This light ~~http://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-CREE-XM-L-T6-1800-Lm-12W-Zoomable-LED-Flashlight-Torch-p-51265.html?p=CV2621791095201409D6~~ (link expired) looks decent, but has no heat sink, an XPE LED instead of an XML, a lanyard hole too thin for micro paracord, a thin string lanyard that won’t last long and a quite crappy tailcap.
It also has no reflector, which can be a plus if you’re looking for something with a wide angle and virtually no hotspot, but will obviously decrease light output regardless of which LED you’re putting into it.
On the other hand it’s free. That is, unless banggood has recently fixed/upgraded them to actual XML lights (“That must be the manufacture made some mistakes when produce the flashlight.” - Alysonhe). They probably haven’t, so either Neal or paypal will side with you, resulting in a full refund.
Mods:
New emitter: 20mm 3B tint XML2
https://www.fasttech.com/p/1425002
On the cold side of neutral. Surprising to see the difference to the SA22s 3C NW. I prefer the latter.
New heat sink:
See my metal casting thread for this Metal casting a custom heat sink
Finally polished the coin and added groves for the wires to fit into. Found the connection between aluminium and coin to be clean and stable, no visible layer of oxidation.
Polishing wasn’t as successful as I wanted; aimed for a mirror finish, some scratches are still visible. Tried to continue to coarse stone from condition seen in the thread, had to go back to filing instead, then sandpaper~~coarse stone>grit 1000 stonegrit 2000~~>cuticle->nail buffer. It’s ok for this application, it won’t be visible under the star anyways. I tried wrapping it in alu foil, didn’t work too well, used Stars911 thermal glue instead (https://www.fasttech.com/p/1341200). The gap wasn’t that big.
New driver: 2.8A Nanjg 105C (l/m/h) plus adapter ring
https://www.fasttech.com/p/1122302
Piece of pipe, 20 to 17mm. Driver wrapped in alu foil, had to heat the pill with a hairdryer to get it in. Tried to solder it all together, kinda failed, used superglue to secure the driver. 3rd star from the left, 5/30/100%.
Tailcap wire mod/spring extension for flat top 18650
Nanjg105c spring is a bit shorter than the stock driver’s. Had to cut through ABS plastic cover to get to the spring (8mm sharp angle box cutter). Made extension bit from another piece of coin, drilled through that and the spring cap, ran ~1mm (inner) copper wire through it and soldered it (the wire) to the switch connector pad and to the top of the extension. Filed glob of solder flat while protecting tailcap interior with rolled up paper towel.
Weight: 193g (incl. 18650 battery)
Beamshots from ~0.75m, 1/10th sec exposure
high looks more powerful than it is due to high exposure time.
Beam angle is >90° as you can see (A4 paper).
low
medium
high
Zoomed out
low
high
LED grid is well visible at 2-3 m distance.
pic mirror:
http://pl.vc/3dxzw
http://pl.vc/4tg3f
http://pl.vc/49vp7
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