Found out I get another snow day tomorrow. So I decided to stay up late and make one last "Police Light". Although I really like the stock reflector, I decided to try the newish 219 (92cri) emitter from KD and this 20mm, 15 degree TIR. Just file down the lip to get the diameter down to 18mm. Unfortunately, I scraped the back of the TIR several times during the filing process. Again, 1/2" ID Copper coupling with 1/2" copper pipe for emitter base to rest on.
Parts:
Put this short piece under the driver so that I can press out the assembly without putting strain on the driver. I've removed and reinserted the assemblies in the other "Police Lights" multiple times and the driver takes the abuse. The shorter piece of copper pipe is soldered (sweated) in place as it is what actually get pressed on to push out assembly.
Top of pill. Made as long as possible to help add mass and distribute heat. The body on the host is thin and this makes all the difference. Sinkpad is pressed in tight and reflowed to pill.
Since battery tube is almost 16mm ID, decided to add some thermal mass using aluminum flashing. It says 4.7 inches, but I ended up taking about 1/4" off length. Also shortened to just shy of cell length. Mouse over shows it partially in tube.
Wall shot, about 3 feet from wall for light and 4 1/2 feet for camera. Beige wall. Not all spill is included, but it doesn't show in the picture anyway. The beam is real smooth and even looking in real life. I like the stock reflector beam pattern better. Much smaller and intense hot spot. So more throw.
I really like the new Nichia219B 4500K 92CRI sold by Kaidomain. To me, the CRI seems quite high, but I'm not a reliable judge of CRI and tint. I think I like it better than the older 92cri emitter.
I have to admit it, I like these lights. I like this model better as it isn't as slippery. The pressed in plastic lens turns most off. I would prefer a screw on bezel, but it's not a deal breaker for me. I don't know why people criticize the reflectors in these. They seem pretty decent to me. Maybe its the plastic lens that makes the reflector look dull to some.
That's it for now. I'm "Police Light"ed out.. Time to work on some bigger lights.
great jobe on these. Looks like everyone is getting into modding the super-budget cheapo-lights. maybe i will do one of the many i have kicking around.
A nice light it has become! And I do like the broad even hotspot of the TIR. I think that I would not bother to use these Police lights as a host, so I'm glad you did it and show to us how nice it can become :-)
Wow. Snow has brought up the inner budget productivity in you.
These are really cool result. You literally can get high CRI mini light for really cheap, thanks to the 119 emitter. Custom build such as these go around $80. Of course these budget builds are not remotely near the same quality, but still, the output is quite great.
Here’s my look at current pricing:
Cheapie host - $1.59 at BIC.
Nichia 119 - $1.37 at FT jerks. Much cheaper from Texaspyro if you’re willing to buy in 10s (if he still has some).
Driver - around $2-$4 depending on your choice. Single mode 7135s cost only about 20c per chip.
Thermal management - also depends on choice current.
For 700mA single mode - your cost is only around $3.50 if you can recycle some scrap metal you have for thermal. I think I used some copper busbar strip for mine, worked well enough.
Thanks guys. Even though I like these modded lights, I wouldn't bother either if I didn't already have the hosts (or got them for a penny). Especially since they have no clips.
MRsDNF wrote:
Very nice ImA4wheelr. Did the scratch on the back of the TIR affect the beam at all?
You know, I don't know. I don't see any obvious artifacts. So maybe not. I've have very little experience with TIR's. It mostly looks ugly if you look directly at the TIR, from an angle, when on in moonlight or low mode. I figure the front of the TIR will get scratched over time. When it gets too scratched, I'll pull it and replace it or polish it front and back.
Following your lead I pulled out one that I got for free from banggood. Mine died a quick death via 14500.
I put in a Nichia 219 on a sinkpad along with a East-092 driver that I got the other day with some other stuff I bought. I had an orange peal reflector from another broken free light and it also had a nice glass lens. The reflector actually just went in the end about a quarter of the way although it’s the same size roughly as the hole. This gave me the extra room so I could use 14650 IMR’s that I got thrown in on another trade I did. So the only thing I bought was the sinkpad.
It’s a pretty sweet little light now and I have something to use with the 14650 batteries.
Cool 18650. It is fun to put out a bunch of lumens from a small light. IMR and East92 has to be the tops for this light. Did you press in a copper ring or something to hold the glass lens?
The driver just got pressed in. I soldered a few small copper wires on it until it fit correctly jammed in as hard as possible. Between the driver and the sinkpad I put some of that thermal pad stuff for potting drivers with. That also jammed in pretty tight. I pounded the reflector on with a hammer. until it was jammed in against the sinkpad. I used some thermal compound on the sinkpad so it’s transferring heat pretty fast. Wired up before of course. The lens was just epoxied down with clear epoxy from ace hardware. Pretty good stuff actually. Cheap and works great. I just laid out a thin layer and touched the reflector top to it once I was all done and working good. then I set it on the lens. Perfect. The light is all beat up but it’s kinda cool that way. Real sleeper light. The e-fest IMR’s are nice in it. 950mah.
Thanks again for the inspiration. This makes a great little beater pocket light. Super nice tint and pretty nice all around light really.
This thread may be the start of a new category of lights: fast builds of wildly jammed and irreversably glued lights using cheap parts lying around, but with great performance. Nice work!
This thread makes me smile from ear to ear. Thank you for sharing that beater light. Looks unreal bright. I gotta say you guys are making me reconsider doing build threads. My work is mostly in the mediocre to broken range lately so I gave up ever showing it to anyone. Maybe I should stop being so self conscious about it :-D
I like it 18650, kind of Mad Max meets small flashlight. Thanks for sharing the build details. Epoxy is a great idea. I need to consider that material more in flashlight builds/mods. So flexible in what you can build, but so durable once cured.
I'm starting to really like this third one. Last night I went out to check on chicken coop. This little guy is easy to hold and lights up a big area on high. The high CRI was great for seeing details too. I think I may be EDC'ing this guy for awhile.
Thank you Ledsmoke. Please do share your builds. It's sharing a piece of you and many of us here respect that. In addition to the members here, there are a lot of folks that lurk who are not members (maybe too shy to join or something). Maybe one of them has the same tools /experience that you have. One of your builds may have something in it that encourages her/him or gives a great idea.
I was a critic of the reflector and the reason for me is that it doesn’t seem very even. You are right though, the lens do make it look uneven. At least it does in the Fasttech version of this Police 3W light. After the teardown I did of the FT one, it does look ok.
I like your use of the TIR lens. You are a machine, 3 lights in 7 days. I can’t even make a decision as to what I want to do with the FT one I have.
Nothing a tiny bit of scotch tape to cover the glass then a layer or two of gloss black wouldn't fix
Awesome build..like you said a sleeper...heh
Wow...I really want to tear into one of my kids police lights I got them to keep them from messing with mine...worse comes to worse...I bust it...I'll just give em that $2.16 Sipik I got in
We will call them the MUTT MOD! Or the Police dawg
Either way...they might be uglier than a mud fence...but even they still win first place
It really is a nice light now. These 219’s have a great tint. Not high output by any means but great for around the house in particular even just walking to the car or looking around the garage is great. It fits nice in my shirt pocket.
ebay2014 gets you 8% off. Plus you get points for your next purchase. This is a great company to deal with.
Biggest tip really is to use sinkpads or notcigons for pretty much everything. It it’s worth taking the time to build it’s worth the extra couple bucks for them. All emitters will get thermal sag and the copper makes it happen a whole lot less. Next is that good thermal epoxy is your friend and air is your enemy it makes insulation and that is what you don’t want. This layers of epoxy or whatever kind of thermal paste or whatever you use is best. It’s there basically to take the place of the air by pushing it out, but it’s still acts somewhat as insulation. So the less of it the better as well.
maybe i will do one of the many i have kicking around.
