Uniquefire UF-1405 - A worthy zoomy?

Like mentioned earlier, stock driver is well regulated to a level far below what is healthy for two cells. So I decided to try and use that just keep it cheap and simple., and also to see what it was good for. Stock output were no good. Especially not considering the size/capabilities of the light.

I modified the driver to output well above 5A to the emitter outside the light, but it generates a ton of heat, and once it heats up (which happens quickly) output also declines. I decided on 4,8A to be on the "safe side" (added the equivalent to an R080 on top of the stock resistor). I did not consider this safe, but the driver have managed two 20 minutes continuous indoor runs at max output, and about 20 minutes of outdoor use. So it seems good based on limited testing.

The further the driver is pushed the earlier it falls out of regulation. Considering that its regulated down in the 4-5V range, that is no issue. My light is still pushing out the same 4,8A to the emitter (tested with XM-L on cooper) when I had two cells at 4,77v. The warmer the driver gets, the more output it drops. Thanks to all my potting, and lots of solder from driver to pill, Im down to 4,7A @ 30 seconds. If it had no heatsinking it would fall down to 4,5A in less than 10 seconds.

After mod tailcap readings start from just under 3A and goes upwords to 3,4A+ depeding on cells used and how low voltage goes.

I used an XP-G2 S2 2D. The natural high performance choice for de-doming IMO. I also changed to stock centering ring for one that fitted XP-G. That means my centering is perfect. My light can over focus, so I can also get my focus perfect for the highest lux readings.

My light meter is calibrated, by me. To a level well below the highest readings meters on BLF. People can check some of my lux numbers here if you want anything for comparison. But my current calibration is slightly lower now. The other day I compared a light with someone with a high reading lux meter. I had to add 15% to my reading in order to get to that level. That was more than I had estimated and thought. But I don't like being too much above many of the manufacturers that are on the conservative side in comparison to the often seen high BLF numbers. And im not going increase my calibration to a level where Im responsible for pushing (over inflated) numbers higher than anyone else.

As for max potential. I could have pushed the stock driver further, maybe it could actually survive or handle 5,6A? But if its got some ripple, the emitter could be in danger. I also could have rebuilt the pill, which would not have been too much work. Put in a 5Amp FL-2 style driver. I could have squeezed an extra 0,1-0,2A out of that. 5A driver was my original plan when I ordered the light. But settled for slightly less. Since that gave me a simple and cheap mod.

If I had been able to push my S2 2D from 4,8A to 5,6A I would be looking at a 7% lux increase . I know that since Ive measured the light output increase between those currents when collecting data for this thread. That would have resulted in a bump from 457Kcd to 489Kcd with my calibration assuming the driver did not fall quicker due to heat. Probably not worth to push it that far. The light does get very hot after 20 minutes on highest setting indoors. I use the light outdoors, mostly in the cold, so technically I would not mind a hotter light. And I don't really use these types of lights for long. Too narrow beam for me. Its fun though. :)

I hope that was enough details about the mod and makes things clearer? Feel free to ask any questions.

Oh, I can add some more about the light itself. Switch compartment on my light is small. Uses a tiny switch, not room for a large one switch. I plan to improve the switch assembly and swap the switch. If I put in cells that were a bit too long (protected) my light would not even work since the crappy switch assembly did not handle any pressure. One of the O-rings on the head on my light went bad too.. Not too surprising though. I have recently built over 16 UF-T20 lights. Lets just say they were not all the same. Bad switches in some, bad soldering. Some of those even had differences in how far they would focus. I had to find parts from the lights that could overfocus, and swap with lights that did not focus completly in order to get the best out of all the lights.... After playing with so many Uniqefire lights, Im not a fan of their build quality or consistency in parts, lenses or anything. Jax Z1 is in another league build quality wise, but that is not really budget or comparable with the UF1405. Considering the price I paid for the UF-1405. Just above 26$. That is fantastic value for such a capable mod host. Especially since the stock driver could easily be modded to outperform whatever you can make a linear driver do. Very impressed with the overall value considering the price. Although I would not recommend it as a stock light, especially not the unit I got.

Yea this is what is odd about it since it was 1A originally at the tail. These readings are all from a shunt modded DMM.
I’m sure if I did a proper dedome the lux would increase quite a bit but with all the amps going to it I’m thinking of putting a XML2 in there.

I measured at 10m but I find my lux readings similar to that of TomE’s with similar mods.
Even with a KK at 3.81V I’m still measuring 363kcd from 10m. But at 4.5m the lux goes down to 303kcd with the beam focused to 300m.

For guys that don't know. Measure lux at the upper part of the beam where are emitter wires. Beam has best intensity around this wires. If you measure on lower and wider part of the beam(square) you will get lower readings on lux meter.

So you mean the distance used to measure the lux plays an important role, right?

But if I remember this correctly djozz measured his 1405 lux reading at fairly short distance too, yet he is still getting good result (400+kcd)?

Interesting, I never knew about this. :open_mouth: Will go back and try again later.

Yes. I learned that from Saabluster(deft x maker) posts at cpf and it is true. That is only valid for aspheric types of lights while for reflector it does not matter since it has different beam projection. Around that upper wires parts square area light has most intensity(especially on edges) while in middle and lower part of the beam has lower intensity.

I just checked mine again 5800 at upper part and 5000 in lower part (7meters). 15 and more% difference. So yes it really matters where you measure.

Reflectors need distance to collimate, i.e. close to the flashlight there's a hole in the beam. Aspheric lights do not have that, and they can focus. So as soon as the die is projected well at the measuring plane you're good to go. Only if you come very close to the flashlight (within a meter or so?), the focussing gets the lens in a significant different distance to the led compared to infinity, which alters the percentage of the light that is getting through the lens and the optical path through the lens is affected in other ways. You may get abberant readings from the luxmeter then.

I have measured a UF-T20 from 1 meter, two meter and 5 meter, and get effectively the same throw number.

gearbest is sending me one for review

Yeah I think so, aspherical lens might behave a little different with the reflector. I wish I could try to measure mine at a longer distance but it is inconvenient for me to do so.

By the way I have fixed my LD-40 driver last night and I still only get 310kcd out of it though. Well I think I will just live with it, at least it is running with a buck driver which is always my preference. :slight_smile:

Hiya fellas!

Ok I’m getting tempted to order one of them there UF-1405’s.

But from where? I respect Djozz’s opinion, looks like he got his from Gearbest, other got there’s elsewhere. So I’m slightly confused there.

And I’m definitely confused about all this 7315, Nanjg, Buck driver techno-speak too.

What’s wrong with a dedomed XP-G2 or and XP-E2 (both from Hank….in the past) and having it direct drive?

Eh?

Wassup with that?

Eh?

Hi Rob, haven't seen you here for a while. There is nothing wrong with a good direct drive, a few of my favorite mods do not have a driver, but 1)the xpe2 can not handle direct drive, 2)the UF-1405 has two batteries in series, the led will not survive direct drive, you need a buck driver or use one dummy battery, 3)there are great drivers now, finetuned by BLF-members, that direct drive the led as if they were not there, but do add convenient lower modes by using PWM.

Hi!

since my DMM is good again (tripped the 10A fuse with my 12 XM-L2 project) i gave the 1405 some time…

i put a R100 on the R120 and got from 0,85A to 2,2 A with black 5200 mAh Keeppower
everyting else is stock (the XP-G2 on noctigon is on the way to swap in)

my Luxmeter gives me around 77 kCd - could that be true?
my HD2010 (4,4A with a BLF17DD and dedomed XM-L2) gives 100 kCd in the same setup…

Sounds a bit low to me. I measured 58kcd with stock 1405. Could it be the LED was overheated? What was your measuring distance?

distance was 1m on both lights (lens to meter)…

heat - maybe…
LED is still stock with dome / on alu

1m is too close for both those lights. Measure lux at a further distance and convert it to 1m by lux*m*m.

1m is too short I’m afraid. I always use 4.5m of distance and that might still be insufficient for certain lights.

thank you

I will try…

I was told that also many times, so I started measuring at longer distances (standard at 5m now), but for an aspheric light that did not give significant different numbers from measuring at 1 meter.

I guess I can’t focus the beam right at infinity. My readings still converge to higher lux numbers from 1-10m without altering the focus.

i am facing a problem with the driver i have modded it with a resistor equal to R010 and i was getting 2.6 at the tail cap reading with a XP-G2

and suddenly the flashlight stopped working and then i found a component on the driver fryed, pics will tell, it is the component that the ( - ) to led wire is connected to it and there is another one beside it with the same name but it looks nothing happened to it

the one on the is the damaged one

so any solution ? what is this component ? and can i replace it ? if no any other driver ?

looks like it desoldered itself due to too much current :wink:

i would try to resolder that ripped off thingie (Transistor?)