It took a while for the lathe work to begin. My friend, the machinist, has been busy all week working on the valve flanges of our steam pipelines.
So preparations were made for the Ledoman X6 while waiting.
What I need to do is swap the old driver at the top with the DX driver at the bottom
However, I need to take care that the 6 XM-L LEDs won’t be destroyed in the process so they were covered with plastic and kapton tape.
Another minor problem was the solder blob near the leg of the capacitor which might hinder in fitting the driver perfectly.
A little filing solved the problem
Another problem are the centering rings which are too long that it blocks part of the LED while inside the reflector
Some filing solved the problem. The centering ring at the left is stock and at the right is ‘filed’
This is evident in this picture. The rightmost ring is filed while the rest are stock
Here all rings are filed. Much better
Finally the Lathe Machine became available yesterday, 24 Sept, so the Ledoman X6 was immediately prepared for lathe work
Then Lathe Work was started, finally
A closer view of the X6 while being machined by the lathe
Until the DX Driver finally fitted perfectly
To ensure flexibility, the lathe work was designed that I can use the old driver as well as the new DX driver
The old driver still fits perfectly
And so can the new DX driver
However, the PCB of the DX driver is thicker than the old driver, and it is positioned much closer to the tail cap. There could be a problem when the tail cap switch is emplaced.
To solve the problem, the plastic end of the DX switch was ‘nipped’
Finally its time to assemble the light with the DX driver. Yellow & blue AWG 22 were used for lead wires. The originals were red and black AWG 24. I tried using AWG 18 but they were too fat.
The DX driver is finally in place and ready for testing
I used my 2S2P battery case with 4 x Sanyo 2600 mAh 18650s. The tail cap lit green which means it was installed correctly
However when turned to high, the light immediately turns back to low and the tail cap turns red. 7.4 volts is not sufficient to power this driver for it to function properly
Its time to seek the help from this guy, my BTU Shocker
I used its 3S1P battery case containing 3 x Panasonic 3400 mAh 18650s. Clicking through all the levels seem to make this DX driver work well
So I went ahead and started gathering data. The Shocker battery case produces 12.06 volts
Next, I took the current readings. Even when turned off, it drains 40 mA
At low, it drains 170 mA from the power source
Mid draws 1500 mA
And high draws 3290 mA. Considering the 12.06 volts pumped by the Shocker battery case, that’s a total of 39.7 watts!
At about 40 watts, the Ledoman X6 should be a monster and I need to know its lux readings. The place where I take lux readings is at the hallway in my office. Its eleven (11) meters from the near corner of the column to the opposite wall.
I simply placed the light at eye level and shine it directly to the HS1010 placed on top of the filing cabinet at the opposite wall, like this
At eleven meters, the reading is 189 lux (as compared to 66 lux with the stock). That would compute to 22.9 kcd (7.9 kcd with stock) or 329 meters throw (179 meters stock).
This modified Ledoman X6 is simply amazing and I think its would be about as bright as my TrustFire X100. The only problem would be the power supply because conventional 2S2P battery cases won’t make this light work to its full potential and i don’t think a 2S3P will make a difference either. I’ll be taking outside beam shots tonight to see for myself if this indeed is a little monster.