Jaxman Z1 Discussion

Not having any real experience with zooming lights, I’m not really sure what mode settings are best for a light like this, and which ones are rarely used. Obviously, it doesn’t function, or is designed to perform like a standard reflector flashlight, so I’d like to get the custom modes
just right.

Something else to think about… :person_facepalming:

CUSTOM: Choose your own modes (please put desired modes in checkout comments)

1 to 6 modes
Ascending or descending mode order :person_facepalming:

Memory: (n/a for guppydrv)

​Yes: remembers last mode.
No: always starts in first mode :person_facepalming:

:smiley:

On the XHP35 @ 2.5amp - 2000lumen there about, base your choices on what levels you would want for your use? Indoor/outdoors? My big lights I don’t need a going to the out house to pee level and would mostly be used outdoors in cooler weather, and I carry a smaller light for navigating at night, so I keep the levels towards my intended usage, XHP35 I like 25% (500lumen low) 50% 75% 100% the XHP70’s 5000+ lumen 10(500lumen low) 30%70%100 I like having the memory for outdoor spot/search/hunting lights so I can keep it at the Turbo level for scanning on/off, while on stand or in my hide,usually over an open field or in light to heavy woods to brush I can use the lower level for on/off scanning. But this works for me, it is what I like, from my experience’s in the field! :wink:

Every light I build gets guppydrv v2 no matter what. I almost have all of the modes memorized now haha!

I’m a little OCD about keeping my lights charged. I literally have to use my charger to cycle them every now and then because they never go bellow 50%.

I think it depends on what you’re going to use it for. If was going to use a light for a camping weekend, where I may need to use the light until it dies… then I’d definitely pick one with low voltage protection.

Yes. That’s what I mean. It’s not really a light meant for taking the dog for a stroll in the park, so I didn’t really think the lower modes would get a lot of use, just modes to skip past.

Why isn’t it a stroll-in-the-park light? The zoom feature allows a beam pattern for what you wish it to be. Wide angle flood for a walk, zoomed in hot spot for a shot at game or searching for the dogs lost ball under the brush.

Moon is nice with the wide angle, for a great many purposes. Not so much the zoom tight beam which is where Turbo comes in.

Leave yourself options. Then you can explore how the light works and set it up accordingly.

Now I’m getting really confused, but you’re right, since I’ve never really used a zoomie, I should keep all my options open. These drivers aren’t cheap, so I better choose wisely.

Wide open, the zoomie is great for working inside the computer or under the dash of the car, it has no hot spot and spreads light evenly from up close, great in a low mode and close up work. Zoomed in, the beam is very narrow, with virtually no spill, so it can be used to see a specific range like the walking trail in front of you without illuminating the sides or causing distraction by lighting up the whole room while raiding the fridge. :wink:

Thanks for the link and the follow-up photo.

I should clarify, the zoomed in beam is so tight it won’t help much on a walking trail, with no spill you’ll only see about a grapefuit sized spot on the ground in front of you. But it can easily be zoomed wider at will, to fill the area you want to illuminate. Be that a meter wide or 20 M wide. You’ll find it to be quite useful in a lot of different scenario’s, full zoom probably least of all with it’s very specific hot spot, which will in virtually all cases be square. (mine is the only emitter I am aware of with a round die face, so it makes a round beam in the aspheric, this is the SBT-70, one of the primary reasons I like it so much)

I’ll just keep this short & sweet. Personally ‘emarkd’ I did not read anything in your post that was out of line. You simply told your experience and what you did to fix it. :question: That is all I remember reading. It was what it was. You seem to have gotten one with a pill that needed a bit more work than mine or some others… just like Jaxman does when he builds his lights…

The wire holes in one of mine were not exactly opposite each other, but still the pill was completely usable.
I think as long as we realize that we are/were getting the same hosts Jaxman gets, and that once in a blue moon a component may not be exactly perfect; all will/would be well. I feel positive that in the extremely rare event that something was so out of whack as to be unusable Paul would take care of that.

Anyway, I think possibly we may have gotten some “bad Intel” from a former member as to the amount of feedback that Jaxman actually wanted about these Z1 hosts. He was simply going to supply us with the same hosts he uses and deals with on a daily basis as they assemble them. We as ‘modders’ would be expected to do the same as they do; correct any slight discrepancy. Just as you did and reported on. :+1:

I did not read anywhere where you criticized him or the way he runs his business. I thought what you said was very helpful & insightful.

Oh yeah, I think your Z1 with the MT-G2 is great!! :+1:

In fact, in this thread I have not seen one thing that would or could even be considered divisive in any way. I personally think some things were said in a couple of other threads that were totally uncalled for, but I don’t recall they were said by anyone that has posted in this thread.

And I agree with what someone said about not sweeping anything under the rug, we should not. But as far as I am concerned this is a proven light and host. If there is anything that needs “tweaking” during assembly that would benefit others by posting it… by all means do so. And if we ever do get the chance at getting a GB going in the future, I hope we make the best of it. :wink:

But as far as I am concerned when jaxman explains to us how they do it assembling the lights, that is good enough. It is uncalled for that anyone question how they do it or dismiss their process in any way…. as was done in spades on a couple of other threads. Those persons should design their own light, start producing them, and do it however they wish…… instead of criticizing another man’s process.

Anyway, here is to a Bright Future……… :+1:

Agree…and it was necessary to make ALL OF US aware of the issue. That is how we learn. I learned from it! …and I want an MT-G2 version if the host GB proceeds. Like It!

Ha yeah, well put teacher and leroycp.
And man oh man what cool led that MTG2 is for this light.

From 489 lumens zoomed to 945 lumens, without a power increase.

I figured I’d give a dual lens set-up a try like MEM does, being as how I had a 28mm aspheric sitting around doing nothing. So I’ve spent a good portion of the day making a holder for a second lens such that light would be focused into the larger aspheric. This does and doesn’t work, it gives a larger hot spot and effectively doubles the lumens output in Turbo/zoom but it really decreases the range of flood.

I’ll get some pics of what I did and show ya, it’s been quite a day… 101 in the shade where I work at the lathe, no air flow at all as the neighbor, once again, has blocked all the South windows with round bales of hay. Ugh. I’m soaked and tired. lol

What is the distance between the emitter and the 28mm aspheric ?

Also , did you measured the difference in throw ?

I can already imagine this nice mod :wink:

Most of what makes something like this truly successful is knowing what you’re doing, like MEM. Me, not so much. MEM researches the characteristics of the two lenses, matches their outputs and very carefull makes the holder within a thousandth such that everything is working together in an optimized fashion. I used what I had at hand, the two lenses are probably nowhere near being right for each other, but in the end the lumens is higher, the hot spot larger, and it kept me busy for half a day. :stuck_out_tongue:

My idea was to make an aluminum tube, threaded to fit where the cover plate goes, and threaded inside to accommodate a secondary holder for the optic itself. This would let me thread the smaller aspheric up or down to fine tune focus. I planned to have the threaded tube long enough to cover the smaller optic so the two glass lenses would not crash into each other. This proved a worthy goal, a difficult one, and I had to return to the lathe 3 times to get it right. My initial judgement on the focal point of the 28mm aspheric was pretty close and ultimately I got em working together. Now maybe I’ll look for a better choice for the secondary lens.

My copper pill was made with a broader shoulder to fill the available space without causing issues on the movement…

The smaller aspheric in it’s holder can thread up/down but as it turns out, is more ideally placed at the bottom of it’s travel, so a good deal of the work I did to make it adjustable was for naught. Perhaps a more appropriate lens will make more use of this feature. I had to thread the base of the secondary adapter at 1mm to match inside the head, I used this to place the retaining ring over the small aspheric as well, then I turned to 0.5mm threads for the finer adjustment inside the adapter tube and outside the optic holder. Lot of threading, much of which I did by turning the chuck by hand. Exhausting stuff in this heat! Short runs I don’t like engaging the motor as it’s too easy to crash it.

I intended to put a groove in the face of the holder for a thin o-ring, so there wouldn’t be metal to glass when the light is pulled all the way in. But I’ve got it sanded pretty smooth so it should be all right. :wink:

The small aspheric is only mm’s away from the die face, like 5-6mm. The larger primary ends up maybe 18-20mm from the secondary when zoomed, it’s not much and goes out of focus if zoomed the length of the thread travel.

I’ll show MEM how horribly I screwed this up and he’ll take pity on me and help me find the right secondary optic. :wink: lol

COOL!
And you can play with the placing of the inner lens, WAUWIE!
This was a very nicebuild light wth that LED and now you managed to up that!
All looks great! the threads, the holder, and above all the idea of doing it adjustable for better focus or other lens NICE!

Well, I can’t take credit, I was just going to glue it in with Sugru and call it a day and in fact, did glue it in last night. But the stuff MEM has been talking about must’ve percolated while I slept and I woke up around 3AM with this idea on the soggy noodle. So this morning I got up, pulled the Sugru out, and by about 8:30AM I was out in the shop.

It was then that I discovered while ideas are all well and good, execution is another story. :stuck_out_tongue: I’m still new on the lathe, it’s work, especially with the heat, but in the end I think it’s worth it.

This is 3 pieces, with 5 areas of threading, might have bit off more than I could chew.

For someone like me, coming from hacking stuff together with a cordless drill and a Sears Rotary tool with a few files and some sandpaper, this is really flippin cool to be able to do! For folks like Hoop and TexasLumens and MRsDNF, it’s probably painful to look at. Sorry guys, but I’m plugging away at it! :stuck_out_tongue: (Honestly, how many machinists got started so out of the blue? No experience with a lathe whatsover, to making lights, it’s quite the transition and I’m probably doing it all wrong, but doing it at all is fun to accomplish!)