Courui/Big Head Torch Mod [FINISHED]

Adding mass without adding to the contact area between the hot parts and the cold parts... sounds like a kitchen sink with a partially clogged drain to me. Making the sink bigger only delays how long it takes for it to overflow and spill all over the floor. :(

Mods done. See OP for details.

To me it sounds like stacking ice on the supercharger of a drag racer. It doesn't last very long, but it doesn't need to.

Very nicely done Rod911. Your efforts for a first time mod is to be commended. I’m looking forward to the night shots at which I’m sure your neighbors will help out. :wink:

How did you take your tail measurements? I’m just wondering, because 1.11A seems kind of low for XM-L2. My COURUI gave me a reading of 2.2A at the emitter in stock form.
I’d really like to know what the reading is at the emitter with a single R120 resistor. I myself get confused when trying to do resistor math. I added an R100 on top of the R200 and got 4.1A. I also got some smoke and burning smell. I ignored that and ran it for a couple days with no problem until I removed the driver and stripped the board.
I’m wondering if adding an R120 on top of the R200 would give about 3.5A.

As per comfychair’s instructions . I thought it was odd as well, but, that was the reading I got. Anything on the MM I should be weary of? I continue to use the settings recommended by HKJ as well which hasn’t caused problems previously.

Thanks. I have already modded the driver I am planning to use for my Convoy L2 build (Lightmalls “5A” driver - which is in fact, around 3A as measured by Ouchyfoot), along with de-domed the XM-L2 and lapped its underside. I’m only waiting on the host which you have ever so kindly tapped for me, before I am able to put it all together. I’m hoping there won’t be a problem with this one because, if I fry this emitter, I am out of U2 1A’s… and I have yet to learn how to reflow an emitter. That’d be handy because I have an XP-G2 on a Noctigon that doesn’t work and I can reuse the MCPCB again.

:beer:

Thanks for sharing your mod rod911. Lots of nice work you got going there.

I have to agree with comfy on the extra heatsinking. Try connect a small heatsink like that to an emitter at 4A. It gets very hot in no time.

Effectively its more like a 10-20 second buffer, and even when that buffer is working you are probably seeing zero gain. I think it makes zero sense in a light like this. If it were connected to the body in some way it would make sense because then you would make the thermal pathway to the body.

Keep up the good work and sharing mods! :beer:

With the XM-L2, the flickering annoyed me so I decided to open it up and have a look at what was going on. I saw no visible water damage, so that was a good sign. Then, I thought to myself, whilst I had it opened, I may as well make a few changes…

I removed the 22AWG wire and replaced them with 18AWG. Next, I stacked on an R120 resistor on top of the R100. I have no idea now as to what amps this is pulling, or even if it is brighter, but I can definitely feel it heat up more. Also, the AS5 looked really dry, possibly due to it mixing with water, so that was cleaned up and replaced as well. When it gets dark, I’ll do a comparison ceiling bounce test to see if there are any improvements in output.

The downside to these mods though, was that, because I am now using 18AWG wire, I found that the reflector could not go all the way in as it use to. The hotspot still looks sweet, but that maybe due to the increase in lumen output making it look brighter. All I know is that, it works, no more flicker, it’s bright and it throws really well.

Sense resistors shouldn't be burning up like that. Has anybody poked around at this driver to see what's what? Are they actually sense resistors, or limiting resistors (inline with the power to the LED)? Check resistance from LED+ to BAT+, and LED- to GND.

I don’t think so. I am taking the figures that others have taken as I don’t really know my way around when it comes to measuring things with a DMM other than simple tail amp checks and voltage checks with cells. So, what you have mentioned above, is way over my head.

As for the added resistor (R120), it did yield brighter results. I think it is around 1100 OTF lumens now. That number was pulled from doing a ceiling bounce test against a D40A at turbo. The XM-L2 was simply brighter.

If indeed the R200 is the only resistor we should worry about here, and if the driver originally was providing 2.8A to the LED in stock form, then the stacked R100 and R120 resistors should mathematically, say that it is providing 10.27A to the XM-L2. Highly unlikely.

Don’t believe it is a sense resistor, think it is a power dissipation resistor (could be wrong :_( )

That resistor is definitely a weak spot on the driver, look at it sideways and it blows, mine blew as I was trying to take measurements, If anyone wants to do resistor mods would be worthwhile getting higher wattage ones.

Flickering is down to a less than perfect solder joint at the resistor (at least on mine). Got a bit fed up with the driver so just removed the resistor and bridged with solder wick. Have had to adjust the amps with wires and type of batteries. Got lucky with my guesses and am easily getting 4.8 amps first try. Don’t want to go higher at the moment as I am using the stock emitter and star.

So far at that output no problems even after fair usage.

Sorry to dig up an old thread… But I have one of these lights on the way and I want to change the resistor to get higher amps… Where would I be able to find a suitable resistor that would give me around 4.5A? Fasttech has lots of value packs of SMD resistors but I don’t know what value and size I need

You’d need an R120 (or 0.12R). That can be found here:

https://www.fasttech.com/p/1234403

However, I have found all of FT’s 0805 sized SMDs pretty useful. I bought two of each SMDs ranging from R100 to R220. Because they’re small, I sometimes end up losing them, so having lots of spares is great.

Thanks Rod, have some on the way now!

Hi, i need a couple of R200, R100 and R120, has any body got a link for fasttech for these, really not sure what to order, thanks.

Use the same link as above. In the drop-down, select 0.2R, 0.1R and 0.12R respectively to get the resistors you need.

Also see this link (and the dropdown) for the 3 different 1206 sized sense resistors FT carries (R100, R120, and R330): https://www.fasttech.com/products/1002/10007371/1615807

… yeah, the 0805 selection is much better!

Thanks Rod911, i understand now, i will order them, and also gives me an excuse to order another light!

Would you put in a R100, or just bridge it with solder for direct drive on high?