Hi Tom, do you care to take some nice outdoor beamshots for the ultimate shocker? Even better if you can compare it to other throwers.
Ummm, gotta get it shipped out, probably tonight package it up, and got softball at 6pm, and, I'm not really set up so good for outdoor shots - didn't get around to mounting lights reliably, and no decent place to go I know of, small backyard, fences everywhere - I'd shock the neighbors for sure 
at the house.
I’m really wishing I would have nabbed one of those K40’s…… really starting to regret not doing it especially now that a certain someone has something they are mailing me soon…. 0:) I have a few good spots for some beam shots but nothing even remotely close for comparison other than a stock BTU….
That is a pity…
Maybe the lucky guy who will get this light can do some beam shots.
What a waste if no shots! 
I'm looking at my K40 now. Can't believe it, but they broke off one of the screws to hold down the PCMCB and used epoxy to cover it up, so on one side, a screw secures it down, on the other side, epoxy was used just to cover the hole. I'm gonna pull the emitter off and reflow it - looks like it's not straight, so maybe it was a bad reflow as well, yikes... Probably will have to re-tap the hole - cleared it out by drilling out the pices, tried the other screw and it won't tighten up - I know the bit I used was smaller than the hole, but who knows - maybe they used a bigger screw and that's why it broke.
Dang, that’s messed up. Did you a photo of it? Might be able to get them to replace the light if you can get the screw issue worked out.
I thought grasshopper in Malay or Indonesian is belalang. :~
Tom, that’s really messed up for a torch of that $$$. That is something one would expect from a cheapo brand/model but certainly not something in that range.
That is exactly what I was thinking when I read it as I have done that exact thing (not with a torch have you) a couple times and not realized it until the “oh s**t” moment. Got to love the “what do we do now?…. ahh screw it, just glue it…. not like anyone will open this thing up anyhow!”
Yes, got photos -- ohh, got her all open now!! The heat gun did the trick. Should start another thread... Lot of pics on the tear down.
And all this time I was thinking that Sup Beam is a level higher than the other Chinese manufacturers when it comes to QC. :~
HHmm, don't think so... New thread here on the K40 tear down with pics: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/20905
Just finished re-installing my BTU reflector. 
A closer examination earlier revealed that the reflector was not properly seated over the LEDs. I placed layers of kapton tape over the copper stars to ensure that the reflector won’t short with the lead wires. The result is that my centering rings cannot be fitted properly over the LEDs because the tape was too thick. I removed the excess tape leaving a single layer over the lead wires allowing the centering rings to fit properly and the reflector to be properly seated over the LEDs.
Upon testing its beam, the dark spots were already gone. The misalignment and improper seating was the culprit of my ugly beam earlier.
I also took its lux readings at 6 meters and the average is 6265 lux which is equivalent to 225 KCD. A 17% increase over the improperly seated/aligned reflector and a 69% increase over the stock light. :bigsmile:
Sorry I don’t understand something here, you got 225kcd after dedoming the LEDs, the lux numbers seems a bit low for a dedomed XM-L2 BTU Shocker…
Tom E got around 180kcd by just simply swapped the LEDs into XM-L2 on Sinkpad with stock BTU driver. Or is it you did not mount your LEDs on Sinkpad/Noctigon?
Well that’s what I got after swapping my stock XM-L LEDS with dedomed XM-L2 T6 1Bs on ordinary copper MCPCBs. I did not use Noctigon or Sinkpads, just ordinary copper MCPCB. I ordered my XM-L2 T6 1Bs from Simon Mao and my copper MCPCBs from LED-DNA.
The lux readings of my stock Shocker (XM-L) was only 2690 at 6 meters or 133 KCD. It increased to 3870 lux at 6 meters or 192 KCD when I swapped dedomed 3 XM-L2 T6 1Bs on copper MCPCBs in it. It further increased to 4540 lux at 6 meters or 225 KCD after realigning and re-seating the reflector properly over the LEDs.
Yes - there's a couple of major differences there - T6 vs U2, direct thermal path copper boards vs copper boards with dielectirc layers. Other issues may be the way we measure for throw - I always hunt for the highest reading whcih is usually not the dead center. Most do this because that's what the standard says or implies - peak beam intensity.
Actually I followed your tip of looking for the highest lux readings within the hotspot and in my tests so far its usually between the center and the edge, not the center, of the hotspot.
Therefore I can still improve the performance of my BTU without changing drivers by simply installing better XM-L2s and direct thermal copper boards? 
Anyway, I am already contented with its performance, for now, because it has surpassed my modified K40 already. The K40 uses the same dedomed XM-L2 T6 1B LED. I ordered a handful of these LEDs from Simon. My priority for now is getting this K40 to perform like (or at least closer to) the ones you & vinh worked on. :bigsmile:
Took the lux readings of my BTU in my office (yes my office) at 11 meters distance (I can only get to 6 meters at home) a while ago and I’m getting 3381 (average of 5 measurements) lux or 409 KCD at 1 meter.
I guess the readings I took at home at 6 meters is not accurate since it only gets me 225 KCD! The BTU modding I did wasn’t bad after all. 
Now we are talking!
Yeah! :bigsmile:
Unfortunately, my K40 readings which is 252K (2081 at 11 meters) still sucks compared to those done my TomE & vinh. 
You did the K40 mod by yourself? Did you do the resistor mod like what they do?
Also does your BTU Shocker has more neutral tint now?