Well to introduce myself my name is Ken and I live in North Pole Alaska. I am a union Teamster and work on the North Slope of Alaska in Prudhoe Bay. I joined this forum to learn more about LED lighting and possible other forms of lighting and batteries. I currently have a Trustfire SST-50 flashlight that no longer works and it was a cheap flashlight I bought offline that worked pretty good for a while but now I am looking to upgrade it. I believe the driver and the emitter no longer work. I have found some drop-ins online but before I purchase anything I would like to consult with some of you all to maybe give me some advice that hav knowledge on this stuff. I’ll try to post pictures of my flashlight taken apart and post information about it. I like the housing that the flashlight has but I want to upgrade the driver the driver that is in it now it says on XM - L then underneath that it says ZL20. Even if I have to get the parts and pieces and an empty pill to put pieces together I would be willing to try to solder together something unless someone was willing to help me since I don’t know about this electronic LED stuff.Thank you in advance.
I can’t figure out how to post pictures lol
Thanks for joining Flashaholics Anonymous, akmuddman!
Thanks. As for the link I don’t have a picture host but maybe I’ll see if I can join something. I thought I could copy and paste somehow from my phone but I was wrong I guess so I’ll read more.
Welcome aboard akmuddman. Hope you have a great time hear.
A lot of advances have happened since that SST50. Should be fun to turn that light into a proper beast. How many cells does your light hold. I imagine 2 or 3. If you can provide the diameter of the driver and the LED base and what type of beam pattern you want (floody, throwy, a mix of both, etc), we should be able to walk you through the process.
Well from reading I do believe it is a C8 body with a large head and the driver threads in the throat and the reflector sits on top with the lens pushing against it. It has the smooth reflector and holds 1 18650 battery but I’m willing to get a body extension to get more available power. It says 1600lm on side of flashlight Wich I assume is lumens but I doubt it is. I’m not looking to make it for competition or anything like that just a good light with 1000 lumen or so.
Hey, akmuddman.
It's a blast here at BLF, and a punch to the wallet...trust me on that one!
How do you survive the cold up there??? I suffer just thinking about it!
The LED base is I believe 5mmx5mm and the driver is about 19mm or 20mm but I need to get a measuring device to make sure. Even if I was to just get a whole drop in would be fine. O and a single mode or low and hi mode. And not sure about the 8x7135 or 10x7135 I’m lost on that stuff lol
^
Sorry, I didn't mean the LED's pcb. I meant the diameter of metal base (some call it a star) that it is soldered to.
It you are willing to solder 2 wires, it sounds like you should get a the following from RMM:
- Direct Drive driver
- XP-L emitter on a copper base
- Thermal paste to put under the copper emitter base.
Welcome to BLF! Do show us your beam shots from beautiful Alaska.
O I definetly will and I gotta go for an hour so I’ll post more when I get home.
So I’ve tore my garage apart looking for my micrometer and can’t find it so I guess that’s one thing I’ve lost or never got back :weary: so I’ll try to get measurements tomorrow. As for staying warm in AK we dress in lots of layers and sometimes walking funny with all the gear. Now I know why sasquatch walk funny.
Welcome to BLF, how do you get your packages delivered to north pole?
btw I hate cold weather, it’s –3C over here but i’m freezing like its –20C, I really hate winter 
We usually gotta wait for the next dog sled coming by here…… JK. No we have amazon deliveries here all the time or USPS. It’s 18f here right now but it’s probably about 0F in prudhoe now. I can’t stop reading about LED stuff so I’m still up lol
Welcome, akmuddman!
Youre lucky that you have regular mail deliveries, once you start buying lights, batteries, chargers, the worst thing that can happen is not lithium battery venting in your flashlight, no, its delivery taking too long when waiting for it :D!
I also wait for chilling cold beamshots from your side :D!
Ok so today I bought a caliper for measuring and took some measurements.
21.05mm is inside pill where circuit board mounts.
27.00mm is the widest part of the pill.
22.70mm is the threads.
19.45mm is the skinniest part of pill.
13.90mm is height of pill.
WELCOME TO BLF H)
Thank ya thank ya. Nice to meet yall
Welcome to BLF Ken