Ray Bow — Inside and Modification
Inside
I have an example of the Ray Bow RB 501 now, see the pictures above. It is similar to a POP/Lenser/Coast but not from the same factory. I like it, but not quite as well as most POP lites and Lensers. It has two zone optics with the aspheric zone too weak to focus at the same time as the TIR zone, similar to a Coast. That gives a two zone focus and a very wide flood. It has a (real ?) XP-E on a very small (probably not direct) star sitting in a depression on the end of the pillar extending up from the pill into the cylindrical hole in the optics, secured by rubbery thermal compound. It draws 0.66 A from the included 18650 cell, charged to 4.04 V. The bezel and pill were not glued, like a POP lite, or very tightly torqued, like a Lenser.
It is from here: Taobao, raybow Rui Leopard outdoor flagship store: https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=15302013715&toSite=main&skuId=57727356140, by way of the agent YoyBuy.
No visible wires, so this star is two sided.
The driver had next mode memory, proving that the low price is no fluke. Penciling the yellow capacitor fixed it. Changing LED – to the other pad might up the current, or it might overload the single IC.
It slides on two o-rings. The slide was very stiff until I put oil on it.
It would be nice if we could get some store like FastTech or BangGood to make them easier for non-Chinese speaking people to get, at a price below that of a POP lite T62, or with a bigger LED and higher current driver. It cost me $18.20, mostly shipping, with included cell and charger.
The star is not a two sided MCPCB, it is a very thin fiberglass board.
There is a rim around the top of the pillar of the pill about 1 mm. high, holding the star in place. The flat top of the pill is only about 1 mm. thick.
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Modification
I started with a 17mm FET+1 BLF A6 built from a kit and an XP-G on 16 mm. Noctigon filed to 8 mm. It worked at first, then had various problems, including the light going out when the optics touched the LED’s dome. The driver was also malfunctioning, either because of my build or because there may not be enough clear ground ring around it to fit the pill.
I changed to a Qlite driver, added a 2nd o-ring spacer, and did a partial de-dome with file. It worked, but was not as bright as it should be for the current it was drawing.
I am changing LEDs, this one may be damaged: Nichia 219C 5000k LED, less solder between LED and star, can’t file the pillar, as it is too thin. Partial de-dome again. It will still need o-ring spacers.
See: What did you mod today? - #1296 by Fritz_t_Cat .
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Conclusions
This still seems a very interesting light, because of its optics, its price and its build quality. More experience has shown details I don’t like. For use as is, it appears to be a very useful and probably trouble free light. It focuses a lot of its light, and it is light weight and compact for the battery size. It appears and feels very rugged, as well as comfortable.
In stock form, the things I don’t like are relatively low output and a plastic star. That is a (thin) fiberglass mounting board for the LED, instead of a metal core printed circuit board (MCPCB).
What I don’t like to modify is that the floor of the tower in which the LED sits is only 1 mm. thick. This is OK if you want a light weight model, but it doesn’t give room to put in a 1.5 mm. direct thermal copper MCPCB to get high performance. And it is another way that heat transfer could be improved in the stock light.
There might be other performance limitations that I haven’t recognized, or other features I don’t appreciate yet.