Finished the mod. here's some steps along the way:
I took a small piece of household copper wire and flattened it to fill the void. Thinking it's better than wasting all that AS5 in the hole
I piled up the AS5 in the center, hoping it will fill the void and spread out under the star - I think it worked based on how much came out after it was screwed down - nott too much but a little sign of it coming out.
Here's the Noctigon secured down with the stock screws
Here is a view showing the size compared to some popular lights, including it's little brother:
Closer view with it's brother:
Here's a close-up with my 2 favorite cells at this time:
Sorry, I don't have pics of all of this, but here's the full details of the mod:
IS XM-L2 U2 1C on a Noctigon
sanded pill top, sanded w/2500 grit the Noctigon bottom, AS5, copper to fill the hole, stock screws to lock it down
Qlite stock 3.04A driver with 4 380's added, total of 4.56A
kept stock 22 gauge wires
copper braided both the driver spring and tailcap spring
the tailcap spring is small, looks cheap, and spring was not hard connected, so soldered the spring to the switch contact
Nyogel on the threads, may have used CRC 2-26 in contact surfaces or points
re-programmed the QLite driver to have 8 modes (based on Dr. Jones' luxdrv):
turbo(100%), high(56%), med(32%), lo(6%), moonlight(value of 5), low moonlight(value of 4), strobe, battery check/beacon
Test Results
freshly charged King Kong 4200 ICR, amps: 4.26A4.56Ameasured at the tail (Note: new 14 gauge DMM leads)
Light Output in lumens: 1,469 at start - 1,448 at 30 seconds
Beam Intensity (Throw): 76 kcd
Notes
now the lumens #'s seem high, higher than my fully mod'ed HD2010's I believe, and I re-tested the HD2010 and got same results as previous
the throw # is somewhat expected, I suppose - mod'ed out C8 I get 45-50 kcd, HD2010's 90-100 (re-measured mine at 92 kcd)
also what should be noted is how well it holds the lumens during the 30 secs. This light has excellent heat sinking with a thick pill top, thick amount of aluminum in the critical pill area, and it's one piece. So my guess is the dimple under the star didn't hurt much, whether because of the AS5/copper fill, or that there's enough surface contact between the star and pill and secured down by screws, making a very good bond.
it's not the easiest light to mod because of having to work on the emitter/star by going down from the head, but wasn't as hard as I thought it would be
Summary
I don't know but I think this light is a lumens monster with a nice throw for it's size. I hope someone else could substantiate this. The KK 4200 (or 4000) flat tops seem to fit fine, but I tried a KK ICR button top and it was too tight - couldn't screw down the tailcap, and took some playing to get the light to even work.
08/25:Edited amps measurements done with new DMM leads
Well, throw seems right there, but lumens - I checked, re-checked, checked with another light.... Now I have a lot of confidence in the PVC lightbox, built by rdrfronty and manxbuggy1, and used by several others. TurboBB seemed to be the first with this particular PVC design, and in his tests, he got good results across the spectrum of flooders and throwers, so I'm thinking these #'s are pretty good.
It is high #'s but pretty high amps as well - I have to re-check readings, but I believe they are 4.2-4.5, in that range, which is very efficient for an XM-L2 on copper. I really, really like the KK's over any other battery because not only does it deliver high amps, but it keeps the amps high much longer than a IMR or high current 18650 cell. This is the main reason why I prefer single cell 26650 lights over a 18650 single cell.
Well, funny because I always said you can't get 4.5A on a 7135 based driver, single cell, for an XM-L2 or XP-G2 on copper. Let me re-check tailcap readings -- it was difficult on this light because of the anodizing on the threads, and the outer shell is very thin, so I've been using the top edge to connect to with the DMM lead.
Ok - got a 4.26A measurement at the highest with the cell at 4.00v, so I'm thinking that's pretty up there. Sprayed CRC 2-26 on my 12 gauge DMM lead ends and that helped get a higher and more consistent amp reading (before I was getting only 3.0-3.7A), so, there's lies my amp measurement problems.....
Weights:
XintTD X3 w/KK 26650 cell: 400 grams
HD 2010 w/KK 26650 cell, copper added to inside of pill: 396 grams
You can tell just by the feel it has weight to it. It's got a thick alum tailcap too, but the smallest, cheapest looking switch around.
I usually go to 3.5 or 3.85A for C8 size lights, and 4.2A for HD2010/SS T08 sized lights, but this hunk of metal I figured could do more - I don't think I've ever seen this amount of weight in such a small sized light and the uni-body construction must help. I ran it for 6 minutes straight on high and it holds up well - well warm but nothing crazy.
At 350g stock, no cells, it's heavier than a SRK or most standard 2 cell throwers like the STL-V2, TF X9, or bigger head single cell lights like the HD2010 and Small Sun T08, and all associated lights in the same form factor.
That looks like a nice light that didn’t quite get finished at the factory. As a stock flashlight, it seems lacking. After Tom’s work, dynoMITE! :party: It throws 551m?!!
Wow Tom, cool stuff! I'm satisfied with my stock X3. If it gives me a problem in the future, I'll mod mine just like yours. (I may need to get in touch with you on some of the details)
Well you could argue the price I suppose, but figure a XinTD C8 at $30, this has a SS bezel, weighs a ton more because of all the solid aluminum, seems to have an excellent reflector, same length as the C8 but bigger head/reflector. What is a shame, for me, is it targets the triple AA carrier, but I would have preferred it as a 26650 targeted design (can only take short 26650 cells with lots of side slop). Of course the finished anodizing and threading is awesome. Also the 22 gauge wires and QLite driver is a hugh plus too.