I finally made a light better! Successfully! Without direct driving the led!
I I started with a 138 lumen Energizer brand 2x AA flashlight I purchased several years ago. I remember when I thought it was bright lol, I gave $35 for it from Walmart because it was the highest advertised lumens in its size.
I know it's nothing at all compared to what you folks do, but I'm pretty stoked I finally got one right. The stock pill/LED was put in another host but it was so dim it just wasn't worth using. So this is what I did..
I removed the stock pcb and shaved off an outside lip the stock pcb sat in.
http://i57.tinypic.com/qph5ol.jpg
Stuck a dedomed XML2-U2-1A and its' pcb directly on top where the old one sat, it still has some thermal adhesive on both sides so I'm going to call that good enough. I had to remove and reflow the emitter to the pcb because I needed to scratch a bit more copper lead to solder for the positive side, the contact pad was removed on accident(got ripped off.)
http://i60.tinypic.com/r712sj.jpg
And and this is what I'm left with! A perfectly good flashlight that is several times brighter than it ever was! I had to drill out the center of the reflector to accommodate the bigger LED, but it sits in the bottom nice and flush. Honestly don't know how I feel about dedoming LEDs, the tint is of course much warmer but other than that I can't much of any difference in throw. This light is equal to another convoy s6 dedomed 7135*8 in terms of throw and flood. Neither have anything at all on my convoy s4 with an XML2-u3-1a p60 drop in crammed in it.
http://i60.tinypic.com/24fw9ja.jpg
On on a side note, I put 2 18650's in series and hit the stock led, it was way brighter than stock, then I put 3 18650's in series and it was way way brighter than stock, but it let the smoke out Of a wire and started to get dimmer lol... So I found the point of diminishing returns I suppose you'd call it, and learned this driver can handle 2 3.7v batteries in series. Now that it has a brighter emitter, would 2 14500's drive this thing harder and make it bright enough to justify the purchase of said 14500's? Or is there another battery alternative I should be looking at? Run times don't impress me I want bright lights! At the moment I'm using 2 Duracell rechargables. 1.2V 2400mah NiMH.