Supbeam K50 V2 Mod Thread

It reads C2KV on my TN30 driver, but my Google-fu isn’t strong with this one.

What’s the package format of the 5-pin component?

Yup, XM-L2.
I forgot to add the TN35, which has a MT-G2 emitter.

Single Emitter Lights
table(table#posts).
|Light|Input|Output|
|K40|3x li-ion|1x XM-L2|
|TN31|3x li-ion|1x XM-L2|
|TN32|3x li-ion|1x XM-L2|
|K50 V2|4x li-ion|1x XM-L2|
|TN35|3x li-ion|1x MT-G2|
|K40M|3x li-ion|1x MT-G2|

Multi Emitter Lights
table(table#posts).
|Light|Input|Output|
|TN30|3x li-ion|3x XM-L2|
|X40|3x li-ion|3x XM-L2|

I’ve grouped the drivers that I think are identical except for current sense resistors (0.5-1.0A difference):
XM-L2 low current K40/TN31
XM-L2 high current TN32/K50 V2
TM-G2 TN35/K40M
The TN30 and X40 are identical except the fact that the X40 is infinitely variable.

These two:

One at the left clearly goes to the FET gate, so that's most likely (though not necessarily) a gate driver; the other one is the main suspect, I think.

Package size... SOT-23-5? They're basically same size as the mag sensor chips and the tiny little FETs right? So smaller than a 7135 (SOT-89).

Whoops, I was looking at the wrong side.

My TN30 reads 8NDE on the left and SB6Y on the right.

Thanks Ryan. I Goggled and edit cross posted with you.

I did some Goggling, but I can't find any good images of the TN35 and K40M drivers.

EDIT: Thankfully, it appears that the answers may be in the images that Ryan provided. Well, that combined with people smarter than me.

I love the efficiencies gained by these large properly designed reflectors. Here’s another fine example of efficiency versus what pleases the human eyes. While the differences are shown to be significant with a lux meter while moving from level 5 to level 6 (max), the eyes perceive it only as a slight increase. 2.7A versus +5A is rather sobering for a comparatively small perceived increase in apparent brightness. I went through a set of cells while hiking through the hills last night switching between L5 & 6 to confirm (mostly max range spotting). IMO, (and not surprising to most of us) it does nearly as well at 2.7A as at 5A.

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but does anyone know if the mcpcb is a direct thermal design? If not, could I dismount the emitter and expose the copper for the center pad and reflow?

I think it’s been confirmed as a copper MCPCB, but I don’t think anyone has actually removed the emitter and tested the thermal pad with an ohmmeter, to confirm whether or not there is a dielectric layer.

Yup, I just confirmed that the center pad is electrically conductive to/with? the copper base.

Thanks.

Yupp. This shows how little point it is to push it further from a real life point of view. Still fun trying. Due to the battery carrier issues im planning on going back to stock.

I verifed direct thermal path in post 158. It was a long post, dont blame you for not not noticing. Maybe I should have said K50, but the mcpcb said K40 as seen in pictures.

"Also reflowed a junk XM-L2 on to the stock mcpcb for testing. Verified that the stock K40 mcpcb does have direct thermal path."



Ryan, your measurements match mine nicely (Ive never trusted the super low amp numbers on my DMM though) Did you measure what the actual current is on high after power deacrease? I forgot that bit and did not see you mention it either.


Since many seems to be into the photos. Here larger versions of the K50 driver images I have shared.

Top side photo

Spring side photo

Thanks for the reply’s. Yes, its always fun pushing anything performance related to find a bit more, and I always enjoy reading about all the grand efforts to crank it up. Its nice to know that I dont have to go gouging a trough in the mcpcb for direct thermal. With the stock light, I wonder how much total resistance might be accumulated with all those springs and if they begin to heat up and waste energy (sustained high mode use). Thoughts on that and would it really warrant a wire mod?

During my walk into high terrain (no ambient light), I would focus on a steep grassy hill on high setting and walk the beam up the hill until it was barley perceptible. Then I would lower to the second highest mode and walk the beam back down the hill until the beam was again barley perceptible. Id guess the difference was around 110 feet of range. It just makes me smile… again: 2.7A vs 5A, a lot less heat and better run time. The more I use this light, the more I like it.

A (hopefully) far less complex issue compared to yall’s driver problems… if yours happens to have a slightly off center emitter is it an easy fix in a k50v2?

I haven’t broken mine down so this is the best shot I could grab of the misalignment.

As it is, it loads up one side of the corona heavily, and presumably decreases kcd by about ~25% (based on Dale’s numbers compared to mine).

The springs are probably just seeing around 1,5A and uptowards of 2A when stock.

In mode 5 its considerably less than 1amp through each spring.. On max output, the power decease also lowers the already fairly low amps. Many (premium lights) push twice the amount of amps through fairly similar springs. I would not worry about it. I would recommend to stick with protected cells in this light though.

Unscrew the bezel take out the reflector and see what you can do. You can see pictures of how I and Tom E did it earlier in this thread.

I would not compare kcd with others and draw conclusions out of it unless you are sure how your numbers compares. Dales numbers can be more than 30% higher than a low reading meter.

Then it’s 30% lower.

The above are at 97 yds to the red oil drum. Below, 610 yds to the white barn

My TK61, by comparison

They cut, raked and baled the field today. Other than that, same pic…same place same camera settings.

Is the TK61 bone stock?

It thread off at the control ring, above it I should say. Mine is off, and I’m about to hot de-dome it.

2 big strap wrenches and a persistent nature. :slight_smile:

With the stock light de-domed, I’m getting 420.5Kcd. Now THAT is what I’m talking about! My MAXToch SN6X-2X was king of the hill last month at 365Kcd. Now it suddenly finds itself in the crowd, watching the new podium holders.

SR90 at 622Kcd, TK61 at 600Kcd and the K50V2 at 420.5Kcd. WooHoo!

sorry heggood, didn’t realize that was directed at me…no, the TK61 is anything but bone stock. Carrier has had spring bypasses, running 2 tubes for run time, all springs bypassed. New driver in the head running 7.2A, XP-L2 on a 32mm Noctigon, de-domed, making 600Kcd. The reflector base has been cut out, such that it fits completely over a 20mm Noctigon. This helps it clear everything on the star, but now that it’s got the 32mm Noctigon it’s kind of redundant.

My old S1100 with a dedomed XML2 (only a T6, and it started as a 1C, so it's pretty ugly) kicks the stock K50's ass up one side and down the other. I think the K50's focus is pretty badly off, it only shows the 'donut hole' at a distance of 3-4 inches, the S1100 is showing it out to around a foot away from the wall.