You’re right, but I don’t remember exactly how I had the traces laid out on that board, so using the resistor pads I don’t know the polarity. However, the polarity is marked for the LED pads
How can you tell which side is positive (since it so small)?
It seems that one of the LED was mounted in reverse. Usually the end with green mark is the cathode (negative). Correct the way of that LED did not light up.
So the side with the green mark attaches to the board? Or the side with green make needs to be oriented in a certain way while being attached to the board? Both LEDs are attached to the board with the green side down.
- so I found a diagram online showing which side of the led is positive but it still only one led lights up
I think that the left led has to be reversed.
I found the photos at #592. Both of the cathodes of the LED are pointing to the centre. So your LED at the right side was mounted in the reverse way.
This is how I see it.
The positive side of the right led pad is at the bottom, so the cathode has to be pointed up. Like the way it is now.
But the other led pad is reversed, e.g. the positive is pointed up. That led has now the cathode pointed up (‘at the positive pad’).
thijsco19, you are right. The cathode of the LED at the left side should be pointed down ward. My distake.
Got it, I’m going to try that out later in the week. Thanks for input everyone.
I’d like a floody mule type light with a lighted tailcap for the nightstand. Can anyone recommend a good host for conversion or are there any lights out there that have lit tailcaps out-of-the-box?
The recent Manker X6/X5 group buy lights have the lit tailcap. There are still some available, IIRC, and they are now able to be bought separately (at first sold as a pair only). Also, there is a new Astrolux version of the same. These are very throwy lights for their size, but the only lights I know of that have lit tailcaps out-of-the-box. You could convert one to a triple or quad to get more flood, using a floody Carclo optic.
That’s where I’m at I think: modify an X5 to triple or find a floody mule type light and modify to have a lit tailcap.
It seems that the triple mod on an X5 will require a custom pill or machining to fit - or is their a simpler way I have missed? My thought was it may be easier to find a suitable host and add a lit tail, not sure…
This is destined for a child’s use, so the perfect solution would be to only have one low setting (no other modes).
To me the easiest way I can think of for you would be to get a a convoy S2+ that has the normal silicone instead of the metal button. Then you can use the Carclo 20mm TIR’s to adjust the beam profile how you want it, and it’’s not too hard to do an illuminated switch in a convoy, all you need for tools are a soldering iron and tweezers. The S2+ also takes 17mm drivers so you could get a single-mode single-7135 driver from fasttech or Richard or wherever.
I second PD here.
Rock on, I appreciate the tips. Just sorting out the details now - a little off topic, but I promise I’ll get back :)…would this optic work with stock XM-L2 LED as a diffuser on the S2+ or am I better off just building a triple LED with Carclo frosted wide spot ?
I wouldn’t go through the work to make a triple unless you want higher output than you can get from a single emitter. The first optic you linked should work fine, though I haven’t tried it personally.
Not looking for high output at all, but I would like a nice floody beam.
So, my options would be to use the “stock” pill and simply change the driver board and add this optic or build a new pill using something like a Nichia 219B Triple on 20mm Noctigon and a Carclo frosted wide spot .
The only advantage to the latter would be a little better color and (possibly?) a better/floodier beam? I suspect I will drive at 100% from a single 7135 chip (380mAh) - would one solution offer lower output than the other?
You could also put DC-Fix on the lens of a tube light. It’s not quite as smooth as a frosted lens or frosted optic, but it’s quick and easy and pretty effective.
The hard part is getting the driver and tail light adjusted to work well with each other.
Well doing a triple always adds cost and a bit of time. I think you can get plenty of flood from a single optic, and if you want better color rendition you could always just swap the emitter for a single Nichia.
I won’t keep trying to talk you out of a triple, it just don’t think you’ll gain anything from going that route except for maybe some “cool factor”
Yes, but in this case a single-mode driver shouldn’t have any trouble at all
Thanks again for all of the advice, much appreciated!
I’m liking the size of the 18350 version S2+ for this application in blue, but it appears only the gray and black come with the rubber tailcap. So, to lego something together in blue I’m looking at the following items for the host:
Host =
Convoy S2+ Host (blue)
18350 Tube (blue)
Convoy S2+ with LED gray (for rubber tailcap)
For the LED driver, it would be nice to get a flood with one low light mode (like 10-15 lumens or less). I’m looking at a Nanjg driver with one 7135 chip (380mAh output) programmed with guppydrv which can be set to one mode at 100%.
LED/Driver/Optic =
LED - re-use XM-L2 that comes in gray S2+ host
Optic - 60 Degree Flood
Nanjg Driver w/ guppydrv firmware and (2) 7135 chips removed
And for the tailcap I’d like to go with purple LEDs (will the UV emitted potentially be harmful? should I use one red and one blue LED instead?):
Lit Tailcap =
PD68 Lighted Switch - 17mm Rev 3
Omten 1288 Switch
Spring
Translucent Tailcap (white)
Purple 0805 LEDs x 2
nylon or acrylic washer
- some 0603 or 0805 resistors for bleed resistor on driver and to adjust LED brightness level at tail
See any glaring problems, omissions, or have better recommendations for any components?