using AAA batteries, which are also widely available but maybe not as shought after than AA:s is a natural choise. And all the remotes and most clocks in my house uses AAA, so salvaging batteries from there would also work. Plus I can use 18650 lithiums to play with it when S is not H:ting the F. Currently I'm running it with Nimh recargables. It has mild "combat" bezel, because in SHTF situation it might be needed to break some windows etc. I would however not be using it to self defence, as I would always have something that shoots lead at hand should S hit the F.

It tailstads. Can be used as candle via ceiling bounce.

Emitter is XP-G R5. It has three glow in the dark o-rings on the outside and one on the inside, between reflector and lens. I'm just a sucker for some GITD silliness. They are pretty useless as the glow effect does not last very long, but aren't they just cool? Yes they are.

Here's the thing disassembled. Also the tailboot has been GITD'ified.

The thing that really makes the difference are the modes. Too bad I don't have a decent camera to get acceptable beamshots. The driver is Nanjg 101-AK with 3x7135, pulling one amp at high. I have flashed the driver with Tidos BLF-VLD code edited to my own specs. It has 4 modes. Crazy low-low-high-SOS. The lowest is enough to read in the dark or to navigate in dark indoors. And runtime must be pretty good, as my DMM doesn't even recognize any current being drawn (and it goes to ,00 amps). Low pulls 0,01 amps and is quite enough for most tasks. High takes 0,40 from half drained 3xAAA Nimhs. 1,0 from fresh 18650. The best thing is that the light is programmable by clicking the switch. So if I don't need the SOS, I can program it to have 4 constant modes with couple of clicks. There's no memory so it always starts with crazy low. I know many prefer lights starting at max, but I don't want to be blinded by hundreds of lumens when clicking the light on in the dark so I prefer it that way.

This is how the crazy low mode looks like, picture is taken in the dark directly at emitter, 1/7 sec exposure.

This light is fantastic. I can't praise it enough.

Okay, moving on. Next one is the silver arrow. My household light for misc lighting needs.

It's just a basic L2 with smooth bezel and some light blue GITD crazyness and lanyard triangle. There's some more GITD stuff inside the lens.

Here's the main parts. It has neurtal white R4 XP-G driven at 1,4 amps using 4x7135 in AK-101. It is also flashed with Tidos code. It has 3 modes with memory. I might upgrade it to 4 modes w/ no memory sometime.

I really like the looks of this light. All that shining and light blue GITD rings... It's the prettiest of all the lights that I have. That is the reason it's a household light. I wouln't dare to take it outside where it might be scratched or something. Nope, I have other lights for that, this one is staying in.

For example this is one of those outdoor lights.

Ultrafire WF-501b. It has the HID45 signature GITD silliness. Three rings in the outside plus tailboot. I like this host a lot. It's so fresh compared with all those black and silver stuff. It's not very well made. Threads are shallow and gritty. It's lightweight and bound to have heat transfer issues. Not one for high power XML. Bezel is solid and can not be changed. And the overall finishing is not up to Solarforce standards. But is has some pros too. One being that the battery compartment is "closed". The battery is not in contact with the positive spring directly, but via transfer plate. This way, battery can't go through the tube if dropin is missing. I have broken one lens by dropping a battery to a host that did not have dropin installed, so I appreciate this feature very much.

Internals are the same than in Silver arrow. R4 neutral driven 1,4 amps by flashed 101-AK. There's crazy low-low-hi with memory. Me liking this light must be similar than what Foy said in his L2r review, but opposite. He said that L2r is good light and there's nothing wrong with it but still he did not like it. There are many problems and few pros in WF-501b, but still I like it for some reason. Must be the camo finish. I doubt I would like it as much if it was just plain black. Anyway, this is going to be my main camping light.

Then the last one for today. Shinginbeam S-mini modded with XML T6 and 2,8 amp driver (Nanjg 105C). Driver flashed to 3 mode with memory. I's not an S-mini anymore, it's X-mini, according to XML that is giving a whole lot of shining to it. Here's the internals.

On the outside it looks like standard S-mini, no modding there. It is designed to run XP-G at 1 amp, so 2,8 amp XML makes it hot. Quickly. It's not so much a "use" light but a "wow" light. And wow it does well. About as bright as UF 3 mode XML but half the size and much wider spill. I just love this light.

Out of all my lights, the ones shown here and all the other ones my favorites must be the X-mini for it's power to size ratio and the SHTF light for it's versatility. All are fine lights that I would not have been able to put togheter without a help from you guys. Big thanks to BLF!

Couple of shots more. This shows how low the crazy mode is in flashed 101-AK:s. Left is 4Sevens Quark turbo, Ansi rated for 0,2 lumens. Middle is Silver arrow with 18650 and right is SHTF light with 3xAAA Nimhs. That really is low.

This is how they look in the dark with all that GITD silliness. They have been illuminated by XML just before taking the pic.

And finally the GITD reflector rings.

Hmmmm... Something wrong with Photobucket as all the pics are not showing... Will look into that.

Monthly bandwidth quota? You only get 10 gigs on a free account.

Don't think so. I can't log in. Gives 404 when logging. And my pictures are not that popular anyway.

Now it seems to be working.

Nice work. It's always interesting to see what other people are working on. I don't usually like glow-in-the-dark (though I don't mind a GITD o-ring up at the lens because at least then it is getting some light), but I think it really works on the camo one because you can't see that it is there as easily.

Good to see comparison shots of the super low vs. Quark's moonlight.

Also it is always smart to have a SHTF light because even though the world didn't end yesterday, and you're not subject to earthquakes, floods, or political instability, zombies can come out any time.

Excellent work you crazy gun-toting Swede! Like Ted said, I really enjoy seeing other peoples mods.

I love what you've done with that S-Mini.

Uh , hey dude , I have a suggestion . If you take a green camoflage light camping in the woods , the camoflage might work so well you just may lose your light . So , I think you should at least put a toxic green or other brightly colored lanyard on it .

I have lost a couple of camoflaged items that way .

Oh , and thanks for sharing your lights .

Finn. I'm Finnish. Sometimes finnished. I'll have to add it to my location box. But thanks. Next up would be something with multiple emitters. May start with something easy like 3xXPG on P60.

And Jack, yes I've thought about that scenario. But it does have the GITD stuff, so all I have to do is wait for the dark, right?

Wow, those are some really cool lights. I just learned something on the 501B, all along I have been knocking the transfer plates out of my lights but now I see that it can actually serve a purpose. Oh yeah and if the S does hit the F hopefully a huge magnetic pulse doesn't fry the chips in our drop ins, or we will all be looking around for those old incandescence to save the day.

On the S-Mini how did you enlarge the hole on the reflector so the XM-L dome has enough clearance?

Two words. "Power" and "drill".

And good notice on that EMP pulse. I think I'll have to rethink about wether to mod that old Maglite 2D I just bought...

I love the one called the 'HID45 SHTF'.

".......if S would HTF."

[quote=HID45]

[quote=Match] Excellent work you crazy gun-toting Swede! Like Ted said, I really enjoy seeing other peoples mods.

I love what you've done with that S-Mini. [/quote]

Finn. I'm Finnish. Sometimes finnished. I'll have to add it to my location box. But thanks.

[/quote]

Ack! Sorry 'bout that. It was actually meant to be an obscure reference to the movie "Hamburger Hill"... Not one of Clint's better movies I suppose...

The o-rings you're using around the head, what size are they and where did you get them?

I to, am a sucker for all things glowy :)

They are from a set of glowy goodness from SB. I used the biggest ones for inside the lens and whatever size I was left with for the outside.

I broke out th 4 lb. bag of rubber bands to see what color contrasts I could add to my lights and to give some an extra bit of grip ..I wonder why someone doesn't do a extra large grab bag of colored o-rings just for fun .

great looking mods .. nice driver action .

my camo came with flaking paint .So either treat it extra nice or do what i'm now doing .."showing it absolutely no respect .."