It’s a diffuser film, intended to go on windows to let light through without allowing anyone to actually see what’s happening on the other side.
What I got was “DC Fix 3460211 Sand”, and it was $20 for a lifetime supply. Well, a roll 45 cm by 200 cm anyway, which for torches is more than I’ll ever need. You can also get envelope-sized sheets from some community members for a few dollars, but I knew I’d probably use more than that so I just got a whole roll.
I got mine from Amazon, but that was just because it was more convenient than ordering from Germany (where it’s made, IIRC).
Beam shots… I can do that. Probably some with and some without the diffuser film. And even more interesting are the shadows it casts, since they have multi-color edges. But I can’t really get pics to demonstrate how vivid the colors are. All I can say is that my BST-wide produces the best color of any light I’ve ever used, including nice Nichia 219 neutral high-CRI lights.
As for the XP-G2 thrower mod, why stop at 1750mA? I’m not sure how much heat a SRK host can really take (especially if you must build the heat sink yourself), but the XP-G2 can run at 3A or 4A with sufficient heat sinking. You could use this 32x7135 driver for it. And if you want it to be extra throwy, de-dome the emitters first. I hear you can get 125 kcd of lux with de-domed XP-G2s in a SRK. I think 18sixfifty has made some like this… more lumens than a stock SRK and about 5X as much throw. Even if the host can’t really take that much heat, you could still use it as a “turbo” mode.
The Oshpark boards are thinner than the original drivers which is why your tube-to-head alignment changed (also in some cases the ground ring on the driver won't even touch the face of the battery tube, and the light only works if the ground is carried thru missing anodizing on the threads). I add solder blobs and then mill them down to the same thickness as original, though you can use anything as long as it's the right thickness. Nonconductive is actually better, since a lot of lights have flaky anodizing in the threads and won't lock out properly if the driver has a ground path to the head (it only needs to touch the battery tube).
Also, if you have the stuff to do it, reflash it with a fast-PWM version of the firmware. It's much quieter and still works fine on both the 7135 and FET drivers.
Awesome job on this mod ! great idea of the tint blending to achieve a good balance. would be great to see some beam shots comparing it to other lights of single tints.
Fortunately, this was an original pre-clone SRK and has good anodizing and good lock-out.
Whatever firmware RMM put on it (“SRK Special” STAR firmware), it doesn’t make any sound that I can hear. I don’t think I’ll need to change it for noise reasons, but I would still like to play with firmware in general.
Edit: Also, I’m not sure what speed the PWM is. I haven’t checked that yet. However, it looks faster than a typical 4.5 kHz nanjg. I’m just not sure if it’s 9 kHz or 18 kHz. I’ll try to compare it against my XinTD C8 V4 (18 kHz) to see if I can figure it out, but my method isn’t very precise… just waving a thin white sheet through the beam as fast as I can, and trying to estimate the distance between “frames”. At 18 kHz, I can barely move it fast enough to see frames. Regardless, it runs silently and the PWM is fast enough that I haven’t noticed it when not looking for it. (at 4.5 kHz or below, I see PWM even while I’m not trying to, and it’s distracting)
Nice mod and write up! :bigsmile: I don’t have any multi-emitter lights yet (not really a need for one), but now I am curious about combining tints, maybe for kitchen lighting as I’m still using halogen.
I just realized I forgot to waterproof the switch when I was putting it back together.
The O-ring for the switch is behind the circuit board the switch rests on, which means the switch is exposed to water if the light gets wet. I don’t know what would happen if it got wet (maybe it’s designed to handle that?), but I don’t really want to find out.
The easiest way I can think of to waterproof it is to wrap the switch in part of a balloon or condom, with the wrap pulled back through the same hole the wires go through (and then cut off the excess rubber somewhere inside the head). This should protect the switch and still form a seal with the O-ring behind it. I hear it might also improve the feel of the switch, but I’ve never had an issue with how my SRK switch feels.
The lens has a nice O-ring, the battery tube has an O-ring, I didn’t check if the tail cap does… that just leaves the switch as an entry point for water. (Yes, the tail cap is removable; however, it may be very hard to twist the first time, and mine feels pretty stuck)
Just wrap the tail cap with a fairly large rubber band, doubled. I use the ones that come on bunches of asparagus. Makes an excellent anti slip surface to grip for getting the cap off.
My very first SRK light from Amazon had the amazing ability to turn itself on after taken out of lockout; this in turn bubbled the top of dresser before I returned to room . Point is I want to ensure good lockout if batteries not pulled for the road.
I’m not too worried about anodizing or lockout. I’ve had this light for about 2 years now, with batteries in it most of that time, and it has never had any issues. I loosen the battery tube a half turn when not in use, and that gives it enough space that I can’t turn it on no matter how hard I press the two halves together.
Since I got a SRK fairly early from a good batch, I ended up paying more for it… but it has basically none of the issues the clones have.
However, the driver is no longer glued into place, so it’s possible the driver could pop up and touch the non-anodized part of the tube. Hasn’t been an issue yet, but I’ll keep an eye on it. For now, I’ve simply made sure to store it bezel-down so the weight of the batteries will help hold the driver in place.
When (or if?) I finish mucking about with firmware, I’ll see about gluing (or maybe shimming) the driver down to prevent this potential failure mode. I don’t want to make it too stuck though, in case I decide to upgrade it again later.
Looks like you pretty much intuitively figured out some of the potential hiccups. You might want to clean up the battery side of the board by snipping off or filing off where the wires come through. I don’t like any possibility of a positive cell top touching that negative wire, or vice verse. Sometimes an attempt to solder the ground can allow a cold joint, and this might end up sloughing off and floating around in the light, possibly touching a wire top and cell at the same time. Stuff happens.
When locating the emitters, I find it easier to use Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive, place the stars with centering rings on the emitters onto the reflector, with it upside down and adhesive on the stars (no wires showing through the shelf) place the light down over the reflector assembly and looking through the driver side make sure your wire holes are clear. Screw in the screw, make it firm, and go get yourself a drink, a snack, the clothes out of the dryer…whatever. After about 10 minutes you can pull the reflector and the stars will be firmly in position exactly where they go. Wire em up, easy peasy…no moving around from the wire tension. I find too that using the Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive to dab over the wired connections insulates them from the reflector quite effectively without worrying about tape slipping and then a short. I also mix enough extra at this point to re-enforce the positive and negative connections on the board, also ensuring they don’t short or come loose under tension. Potting the wires, as it were.
Other than that, you’ve done an excellent job already and handled the little bumps with aplomb! Nicely done.
(If an occasion demands removal of a star or wire that is glued in the above manner, heat it with the iron for a short time and it will generally release fairly easily )
Nichia NVSL219BT 4500K 92 CRI LED on 16mm Noctigon from RMM.
This is what I want to try next just to see….
We used to use colored gels and dichroic filters on rented stage lights, during my AV work in the N.O. Marriott, when requested to make the colors “pop” on stage. This was 30 years ago so forgotten a lot. I just want to see what a so called full spectrum LED can do compared to lower CRI single LED.
If you have BTDT then I’ll just move on to something else.
. Point is I want to ensure good lockout if batteries not pulled for the road.