What did you mod today?

Already yesterday, still curious about the particular beam that a XP-G3 gives inside a reflector flashlight, I fitted a XP-G3 S5 3-bin into a S8 host with a smooth XP-reflector (from Mtn), led on 16mm Noctigon, soldered to pill, BLF-A6 driver, springs bypassed. The most difficult part was finding a suitable led centering ring, i forgot to look for one when ordering the reflector. Finally I found one in a box, it centered the led not perfectly, but the beam and focus were good.

I looked for the battery that gave the best current for this led and found the NCR18650PF best at 6.5A. The output at 3 seconds is 1300 lumen, after 30 seconds 1200 lumen, with the head heating up nicely. This is a seriously potent new XP-G !

The beam is very ok, I can see the yellow-ish spill around the (comparing to the spill) blue-ish hotspot but it looks quite natural to me like that. In the center of the hotspot I get a very slight brown spot, only seen on the white wall, I have seen that before in a warm white Olight S10 mod. To me it seems like the light from the red 'flakes' in the phosfor tend to aggregate in the center of the hotspot, it only happens with a good reflector. Can anyone explain how this is caused optically??, or is it the slightly off-center led?

The 3A tint is too cool for my liking, but apart from that there's nothing wrong with this led in this host, despite the narrow reflector it gets the light over there very well, I did not measure throw, but would estimate it at over 20kcd.

Good results djozz. I don’t know when I’m going to get around to modding a single XPG3. It ll depends on having odd number leftover after quads and triples. Actually, I just got a little SS 14500 in the mail that could use one,. It all depends on the crappy reflector.

I can’t wait for a bigger selection of these XPG3s to become available.

Thanks. I still have the 5000k and 4000k 90CRI on order from Cutter. I asked again when they come and Mark said a few days ago that he expected them somewhere in juli, so quite a bit later than was said earlier.

Nice testing Djozz.

I also tried out a bunch of XPG3 3A yesterday in a couple lights:

  • Skilhunt DS16 with stock driver. Tried XPG3 3A. Compared to XPL HI 3C 5000K. The beam from the XPG3 was noticeably cooler with a much more diffuse hotspot. This with the stock driver that probably only pulls 1.5 to 2 amps. I much preferred the tighter beam of the XPL HI in this underdriven light.
  • Manker E14 with H17F driver. Tried 4x XPG3 3A. Compared to 4x XPL HI (two 4000K and two 5000K). The XPG3s produce a wall of relatively cool white light. Very floody with a very wide diffuse hotspot with very little throw. In contrast the XPL HIs produced a beam that looked much more like the beam from a conventional reflector light with a much tighter spot, but still with a generous amount of spill. The XPL HIs were clearly producing much more lux than the XPG3. Even my triple XPL HI 18500 powered light with Carclo 10507 optic easily outthrew my Manker with 4xXPG3 powered by a Samsung 30Q.

My conclusion: I am not impressed with XPG3. It’s much less throwy than XPL HI, and looks slightly less bright. Also the tint of my XPG3s is much less pretty than the tint of my XPL HIs or Nichia 219C. I expect for all triples and quads I’ll stick with XPL HI, while for all small single-emitter lights I’ll go with either XPL HI or Nichia 219C.

Now I need to order more Nichia 219C.

Good comparisons, firelight.

I agree on the diffuse hotspot. I never have used this smooth reflector before so there’s no comparison, but similar type lights have a more distinct hotspot.

It is a matter of taste what type of hotspot you like, but I must admit that it seems that you can not get the XP-G3 to produce a distinct hotspot, but you can always get a XP-L Hi to produce a diffuse hotspot (with an OP reflector)

Rofis JR10 triple XP-G2 to 18500 cell and MTN FET moppydrv electronic switch firmware

I think that Rofis mod is the first time I’ve seen a triple in a “periscope” light. Pretty cool. How is it for heat sinking?

Being honest, due to the swivelling design heatsinking is not the best but the heat does transfer down the body too.
There is a chunk of aluminium spacer behind the triple noctigon so that helps some but 100% mode is for brief use on this.
The original driver was really good but i had an accident with that …

I really like this light as it is so comfortable to use in “periscope” mode (never heard that one before) :slight_smile: and now with the tail switch gone it is even easier to operate.

Nice job on the Rofis!

How is the electrical connection handled between the body and head? Are there wires which bend each time the head is swiveled?

Thanks, yeah there’s two wires going from the body to the head through a hole in the centre of the mechanism, i replaced these with thicker silicone wires.
I did try to open it up once to see how it was made but i couldn’t figure it out without damaging it.

I just started out so nothing spectacular. I modded my old 2D Maglite to fit 18650’s and the 225 lumen led drop in. It’s nice not to have to junk it but obviously it uses are limited compared to other lights. I think this is my “gateway” light, I’ve been watching a lot of videos by Old Lumens and others so this is just the beginning. :smiley:

Nice place to start and you picked a good member to emulate.

You cant go wrong watching OL videos. They are very inspirational.

I didn’t mod anything today but….received my first order from Russia from Kiribi-ru. S2+,S2series, x6, x5, spacers, triples, quads, optics on and on. Very well packaged in a case all separated. Looking forward to this! Hey…retired guys can have fun too.

Emitter swapped the emitter in my Sunwayman V11R mirage.

Finally figured out how to use strap wrenches properly so there was no damage to the anodizing. Replaced the cool white XML U3 with a 5000K XPL HI of unknown bin. Didn’t bother filing a Noctigon down to size. Just grabbed the nearest approprriate sized aluminum star. Tint, output and throw are much improved. :smiley:

I just modded my beloved Tank007 E09 to a 219c/FET+1.

I give the body of my v10r ti some work. Ideally I wanted to knurl the body but a couple of things prevented me from doing so. 1. I haven’t worked with Ti before and 2. I would need to cut the body right back to get it cylindrical again, I don’t know if the walls would stand up to the knurling tool after that.

Unfortunately I cracked 2 of the 4 trits in the tail. I have no idea how I did that on a 3 jaw chuck???


Bugger. How far into the machining did you get?

Wasn’t sure I understood your question but then I noticed pics weren’t showing again :weary: I don’t know what up with that, they’re all coming from the same file???

Emitter swap in my X6 triple :

From Nichia :

To XP-L HI :

Animated :