Think of us also, when making the 2.0 version, i would love one or two for upgrading the c8 mini 
Well, I took a different route for V2. I’ve been watching Rufusbduck build his fabulous coppery inventions by stacking sheet copper and soldering the pieces together. Which made me think about this 1” wide 1/4” thick bus bar I’ve got. So, being the proud new owner of a set of digital calipers, I sat down and took measurements, wrote notes, figured out just exactly what it’d take to fit everything I needed into the Mini C8. And found that the actual heat sink by necessity would be no more than a 1/4” thick. Just not room for much else, with given dimensions of the reflector, the driver, the led board and where it had to go.
So I took the copper bar out to the shed where the drill press is, hunted my one and only bi-metal hole saw and proceeded to cut a slug out of the copper, sans the centering drill bit so there’d be no center hole. Sometimes ya just get lucky! Come to find out, the slug I cut fit nicely into the Mini C8 with minimal to no work at all! So, with this new concept of “easy” in mind, I drilled 2 holes for the lead wires with my cordless drill (miraculously got them straight and they came out just where they needed to) and instead of overcomplicating things with a recessed cup for the driver, I merely used Arctic Alumina to glue it to the copper pill…after re-flowing a Noctigon directly to the pill. Glad I chose to reflow, as the already mounted XP-G2 R5 2B (same as the V1) had quite a bit of flux and solder come out from under it when everything went liquid! (There, obviously, had been too much solder under the emitter…it was not re-flowed properly to begin with)
So with everything looking good to go, and taking test measurements this time of the driver (it pushed my test XM-L on Al star at 2.89A, looking good!) I then glued the driver to the copper pill, everything is a tight fit here, so a little light sanding on the driver board to ensure fitment.
And with everything assembled, wires connected, loose and working as a complete light engine, it tested out at 2.6A on my DMM. The difference maybe between the XM-L in my test vs the XP-G2 having a different Vf, and possibly some battery loss…remember, this is an IMR10440 so capacity is only 350mAh!
With the light fully assembled, 18mm McGizmo reflector glued to the Noctigon for centering and assembly, I’m seeing 518 OTF lumens at start-up on a fresh Efest IMR10440, 459 OTF lumens at 30 seconds. It’s pulling 2.49A from the tail. And acting very much like a big light, at 89mm long with a 26mm head.
Ya just gotta love it when they practically fall together! I did some relief on the battery tube to prevent the very thick end from shorting the driver, other than that it was a pretty easy build, with the 2 holes through the 1/4” copper being the most difficult to pull off.
Room was totally dark, I used my chopped AA MiniMag Triple in ultra low mode directed at the Mini C8 to illuminate it for the picture.
Maybe off topic,but I found another mini C8 version host:
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=16497109262
It's not "mini",it's more small head C8.
DBCstm thats freaking awesome! H)
LED what type of battery is that version?
Dimensions are a bit smaller than C8, suggesting… 14500 territory?
I like how they show the a decent amount of the assembly process.
Looks like a decent amount of quality for ~$5.
No,18650.
Great work Dale. Love it! I have an R5 in the box waiting for a project. Where did you get the 18mm reflector and what are the dimensions?
and what lens did you use?
Could you please say which dimensions the perfect heatsink has?
The reflector came from IS, in their garage sale items. It’s a relic from a different age. lol, or otherwise extinct. McGizmo 18mm
I’ve used 4 of em, have 2 and 3 on the way. me likey
That one looks kind of like a 502b. If so you would have plenty of power options for it because it will accept most p60 drop-ins.
Looking closer at the sight, I stand corrected. This is a lot more like a C8 than a 502b. It has a pill set up rather than a p60 drop-in. I might have to look into this one as well. Thanks for the link led4power
Dale turned this from a cute little light with an anemic purple beam to a very usable little light with a nice neutral tint and 3 modes. It went from 22 OTF to a very respectable 217 OTF. When I started this thread I was hoping for somewhere around 100 lumens so I got way more than I was over hoping for even. Thanks Dale!
That little pill turned out amazingly good. Still can’t believe I got it there from a 1” bar with my minimal, lousy tools. Ah the things you can accomplish when your’e stubborn and opinionated…
Is it available somewhere in English? Looks nice (matte anodization), there are not many budget small 18650 lights with (probably) decent throw. Reflector looks weird though:
PS. There’s also AA version on ebay:
Phantom23, you talked me in to a couple of them. Lol. I hope they are as cool and/or unique as the little guys are. The link really does not give any details when viewed on my nook but for $2.50 shipped they are worth a gamble. I am curious on the dimensions and cell type. Thanks for the link btw.
The eBay aa version looks like the standard AAA version just with wrong description.
I’d agree with this. The seller does not ship to a lot of countries. Has anyone else found any other suppliers?
Are we sure those are AA? …… Screw it worth a shot at that price either way.
Hmm I’ll do some more research.
How about mini 18650s, are they available outside taobao?
I just looked at it on my computer and I would agree with the others that it looks like the AAA version. At 3.25” I would think it is too short for AA’s.