I like this very much CRX! 60 KCD for small zoomie!
For White flat fans. Seems that we all getting all kind of different results in our mods. But I am pretty sure that sweet spot for last 2 I build is around 5.5-5.8A.
Someone says 6 and someone says 7 which is freaking lol And Djozz says 4.5
I got this set up so it draws around 5.2A from a fully charged cell so I think it’s in the good range.
I was a little apprehensive sticking a fully charged Aspire 18350 in it with the FET driver so started with the cell at about 50% and worked my way up
I really don’t know how you are making all your builds. So much passion into each build… So this is build/creation and not just a mod like most of us do…
Now that it’s done I see I probably shouldnt have used an XT-E behind a multi-lens optic like the carlco quad but I like how there arnt just 3 boring XP-E2 colors so I’m not gonna change it.
Except there’s nothing to gain by allowing 7+ amperes through the 1mm² variant…
You can’t just throw it in a FET driven thrower and expect the best performances
ZozzV6 wrote:
bilakos10 wrote:
It’s pulling around 7.2A
It seems a lot.
Mine turns blue at 6.6A fet driven turbo and output is lower. I found for me the top lumens was around 5-5.5A Under or above that it drops down.
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
I ended up swapping the driver with a 12×7135 nanjg, which resulted in 4.35A
I guess you didn’t lose any intensity
The 2mm² variant has more current capability, mine is fed by a Liitkala 26650 through a TA FET driver.
550kCd in an Amutorch JM70
—
"-X3-, is there any place in your house without a flashlight ?"
My first mod! I know its baby stuff compared to what most people are doing around here, but it’s my first and I’m proud of it. Thanks to this thread by NeutralFan http://budgetlightforum.com/node/54262 I gathered the courage to finally try an LED and Driver swap.
Modded Thorfire C8s
XP-L HI V3 1A on Noctigon 20mm MCPCB FET + 7135 Driver with Guppy Firmware
22 AWG Wires with Spring Bypass
AR Coated Lens
Arctic Silver Premium Thermal Compound
Swapped the original LED from the Fomolov 18650s for an XP-L HI NW. I have no hot air station available, so I reflowed with my usual method - PCB placed above a candle's flame.
My first mod! I know its baby stuff compared to what most people are doing around here, but it’s my first and I’m proud of it. …..
You should be! It’s not the destination that counts, but the journey.
And you just have taken the first step(s).
Thank you! Yes, I’ve gained some much needed confidence too. I’m planning my next mod that will be a Convoy S2+ build for practice before I attempt to mod my Thrunite TN31.
A bit yesterday and a bit today, I modded my old Romisen RC-G2 flashlight, which for me is the mother of pocket throwers. At the time everyone needed to have at least one. It has a really nice and modest size-to-throw ratio and used to come with and XR-E led and its deep light-OP reflector made for a very nice throwy spot.
It received an overhaul now but I did not make pictures of the mod this time .
*the tail clicky asembly was replaced by a standard Omten 1288 switch. For that a retaining ring was sawn off an old alu pill that happened to have the same threads. Because I ran out of length (a familiar issue among modders) the switch itself had to be postioned completely inside the switch cover with the switchboard doubling as retaining ring for the switch cover.
*the driver was replaced by a 15mm diameter bistro driver (components of the BG bistro driver were transferred to a 15mm Oshpark board made by Warhawk, except the FET that needed to be the smaller LFPAK33 type)
*the led was a 3000K 90CRI XP-L HI, as sold by Kaidomain, this was the reason for this mod, to check this led out. It is on a 16mm Noctigon board.
*a led gasket was reshaped a bit (top sanded off because it blocked too much light, reamed and bevelled the hole a bit).
*a thin 1mm thick ring was added under the pill as a spacer because the XP-L Hi is thinner than the old XR-E, the pill had to move up towards the reflector a bit.
I first had only the 7135 working and found that the gate of the FET was shorting with the source (=ground) so the FET was always closed. Removed the FET and soldered it back in, now all works.
The beam is nice and throwy, just as expected, with a bit over 500 lumen at highest mode (could be increased with tailspring bypass, but it is ok for a high CRI 14500 light).
Now for the XP-L HI 3000K 90CRI, it is listed at KD for a while now but no one reported on it yet. I hoped of course for a surprise by Cree but it did not turn out to be one. The CRI at lowest levels is 92 with a R9 of 60, not bad, at highest level the CRI is 89.7 with R9 of 50. But alas the tint (of the hotpot) is above the BBL at all levels, and also the perception follows the measurement: compared to my high CRISST-20 EDC the tint is more yellow/green. Very ok, as many high CRI tints are ok, but it does not make this XPL HI the jewel I hoped it to be.
I think this light will be waiting for a next best throwy high CRI led. I may add a lighted switch as well then.
Isn’t the SST-20 actually throwier than the XP-L HI?
Well, that is according to the D4S SST-20 listing anyway.
I think it is throwier too. I hoped the XPL-HI would be more efficient so if the tint would have been perfect this was a good idea. I may go for the SST-20 as next led in this light but perfect would be a led with 1×1mm die just as the original XR-E.
I guess you didn’t lose any intensity
The 2mm² variant has more current capability, mine is fed by a Liitkala 26650 through a TA FET driver.
550kCd in an Amutorch JM70
I have JM70 II, I have 1mm² whitey with no host for it, I wonder what would it do….but probably nothing special.
I guess you didn’t lose any intensity
The 2mm² variant has more current capability, mine is fed by a Liitkala 26650 through a TA FET driver.
550kCd in an Amutorch JM70
I have JM70 II, I have 1mm² whitey with no host for it, I wonder what would it do….but probably nothing special.
I bought a JM70 recently to put a White Flat in it. I couldn’t find any info on a JM70 II. What is the difference?
I guess you didn’t lose any intensity
The 2mm² variant has more current capability, mine is fed by a Liitkala 26650 through a TA FET driver.
550kCd in an Amutorch JM70
I have JM70 II, I have 1mm² whitey with no host for it, I wonder what would it do….but probably nothing special.
I bought a JM70 recently to put a White Flat in it. I couldn’t find any info on a JM70 II. What is the difference?
Magnetic charging
—
"-X3-, is there any place in your house without a flashlight ?"
contactcr, 1.09A on an 14500 cell freshly charged. So it’s the stock driver, 4 modes. (Click on, click to shift modes L-H, hold to turn off) Still works with an AA Alkaline.
I guess you didn’t lose any intensity
The 2mm² variant has more current capability, mine is fed by a Liitkala 26650 through a TA FET driver.
550kCd in an Amutorch JM70
I have JM70 II, I have 1mm² whitey with no host for it, I wonder what would it do….but probably nothing special.
I bought a JM70 recently to put a White Flat in it. I couldn’t find any info on a JM70 II. What is the difference?
If you bought recently, you probably got II. As already said, it has magnetic charging.
tint p#rn alert, this post is not suitable for viewers with any sense of practicality
Yesterday evening I hit the tint jackpot.
A few days ago I modded my classic Romisen RC-G2 with a 90CRI 3000K XP-L-HI from Kaidomain, and although the colour temperature and CRI were according to specs, the tint was above the BBL and rather yellow/greenish compared to i.e. the SST-20-W 3000K 95CRI. On top of that I liked the beam less floody, the old XR-E in the RC-G2 was way throwier and I wanted that back.
(some info on the mod one page back in this thread: http://budgetlightforum.com/comment/1425679#comment-1425679 )
So after slicing 4000K 90CRI Samsung LH351D with very good tint results before, I had a go at slicing the SST-20-W 4000K 95CRI, to get the throwy beam that I wanted in the RC-G2 and hopefully a good tint on top. I managed to do the slice very close to the bond wires, as low as it can go, and then built the led into the flashlight. It looks in the picture that there is a burnt part in the phosfor, but this is a fresh led that had had no more than 50mA current when the picture was taken.
And indeed I got my very good tinted throwy beam, no rings, no visible tint shifts, no green or too yellow but rosy, very nice! Here’s the beam on the white wall from 2.5 meters, phone cam on daylight setting.
It has a Blue spring at the tail now and a raised brass post at the driver side, so resitances are low. The driver is a bistro driver that I set on 3 levels plus moon, on the Vapcell 14500 I get 0.14 lumen, 3 lumen/15mA, 98 lumen/620mA, 410 lumen/4.65A. The efficiency is very low, 40lm/W for the low levels, just 25 lumen/W for the highest setting (which is just twice the efficiency of a halogen bulb )
I could see that the tint was nice, but then I measured the tints of the hotspot and found how good they actually were:
Highest 410 lumen setting, pretty good CRI, tint on the rosy side:
Medium 98 lumen setting:
Low 3 lumen setting. Not great output but look at the numbers
It will not win any efficiency award but the trusty rusty RC-G2 has gotten a worthy modification
I got this set up so it draws around 5.2A from a fully charged cell so I think it’s in the good range.
I was a little apprehensive sticking a fully charged Aspire 18350 in it with the FET driver so started with the cell at about 50% and worked my way up
- LEDs & Other Stuff - - UI CheatSheets - - CRX Flashlight Builds - - CRX Stuff for Sale -
I really don’t know how you are making all your builds. So much passion into each build… So this is build/creation and not just a mod like most of us do…
Yeah well, I’ve been trying to get the thread title changed to “What did you mod or build today”
- LEDs & Other Stuff - - UI CheatSheets - - CRX Flashlight Builds - - CRX Stuff for Sale -
I know you have your own thread for CRX builds but you ‘could’ start a ‘ what did CRX do today ‘ thread
Nice colour mod CK
Some major modifications going on there kawiboy, nice
That could be interesting…
- LEDs & Other Stuff - - UI CheatSheets - - CRX Flashlight Builds - - CRX Stuff for Sale -
+1, some nice mods going on here.
- LEDs & Other Stuff - - UI CheatSheets - - CRX Flashlight Builds - - CRX Stuff for Sale -
Are XT-E colors different?
BLF Q8 Janus --- Emisar D4 RGBW --- Green Lantern and HAL 9000
6th Annual Light Contest Entry --- 7th Annual Light Contest Entry
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
I ended up swapping the driver with a 12×7135 nanjg, which resulted in 4.35A
I guess you didn’t lose any intensity
The 2mm² variant has more current capability, mine is fed by a Liitkala 26650 through a TA FET driver.
550kCd in an Amutorch JM70
"-X3-, is there any place in your house without a flashlight ?"
My Flashlight public album (mods, emitter swaps, eye candy)
My reviews channel (French language, Olight, Thorfire, Sofirn, Lumintop : 60+ lights tested)
My personal channel (including Olight SR mini, S1, S2, S1A and S-mini disassembly)
M4DM4X blog, saves you $$$
Nice mods/builds KB.
djozz quotes, "it came with chinese lettering that is chinese to me".
"My man mousehole needs one too"
old4570 said "I'm not an expert , so don't suffer from any such technical restrictions".
Old-Lumens. Highly admired and cherished member of Budget Light Forum. 11.5.2011 - 20.12.16. RIP.
Thanks Steve!
KB1428 “Live Life WOT”
My first mod! I know its baby stuff compared to what most people are doing around here, but it’s my first and I’m proud of it.
Thanks to this thread by NeutralFan http://budgetlightforum.com/node/54262 I gathered the courage to finally try an LED and Driver swap.
Modded Thorfire C8s
XP-L HI V3 1A on Noctigon 20mm MCPCB
FET + 7135 Driver with Guppy Firmware
22 AWG Wires with Spring Bypass
AR Coated Lens
Arctic Silver Premium Thermal Compound
You should be! It’s not the destination that counts, but the journey.
And you just have taken the first step(s).
You are a flashaholic if you are forced to come out of the closet, to make room for more flashlights.
Swapped the original LED from the Fomolov 18650s for an XP-L HI NW.

I have no hot air station available, so I reflowed with my usual method - PCB placed above a candle's flame.
A bit yesterday and a bit today, I modded my old Romisen RC-G2 flashlight, which for me is the mother of pocket throwers. At the time everyone needed to have at least one. It has a really nice and modest size-to-throw ratio and used to come with and XR-E led and its deep light-OP reflector made for a very nice throwy spot.
It received an overhaul now but I did not make pictures of the mod this time
.
*the tail clicky asembly was replaced by a standard Omten 1288 switch. For that a retaining ring was sawn off an old alu pill that happened to have the same threads. Because I ran out of length (a familiar issue among modders) the switch itself had to be postioned completely inside the switch cover with the switchboard doubling as retaining ring for the switch cover.
*the driver was replaced by a 15mm diameter bistro driver (components of the BG bistro driver were transferred to a 15mm Oshpark board made by Warhawk, except the FET that needed to be the smaller LFPAK33 type)
*the led was a 3000K 90CRI XP-L HI, as sold by Kaidomain, this was the reason for this mod, to check this led out. It is on a 16mm Noctigon board.
*a led gasket was reshaped a bit (top sanded off because it blocked too much light, reamed and bevelled the hole a bit).
*a thin 1mm thick ring was added under the pill as a spacer because the XP-L Hi is thinner than the old XR-E, the pill had to move up towards the reflector a bit.
I first had only the 7135 working and found that the gate of the FET was shorting with the source (=ground) so the FET was always closed. Removed the FET and soldered it back in, now all works.
The beam is nice and throwy, just as expected, with a bit over 500 lumen at highest mode (could be increased with tailspring bypass, but it is ok for a high CRI 14500 light).
Now for the XP-L HI 3000K 90CRI, it is listed at KD for a while now but no one reported on it yet. I hoped of course for a surprise by Cree but it did not turn out to be one. The CRI at lowest levels is 92 with a R9 of 60, not bad, at highest level the CRI is 89.7 with R9 of 50. But alas the tint (of the hotpot) is above the BBL at all levels, and also the perception follows the measurement: compared to my high CRI SST-20 EDC the tint is more yellow/green. Very ok, as many high CRI tints are ok, but it does not make this XPL HI the jewel I hoped it to be.
I think this light will be waiting for a next best throwy high CRI led. I may add a lighted switch as well then.
link to djozz tests
Isn’t the SST-20 actually throwier than the XP-L HI?
Well, that is according to the D4S SST-20 listing anyway.
My very own high current Beryllium Copper springs Gen 3:
http://budgetlightforum.com/node/67401
Liitokala Aliexpress Stores Battery Fraud: http://budgetlightforum.com/node/60547
I think it is throwier too. I hoped the XPL-HI would be more efficient so if the tint would have been perfect this was a good idea. I may go for the SST-20 as next led in this light but perfect would be a led with 1×1mm die just as the original XR-E.
link to djozz tests
I have JM70 II, I have 1mm² whitey with no host for it, I wonder what would it do….but probably nothing special.
You modded some tubes into a flashlight.
I bought a JM70 recently to put a White Flat in it. I couldn’t find any info on a JM70 II. What is the difference?
I just put a Black Flat in a little Utorch UT01, pretty cool, intense little light!
Does your UT01 have a stock driver? What is the amp draw?
Magnetic charging
"-X3-, is there any place in your house without a flashlight ?"
My Flashlight public album (mods, emitter swaps, eye candy)
My reviews channel (French language, Olight, Thorfire, Sofirn, Lumintop : 60+ lights tested)
My personal channel (including Olight SR mini, S1, S2, S1A and S-mini disassembly)
M4DM4X blog, saves you $$$
contactcr, 1.09A on an 14500 cell freshly charged. So it’s the stock driver, 4 modes. (Click on, click to shift modes L-H, hold to turn off) Still works with an AA Alkaline.
I know, I know, I’m slacking. It should be pulling 57A and making 75,000 lumens by now….
Armytek Partner C1 driver swap to H17f. The flush reverse switch was done last week or so.
http://budgetlightforum.com/node/64083
If you bought recently, you probably got II. As already said, it has magnetic charging.
Please let us know how does it work!
tint p#rn alert, this post is not suitable for viewers with any sense of practicality
Yesterday evening I hit the tint jackpot.
A few days ago I modded my classic Romisen RC-G2 with a 90CRI 3000K XP-L-HI from Kaidomain, and although the colour temperature and CRI were according to specs, the tint was above the BBL and rather yellow/greenish compared to i.e. the SST-20-W 3000K 95CRI. On top of that I liked the beam less floody, the old XR-E in the RC-G2 was way throwier and I wanted that back.
(some info on the mod one page back in this thread: http://budgetlightforum.com/comment/1425679#comment-1425679 )
So after slicing 4000K 90CRI Samsung LH351D with very good tint results before, I had a go at slicing the SST-20-W 4000K 95CRI, to get the throwy beam that I wanted in the RC-G2 and hopefully a good tint on top. I managed to do the slice very close to the bond wires, as low as it can go, and then built the led into the flashlight. It looks in the picture that there is a burnt part in the phosfor, but this is a fresh led that had had no more than 50mA current when the picture was taken.
And indeed I got my very good tinted throwy beam, no rings, no visible tint shifts, no green or too yellow but rosy, very nice! Here’s the beam on the white wall from 2.5 meters, phone cam on daylight setting.
)
It has a Blue spring at the tail now and a raised brass post at the driver side, so resitances are low. The driver is a bistro driver that I set on 3 levels plus moon, on the Vapcell 14500 I get 0.14 lumen, 3 lumen/15mA, 98 lumen/620mA, 410 lumen/4.65A. The efficiency is very low, 40lm/W for the low levels, just 25 lumen/W for the highest setting (which is just twice the efficiency of a halogen bulb
I could see that the tint was nice, but then I measured the tints of the hotspot and found how good they actually were:
Highest 410 lumen setting, pretty good CRI, tint on the rosy side:
Medium 98 lumen setting:
Low 3 lumen setting. Not great output but look at the numbers
It will not win any efficiency award but the trusty rusty RC-G2 has gotten a worthy modification
link to djozz tests
KB1428 “Live Life WOT”
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