My Uniquefire T20 mod is a fail, and I gave up on it. Several problems:
1) It flickers badly, no matter what driver did I swap into, even if I swapped into stock driver it still flickers badly. Have tried shorting the tailcap and the light still flickers, means it is not the switch issue. Really cannot figure out why and it just doesn’t go away.
2) A little damage is seen on the surface of the dedomed XP-G2, one of the ‘dots’ does not lit, not sure if that has something to do with the flickering though.
3) With many times soldering and desoldering drivers on the pill, the pill has been messed up and there are excessive solders difficult to be removed away on the driver contact area, causing any 17mm drivers become a hard-fit into it.
4) 20mm star will kinda cover the holes for the driver’s wires passing through, making the wires difficult to be solder on it or to be removed. If I stick to the 16mm star things may be easier.
5) Focusing of this light is so bad with stock condition, they just never bother the focal length of the lens at all? Had to add o-ring to raise the lens for better focusing, but that will cause the head unable to ‘self-lock’(don’t know how does it call?), the whole head will dislocate once it is turned for full flood.
I have spent so much time on modding and repairing this light but it has just too many problems and I am so frustrated, so it may not be the Qlite problem (but moonlight modes still flickers in my other light, e.g. C8). Since Tom E and other members have good result with this light I can only say that it’s just plain stupid of me.
Step away from the light for awhile, then come back to it, but don’t give up! This happens all the time to me… Just stop working on it, and then come back to it fresh.
For #4, maybe you can use a small round file to cut down into the sides, so that the emitter wires don’t come up under the star. See pics here:
Cutting those holes are not hard. I did it with a small file, starting with the original hole, and just enlarging it down the sides.
Take a break, then try again!
EDIT: Post some pics.
Also for the flickering, remove the pill from the light, and test it outside the light. That’ll make it easier to isolate whatever the problem is…
Hmm that’s a shame. I had a great success modding mine.
I used the Qlite driver and I used a 16mm copper star with an XM-L2 and it left me enough room to screw the star down on the pill. I know what you mean about the focus, mine almost gets there but not fully, its a bit of a shame really as it would only need to move a fraction more to achieve a good focus. In saying that though, i built this light as a flooder which it does perfectly.
I am addicted to modding these. To improve the focussing issue, I either grind out the raised portion of the factory pill until it is smooth. This lets the LED sit a little more recessed. Or when using the pills from fast tech, I’ll grind the underside of the edge of the pill down allowing it to screw in further. I do this until I achieve the focus I want. Sorry if this explanation is not great. I’m supposed to be writing a school paper so I’m a little distracted lol
Hi ohaya, thanks for the encouraging words. Think the current XP-G2 on Noctigon is also messed up so if I want to continue with this mess I will order new parts for a real fresh start, like the XP-G2 on 16mm Noctigon, but it is not cheap, actually I don’t understand why XM-L2 on Noctigon is even cheaper than XP-G2? Is it because of more people ordering the XM-L2? I just don’t feel like spending more bucks on my T20 anymore because I wish to proceed to my other mods, further tweaking my T08 and mod a Shocker. You are right, maybe after finish all the other mods I may come back to this again, just don’t want to see it anymore for the moment.
I may want to order a new pill as well. About the pics I will look again if I can upload any usable one.
I won’t quit modding as I always pick up new knowledge and some skills along with this hobby.
Cool.
Good suggestion on the grinding of pill surface. Does this brass pill from FT fits nicely in the T20?
Yes, I have ordered about 6 of those pills from FT and they have all worked perfectly. I recently began grinding down the underside of the top edge allowing it to screw in further and I have gotten better focus with the XM-L2, XP-G2 and XP-E2. I hope it works for you as well!
As everyone has said, take a breather and come back to the project another day. When I am frustrated due to something not working out with a mod, this always help and I come back refreshed and ready to tackle the challenge. It has always paid off in a rewarding way!
Especially once you’re running those XP-G2’s on copper stars at 2.8a. Its amazing what kind of light they can put out.
My next challenge is de-doming. I tried once using gasoline, and I ruined the LED
Easy for me to say, since it’s not my mod, huh :)? Just kidding, but definitely come back to it.
Can you post some pics of the XP-G2 on the Noctigon, so we can see and maybe suggest how to UN-ruin it? Maybe, worst case, just remove the XP-G2 emitter if it’s damaged, and reflow a new XP-G2 emitter onto it?
When you do come back to this mod, I’d still suggest testing the pill (emitter+driver) outside of the light first and get that working, then move to putting it into the host. Have to eliminate possibilities, one-at-a-time…
