Question for the focus experts

I have been trying in vain for weeks now to get my Jacob A60 focused. I first tried with a dedomed XML, but didn’t like the tint. I’ve recently moved to an XPL HI. Here’s the deal, with some creative soldering I was able to get the reflector sitting flush on the board. It seems, though, that I get the brightest hotspot when I pull the reflector way out from the led. But, almost all the flood disappears and it seems quite a bit of light would be escaping under the reflector. It just doesn’t make much sense to me.

I have pretty much hated this light since I purchased it, but for some reason it has this grip on me and I can’t put it down. I have spent way too much money on this piece of junk…AR lens, FET driver, several leds.

I’m just curious if some reflectors just can’t be focused with certain leds. I should have just kept the XPE or whatever was in it stock and admired it for the $14 I spent.

You could always try a plastic centering/insulating ring to hold it out some. If it's still not thick enough, undo your creative soldering to stock type so the centering ring sits on the solder and is lifted more.

It’s definitely not an easy light to focus, and even “properly” focused it has a an ugly ringy beam.

I have a dedomed Xp-g2 with an XP to XM adapter/centering ring. It sits the reflector up a bit off the mcpcb. It’s probably not perfecty centered, but it’s about as close as I could get without going crazy.

The setup I’m running with a dedomed xpe2 is using the clear xpg to xml (slightly sanded on the bottom)_ under the stock insulator_. This reflector has to be fairly far away from the LED. I’ve recently swapped in a dedomed XPG2, but will be reverting back to the dedomed XPE2 it replaced for many reasons. #1-XPE2 gave me much higher lux in this reflector #2-XPG2 currents make a lot of heat, and I liked running at 2.3A and having an hr+ runtime #3-the reflector doesn’t efficiently utilized spill beam lumens anyway. #4-the pencil beam A60 is sort of a nostalgic piece. Also Be careful to not over-tighten the bezel/head and distort the reflector.

I figure it is a cheap thrower that gave me a good introduction to modding after making a few P60s.

I did one with XP-E2 on Noctigon at about 2.0A and one XP-G2 on Noctigon with 3A Qlite and braided springs. Neither were de-domed.

I mucked about a bit with focus and I'm sure there is room for improvement but as a narrow-beam thrower they are both pretty good.

The XP-G2 looks horribly ringy and ugly indoors but this is not an indoors light. Outside, it really lights up a good-sized area at a distance - and at a budget price. I find the beam with this emitter to be very usable and the artefacts don't bother me when applied to most real world uses.

Thanks for the additional tips guys, I might revisit this light again as I have a couple of stock units waiting for build. Maybe an XPL-HI?

Thanks for the replies. I think I might be trying to make this light something it is not made for. I tried several times tonight with a couple of spacers stacked over the XPL HI. I believe I did get the focus pretty close, but I was disappointed, again, at the outcome. This reflector just doesn’t seem to want to throw with a larger led. I have both XPE2 and XGP2, so I may give them another go.

In the end I was hoping for a small light with ‘big throw’, but looks like that just ain’t gonna happen with the Jacob. Also, since I dropped in a pricy FET driver, I really don’t want to waste it on the XPE2.

However…I will not give up on this little guy even if it takes me another year.

Do yourself a favor and pull the FET out for something else. Put in a 105C style driver with 6 380mA Chips and your choice of FW with a dedomed XPE2. Enjoy a lightweight thrower (I’ve gotten over 200kcd) that can ACTUALLY be used for extended periods of time. It’s a great backpack thrower for fishing/camping trips. :wink: