Here are some reviews of these mods by members:

Man Without Shadow wrote:

Not to tell anyone how to spend their hard earned money…but being skeptical and thrifty person…I had a hard time putting another $100 into this light. After learning about Texas Ace, his abilities, his knowledge, his hardware and seeing the results of my $100 mod (on top of the $125 I already paid), I cannot recommend his services enough. What ever extra money you send his way will be a bargain for what you get back in skill and hardware. Not to mention the frustration you can eliminate by having a professional mod and test your light.

I have limited skills, and hate goofing stuff up…so paying for the services WAS the bargain versus me fumbling around, staring at stuff and hoping I didn’t ruin something.

No brainier for me.

SKV89 wrote:

Newlumen wrote:

Ok.. lumen ceiling bounce is done,, my english is bad, so sorry about my grammar..

Stock thrunite tc20, i got 194 lux.. 3800 lumen.
Mod olight x7. 993 lux… 21000 rated lumen.
Mod fenix tk72r. 622 lux.. 11000 lumen.
Haikelite mt09rTA. 1140 lux.. so thats translate to 22,000 lumen.

So i compare the stock light, and other modded lights.. lumen specs result were very close..

Mt09r TA version is 22,000 lumen.. same specs as skylumen.. so 22,000 is legit..

I think your 22k calc is too conservative. Lumen values at Skylumen are measured otf lumens. So using Vinh’s 21k lumen measurements for the X7vn:
1,140/993=1.148
1.148*21,000lumens = 24.1k lumens. Your modded MT0R should be making 24k otf lumens using Vinh’s lumen measurement as a basis.

yuhsin91123 wrote:

I just got out of the endless flashlight hole and now I feel I’m falling back in again… $220 for 22k+ lumen isn’t bad at all if you look at other products out there… someone convince me to buy or not to buy!! lol

Newlumen wrote:

Yes.. modded acebeam or olight 21000 lumen light will cost around $335-$350.. yes you are saving money.. TA driver is the best.

SKV89 wrote:

Here are comparable lights for comparison:

Acebeam X80 $299 – 25k advertised lumens (OTF 21-23k)

Skylumen Acebeam X45VN https://skylumen.com/collections/v54-lights/products/acebeam-x45vn-flood... $350 – 25k lumens

“ Skylumen Olight X7VN”:https://skylumen.com/collections/v54-lights/products/olight-x7vn-maurade... $335 – 21k lumens

Per Newlumen’s ceiling bounce comparisons, his MT09R TA is 24k lumens relative to Skylumen measurements. I think the MT09R TA not only beats those in price, I think it beats them in quality considering you get to choose better looking 80 CRI NW tint and a better ramping UI. In contrast, the Acebeam X80 UI is just awful.

hIKARInoob wrote:

I think the MT09R has the best beam. Don’t forget the beam profile people, it’s really amazing. Of course it’s subjective…

yuhsin91123 wrote:

Haikelite USA Official wrote:

I have arranged for Any work TA does to still covered under the 2 year warranty…

The biggest reason is if these don’t sell while I’m in Arizona then I will have to pay TA for all of the left over drivers and the price will go back to retail which is $175.00 and that’s with stock emitters.

Which even using the stock emitters and TA’s driver you still get 20k lumen output.  So right now is the time 120.00 for the light that is around 40 percent off. Then 20 bucks for TA’s driver and even stock emitters you got 20k lumen and can actually set your morning newspaper on fire of you choose to.

Almost forgot I have the only remaining stock of the 2 best selling colors that will not be available again even after the new driver comes out in the light stock…

Whew that’s as well as I can do…

oh man… that 2 year warranty and approval of modding by HaikeLite… The high CRI and NW….. I can’t…. resist….

Boro wrote:

Texas_Ace wrote:

Ok, got my second light of the day finished. This is the second one for BORO. He once again wanted some 3000k 80cri LED’s 50% ramp and bypasses.

This one is doing even better then the last one though, I am getting ~21k lumens on this one vs 19K on the other one. I checked both again and the numbers were consistent. Just the LED lottery I suppose. Still well within the +/- 14% tolerance Cree gives.

Still the nicest high output warm white light I have seen yet. Most WW lights are low output it seems.

Now who oh who is next…

Outstanding work TA, and five days from day sent to day returned.

3000k and 80cri Was the right choice for me! Convinced if others would use this they would choose the same.

Thank you again.

For those just ordering the drivers, the wiring is pretty simple.

LED + to LED + pads
LED – to LED – Pads

Black switch wire to the RECTANGLE switch GND pad
Red switch wire to the RECTANGLE switch V+ pad
Yellow switch wire to the circle SWLED pad

Snip the end of the blue wire off and stuff it down into the driver cavity.

Everyone should recalibrate the thermal settings of the lights to your own preference

The firmware is setup for a 55c thermal regulation by default but the temp sensor has a ~15-20 degree range which can have it too hot or too cool for some people. If you want your light a different temperature you can easily recalibrate it in the firmware.

See the Narsil Cheat sheet for more info. You want the thermal regulation setting. It is menu 3 when in ramping mode, option 2.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0v3MZNiBWcDQmpwRjRyRFp5SFk

These posts are in order from the MT09R thread to bring everyone up to date.

Texas_Ace wrote:

I have also added the option to slice the dome off the XHP70.2 emitters to increase throw to the pricing post after having someone ask me about it.

I have not tried this in an MT09R yet but in the GT the results were impressive. It increased throw a whopping 40-50%! It also makes the hot spot tighter and reduces the dark spot in the middle of the beam.

The tint does shift slightly warmer and slightly to the yellow side when dedoming the XHP70.2 but not nearly as bad as emitters from yesteryear and none of that puke green look.

In the GT the XHP35 HI does ~1.1mcd.
The P2 bin xhp70.2 with the dome on did around ~450kcd.
The P2 bin XHP70.2 with sliced dome did a bit under under ~700kcd

Take from that what you will. I will admit my curiosity is peaked to see what it looks like in the mt09.

Texas_Ace wrote:

Let the modding begin. Just finished the first mod. An XHP35 HI light for JMM244.

He chose some C4 bin 80CRI XHP35 HI LED’s and I have to say, he chose right!

I love them, they have a fantastic tint and good output as well.

I am getting ~6300 lumens which confirms my suspensions that the stock LED’s are about C4 bin since they get about the same lumens but with worse tint and lower CRI.

Pretty much positive I will be modding my own XHP35 light with either these LED’s or the HD version of them.

Hmm, who is next……

Texas_Ace wrote:

Ok, I got one last light done tonight. This one is Shirnask’s XHP70.2 light.

First I did some testing with the stock LED’s to see exactly what they would do with this driver swapped in. With just the driver swap and no bypasses or anything else I was getting around 17-18k lumens, although the driver spring must be bypassed or it will melt.

He wanted a copy of mine so that is what he got. Swapped in the 4000k 80cri, TA driver, Spring bypasses all around (I took for granted how many springs are in these lights lol).

The results are exactly like mine, ~23k lumens and a much improved tint. I tried this light side by side with mine before modding and there is no comparison in which one looks better outside.

The stock CW emitters (I think they are CW) wash everything out and take all the life out of what you are looking at.

The 4000k 80CRI bring all that life back and makes everything look rich and vibrant.

The factory set thermal settings were a bit high but that is expected since the temp sensor has a ~15c tolerance window. I recalibrate it back to 55c in about 2 minutes.

I have 3 more lights waiting here for tomorrow, looks like they are all xhp70 lights.

I also did a little more tweaking to the ramp to make it more universal among different emitter setups.

Texas_Ace wrote:

SKV89 wrote:

Texas_Ace wrote:

The results are exactly like mine, ~23k lumens and a much improved tint. I tried this light side by side with mine before modding and there is no comparison in which one looks better outside.

The stock CW emitters (I think they are CW) wash everything out and take all the life out of what you are looking at.

The 4000k 80CRI bring all that life back and makes everything look rich and vibrant.

That is awesome! I was going to wait for the new free drivers from Haikelite but I just decided to send you my 70.2 for modding once I find time to wrap it up and go to the PO. I will send you a separate paypal later. I also have three MT03 with estimated delivery to you on 04/18. I hope they can achieve 23k too on those 4000k 80CRI.

Well, I just built a 3rd light with the 80CRI and it also does 23k, so it looks like this setup is pretty consistent. I don’t see any reason the MT03’s will not do the same.

Texas_Ace wrote:

Ok, next on the heap was Man Without Shadows light. His light was a real challenge.

I first just swapped the drivers to see what the latest firmware looks like with stock LED’s but the light would only turn in in real low modes or none at all and it would flicker. I was super worried there was an issue with the driver but after an hour of testing was sure the driver was fine.

When I tested the driver on the bench, it worked perfectly.
When I tested it in the light with the bench power supply, it worked perfectly.
When I tested it on the bench using wires from the battery carrier, it worked perfectly.
When I held the driver directly to the carrier, it worked perfectly.

At this point I had ruled out the driver as the issue but could not figure out why the driver was not getting power when the carrier was screwed on.

After a lot of measurements and poking around I found that for some reason the driver was not making good electrical contact with the shelf on the ground ring. It made no sense at all but even the multimeter would show it sometimes.

So I decided to mound up some solder on the ground ring to ensure it made good contact and boom, it suddenly works perfectly.

I am still not sure what is going on but glad I experienced it first. I do know his light is machined ever so slightly different then the others. First off the retaining rings actually spin freely, the threads for most of these retaining rings suck big time, just ask terry. Also the mcpcb shelf is cut slightly different.

So if anyone has an issue with the drivers not wanting to work, try mounding of a little solder blob at 4 points on the ground ring.

After the mod his light is also doing the same as the others ~23k lumens except he wanted a 100% ramp, which is also looking good.

Hmm, who oh who is next….

Texas_Ace wrote:

Another one down, looks like I am averaging around 2 hours per light. I seriously underestimated the spring bypasses, they take forever it feels like. lol

This one is for 808HI and is another NW 4000k 80CRI in the Tan MT09R. Although the LED lottery has this one making “only” ~22.5k lumens (measured 22k but my cells were a little low). No idea why, I tried a few different things to improve it but that was all they had to give.

This is why I can’t guarantee an output, with a 7% +/- tolerance between LED’s it is impossible to know what a light will do before you build it.

He also wanted a 100% ramp and all the springs bypassed.

Next up is his silver light I have, this one will be a 5700k P2 emitter. Curious to see what kind of output it has. It could possibly hit 24-25k lumens. Won’t know till I try it.

I have to say, I really like all these colors now that I have seen most of them in person. They really look nice.

In other news all the drivers have been working great, no issues which is a load off me. I also think I am finally happy with the XHP70.2 firmware so I can make a finalized version for HL

Still need to try one more stock light with the xhp35 just to confirm it is working ok. Once I confirm those I will ship out the bare driver orders and send the firmware to HL.

All these orders I am finishing today should ship out tomorrow as well.

Texas_Ace wrote:

I just took a stock measurement with the silver XHP70.2 CW and got 14k lumens before mods., the WW did about the same 14k and the NW did around 15k lumens.

Texas_Ace wrote:

Nicolicous wrote:

Texas_Ace wrote:

I just took a stock measurement with the silver XHP70.2 CW and got 14k lumens before mods.

Wow Only 14k lumens with stock light and with TA it increase to 23k.

Now that’s what I want

I’ll just wait for Dale to send the update driver

Well, keep in mind that just the driver takes it to around ~17-18k depending on the LED tint / batch. The other Q8’s worth of lumens comes from the LED swap.

Texas_Ace wrote:

Ok, Just got 808HI’s second light done with some 5700k P2 LED’s.

Once again the driver worked fine, made a few more tweaks to the firmware to make it more universal across LED’s used.

With the P2 LED’s it is doing ~24k lumens, not too bad, it actually peaks over 25k for a few seconds. Although this is why the 80CRI 4000 are my favorite XHP70.2, you only loose a little output but you gain a lot of cri and tint. Now if I could just find a 4500k xhp70.2 80 or 90cri…

Gonna take a break for a little bit and try to knock out the last few lights I have here tonight. I expect more tomorrow and I think some showed up in the mail today.

Texas_Ace wrote:

Alright, another one down! This one is also for 808HI. He wanted the whole rainbow of tints so I pulled out some of my personal stash and used some 5000k emitters I had. Not sure on the bin but most likely N4 or P2.

A pretty nice tint although lacking in CRI for sure compared to the 80cri 4000k.

They are doing 23k lumens as well, so pretty nice there. Not a bad LED for someone that likes 5000k. I still prefer the 4000k 80CRI though, so I think I will sell the other set of 5000k LED’s I have (might have 2, I have an entire box full of LED’s. I tend to order 3-4 of any semi-interesting LED I come across and then try to find a use for it later). If someone wants them let me know.

Think I am finally running out of lights, I have a few xhp35 lights but they will have to wait until I make the next order as I don’t have the LED’s for them yet. Gonna mod my own xhp35 light at the same time.

Charles Lin is the final light I have right now I think.

I know there are at least 2 more lights coming tomorrow. So we will see what the mailman brings.

Texas_Ace wrote:

Ok, looks like this is the last one on my to do list until the mailman comes. This one is for Charles Lin and is another copy of my light. 80CRI 4000k emitters, 50% ramp and bypasses all around (I tried it without the driver bypass and it droped 3k lumens and the spring was silly hot when I opened it up FYI, don’t do that lol).

It is another ~22k light, just how the ball bounces. Still an amazing amount of light. I was letting my sister try the ramping to get a second opinion and she even was surprised when it just kept getting brighter (remember, she sees my lights all the time, it takes at least 15k lumens to even get he to look twice).

Now for the fun part of sorting all these out and getting them shipped back out.

Texas_Ace wrote:

Ok, I know it is not an MT09 but figured someone would be interested in what the MT03 does with the same mods. This is my first time seeing one in person and I have to say, I REALLY like it. The build quality is slightly higher then the MT09 and I like the setup. That said it is a very different light.

This is the last Light I have for 808HI, he wanted 4000k 80cri and 100% ramp so that is what he got.

The results are fantastic! It is doing ~21k lumens but my sphere does not seal perfectly so the reading will be slightly lower, I expect it is around ~22k.

The OP reflector and floody design means the tint is even better then the MT09, it is simply gorgeous! I am getting one for myself now and will be building it just like this one.

Also did a Q8 for him with 319A 5000k 80cri emitters that is doing 6k lumens and has a bit more throw then the stock Q8. VERY nice tint, pure white.

Texas_Ace wrote:

Speaking of which I just finished BORO’s first light today. He wanted 3000k 80cri LED’s They are quite nice and very warm, it looks like an incandescent light. Personally I still prefer ~4500k but I would not mind having something like this to play with.

They are not doing as well as the 4000k LED’s, only around ~17k lumens so the 4000k do seem to be a bit of a fluke that I am more then happy to use!

Still by far the brightest high CRI 3000k light I have seen!

I had 9 more lights show up for modding today, so I am starting to work my way through them now.

I finished building the final batch of drivers I have earlier today after an 8 hour marathon and still need to flash and test them.

Taking a break from those and going to see how many lights I can knock out tonight, hoping I can get one more done tonight. No idea who’s it will be…

I just placed an order this morning for another $400 worth of LED’s and components and if the 20 MT09R’s that terry is trying to get to fulfill the waiting list comes through I am sure I will have to make a few more orders like that. I am both hurt and glad to see an order like that lol.

I just got NKresho’s light finished, he got some 5000k emitters from my personal stash and his light is now doing ~21k lumens.

I am going to try and get the individual driver orders finished tonight and then going to call it a night. Might get another light done in the morning tomorrow.

Man Without Shadow wrote:

OMG! This light is now a work of art! Was just out in a field blasting 4000k 80cri’s…awesome tint (everything is brown here right now…took it up against another 9000lumen CW light I have and this thing had way more throw and the tint a nice natural yellowish, while the CW was certainly stark white and blueish. Could definitely tell your light with its tint was a better light up than the cool white. CW was kinda washed out, glarey…while the 70.2 4000k 80CRI was much much brighter, but didnt seem to throw any glare. Almost a magical tint compared to some CW’s and NW’s I have. It almost did appear 3x brighter…if one can even see that…it certainly had way more throw and filled up a much bigger area of the field and trees I was at.

Thanks again for this upgrade…it is quite amazing! Be nice if Haikelite was putting these out for less than the $250 it cost me (base plus upgrades). If they could guarantee they were making the light you sent me…they would knock it out of the park and light up the forums. Its like an insane Q8 now!

Ramping is perfect speed, and its so reassuring to watch it obviously step down as it gets too hot.

A+++++

Thanks for the feedback! Glad they are proving worth the time and effort. This is why I do this whole flashlight thing.

I just hope that Haikelite (and other manufactures) take note of the results that just a little more thought, time, effort and yes, money into a light can have. I have offered my help to many manufactures but most don’t see to take it seriously.

Makes me think about just making my own flashlight brand and doing it my way……….

shirnask wrote:

Finally had time to go outside with my 70.2 and …. Man Without Shadow has already said it better than I can. For me this is now a light worth $250.00

I think it is worth it just for the tint, but the wow factor is right up there with it.

Good to see that several of the lights have arrived now and are working for the end users. It is always a little never racking with a new driver design to see it working in the wild.

I do agree though, this light is now one of my favorite lights. I can’t wait to try an mt03 though, the one I built the other day really looked great for a monster flooder.

sb56637 wrote:

Nice!!! I bet you have a pretty big shadow now, Mr. Man Without Shadow.

I’m really glad you took this project on TA, sounds like a blast… literally.

Yeah, the results are making it worth the time. Like usual I never expected it to take so much time when I accepted the job lol.

Plus modding these lights is helping to make up for the “discount” I gave haikelite for the drivers themselves. The funny thing is that had they just had me do it from the start as I offered, they could have paid me 2x my asking price and still come out $10k++ ahead of the losses they have sustained from these bad drivers.

I love seeing happy people with monster lights, that makes it all worth it in the end though. Even I get a smile every time I turn on my MT09R. It is so much more refined then my prior 18k+ lumen lights and a FAR better tint.

Newlumen wrote:

Me too. I have sent my both mt09r in xhp70.2 and xhp35 for the upgrade.. i am a big fun of cw.. so i went with the 5700k tint.

Yep, your lights showed up today. Not sure if I will get any done tomorrow or how many. Got a birthday in the family so I will be busy most of the day.

I should get to it the next day though, I hope to knock out most of the lights I have now then.

SKV89 wrote:

Texas_Ace wrote:

Makes me think about just making my own flashlight brand and doing it my way……….

I wish you do start your own brand! You will have my full support!

Haikelite USA Official wrote:

lol TA I can’t let you have all of the fun…

This is what a real TA driver can do. 

You stole the idea for my follow up video lol.

Most likely will still do it, just cause. It is fun setting stuff on fire for some reason.

iosala wrote:

Texas_Ace wrote:

Makes me think about just making my own flashlight brand and doing it my way……….

Damn, I hope you do!
I am fresh in this hobby, but persoally, i would buy all the lights you would make!
As a matter of fact, I am just now trying to get my hands on one of these MT09R’s, since you upraded them

Thanks for the encouragement. Never know what the future may hold.

I found some new LED options at another supplier that are a little more expensive but if people wanted them I could order them as well since they are interesting.

XHP35 HD E4 bin (highest bin possible) 5000k

XHP35 HD D4 bin 4500k 80cri – These are what I plan to use in my own MT09R xhp35 light

After shipping and tax these would be $30 for a set.

These will not fit in the mt09 but I have not seen anyone use them yet, I got one before and did some quick tests before I managed to kill it when putting an optic on.

XHP50.2 H2 bin 5000k 90cri. I was really impressed with the tint on this LED when used with a TIR optic, a nice bright white.

Also going to special order some 90cri 4500k XHP50.2, it will take a few months but they should be my dream LED’s. Gonna order some extras to sell as well. Just not sure what the demand will be. I have already had interest in about 6-8 of them so thinking I will order 20.

Ok, some very sad news on my end today.

I was celebrating a family birthday party today and the LED emitters were supposed to be delivered, I also had several packages that were supposed to be picked up.

After literally shipping and receiving well over 30k packages at this location and no one in the neighborhood ever having had a package stolen it seems someone chose today to break our perfect record.

The tracking number shows that the LED’s were delivered but there is no box anywhere in sight.

Then to add insult to injury the packages I was shipping have not had any tracking updates yet. It is possible it is just the normal delay in the usps system but I won’t know until tomorrow.

I honestly have no idea what is going to happen with this, Fedex is running a trace and will talk to the driver in the morning and I am going to talk to the mail lady tomorrow.

The LED order was $400 and I was shipping 2 mt09R’s today + some other stuff. Needless to say I am praying that the packages were picked up successfully and that fedex will cover the LED’s order.

I will keep everyone updated. I am now going to go drown my sorrows in birthday cake and try to heal my faith in humanity by remembering that humans invented cake.

I will finish the mods regardless, not to worry, I deliver on my promises. My profits should just cover a replacement order of LED’s