PAISEN U2-Z6: A Chunky Pocket Monkey - Mini Review and Mod

Tom E wrote:

How many do you want? Like I said, I got a few pulled from lights.

I was mostly just playing around, but I'd like to buy some if you don't think you will need them. I'll PM you.

Nice mod! :) Thanks for sharing..

Nice review and sweet mod.

Great idea with the copper jewelry pins.

After playing with this light for a week now, I’m still very happy with it…but…the green tint is becoming more and more noticeable to my eyes.

This was my first de-doming. And I was very happy that it was easy, and successful.
I used the stock emitter that claimed to be an XM-L U2, but it could be anything.
Are these weird tints common with de doming? Can I obtain a whiter beam with a different LED. I really don’t want to waste a bunch of new XM-L2s in a futile search of a nice tint.
Can anyone give me some hints on what to expect from various LEDs after de-doming?

1A/1D gets less green looking compared to 1C or 1B. Many of the typical stock emitters seems to be around 1C..

This post gives a simplified example of how the tint changes after dedoming and how to fix that kind of tint in multiemitter lights. More info in that thread..

So, “less green looking” means I’m always going to get a bit of green or yellowish tint? I figured it would get whiter after de-dome. I was worried that it would end up bluish.

No, it's been mentioned many times: de-doming always goes more neutral, that's why you want to start out with the coolest white, because even a 1A comes out in the neighborhood of 3C. 0D's and 1A's come out pretty good. 1C's are too yellow/green for my taste. If they were a nice looking warm tint, then it would be fine, but I've seen much better looking warm tints w/dome than a de-domed 1C. It's not awful-awful, but be warned.

What about an XM-L U3. I’ve got one laying about that I never bother with because I felt it might be too blue/violet for my tastes.

Well U3 is a bin, not a tint. If you are saying it looks blue/violet, then it's maybe a cool 1A so good for de-doming. I don't de-dome XML's (rather spend the $5-$6 for XM-L2), but should work ok.

I had taken the 26650 out of my Paisen so I could run tests on three HD2010s. Tonight I put the cell back in and got 2A. I tried another and got 2A. By the time I tried the third, it didn’t work at all. I did some tests and finally determined that the emitter must be dead. I guess the dedomed XML is more fragile. I had the reflector, and the centering ring off and on a few times for sanding, so I could raise the emitter a bit. Something delicate might have got bumped.
I’m not sure if I’ll just stick in a regular emitter, as I didn’t care much for the greenish tint I got. Actually I have a couple of XM-L T6 0D that I’ll probably never use. Maybe they will produce a nicer de domed tint. I also have some XM-L2 U2 1D in the mail. Perhaps I’d better experiment with the older XML 0D first.

i love this host - just got mine tonight… im planning a low resistance direct drive imr 26650 with a xml2 u2 on noctigon… i might even try to add more mass to the pill :slight_smile:

The stock driver has a second pad for LED+. The other pad is for direct drive. It depends on which logo is on your light for what pad is connected. I didn’t know that at the time, so it was never tested. Relic has a resister mod to get rid of next mode memory.

I replaced the blown de-domed XM-L with a de-domed XM-L2 T6 0D. I never did see the tint before de-doming, so I can’t tell how much it’s changed. My eyes are fried from staring at unshielded emitters. I’m not sure whether it tends toward green or yellow. The hot spot does seem crisper, but there is still a bit of a halo from the bottom of the reflector. I sanded the centering ring, and have the reflector about as low as I can get it. I don’t want to mess around too much for fear of touching the LED and breaking something fragile.
I have to wait til tonight for a true test of throw and tint.

Okay. The de domed XM-L2 I installed gives a lower current reading than the de domed XM-L, but still getting 4.5A.
I definitely prefer the de-domed XM-L2 T6 0D as far as tint goes. The XM-L U2 was just too green for my tastes. Overall, it seems brighter and more focused, with a more defined hotspot. Maybe I just got the reflector sitting down better, I don’t know.
I’m happy with this version and I’ll keep it this way. There was just something about the XM-L beam profile that bothered me.

Some crappy iPad shots from my balcony.

I got in some XM-L2 U2 1D's from Hank, built one up in a P60 domed, and has a very slight rosy tint - think'n it will make a nice tint de-domed, maybe not so much green.

Anyone know if Pasien U2-Z3, Skyeye F13, Ultrafire F13, Raysoon RS-F13 and Windfire F13 are of same quality/ finishing/ pill design?
Ultrafire F13 is the lowest price ($13.32 after discount) of all now. Good price for host?

I’ve had two Shadow JM07’s, Pasien and an Ultrafire F13. They were all identical with fit, finish, pill and output.

Finally modded out my Paisen Z6. The pill I suppose is obsolete now. The new F13's from the GearBest group buy are pill-less. I do however like this pill because of the lareg pill interior, lots of threads for heat sinking to the body.

My mods:

  • 1.75 mm copper shim, sized down and AA epoxied into the pill under the pill top. Stock pill top is only 1.25 mm thick
  • XM-L2 T6 4C from FastTech on a 20mm SinkPAD
  • trashed the LED alignment piece is favor of a much better, low profile butterfly type. To make up for the vertical space, added a copper shim of about 0.75 mm under the SinkPAD and solder them together
  • screwed down the SinkPAD/shim assembly to the pill top with 2 flat heads - notched out the pill top edge to make room for the screws
  • BLF22DD driver - custom programmed, 20 AWG LED wires
  • used a IOS size 'B' spring, 22 AWG wired down the middle
  • replaced the red button with a blue GITD, 22 AWG wire down the middle of the spring, treated all contact surfaces in the tail assembly with NO-OX-ID from Illumn
  • used electrical/thermal conductive grease on the pill threads

Gets 6.0A on a fresh KK26700, and 6.25A on a fresh LG HE2 or Efest 35A. Of course the runtime on the KK 26700 with low resistance power is the best option. Lumens is about 1,500 OTF and throw at 37.5 kcd with a nice tint. Waiting on a UCLp lens to arrive for it.

Wow, it took you long enough.
You swapped the red tail boot! That was the main reason I bought it.

Ugh - well, still got 3 of the F13's from the $10 deal, so they still have the red tail boot SmileSmileSmile. One of the F13's I modded with a 4.5A Nanjg, and a XM-L2 U2 1A. But cheated a bit - instead of using the copper shim under the SinkPAD, I added an o-ring between the glass and reflector.

I love the fact you can use the KK26700 cells - highest capacity around at 5300-5450 mAh or so.

Think you were 100% right about the heat sinking. I ran it for 5 mins straight, left tailstanding. Though it was somewhat hot, I could pick it up and hold it ok.