Affordable 2 x 26650 + 2 x 18650 mod host $13.60 LustFire D01

I got one a few days ago. I am not able to remove the battery tube nor the pill. Did you use any special tool? I almost bent my circlip plier and the pill will not move/rotate.

^ I haven't tried yet. Guessing thread lock. You could try putting the head in a baggie in boiling water for a couple minutes than use leather gloves to unscrew the head. I can move the head a little over an eighth of an inch. Appears to be normal thread direction. Couldn't budge the pill left or right. It have a nice heavy brass pill. You may need to leave in boiling water (in a plastic bag) for a few minutes to heat all the way through.

Important::

Dang should have mentioned this... You must take the pill out first from the head -- it's CW to unscrew, not normal CCW !! Then, the body tube (top half) comes apart easy. I almost messed it up too Smile.

This is the same type as the old IOS sold 1-2 cell light, think a host?? Can't recall model # (it's unmarked), but Hank sold these - with SS bezel, smaller head size, 1-2 18650's, not 26650. It was sold by others too.

^ Thank you Tom E. I doubt I would have figured that out. Probably would have ruined my light torquing on it. Thanks again :)

Check this out before messing with your reflector.
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/30860?page=11#comment-708806

No ides what post # that is - its a big thread... Please post the post#.

^ Thank you Tom E and ImA4Wheelr. No wonder the pill will not open. I will try to open it again. I would like to make the light a little brighter, please let me know what to change or add to do that.

EDIT:

I tried to remove the pill again by rotating CW as suggested by Tom E, no luck. Boiled the light in a plastic bag, still no luck. I wonder why they have to tighten the pill that tight |( .

Weird, mine came loose, even after mistakenly trying to go the other direction. Can you leverage a good amt of force? I'll use cheap rubber textured gloves, and got a great pair of needlenose.

How I got mine apart:

1) Slightly enlarge the holes on the pill with a drill.

2) Use a large needle nosed pliers that fits the holes.

3) Twist hard. If you cant gain leverage, put a large adjustable wrench over the pivot point of the pliers to add leverage and twist. It took around 40 lbs of torque to break it loose, which is probably a good deal more than most people can apply without adding leverage for a mechanical advantage.

4) I often wrap my lights in a piece of rubber or inner tube removed from an old bicycle tire before placing it in a vice. This gains traction so it wont slip in the vice and also protects the aluminum.

Finally, I got pill out. Thanks FlashPilot.
I drilled the holes on the pill slightly larger so I can get my large needle nosed plier in there, a Channel Lock plier with rubbery material around the head of the flashlight, got my wife to hold it, and I turned the needle nosed plier — success :party: .

Now I can add/replace the sense resistor to get the light a little brighter. I think Tom E mentioned about 2 R200s. Maybe I can add another R200. Where is a good place to get it? Mouser.com?

Congrats on the opening! Smile If only I could get my wife to hold it, and open up...

I got mine at DigiKey, but I got a pretty large collection - dunno, S&H might be steep for a small order.

Sorry, couldn't resist Smile

Congrats cnrffl4! Love you determination and attitude. Sorry for leading you astray on the boiling water. That would have only been helpful if the light had thread lock.

The best prices on resistors would probably be Fasttech. You want the 1206 sized resistors. In the mean time, you could search the pcb's of any old electronic equipment you have. If you find any, the best way to get a resistor off a pcb is to use a solder blob on your soldering iron that touches both sides of the resistor and then just swipe the resistor off the board.

If you decide to really soup up your light, you want to put the emitter on a copper base with a direct thermal path.

You probably know all the above already, but I said it just in case.

Youre welcome. Im glad you got it cracked open.

I have some 20mm noctigons coming from IOS. I will move the LED to that.

Not a problem, ImA4Wheelr. I didn’t have any idea to get it open so I tried. I almost use WD-40 on it :exmark: . Thanks again to all. Now I need to order some resistors and wait.

I got my new circlip pliers in the mail and had to try them out. The pill came out effortlessly for me. I turned it clockwise and it wasn’t tight at all. Maybe it loosened up when I tried to remove the tube from the head?

Since the pill threads into the battery tube, it works better to hold onto the tube instead of the head when you break it loose.

Now all I need is for XHP50’s and XHP70’s to be available since I already found the reflectors that fit this light.

I just added an R120 and now measure 2.75A at the tail with a pair of KP 26650's. I put in a XM-L2 U3 2A on a Noctigon fresh in from IOS today, replaced LED wires with 20 AWG, and measured for lumens:

1,479 @start, 1,442 @30 secs

It holds the output really well when I shut it off at 30 secs - very little droppage there. I really love buck drivers when they can be driven hard. Having that bucked down voltage seems so much more stable. I really don't know how well it will hold up - I'll have to do 6 minutes tests. Who knows, may fry in 2 minutes - won't know til I try. Before then though, I'll need to bypass wire both springs - didn't do that yet.

Though the reflector doesn't seem loose, it probably could be a little tighter, so the way this light/pill works, you can adjust the pill height by threading the body/head up/down. I believe a standard C8 size AR lens will fit as well, so should check that out.

Well, you certainly woke up that benign bargain light. You’re probably already at 4.4A to the emitter (assuming 80% efficiency). Fingers crossed that it holds up to the mad modders abuse. Your mod would probably also work well with its larger brother.

An L2 for $19 was a great deal - too bad they are sold out now at TMART - I would have definitiely bought one. The host alone at FT was $43.

Edit: Final #'s on this mod build:

  • On 2 KP 26650's (4000's), 2.75A tail, lumens: 1,530 @start, 1,489 @30 secs
  • I ran it for 6 minutes on high straight, put in the PVC light box @ the 6 minute mark and measured: 1,431 lumens

I'm sort of amazed it held the output that high that long. About all the single cell, high amp lights I've built never hold up like this.

Mod Summary:

  • Keep stock driver: Add one R120 to existing two R200's
  • upgrade wires from stock 24 AWG to 20 AWG, and shorten them
  • Swap in a XM-L2 U3 2A, 20 mm Noctigon - file out notch's to fit the screws the light came with (nice tight screw down fit)
  • sand brass pill top and Noctigon to 2500 GRIT, use GC Extreme thermal grease
  • 24/22 AWG bypass wires for both springs
  • CW700 thermal/elect. grease on pill threads
  • replace LED alignment piece with low profile one (from FT)
  • replace lens with std. C8 size UCL/AR (think it was a UCL?), replace lens O-rings with thicker one to eliminate reflector rattle

Anyone measure the size of the driver? I still haven’t gotten my verier caliper yet. I’m hoping it can be reused in a Jax Z1 host. I also like the fact that it remembers the last mode you were on.