my thrower project- work in progress

Now I am really confused.
Lets say I have worked hard and now want to play hard and I have a certain amount of money I have no use for and I want a thrower. The goal is 600+ kcd. What should I do? The price difference is negligible. The budget is limited to 100$ or so. What will be the safest and the most throwing option? I really dont like tinkering and modding high end stuff, mistakes and errors can be pretty expensive.
Would a KD reflector with a dedomed overdriven xp-l or xm-l2 be the best choice? Or a KD reflector with a dedomed overdriven xp-g2? Or some stock light like tn31 or K40 with minor mods???

Buy a TK61, get someone from here help you to mod it to 600kcd.

Or a even easier route (but more expensive IMO), buy the TK61vn from Vinh.

OR, if you really have some serious cash, go with the DEFT-X to get 900kcd+, once and for all.

Mission accomplished. :wink:

Other lights which have the potential to hit 600kcd:
Wolf-Eyes SEAL
EagTac M25C2 Turbo head (uses exactly the same 86mm KD reflector?)

Forget the TN31/K40 if you are set on 600+ kcd. The reflector simply is not large enough, which is why I suggested the K50. Swap in a de-domed XP-G2 on copper, & that should be it.

There may be another large reflector candidate other than the K50 as well.

The D01 mod is a _lot_ of work. Plenty of stuff to go wrong if you mess up. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, then go with the easier option.

I simply can not justify spending so much money on a flashlight. It would be great to have a deft-x or a TK61vn, but they are out of my league

Which is why I also suggested you the above two options. I am not sure about the EagTac M25C2, but the Wolf-Eyes SEAL runs with 7135 based driver, which you can easily bump up the current by adding more 7135 chips on it.

LED wise of course you should go with the ‘standard route’ - Dedomed XP-G2 S3, or S4, not sure what is the latest and brightest bin nowadays, I have lost track of flashlight stuffs recently lol.

Dedomed emitter on DTP MCPCB + high current + big a lens/reflector, that is the recipe for 600kcd. The Wolf-Eyes SEAL is still considered expensive but maybe you can contact different vendors privately for potential discounts.

Buying a flashlight that can do 600kcd is too expensive and too boring. I think I will try a homemade solution like you did.
Sorry for my obsession with xp-l emitters, but what would be the current to the xp-l led with a BLF DD driver in a Courui with stock parallel cell setup?

Take a look here at the big thrower’s that have been measured not many but few are in the 6’s, either way it will cost more than your budget, :frowning: take it from these guy’s above they no their stuff! JMpaul320 is also a BLF member…. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?387655-Jmpaul320-OTF-Lumen-Sphere-Readings-amp-throw-measurements! You can save money (not headaches) if you do it yourself, either way you will pay, J) oh yes you will PAY! :slight_smile:

KawiBoy1428- your post is very informative, thanks!

Check out this graph by Djozz;

Taking into account the voltage sag, you might be lucky to see 5 Amps briefly.....which is why you need the buck driver to get over that, & sustain it.

Now I finally begin to understand it better. I thought ( because I am still a noob) those currents could be achieved with any driver that has a direct drive in the highest mode… Which turned out to be impossible.
On the other hand, I have not(not yet) found anyone who has a flashlight with a xp-l running at 7amps. Which makes me think that there must be a reason to that… It is not a problem at all to order a 7-8amp driver and rewire the cells into a series, but I am not sure it would be reliable. If there is anyone who has a light with a xp-l driven so hard it has the surface brightness ( or whatever it is called) the same as a xp-g2, I will consider using a xp-l emitter again, but until then I will stick with a xp-g2.
Thanks for patience with my inexperience!

Well what Host are you planning on using? I myself have several TK61’s and Couriu’s ,Maxtoch Sniper’s, Jax X6’s, Yezl Y3’s, and HD2010’s……but I think I need a couple M25C2’s Host’s or better for my next Adventure!! What would be your first…….adventure… :bigsmile:

I have no idea what host is suitable. The only host I know of is the Courui Big Head. If there is any other host where a large 86mm reflector can be mounted, let me know! I have not seen many builds with those reflectors. Maybe we should discuss this matter with other recognized modders, their insight and experience with dozens of other flashlights would come in really handy.

maybe a little OT question, but is so much copper heatsinking as many people put in their lights really necessary? And if it is so necessary, why not to mount a small cooling fan right under the pill? The Courui has more than enough room for a fan. Active cooling instead of passive cooling. I mean a tiny 5V powered fan that has 20-35mm in diameter. And put it under the pill. The air circulation should be enough to cool the pill and to convey the excessive heat away from both the underside of the pill and from the driver. It woult turn the entire cavity under the pill into a heatsink. That should help or not?

The problem with the fan is that you are circulating hot air unless you drill air holes and you are taking power from the cell/emitter also so shorter runtimes.
The copper is used to keep the output higher for longer or in extreme cases, stops the solder melting.

As long as you are using DTP board and the pill is not hollow, in most cases copper-everywhere is really not necessary even if you are driving your LED very hard. It is just overkilling for the job.

Active-cooling is also unnecessary unless we are talking about 100W and above of total power (i.e. computer CPU).

thanks for clarification!

Well……Vinz (the guy in Germany) once modded a TN31 (dedomed XP G2, driver modd, spring modd, optimal focussed led) to slightly above 700Kcd………(I think it was 718).
But this requires advanced skills, waaaay too much for me personally. But it can be done.

600Kcd on you budget is going to be quite difficult. You need either a very big reflector or a aespheric lens of the same proportions.
UF-1504 will get you to around 450Kcd, which I would not call “mediocre”.
TK61 with dedomed XM L2 and driver modd will already get you to around 550Kcd, but is much more expensive.
Also the reflector of this light is plastic and difficult to use with an XP G2.

If you can find a used, preferably non functioning SR90 (with ok reflector of course) you could modd that with dedomed XP G2 and get results in the 900Kcd area.

Bottom line: above 500Kcd is gets expensive……

Good luck!
Nico

Would be interesting to see the details of that mod.

I couldn’t find anything approaching that figure in a TN31/K40. Even the ‘VN’ models were reported to be in the 500’s.

There also is a flashlight that can do 800+ kcd if modded. It is TrustFire T-90 2. It can be bought for $120 on alibaba.com
I found it even cheaper, but the seller seems to be a scammer- they offer me this flashlight for $20, have sent me 8 emails so far, and do not mention whether they accept paypal or how much the shipping costs. It all seems fraudulent. Take a look on your own- This product is no longer available.