contactcr wrote:

contactcr wrote:

I’ll check and make sure I didn’t do something when modding it. It was only purchased 2 months ago from Amazon.

I looked and it appears I replaced the tail spring with a stiffer BeCu one. So now when I really crank the tail cap down it pushes out on the switch just enough to make it wobbly. If I loosen the cap just slightly it will barely stand on its own so I guess it was my own doing after all.

Glad you found what was wrong
These lights have room for mods, but they need to be precise, otherwise we’ll end not having a good final result!
Hope you can solve it and make it tailstand
BTW, can I ask what mod did you do?

bansuri wrote:

[…] I’ll be swapping emitters and wanted to let any potential modders know that the pill has left-hand threads.

I am quoting this because a fellow member asked me about unscrewing the pill of the Tool AA (and the Tool 25 is the same)!
Please be sure that when you unscrew the pill, you use thin tweezers and you rotate it to the right, not the left!

The pills are not glued, so it is just a matter or turning it to the right!

bansuri wrote:

MascaratumB wrote:

bansuri wrote:

[…] I’ll be swapping emitters and wanted to let any potential modders know that the pill has left-hand threads.

I am quoting this because a fellow member asked me about unscrewing the pill of the Tool AA (and the Tool 25 is the same)!
Please be sure that when you unscrew the pill, you use thin tweezers and you rotate it to the right, not the left!

The pills are not glued, so it is just a matter or turning it to the right!

We refer to standard threads as right-hand where righty=tighty and lefty=loosey.
I will update post for those not familiar with this convention.

Thanks bansuri!
I quoted your post because I remembered someone (=you ) had posted that information into the thread and I wanted to make it more visible as I forgot to mention that on the text review on post #1!

We are normally used to loose the pills towards left and tighten towards right, but these 2 lights are the opposite (need to turn it clockwise to unscrew)! So thanks of the heads up, and also for the edit/clarification on your post.

bansuri wrote:

It’s a sad day when you find out the hard way that a threaded component spins opposite of what you expect. Don’t ask how I know!

Did you…ruin a part of your light because of that?
Sorry if you did
And I hope you have is solved yet!

bansuri wrote:

Not this one, I think I learned that lesson on a tailcap switch on another light. Now I check both ways. Glad these aren’t glued. Still haven’t modded, not sure what to swap to. So many choices. Been using it as-is, tint is acceptable for a cool tint. We’ve seen worse.

Ufff, I thought you had a problem with the Tool! Glad you don’t!
Nop, nothing is glued, just like on the V1.0! It is very mod-friendly! Apart from those flaps in the driver/pill and the smaller diameter of the aluminum MCPCB, which are also easily modable!

The CW tint is not the worst, specially if compared to the V1.0 that had huge tint shift (and that terrible PWM)! The new versions are improved and I only wish they had no memory! I will put a new driver someday to solve that

A warmer/neutral tint will also make it better!

Paladin007 wrote:

Like this light (tool aa v2.0) apart from UI. I thought with the memory mode, I can leave it in Turbo. But when you switch off and on with in 3 seconds it will advance to next mode. Wish it has double click and triple click access in UI.

Is there anyway or mod for direct access turbo or strobe?

Yup, between 0-3 seconds it changes the modes if you click ON <> OFF ! Not the worst but I’ve seen better!
With this driver it is not possible to reach those 2 modes immediately. Well, the turbo only if you leave it on that mode before switching OFF…The strobe, not possible.
For that you’d need to change be the driver for a more flexible UI.

Mocarny wrote:

Wow it’s great review!
Thank you

Thank you

id30209 wrote:

Finally . i’ve got my Tool25 last week. Didn’t have much time to play with but i must say i’m happy it’s easy to mod.
Several driver sizes can be squeezed in

Still waiting for ToolAA 2.0 though…

Cool
Yup, it is easy to mod, despite the “small” space it has! Have you decided about the driver and LED already?

I’m still waiting for the drivers of MTN to be in stock again to order some for the AA 2.0 and other lights

id30209 wrote:

Yeah i’m also in stand by waiting for MTN but for other stuff.
I have assembled my requirements for 2S Bistro driver 15mm so i will place an order with Lexel. And i’ll take one 15mm Bistro single cell for ToolAA

Emitters wise i’ll try Osram W1 in ToolAA and shaved 351D 5000K 90CRI in Tool25

Nice The Osram will look nice on that little light
I will probably put the Luxeon V2 I have laying around!

For the Tool 25…I’m still thinking But it is good to know that Lexel drivers will work! I will have to get some for the 2 AA lights I wanna mod

Ryley wrote:

MascaratumB wrote:

bansuri wrote:

[…] I’ll be swapping emitters and wanted to let any potential modders know that the pill has left-hand threads.

I am quoting this because a fellow member asked me about unscrewing the pill of the Tool AA (and the Tool 25 is the same)!
Please be sure that when you unscrew the pill, you use thin tweezers and you rotate it to the right, not the left!

The pills are not glued, so it is just a matter or turning it to the right!

Thank you for your help MascaratumB. 2 days ago I received parts from Lumintop, order reflector and centering ring, apparently they also sent the lens. Excellent after sales service from Lumintop. I installed Luxeon V2 4000K, tint is good but there’s a hint of green in the beam, this must be because of the AR lens. My Sofirn SP10B with same led showing no green.

After all, very happy that my White Panda is alive, just remember, turn right to unscrew

http://imgur.com/a/pisBEXe

Hey that is a nice looking head
As I said in PM, you’ll get some green, and the best way to avoid it would be with a TIR optic. I used my Tool AA V1 with one because the LED (Luxeon V) was damaged and had a stain which could be seen in the beam. So I took the reflector out a put a TIR and it improved immediately
Not so bright, but better

I do think that the panda white with that warm colour will look awesome
Glad it helped and…you now know that the pill will unscrew right

Some info about these flashlights’ pills and PCBs!

And…honey, I just modded the flashlight
The Tool AA V2.0, I mean! But the Tool 25 will follow

The LED was changed. I opted for a Samsung LH351D instead of tge XP-L HD CW led! Much better! It has a slight yellowish shift under an SMO reflector, but it is barely noticeable in the highest outputs!

Driver and LED installed

I decided to make a gathering between the Convoy lighted switch and the On The Road tail cap (that is slightly transparent) to have a lighted tailcap Oh, I also joined an Olight M1T pocket clip so that we have a great flashlight party

See how the story ends here: http://budgetlightforum.com/comment/1612020#comment-1612020

hodor wrote:

Hey MascaratumB, great review as always, especially liking the backdrop colour coordination.

The “moonlight” is too bright for me though and is a deal breaker, however I’m tempted to get some AA v2.0 as hosts. Don’t suppose you have a Reylight Ti LAN or Pineapple and can check if the driver fits? Rey tells me the driver is 14.6mm so they should fit.

Hi hodor!
Thanks for your words

About your question, I can only reply based on this.
A while ago (2 years?) I ordered some drivers from Rey. I believe they were from the 2nd or 3rd batch of his Pineapple light.
Below I show you how it compares with the driver from the LT Tool AA V2.0 .
Those drivers (from taht time) “whine” on the highest modes and have PWM (under the camera, at least, and while shaking the flashlight!).
Currently I don’t know how they behave, I believe Rey has probably improved on that!

This said:

Tool AA V2.0 Driver:

Rey driver:

Comparison between drivers:

Alongside the Tool AA pill:

Levels and PWM (open in new window if you need to check):

Hope this helps in some way!
I believe they may fit in diameter, even if you need to apply some solder or to file the driver. But, if the new drivers have “2 floors” it may be more complicated. I don’t have a “free” pill to test it, otherwise I would confirm!

CRX wrote:

Nice work again

Ahah, and that wasn’t even a mod

Thanks mate
Hope you’re doing well

CRX wrote:

Yeah but teardown reviews like these with parts measured too are great information for modders & rockers

Thanks mate
One of the things I like in reviews and in this hobby, is to have photos and “data” to give modders an opportunity
That’s why I take so mani time taking mine

hodor wrote:

Agreed, very useful post, thanks for taking the time The two floors will be problematic and beyond my modding skills so looks like it’s a no go

Thanks hodor!
Well, I will actually tell you somethin useful this time!
As I “had” to start modding another of this pills (for the Tool 25 ) I unsoldered the driver and PCB, and used one of the Reylight drivers I have to check if it fits. And…it doesn’t

Here are some photos!
This is the pill’s depth!

This is the gap due to the shape of the driver vs shape of the pill, but also the gap due to the 2 floors of that driver. You can see through the hole that the “chip” is in touch with the inner part. Meaning: even if you filed the driver base to fit the pill, it still wouldn’t fit because of the height

Also, some more things about the Tool 25. The driver is somewhat different than the one of the Tool AA V2.0, but I didn’t take photos before reusing it again.
The amount of thermal paste is also very low under the pcb. Even if it only uses 2xAA batteries.

And the next mod with a 15mm driver from Lexel…for 2S
This light will ‘soon’ have an XHP50.2 on a sinkpad MCPCB! Let’s see how it will work

Hope it helped

Lexel wrote:

You might want to fill the pill with a copper plate thermal epoxied in to increase thermal mass and heat spreading

Good, thanks for reminding me of that!
I had it in mind and then forgot.
Problem is, I guess I don’t have copper at home with those dimmensions.
Would you say that soldering a copper MCPCB would do the trick?