Ultrafire 602C, 16340 powered Triple Nichia 219A B11,

Hello my BLF family!
In THIS thread “djozz” was curious about my mod so here it is!

I’m sure that lot of you know that Ultrafire 602C is one of the smallest clicky hosts in 16340 battery format that you can buy around. I’m also sure that majority of BLFers much appreciate tint and CRI of Nichia 219A B11 so I gave myself “challange” of building one with single 219B R85. After short period of time I wasn’t entirely delighted with finished product so I had an idea (inspired by “comfychair” ) of cramming three of older 219A B11 emitters together with TIR optics in the exact tiny host that previously carried single, newer emitter. Realization of this idea requires major modifications of over-sized parts that I planed to use in “unsuitable” host .

The 602C host from Fasttech comes with 18mm reflector with medium “orange peel” texture designed for XM-L sized emitter, standard 18mm glass lens, O-ring between “head” and lens, assembled switch assembly with genuine Omten 1288 reverse clicky, green GITD (Glow-In-The-Dark) silicone/rubber switch boot cover, aluminum “pill” that accepts 16mm MCPCB-s with brass insert for 17mm drivers and one insulation gasket.

Parts used in this build are: Noctigno 3XP MCPCB , QLITE REV.A with 2 aditional AMC7135 (350mA bined ones) , Kaidomain-s triple nichia w/ TIR optics , 20mm AR glass lens and 22 AWG silicone, silver plated copper wires

Mind that all photos were taken afterwards.

I’ve started with removing “lip” of the pill in order to have flat surface for Noctigon 3XP MCPCB. Second step of modding the pill was drilling hole in the center for wiring. After that I’ve removed/sanded sharp edges caused by drilling with xacto knife and 800-grit sandpaper. I’ve also polished surface to mirror finish with polishing paste after sanding surface with 1500-grit wet sandpaper.
Done with pill.

Second part was grinding/filing/sanding (in that order) 3XP MCPCB and TIR optics from 20mm to about 18.5mm, maybe a bit more (I didn’t owned caliper during this process). Grinding was done with hand cranked stone grinder, finishing touches were done with 1500-grit dry sandpaper. The only problem that I’ve encountered was fact that I didn’t have any type of gloves so there is few fingerprints on inner part of the optics. I’ve try to clean that with some kind of “window washer” in trigger spray bottle, kinda succeed (few fingerprint marks have left). Kaidomain-s optics doesn’t fit into Noctigon 3XP MCPCB because 3XP is designet do accept Carclo optics ( narrower “legs”) so I widened leg-openings with Dremel in order to fit “unsuitable” optics. I’ve also needed to make spacer between MCPCB and pill because whole pill assembly is too short for proper water sealing. I’ve made spacer from copper pipe ( I’ve flatten it, filed it down to 18.5mm, sanded it and polished it to mirror finish).

Third part was hardest and most dangerous. In that time I’ve had 18mm and 20mm AR lens from IOS . My idea was to file down the bezel in order to have better output efficiency and desired beam profile, thus 18mm lens were too narrow so I made decision to grind (narrow down) 20mm lens to “best fit” as possible. Grinding was also done on cranked stone grinder. That was really messy and dangerous job because small glass particles were sprinkling everywhere and I didn’t wear any eye protection whatsoever (yeah, I know, safety first :8) ) and one of the glass particle sprinkled into my eye. Luckily, I’ve escaped permanent eye damage :slight_smile: . In the end I’ve succeed in my intention.

Fourth part was reflowing emitters (reflowing is done with hot air and soldering paste), driver assembly with two additional 350mA bined AMC, removing stock wires from driver and replacing them with 22AWG ones, shorting fourth star to the ground in order to have moonlight/firefly mode. I’ve also improved/reduced spring resistance (added soldering wick and copper cap on top of the switch spring).


Fifth part was one of my classic way of adding uniqueness to my modded Flashlights/Hosts - heat-spreaded transition.



IT WORKS!

WOW!!!

Totally a pocket rocket…however those teeny 16340’s…what is the safest max current draw you can push from them…smaller the battery the less the current it can push

10*7135 = 3.5A…woooooh!

That little bitty guy probably gets hot really fast on high!

I really like that color fade on the body…most awesome!

Great modding job! There are a rare few that are so ingenious to take something like that and shoehorn “DA POWAH” into em
Just please make sure you use good 16340’s…those blue **fire batts might not be able to handle that kind of power for long (be safe)

:smiley:

Thanks for the kind words! :party:

Currently I’m using gray trustfire 16340 with removed protection (I’m planning to order few of the IMR-s but I’m currently broke). It can give 3.3A for few seconds but this flashlight is not meant to be used on high for primary usage, just for short bursts when it’s really needed. It is very light, very pocket friendly and it has 178° beam profile that spreads nice and evenly (absolutely zero artefacts), and if needed it’s properly bright and has quite a lot of throw.
I’ve also had version with Carclo narrow optics but I wasn’t satisfied with beam profile at all (too narrow and you have to be further away to be able not noticing flowering “artefacts”) . That version was with 18mm AR lens with untouched bezel.

ICR’s…high current w/ no protection

Be careful please! I wouldn’t run anything cheaper than a Efest 16340 in that light….tiny light, small battery, high current, neat and all but approaching dangerous situation as smaller batteries just can’t push current like the larger batteries

very cool build either way, just be safe

Video sends me to homepage. I am aware of high currents and everything that can go wrong.
These older nichias have very high forward voltage and capacity of this trustfire cell is not very big. As soon as you turn it on it has no time to heat up properly (if it’s used in hand) because of voltage drop etc. I’m the only one using it and I would never let anyone use it except myself. I’ve also tested it with headstanding while on and after minute or so I’ve removed the battery in order to check its temperature. It was properly hot, but not too hot to hold or touch. As I said, it doesn’t have enaugh capacity to keep up with nichias high forward voltage.

Anyways, thanks for taking care for your BLF collague, I really appreciate that! :beer:

great work, great little flashlight

great work, great little flashlight

WOW! I’ve tried to size down glass before only to give up, you sir have patients!

Great work, nice flashlight.
Btw, KD have some glass lens between 18mm - 20 mm.

Grinding glass... I just ground down an aspheric lens to fit an C8-type host using this cheap rotary tool from Harbor Freight; with coupons, usually around $8 or so:

http://www.harborfreight.com/80-piece-rotary-tool-kit-97626.html

The kit comes with several small/cheap diamond burs, and I found that they ground the glass very nicely.

I actually use this tool a lot even though I have a Dremel and a very Nice Blue Hawk rotary tool (http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Hawk-Piece-Multi-Purpose-Rotary/dp/B00ARJFZP4). The cheap HF tool is very weak, which helps keep from making mistakes by over-grinding materials. It's also small, and easy to leave plugged in at your worktop so it's always there when you need it.

I found when carving hard stone with diamond burrs that a little trickle of water over the work helped a lot — removes debris and keeps the diamond chips from melting out of the metal they’re embedded in.

That’s fantastic. I’ve been working on something similar for an old Armytek Partner.

I thought I was the only one with a preference for the BICOM optic. Very nice.