I just did a pretty simple mod to my BLF Mini, replaced the XML T6 3C with a new XM-L2 T6 from Mouser. I believe the the XM-L2 is in the neutral tint at 5000K, 75 CRI, so it should be a valid comparison.
Ceiling bounce test before: 62 lux @start, 56 after 30 secs
Ceiling bounce test after: 72 lux @start, 68.5 after 30 secs (same battery, not touched or charged, minutes after the "before" test)
Of course this is just one sample/example, but it does seem to result in a decent percent increase and also the XM-L2 holds it's brightness better in the BLF Mini host. I did replace the thermal grease that was there under the star with Arctic Alumina, but the amount and coverage seemed equal to what was there before. I re-used the same star, just re-flowed the XM-L2 onto it. Nothing else was changed: wires, driver, or any other heat managment mods, lube, anything.
Nice work Tom,10k lux gain is nice.I'd like to see some pics if you get a chance,sounds like a cool mod.I really need to learn reflowing and hopefully it turns out better than my de-doming fiasco.
I've been trying to upload them into PhotoBucket - nothing happens! Frustrating...
In looking at these indoor beam shots, I'm thinking my BLF Mini wasn't assembled properly before, and therefore the beam was out of focus. You could see what I mean If I could upload... I didn't realize the reflector screws into the pill, so when I had it apart previously maybe I didn't assemble it correcty. Maybe the result are not valid now .
Update, got them now. These are wall shots from 6 feet, manual mode settings on the camera so should all be the same.
Before:
After:
Hhhmmm, not too sure of the quality and settings - been playing around with them. I used these settings for doing 15 different lights for comparison, all the way up to a TR-J18, so now the BLF Mini looks a bit dark here.
Another Update:
The beam patterns actually do reflect how it looked before and after to the naked eye. But when I re-assembled after updating the LED, I only noticed the reflector screws in, so can't be sure it was screwed in before or not. Shoot..... My intention was to really isolate the LED change only. The beam know looks much better in both the photo and the the eyeball.
Mouser page: Mouser - XMLBWT020LT60E3. These are out of stock now, I ordered 3 back on 12/16. Now I have 5 XM-L2 U2's on order from IlluminationSupply, basically same price as Mouser. I think Mouser has the U2's in stock as well.
A year later, but if you (or anyone) have more info on taking a BLF Mini apart to mod it, pointer needed please.
I bought three; two of them became very intermittent in the past year.
I removed one of the pills (just unscrewed it) and put it back in place, with some conductive lubricant, and replaced the original spring with a better one (spare parts bin, I think it’s silver-plated), and that’s good for now.
The other inermittent one has some solder showing around the edge of the contact at the edges and a little wire soldered to the edge of the board coming from inside the pill, so it had been fixed once I guess before I got it. Haven’t risked taking that pill out yet.
One of mine had metal shavings on top of the driver causing irregular operation. Fine after just unscrewing the pill, dusting it off, and screwing it back in.
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