What did you mod today?

[Firelight2]

Today I did an emitter swap on a Niteye EC-R16.

This is an EDC light that fits an 18350.

Driver and emitter removed from the battery tube side of the head. Pop off the black cover around the positive contact, then unscrew 2 tiny phillips screws holding the star to the backside of a shelf. The driver and star come out as a sandwich with the switch and micro USB connector between them.

The star is aluminum. I heated it up with a soldering iron while still attached to the rest of the sandwich. Then I removed the LED (cool-white XPL) with a tweezers and replaced it with an XPL HI 3D. With the smooth reflector this light is fairly throwy for its size.

I originally purchased this light with the intent of doing the same mod I recently did to a Sunwayman C10R: convert it to a small triple powered by an IMR 18500 and FET driver. I’d still like to do that mod, but unfortunately, I have a problem: The Bezel is threadlocked on with what must be a ton of threadlocker and I can’t remove it with normal methods. I’m thinking I might need a blowtorch to heat the bezel enough to melt the threadlocker, but am worried that may damage the anodizing. I’ve never tried the torch method to remove a stuck bezel.

[KawiBoy1428]

Get one of these and a heat gun…

[Firelight2]

I actually have a heat gun and a strap wrench. Unfortunately, I don’t think they are very good quality. My heat gun is a Radio Shack thing meant for stripping paint. I don’t think it gets hot enough to soften threadlocker. And my strap wrench doesn’t seem to provide all that much torque.

Maybe I should look on Amazon and see if I can find a better heat gun and strap wrench.

[Andrew2007]

If it can melt paint then that’s too hot much heat to use on a light.

It may not even have thread lock on it, sometimes they’ve just been tightened too much and they’re never easy to unscrew if the bezel is shallow as it’s difficult to grip.

I had that problem with my Thorfire S70, I made some round jaws from a piece of wood that I could use in a bench vice to grip the bezel.

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Complex problem, the tighter you grip that thin bezel the more snug it is on the threads. Your force is applying directly to the threads and making it even harder to get off!

3M Auto tape, it’s double stick and it’s the stuff they use to stick emblems on cars. Stick a piece down on a glass table top, or formica, and then press the bezel down onto it firmly to make the adhesive activate. Then twist it off. That works a lot of times on the smaller thin bezel lights.

[Firelight2]

I wrapped 3M indoor stairway grip tape (the grey rubber stuff) around the bezel. I used a pliers with some more grip tape around the jaws to try to turn the bezel. I had the head anchored in a vise.

The sucker didn’t move at all. This method has worked for most lights. It will easily remove bezels with no threadlocker. I’ve even used it successfully to remove bezels with a moderate amount of threadlocker like the Jetbeam RRT01, and Jetbeam TCR01.

Unfortunately, this method didn’t work with the the EC-R16. Based on previous experience, I suspect they used a lot of threadlocker to anchor the bezel in place.

[Andrew2007]

@DB Custom

3M Auto tape, it’s double stick and it’s the stuff they use to stick emblems on cars. Stick a piece down on a glass table top, or formica, and then press the bezel down onto it firmly to make the adhesive activate. Then twist it off. That works a lot of times on the smaller thin bezel lights.

Good idea!

@Firelight2

I wrapped 3M indoor stairway grip tape (the grey rubber stuff) around the bezel. I used a pliers with some more grip tape around the jaws to try to turn the bezel. I had the head anchored in a vise.

The sucker didn’t move at all. This method has worked for most lights. It will easily remove bezels with no threadlocker. I’ve even used it successfully to remove bezels with a moderate amount of threadlocker like the Jetbeam RRT01, and Jetbeam TCR01.

Unfortunately, this method didn’t work with the the EC-R16. Based on previous experience, I suspect they used a lot of threadlocker to anchor the bezel in place.

Infuriating to say the least, I like to take them apart even if I’m not doing any mods. :rage:

[Henk4U2]

@DB Custom

Complex problem, the tighter you grip that thin bezel the more snug it is on the threads. Your force is applying directly to the threads and making it even harder to get off!

3M Auto tape, it’s double stick and it’s the stuff they use to stick emblems on cars. Stick a piece down on a glass table top, or formica, and then press the bezel down onto it firmly to make the adhesive activate. Then twist it off. That works a lot of times on the smaller thin bezel lights.

Or use the “TEVA”-method. In my case: clamp a (clean) hiking boot upside down between your thighs, press the bezel on the sole and turn. Especially thin bezels like that of my RRT-0 come loose quite easy.

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

If one makes me mad enough, I’ll drill holes in it and use a drill bit through the holes for leverage, fill the holes with JB Weld or something later. When I get onto getting it open, open it will!

[Firelight2]

@Henk4U2

@DB Custom

Complex problem, the tighter you grip that thin bezel the more snug it is on the threads. Your force is applying directly to the threads and making it even harder to get off!

3M Auto tape, it’s double stick and it’s the stuff they use to stick emblems on cars. Stick a piece down on a glass table top, or formica, and then press the bezel down onto it firmly to make the adhesive activate. Then twist it off. That works a lot of times on the smaller thin bezel lights.

Or use the “TEVA”-method. In my case: clamp a (clean) hiking boot upside down between your thighs, press the bezel on the sole and turn. Especially thin bezels like that of my RRT-0 come loose quite easy.

I tried something similar. I used one of the rubber pads from the grocery store for opening stuck jars on the top of the bezel. Also tried sticking a large piece of the 3M indoor stairway grip tape on the bezel then pressing my palm into it and turning.

In my experience, these methods don’t provide nearly as much leverage as the tape around the edges of the bezel with pliers. And unfortunately, I had no success on this light with either method.

[Ouchyfoot]

@MRsDNF

And the current reading was, insert drum roll here, :question:

A rock solid 4.5A. Huzzah!
Feels good to get that chip stacking monkey off my back.

[giorgoskok]

Very nice!
Low mode is “enough” low ?

[MRsDNF]

@Ouchyfoot

@MRsDNF

And the current reading was, insert drum roll here, :question:

A rock solid 4.5A. Huzzah!
Feels good to get that chip stacking monkey off my back.

Nice work Of. I had faith in your abilities all along. You have just put a big smile on my dial.
Now what is the hot rod driver going into?

[Ouchyfoot]

After just building fourteen red XP-E2 lights for other people (hunters), I figured I would build a special one for myself. The deep red Luxeon rebel has always intrigued me, and I needed a change from the XPE2s. This is the first rebel I’ve had mounted on a direct thermal path SinkPad II. These little rebels are rated for max 750mA, so I had to drive them at 1.5A per emitter. As already posted, I stacked a Qlite drive for 4.5A to run my triple. SinkPad triple boards are set up for easy series hookup, but not so convenient for parallel. You also have to remember to grind the edges, or it won’t fit in a 20Mm tube.

I started by building a little contact board to run the 22AWG Teflon leads from the driver pads. This mod wouldn’t have worked with silicone wires as they are twice as thick.

Attaching the 26AWG Teflon LED wires.

I had to expand the hole in the SinkPad, and still barely got the wires through. It’s a good thing I thought to stick an insulater disc to the roof of the pill, as there is no more room left inside. It’s jammed in tight. There is no room to store any slack wire. A real tight fit.

All the wires had to be sized and stripped to the exact length at the emitter. Time to add a Carlco optic and screw this baby into somethin.

A red triple should always be installed in a red host. That’s class.

Yep! It’s red alright.

Still red. My cat seems to like it.

Still red

Here’s the 18350 version for those who prefer a shorty.

Q: Why did Ouchyfoot build himself a red flashlight?
A: He has absolutely no idea.

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Because he COULD!
Nice one, looks pretty stinking awesome!

[MRsDNF]

I’m still amazed how you guys do this type of mod. Nice work.
I see you have a cat picture ready to enter into OL latest giveaway.

[Nicolicous]

@pilotdog68

Did my first mod work in a couple of months. Finally added an illuminated tailcap to my most-used light, my Thorfire TG06.

Three Yellow/Gold LEDs, 1k bleeder, 50k pot.

where can i buy illuminated tailcap?

[blitzwing]

Put an XP-L Hi into a Solarforce Pro-1 and hooked up a 2.8A driver I had, running a single 18650.

Works ok.

[pilotdog68]

@Nicolicous

@pilotdog68

Did my first mod work in a couple of months. Finally added an illuminated tailcap to my most-used light, my Thorfire TG06.

Three Yellow/Gold LEDs, 1k bleeder, 50k pot.

where can i buy illuminated tailcap?

Visit the link in my signature to order parts to build your own if you’d like. I don’t sell them personally.

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Sometimes it’s the simple things…

I “modded” the new Trustfire TR-J20 and gained 1000 lumens plus a few. Easy peasy mod, as it were. My Trustfire 32650’s came in from Richard, they bested the BASEN 26650’s by that 1000 lumens. Sometimes the right cell choice is HUGE, taking this one from 17.64A to 21.71A at the tail.

The UCLp lens gained me just shy of 400 lumens as well. So for a lens swap and the right cells I’m up 1400 lumens. I’m taking it!

“Final” count, 12,765 lumens out the front.