What did you mod today?

I just posted pictures of the Hugsby ML-8 taken apart in the review thread … Better late than never :wink:

Will hopefully try the new smo reflector later tonight. XP-G2(DD), XM-L2(DD) or XP-L HI….

Wish I had more time….

I modified my ankle last Sunday into a constant source of creative interruption. :stuck_out_tongue:

Tweaked a Convoy BD1 to 4.2A and moved the warm white emitter to a copper star. Very cool how this light is built, seeing the charging indicator light up the reflector from around the LED is cool! Nice light, well made, the charger didn’t take my Powerizer 26650 to a full state of charge though, terminating at 4.13V. I’ll try again with a newer cell.

Bumped output and changed emitters in a cheap zoomie, went with an XP-L V6 1D over the XM-L that was present, took it up a bit over 4A with the stock driver. (blinkies, blech!)

Spent some time working on an extension tube for a TR20, my ankle hates me. This morning I’ll be enlisting the aid of a more professional modder to address the situation. They call her Dr……

TR20 extension? Care to share, buddy, pal ? What’cha got cookin Doc!!

S70 simple driver adapter for a RMM-FETDD26mm, using (3) 30.5mm copper hydraulic washer’s (seals). S70 driver…. RMM FETDD26mm driver… Copper seals… Measurements… Splitting one of the rings fit it tight to the ID of one of the other rings,this supports the FETDD driver, liberally coat with solder paste, put all 3 together, and heat till nice and silvery. Driver retainer matches perfectly… Fits S70 driver cavity with just a tiny amount of slop… Adapter, and driver in S70 head… Driver retainer holds everything together… Ready to rock some High Amps!! Next S70 mod will be thermally potting the head, close up some of them holes and get the heat out…… Using this stuff… Pushed it thru the back of the driver cavity and then out. Let it set up a bit, then using a sharp edged tool, skimmed off close to the emitter surface, and then jus finish up how ever you want. Now just drill simple holes for leads and drill and tap for the mcpcb. My S70 is pulling 11.7 amps with the new N41B mounted on the Maxtoch, heat is now felt at the head faster, thermal transfer is way better now, this stuff works well for potting and cost alot ALOT less then Stycast!!

In post #497, I put a 17mm driver in a BLF D80 by soldering it to the wrong side of the retaining ring.

It’s not pretty. :stuck_out_tongue:

Today, I successfully installed a 17mm driver from Mountain Electronics in the other D80.

I was able to center the driver on the shelf and install the retaining ring without issue.

Thanks for the tip, DEL! :slight_smile:

Here’s a photo of both methods:

I built a convoy M2 with qlite 3A driver and a eagle eye X6 XPL HI host from gearbest with the mtn FET+1 driver, both with XPL HI V2 3B emitters on noctigons from intl outdoors.

The M2, at 2.9A, has 31,800cd, measured at 6.05m.

The X6, at ~5.2A, has 71,400cd, measured at 6.05m.

Lux measurements made with tondaj lx-1010b.

The X6 came with a centering ring that seems to work with the XPL HI emitter. It is circular and it rests on the 4 corners of the emitter rather than on the mcpcb. I haven’t tightened the bezel all the way down yet because I’m not sure how much pressure the reflector is putting on the centering ring and emitter. For anyone who has this host, what has been your experience with using the centering ring?

Measuring standard is 5M, taking readings from non standard distances skews the results. Just saying.

X6 centering ring SHOULD fit around the emitter, sit on the mcpcb. Sometimes overflow from the emitter reflow makes bumps or “balls” of excess solder that will hold the centering ring up. With this one, being round surrounding the square substrate, that shouldn’t be a problem. But it isn’t supposed to sit on the corners of the substrate.

Edit: The 3 newest ones I received DO have that odd new centering ring. It is cut out on the bottom to fit around the substrate but has a thin shelf on top that partially covers the corners. Beats me why they keep changing things! It appears to put pressure on the mcpcb itself, it will almost assuredly tear the phosphor/silicone off the corners if opened up repeatedly. I think if I am keeping these in this single emitter set-up I’ll trim that overlaying area or change out the centering ring altogether. They also appear to have a copper mcpcb, haven’t tested yet to see if they are DTP.

The ideal throw measuring distance is infinity, and what is a good practical distance depends on the type of flashlight. A small aspheric like the Supfire F3 calculates virtually the same kcd when measured at infinity and 2 meter, the Courui big head will need more than 5 meter for that.
So more is always better, and IMO making 5 meter a standard measuring distance is good for standardisation but it is not good for doing fair throw measurements.

Not really today but last days.

Some may know that my S70 driver died, I got the replacement condensator earlier this week. Almost at the same time I got a Nichia 219C from a great member here (thnx Djozz!! :beer: ). He offered to reflow it on a 16mm noctigon. (funny part is, I forgot that the convoy C8 uses a 20mm PCB… :smiley: )

So had a couple things to do :smiley: .

First I repaired the S70 driver. (that yellowish thing is the condensator)

And while I had it out I also bepassed the spring with some 20AWG silicon wire, which I got from hobbyking the week before.
It’s much easier to do a bypass with some wire than some copper braid/solder wick. Though I find it still be a pain in the ass… :stuck_out_tongue:

Here is the Nichia 219C on the 16mm noctigon, including a o-ring that he used for protecting the led.

First I wanted to use it in a convoy C8 (with the integrated shelf) that has a Fet +1 driver in it. Both the tail and driver spring where bypasses with some copper braid. I removed them both to try to keep the Amps in controle.
I’m not sure what went wrong but it didn’t work. It didn’t even light up. When I pulled the driver out I noticed both the springs where deformed. Apparently they become quite hot. So that wasn’t a succes.
Luckily I had an other convoy C8 which has the removable pill that a modded Qlite in it, so I used this one for the Nichia.
Here is it mounted and soldered. I made some low clearance spacers for the wires from pieces of copper braid that was filled with solder, to clear the reflector. And I centered it as good as possible.

And it works!!

Now I had a XM-L2 on copper laying around that was mounted in the C8 I used for the Nichia, a fet driver without a spring and a C8 host without use.
So I took a piece of a brass plunger, that was used on a tailcap of a cheap C8 clone, and soldered that on the driver.

Also bypassed the tail spring with some 20AWG wire.

Here is the driver mounted in the light and a picture of the XM-L2.

So, I’ve repaired my S70. Put a Nichia 219C in a convoy C8 with a Qlite modded driver (+4 7135’s). And put the remaining XM-L2 and fet driver in the remaining C8.

Good job! :beer:

I hear ya djozz, some of the lights need much more distance to properly gauge the throw but still, ANSI set’s the standard, not me. If everyone measures at the same distance, we can all comprehend the number… if everyone measures from whatever distance they see fit then the number is meaningless as far as everyone understanding it and being able to compare it to their own results is concerned. Hence, 5M standard. Pretty sure ANSI also has a 15M standard for larger lights. Gotta look it all up again, my fishnet memory bank has lost pertinent data.

Edit: FWIW, ANSI and NEMA FL-1 Standard require testing distance of 2M, 10M, or 30M depending on corresponding flashlight size. A quote from Selfbuilt… “Note that the ANSI FL1 standard requires measures be taken at 2m, 10m, or 30m from surface of the lens, as appropriate for the size of the flashlight head and output width. ” The main rule of thumb seems to be that the distance is squared and the meter reading is multiplied by that number, this, they say, will produce the same results from any distance. (grain of salt)

They claim that the candela will not vary with distance, but we know better don’t we? My TK-61 converged out around 30-40’, so it wouldn’t perform well in the lesser distance tests for smaller lights. The “standard” distance found on the packaging labels of most lights is 5M. For apples to apples comparisons and to maintain the understanding, following the standards is recommended.

ANSI-NEMA FL-1

It is not that you will find significant different numbers measuring at 5 meter or 6 meter, it takes a very peculiar flashlight to find that. I dare state that the variety in luxmeter calibrations, even if a quality meter is used, is greater than this difference.

I agree, but the problem is one of standards, being able to compare a light built and measured in Russia or Germany or the UK to one built and measured in Texas USA. The issue, Mitko is repeatedly building C8’s with 190Kcd and higher, while nobody here can get close to that. So what is the difference? I used the highest binned XP-G2 available, Richards Buck driver at 5.5A , a UCLp lens and a brand new C8 with new cells… 158Kcd is the best I can tweak from it. That’s a significant difference, so where is that coming from? This is why standards are important, so slight differences from measuring techniques can be eliminated and hardware problems solved.

I filed off the ledge of the centering ring on the X6 so it fits completely around the emitter package, and the focus is still good, so thanks for this suggestion.

I measured the throw at 5.05m and it was about 2% less than that measured at 6.05m for the X6.

Just built a triple using a SolarStorm K2 with 3 XP-L V6 2C emitters with ledil cute-3 SS optic and 12mm FET driver from mtn electronics. I don’t have access to a lathe, so for the spacer/heatsink I bought an appropriate diameter section of aluminum from onlinemetals.com cut to the correct length. They don’t guarantee very accurate length cuts, but I bought a few pieces and one was just about the right thickness.

Like most people trying to mod this host, I could not get the tailcap off to do an optimal bypass mod. But I did bypass most of the spring that I could access with the tailcap still on, by working with the soldering iron down the length of the body tube. I then tried to measure the resistance of the body/tailspring combo, and got about 31 mOhms.

I piggybacked the FET driver in a similar fashion to RaceR86. Without the body/tailcap section, but with my 35 mOhm ammeter, I was getting around 8A with a freshly charged 30Q. Was hoping for a bit more. Not sure if there is a lot of resistance somewhere in the driver piggyback or wires or if these emitters have slightly higher forward voltages.

With a freshly charged Efest purple 4200 26650 in the flashlight, which has very similar internal resistance to the 30Q: a ceiling bounce comparison test revealed it was 3.7x brighter than the M2 I put together with XPL HI V2 3B at 2.9A. If the M2 has 625 lumens OTF, this triple K2 has 2300 lumens.

22,300 cd measured at 6.05m.

Edit: I measured the forward voltage of the emitters by powering the flashlight with my power supply, which displays the current, then measuring the voltage at the mcpcb. This confirmed that the forward voltage is the same as what djozz measured in his test of the XPL V6 2C. With a freshly charged 30Q, the voltage at the LEDs was 3.55V, which equates to ~3.2A per LED or 9.6A in total.

I made no pictures but I modded my Supfire F5 with dedomed XP-G2 S4 2B (one of my last good ones) and BLF-A6 driver. The switch was replaced with a small Omten, bypasses and tweaks were done for maximum current, with the driver floating above the 22mm stock-driver-made-into-contact-board I even heatsinked the 7135 to the edge of the pill.
On maximum output:

Flood: 810 lm
Spot: 204 lm
Throw: 102 kcd (at 30 seconds, 30Q battery almost full)

The throw is almost exact what was predicted from calculating the throw of my Brinyte B158 (with same led and direct driver, 322kcd) back to the smaller (25mm vs 45mm) lens of the F5.

It has become a good small alround flashlight with great throw for its size.

Today I gave new life to a very special flashlight: the Nitecore Extreme Infinity (The father of all SIPIK clones). This little light is special because it was the very first high quality LED light I ever bought and it has never failed me in any way, let’s say I trust this more than most other light in my collection. Back in 2008 it was one of the most highly praised lights for it’s excellent design and build quality, it’s been with me 8 years already and it was still going strong. It had flat regulation, infinitely variable brightness and hidden strobe, something you don’t easily find even in modern flashlights.

If you want to know more about it check this review: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?198445-CPFReviews-com-NiteCore-Extreme-TM-Extreme-Closeup-Pics-Added

However 200lm was falling short for most EDC tasks, so I decided to give it a 2016 revamp:
-XR-E changed to XP-L V6 1A
-Stock driver replaced with a MTN-17DDm FET+1 w/A6 FW
-Filled the gaps on the pill, improved thermal transfer on the light engive
-Replaced all o-rings
-New tail switch and rubber boot to handle the high amps

Used masking tape for better grip to unscrew the brass pill

Stock driver used twisty action to set brightness, so it has 2 grounds

As you see above the shelf was fairly thin, so potted it with lots of solder.

OLD vs NEW, the switch has to be reverse to workwith the A6 FW

Copper tape used to maximize contact to the head, it actually works pretty well.

OLD vs NEW. I first tried an XP-L HI but it wouldn’t focus properly due to the low height, but XP-L has perfect focus.

A little beat up, but many years of EDC to come. :slight_smile:

Nice.

An old favourite of mine, the Nitecore EA4, now with Ledil cute optic housing 3 Nichia 219C LEDs and handmade 19x 36mm aluminium heatsink. I had previously installed the Tailcap Lockout some time ago.

Really nice output from those Nichia’s. :slight_smile:

Okay here is the ML8 build:

First I taped the gripping points on the light.

Then I placed in a vice and used a pipe wrench to remove the top. Be careful so as NOT to squeeze so hard you bend or break the case shell. a 12 inch pipe wrench with a light pull should loosen it. Also take note where the vice grabs.

cut the bottom part of a c8 pill off to act as spacer for 17mm driver

*** I couldnt get the pics to post here for what ever reason and Im not putting any more time into it. The following is a link to a story line on photobucket. http://s430.photobucket.com/user/dehc111/story

The product of this mod: (The second pic I think i got my finger in the way but it should give u an idea of what to expect.)

I hope all this posts okay....... ugg