The driver doesn't have anything to do with the throw, that's up to the LEDs and reflector and how well it's focused. The 3x versions are always going to throw better than the others, there's a larger reflector for each LED, nearly the same dimensions as a P60. Add more LEDs and the size of each reflector gets smaller and smaller.
Interesting… So the 3x led version has more lumen output then the 4x then?
The JB driver seems like its easy to mod that is why I want something with it.
I want bright bright! Hahaha…
Not more lumen output. More throw. The larger the reflector, the smaller the spot. 3x gives a smaller spot, 4x gives a larger one. The tighter the spot, the farther the throw, (usually if the leds are driven the same).
You will want the 3x version with XM-L2 emitters. The -L2 can handle higher currents better than the older emitters. You will be best off by doing what Old Lumens did and placing a copper plate under the emitters’ mounting pad. Ideally you would remount the emitters on copper stars, but you will still get an obscene amount of light for several seconds before the emitters heat-soak and their efficiency degrades.
So is it the champane color one with the 3x led from Chinavally that has the XM-L2?
How can we be sure? which ebay link was it again? Sorry for all the spoon feeding, I’ve dumped too much money in buying the wrong things on ebay and on chinese sites. I want to be sure of what I am getting.
A copper plate under the stock aluminum board won't do a single thing to help with heat, might even make it worse because it's just adding another interface the heat has to try to get across. The dielectric layer inside the stock aluminum board is what hurts it, not what the board is sitting on.
Link to the ebay listing that ships to Canada is in this thread. Or, browse the seller's other listings. It's in there.
There is no guarantee which driver and which LEDs you'll get. In stock form, when used by normal people, they're all functionally identical (note: we are not normal people). I have bought three lights all from the same ebay item number and one had XML2s, the other two had XMLs. All had the JB driver. Really, the LEDs it comes with shouldn't matter, you need to ditch the original thin aluminum board and stick in 3 16mm copper boards with LEDs already mounted (and you get to choose a nicer tint than anything the light will come with stock). If you keep the stock Al board you might as well leave the driver stock too, since using the stock board means you'll have to reuse the stock skinny wires or else the LEDs will fry, and all you're doing there is eliminating the resistors on the driver and using the wires as resistors instead. Like buying wider wheels but keeping the same size tires.
This applies to ALL aluminum stars?
Copper Stars are thermally superior to aluminum stars, but, I am going to say that with all of the mega mods I have seen over the years, using Aluminum stars, because there were no copper stars, that I cannot state that Aluminum stars will not work, given a big enough heat sink behind them.
That said, a SRK or SRK clone has literally no real heat sink behind the stars. The stock light just does not do well with extended run times and even with Copper stars, it still has no real place for the heat to go. With a Copper star, you will have a little longer run time on high, but that heat has to go somewhere sooner or later and with such a thin backing plate and overall thin head, it just isn't that great of a light for pushing the leds. Of course, we do it anyway, because we can, but that does not mean it's sensible or realistic.
The only reason I ever put a copper plate behind an original plate is because there was no other way for me to do it at the moment due to lack of materials or ability and I usually pin the two with copper rod, so the heat goes down to the copper plate below.
If you want to be assured of what you are getting from any of the ebay sellers, then you can forget that route. So far, I have gotten different versions every time, so there is absolutely no guarantee what you will be getting.
Truthfully, if I wanted a SRK for me, I would go to Fasttech and buy the Fandyfire UV S5 or the (alternate model) and modify the three toroid driver that it comes with, but that's me, not anyone else.
The screw-in plate that comes in the Securitying 3x lights is .165" thick, and if it's seated in the bottom of the bore so it has contact at the bottom face instead of just depending on the threads (as it is in stock form, because the Al MCPCB is too thin to fit the lens/o-ring/bezel correctly) it works fine at over 10 amps. The stock thin MCPCB would not tolerate that kind of current, the dielectric layer will cook the LEDs. Switching from the thin MCPCB to thicker copper Sinkpads/Noctigons automatically adds enough thickness that everything fits just right with the plate screwed all the way into the head and seated against the bottom of the step.
Adding a copper spacer fixes the positioning of the screw-in plate, but leaves you with the thin MCPCB and its dielectric layer. And only two wire attachment points, and only two wires at the kind of current the JB driver does with the limiting resistors bypassed really need to be 18AWG or bigger. That's because of the length - there's no way to keep the wires short and still put the thing together. With 3 16mm MCPCBs you get six wires instead of two, and that means smaller 22AWG wire works fine even though it's still longer than what you'd get in other lights that are easier to put together.
This one works great:
this one did, too:
This one IS bright, at the start... and then drops like Wile E. Coyote running off the edge of a cliff:
And that's with the copper pins helping out. I don't wanna think what it would be like with the unmodified MCPCB.
All 3 are using the original aluminum screw-in plate.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161104795308
Chinavally replied that this version is confirmed using the JB driver. However I don’t think he can confirm if it is XM-L2 or L.
Like has been said though, the aluminum star is the main throttle to performance that won’t destroy the emitters. Buy an assortment of smd resistors and play around with a dmm and ohm’s law to figure out what resistance you need to put in there so each emitter gets maybe 2-3 amps, which is okay for an aluminum-sunk emitter, and at that current level the difference between XM-L and XM-L2 is not noticable.
Or, you can buy some copper stars and reflow the emitters onto them. But then you’re three dollars per star away from buying XM-L2’s pre-flowed onto those stars. So really it’s a relatively small matter if you need to upgrade to –2’s given the cost you’ll already be investing.
I like the copper plate underneath the aluminum mod, it seems easy enough for a newbie like me to mod.
Reflowing the original emitters to new sinkpads are quite a large task, and I dont think I can do it without damaging the existing emitter.
I think adding the copper plate give it more surface area for the heat to spread. But not sure how effective that would be.
I think doing the wires and resistors for me would be first and I will see what else I can do.
Clearly you do not understand what Comfychair was getting at with his posts.
The copper plate WILL DO NOTHING as long as you’re using the original aluminum star. If you do the wires and resistor mod you will cook the emitters to death. Go back and re-read comfy’s posts before deciding on the mods you’re going to do.
With the copper MCPCBs the LED is soldered directly to the copper base. With the aluminum MCPCBs, since you can't solder to aluminum, there has to be a thin layer of copper over the aluminum, and there has to be a thin layer of insulation between the thin copper on top and the thicker aluminum on the bottom, to prevent the whole thing from shorting out. Insulation is a Bad Thing to stick in the middle of a thing that's supposed to transfer quite a lot of heat. This insulation is made into the middle of the aluminum board like a multilayer sandwich. Any heat from the LED has to go through all those layers before it ever gets to the copper shim you stick underneath, so if the heat can't get there in the first place it doesn't really matter what it's sitting on.
You don't need to do any LED re-soldering, XML2s of various tints are readily available already mounted on 16mm copper MCPCBs. There's no guarantee you'll get a light with XML2s in it anyway.
Gotcha.
So what is the first thing I should do when I get the light?
I bought the black 4x version, cause Chinavally replied saying its a JB driver and I didnt want a champane 3x.
It depends entirely on how much you want to invest. If you want to bypass the resistors and direct-drive this light you will need four good-quality, low resistance cells. They don’t need to be brand-new Samsung 20R’s as a 9-10 amp draw spread over four cells is reasonable and laptop-pulls, provided they are genuine, will yield suitable fodder.
Secondly, you will need to put the emitters on copper. It will be $16 to put the emitters on copper if you reflow them yourself. You may as well spend $28 and upgrade to XM-L2s at the same time.
Thirdly, you must know that this turns the light into a battery-burner that will get too hot to hold in a matter of minutes, and you will spend most of the time using it on the ‘low’ setting.
The JB driver with the resistors bypassed, 3x XML2, and running on medium is right around 50% more light than a good unmodded 3x SRK with the old 3-toroid driver puts out on high.
Thanks for the tips guys, can’t wait for the flashlight to arrive!
It’s too bad we don’t have FLIR unit to measure or see what the outcome is after adding the copper plate underneath the aluminum one…
I bet FLIR applications would be a good thing for the flashlight modding community as it can show heat signatures where we can improve our lights…
Was thinking of buying the wallbuy’s samsung 18650 since I don’t have any 18650 laying around the current moment.