Look here for the SS bezels:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32843061651.html
2 pcs for €3.05 !!

Reflector looks really nice and clean. Convoy/Simon should definitely make its own version of C8 triple.

I got both of the Sofirn C8F’s and with the Led4Power LD-2 at 12amps, I am able to use both the push button and e-switch to (cycle) change modes, just added a lighted tail cap.

Maybe Simon could make it like this, It is really nice to be able to use both buttons, really more user friendly when you have both switches operable!

I am expecting several of these hosts after liking my version 2 C8F from Sofirn. Have some XP-L2 5000k emitters and am looking, hopefully, for ramping drivers for this and, of course, a lighted switch would be very nice.

Any ideas or sources please? I am sure others would appreciate this as well. Have not seen driver options discussed here, though I may have missed it…

Thanks!

I have no idea what i’m looking at here:

Thanks. We appreciate the pictures, guys. My order is yet to arrive, so those close up shots are helpful. At least, they help us plan ahead and let us figure out the components we want.

ZozzV6 wrote:

I tried to show the rubber side button cover transparency. I putted on a flashlight lens and turned on.

Found these too:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32835936873.html

looks awesome with these:

https://www.fasttech.com/product/7989400

(especially in a Convoy C8 tailcap)

ZozzV6 wrote:

A C8 is too heavy for this magnet to hold. Sofirn head even heavier because more mass in the shelf and reflector. I will measure weights later.
I like the stainless switch but I don’t have the equipment to make a nice hole in tailcap and good thread. If someone make it. It will be unique.

(should take a better picture…)

PS: Magnet is strong enough for this C8 with SS bezel.
Maybe not for the Sofirn triple.

ZozzV6 wrote:

Nice job. Do you have some pics from assembly how everything fits?

Well good news and bad news for me. Good news I have all the parts. Bad news is the Noctigon 32mm does not fit. It will not sit flush against the shelf. Bought the xp32 with LEDs already on so guess i’ll be learning to reflow LEDs on a triple

contactcr wrote:

Bad news is the Noctigon 32mm does not fit. It will not sit flush against the shelf.

That’s strange. Dale (DB Custom) used one in his (link) and I don’t recall him saying anything about machining the shelf. Granted, that was on one of the very first units before Sofirn changed emitters, used DTP, etc. Maybe they changed the shelf in the second batch.

I know I didn’t machine the shelf, I may have used a file to reduce the 32mm MCPCB slightly. Would have done that by hand, have done that kind of thing so many hundreds of times it wouldn’t be something I’d really remember doing.

I have a 12” double cut bastard file on my work table, I lay it on the edge of the table and run a round mcpcb (or whatever) vertically down the length of the file while giving it a bit of a turn, reset my finger hold and do it again, turning every time to maintain the circular profile. (Thumb and middle finger on the sides, index finger on top, pressing down… like a wheel but not rolling, just a slight turn every pass) Takes but a couple of minutes to turn a 32mm copper disc into a 31.7mm disc for an X6, for example. Also drill a hole through the center of the 32mm board, where the center XP pads are, to keep from getting the wires in a bind.

I used 18 ga leads and they fit in the cut-outs on the base of the reflector. As I recall I sealed them in Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive so they’d not short out.

Jerommel, that SS switch assembly lighted by blue is really nice!

gchart wrote:

That’s strange. Dale (DB Custom) used one in his (link) and I don’t recall him saying anything about machining the shelf. Granted, that was on one of the very first units before Sofirn changed emitters, used DTP, etc. Maybe they changed the shelf in the second batch.

Pretty racy looking Convoy you got there Scott!

Got a pair of C8F side switch hosts in the mail today. Cold and wet, they were! Must’ve been quite a trip getting here, the boxes had been wet inside the bubble wrap long enough to essentially disentegrate when I opened them to get the lights out. Nothing wrong with the lights, of course. Time to build one up and see how she be!

I had forgotten how tricky building one of these is! The copper MCPCB being screwed onto the reflector, then the reflector having the center screw to snug it down inside the head, with the side e-switch, a lot going on in a small space!

Used XP-L2 V6 5000K emitters, 22 ga wires, and built a MTN FET driver with ToyKeeper’s ramping firmware from last century.

Grabbed a rested Sony VTC4 cell and saw 8.25A pull at the tail, with the cell at 3.7V! lol This should be interesting when the cell gets charged up…

Edit: On the fully charged VTC4 it pulls 12.15A at the tail for 3860.55 lumens out the front. Pretty decent, I’ll take it.

Replaced the tail pcb with a copper disc, soldered a heavy gauge berrylium spring directly to this disc. Then put 20 ga bypasses on the two like springs top and bottom. The result? Same VTC4 cell, fresh off the charger, 4115.85 lumens.

Now we’re talkin!

Nice. I’m curious to know how long it lasts until it get’s to hot to hold. Haven’t touched my host yet. Too busy with programming drivers …

I held it for 3 minutes in a 73º ambient setting.

I got six of these hosts to play with. The driver retaining ring’s inner diameter is a little too small for my double sided drivers though. I could file it out but I’m too lazy to do it six times, I’ll just design a new dedicated driver and let OSH Park take care of it