A Small Sun T13 shorty crelant Dr. Jones MOD

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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This little bad boy started life as a Small Sun ZY-T13, had vestureofblood machine up a shorty battery tube and crelant supplied the 66mm housing and KD supplied the lens, along with a Dr. Jones ramping side switch driver the lumo35drv. A RED XPE2 on copper sinkpad at 1.4A pushes close to 75Kcd. The beam is very narrow and does not take up the entire field of view in my scope at 8X magnification. The solution to this problem was a windage and elevation adjustable mount. I have identified deer size game at close to 400 yards with this set-up.YMMV. My next build will be an adjustable focus version of this light….stay tuned.

thanks for looking

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that is a hot looking light in shorty mode! How did how get Crelant to send you an aspheric head without a lens?

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Thanks Johnny. The Crelant head came with the lens. I ditched the original for the KD lens.

4

Looks like a great accompaniment for a sniper rifle scope.

:party:

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that is great. pretty much the best thrower for the money is a zy-t13 with a crelant head. you could have also used any single 18650 crelant 7g*cs tube on that too

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That is sweet. I hope manufacturers will see there’s more interest in going “short” than having extra extension tubes. On a 2-cell light, I’d rather have an 18650-sized tube included for 2 * 18350. We’re smart enough to realize it still needs 2 cells, if it does (just tell us).

Link for the KD lens, please? I’m guessing this is the best all-around lens you’ve found for your purpose—which is valuable.

Why did you ditch the Crelant lens? I might have missed some discussion on this somewhere else. What’s the comparison? I’d be kind of surprised that the oh-so-high-end Crelant lens is inferior to a random compatible kaidomain offering (not sure how we’re defining “inferior” here yet though). So 35 bucks just for a housing to put the lens in? Collimators like yours don’t have reflectors in them, do they? Would that waste less light, or just send light scattering outside of your beam?

This thing’s not too heavy on your rig?

Why not push the XPE2 to 2 amps?

I’m wondering if there’s a cheaper way to duplicate the crux of this setup, centered around that KD lens and a short length? Maybe a lens inside a Jacob A60? Although I like that width.

I’m guessing you’re using two Ultrafire 18350 li-ions in there?

I haven’t spent any real money on a dedicated thrower (should we call it a “spotting light” or “scope light”?). I was tending towards a Convoy L2, but I’m coming to the conclusion that the least spill is the best, if you just want to see far. I’d imagine spill can spook game/advertise your location more, plus blind you from seeing what’s way out there. I read in another thread about boaters who pick up buoys at night, need zero spill if possible, otherwise they can’t see them for the waves close-up. In another thread, an author retrieving trailcam pics wrote about being aware a cougar was in the area, and feeling naked not being able to see far into the woods with all the spill from his light (I’d have at least 2 lights in that case).

I’ve also noticed light through a lens is more “coherent”. Hard to explain, but I do know that focused light will send a usable beam right through window screen, whereas reflector light gets hung up on the screen, and you can barely see outside. I’ve never really understood why it’s so different. I think there’s more there, though, if I can understand it. Some despise the projection of the die, but I’ve always found it really cool.

Are X*-*2’s better for focused beams, due to their smoother phosphor (lack of current sinks, or whatever those ‘bars’ are)?

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KD lens is sku 13618

the “oh-so-high-end crelant lens” is not so high end…most are fairly crappy. The KD lens although not great is much better and my testing actually showed an increase in throw.

nope…not too heavy…one reason for shorty version.

no reflectors, single aspheric lens.

I never use ultrafire batteries! only sanyo and panasonic.

This light has a dr. jones driver. max voltage is 5volts so only a single li-ion battery will work. No need for carrying around lots of extra batteries. One spare Panny 3400 and hunt all night.

This light has a red xpe2 I have pushed it to 1.75A on a copper sinkpad and didn’t gain any light output. so i went back to 1.4A.

I like the convoy L2 quite a bit. My only problem with it, is the battery tube is larger than 1” and larger than 30mm, so it does not fit into a 1” or 30mm scope ring. So weapon mounting a convoy L2 would be a challenge.

A slightly cheaper way to duplicate this set-up would be to cut down a stock T13 tube, do a resistor mod an a stock driver, then add crelant head with original lens. That’s about the cheapest way to duplicate the set-up and still have a fairly robust rig for shooting.

Aspheric beam versus reflector beam. I geuss it depends on your needs. Many fox hunters that i build lights for like the reflector based T13’s. They have a large hotspot and large spill. These hunters like to hide behind a wall of light. They can keep the Fox in the “halo” until it is close enough, then lower the hotspot on to the animal for positive identification and shot placement.

Other hunters, especially coyote hunters do not want alot of spill. They feel the spill may give away their position or reflect off the gun barrel, ground, etc.

This is what I call a scope light or shooting light. I use headlamps for “spotting” or “scanning”.

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Kevin, are you using P3’s or P4’s? Where did you find the mount? I’m looking for something similar but 30mm on both ends.

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Nice flashlight and nice mount. It is probably hard to find?

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I never seen such adjustable mount... Looking good.

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hi guys,

i am not around as much as i used to be, sorry.

the mounting solution shown in the OP is not the adjustable mount. Shown is a UTG leapers QD scope ring 6 bolt tactical.(QD-quick disconnect). i usually buy them on opticsplanet.com or amazon. the scope rings i use on all my set-ups are weaver 6 bolt tactical scope rings with weaver rail caps available from many suppliers, swfa, amazon, opticsplanet, midwayusa, etc. and you will also see a 1/2’ spacer used on this set-up. this is the simplest, cheapest, most solid way to mount a light i know of.

Thank for reviving the thread. I still use this light on a regular basis.

Kevin

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You said something about a windage and elevation adjustable mount. What are you using for that and where did you find it. I don’t see how you can do that with the UTG rings

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you are correct. cannot adjust anything with the UTG scope ring.

the windage and elevation mount i use is available many places on aliexpress. i have tried a few and they are all really crappy. i will see if i can dig up a link.

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i am not endorsing this seller but this is the mount.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-25-4mm-Metal-Tactical-Laser-Flashlight-Riflescope-Mount-Adjustable-Elevation-Windage-for-21mm-Rail/1985589400.html

i have heard good things about the laserspeed mount as well but no first hand experience.

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heres another one

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Windage-and-Elevation-Adjustable-Mount/1659265140.html

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Yeah, not worth wasting $23 if they are crappy

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Well they are not crappy if they can withstand recoil of my magnum centerfire... But you need to mod them a bit.

Main screws are crap and provided wrench also. So screw swap is must or if you don't want to mess with new ones modd them with saw so that they can be screwed with chisel wrench.

In 80 % of cases light sits perfectly with generic non adjustable mount but sometimes you need these guys.

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I’ve never had a need for one, but I’m wondering if it’ll be needed with some of my new projects. An XP-E2 Torch dedomed is going to have a small beam. Mounted on my scope which is on a 20 MOA rail, I may need some adjustment to have the beam in the crosshairs at a distance