If I had the engineering background and hands on experience I would design the modules myself and become wealthy!!! :>) I can imaging what it would look/work like but it wouldn’t be based in science. So take this description as a starting point for a discussion and not a proposal for a real solution.
All parts would have to be changed to work on this module. The LED would be placed on a rectangular board the two long edges are coated in conductive metal. One edge positive and the other negative. So when the card slips into the rails it makes a connection to the two edges. The rails would be wired through the pill to the other side of the pill that would have similar rails for the driver board. An alternative is the rails would still be on the pill to hold the LED card but the LED card would have two wires with a plastic computer style clip on it like they use in plugging computer parts inside a CPU. The driver goes on the bottom the same way and either is conducted through the rails or the driver has a similar set of wires with a computer clip on it and the LED and driver can just clip together. Now if I want to try a particular LED with different drivers, power strengths, modes, voltage spreads I can easily pop different drivers in.
The rest of the parts would hardly be modified at all. I can’t guarantee this is anywhere near the answer, but I think it is fairly clear that there is no complicated reason why these parts can’t be standardized and modularized in a way that more people can easily play mix and match without the need for drilling, sanding, soldering, etc. It just takes design and then a manufacturer to put out the first set. After that people will be flocking to the suppliers doors looking to buy parts so they can also get into the fun of modding. I suspect the number of people building their own drop ins would increase by 400 or 500%.
There is nothing complicated about flashlights that can’t be modularized. Second, every industry starts as hands on cut, drill and snip but eventually everything gets modularized if for no other reason than to make the manufacturing process easier with higher quality controls. I’m just suggesting that the people here who have the most hands on experience do the design, and take out the patents and make money while making everyone’s life easier. It will happen eventually
I know for some of you there is resistance to changing because doing the hand craft work is fun. I’m sure you can still build, drill and solder and market your product as hand made for a premium. But for the rest of us let’s make it easier. If I can build a computer by snapping in parts, and clipping on wires there is no reason we can’t do the same with a flashlight…
Why do this? Some of us have poor eyesight and will find it difficult to work with small parts, other might not have steady hands, some don’t have tool bench with a vice etc to make it easier.But I think this makes sense. IMO
I like the Solarforce P60’s. They have a great balance and feel. There are enough parts, body extensions, etc to make all sorts of models. However the limits are different battery configurations require different voltage in the drop in. And Drop ins are the more expensive part of the flashlight. So I don’t want to accumulate lots of drop ins sitting in a box if I can help it. I would buy some cheap ones from various retailers, but I have no confidence in the quality of the materials or workmanship, and many of the custom ones are too expensive. So that leaves me only to buy the Solarforce ones which are out of date for the single CR123, and 4 CR123 configurations.
I think maybe you are overestimating the number of people who want to build their own P60 drop-ins but don't know (or care to invest the time/effort to learn) soldering and basic electronics.
It’s an idea. It would require changes in design of the pill, the driver, the mcpcb, and the reflector and might take up volume from an already inadequate heat sink space. I’d rather see Solarforce either modify their heads to better fit drop ins or come up with a drop in that better fits their heads and has decent threads between the pill and the reflector.
That could be true. But I look at the number of people on websites like this and how many are actually doing their own mods. My guess is less than 10% of the members here are making their own mods.And since these powerful LED flashlights are fairly recent I suspect as they become more popular even more people will want to give it a try. I could be wrong but I suspect more people will want in.
My goal in this thread is to stimulate conversation and hopefully some ideas to improve these lights. I have no problem with people making and selling souped up drop ins. And from what I have seen them are very reasonable priced for the amount of time and effort put into them.
My standard for buying a drop in is that it has to achieve a better price to lumen ratio. Now I can buy an under powered drop in from Solarforce for $16.99 and have confidence in their product. But I know we can squeeze some more light from these items. So if I buy a replacement drop in that costs twice as much then it has to return at least twice as many lumens. If the drop in cost 40% more then it has to deliver 40% + more lumens.
I’ve looked at some of the budget drop ins online and most of them don’t make as many lumens as those sold by Solarforce. The custom made drop ins are more powerful but also cost twice as much as the Solarforce ones. So nothing meets my standard which is why I am thinking about building my own. But then there comes the time and effort, having bad eyesight and no work room to do soldering etc and I think if these were just easier to use, modular, then I would build exactly what I want.
As I mentioned before I am not looking to build a pocket light house. When I need a flashlight I will probably not going to be at home so the large light house flashlights won’t be available. When I am out I need to have a small light on my person, in my pocket or in my backpack. The P60 is perfect. But I want to most light I can get for a budget.
I may play around with swapping reflectors to see how that changes the light display. My current solarforce XM-L2 with OP reflector is quite powerful. But I wonder how the light will be with a SMO? One of the things I like about the Solarforce drop ins is they have a wide volt spread so they will work with either 2 or 3 CR123’s. Many of the drop ins online don’t have this flexibility.
If I give building a try who do you recommend I get the parts from.
My goal is to make the assembly easier for those who aren’t as handy.
These are xpl emitters but they have xml and xpg as well. Cheaper than solarforce, which they have too, and much brighter. These have a wide voltage range too.
It doesn't really matter how brilliant the design, it will still have to fit in the P60 lights and remain easily swappable so it will still have similar performance limitations. The only change will be that the new proprietary Lego parts will be many times more expensive than standard parts.
You know, learn to solder and read up on some basic volts/amps/watts and your angst over not being able to build your own stuff will be greatly lessened.
Let me ask this group are there any good mod videos where someone walks through the whole process from picking out the right parts, to step by step assembly and discussing how different parts would effect the out put of the drop in? I’m asking about a simple drop in assembly without extra drilling or sanding etc. Straight off the shelf parts.
Actually I am surprised that no one has come up with a larger drop-in intended to fit a C8 size light but with large solid pills and as optimized a design as possible for good heat transfer. Have the light head threaded and the drop-in screw into it over a relatively long contact distance for a good heat path. Afraid that it has not happened due to needing a sizable company to produce it. If Surefire had not have developed the P60 standard and it’s associated drop-ins then I doubt that there would be modular flashlights and their drop-ins available today.
My own feeling is that the SolarForce light heads I have are bored a bit too large to provide optimum contact with their own drop-ins and no metal wrap is going to provide as good a contact and thermal path as a truly precision fit between a drop-in and light body with thermal compound helping the heat transfer. Not sure if Surefire heads are bored tighter in an attempt to provide a tighter drop-iin fit as I do not own a Surefire light.
That one simple piece of copper will get you the same thermal benefits of 'wrapping' without all the headaches. Dropins still swap just as easy as when using the dumb outer springs that do nothing for heat transfer and a very poor job of even providing a ground path.
Agreed, not incredibly hard, if you buy “stock” and just tack the pieces to go, that is the most “basic” beginner level modding there is…more or less “assembly” rather than modding, and the P-60 hosts, and the Convoy S series pills are the absolute easiest to work with
soldering is the easy part of modding…everything else is what gets to be a pain
