Another J19 Mod Idea: High performance, economical - sort of... (NO -- Risen Shipping Costs Killed This)

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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05/31/2014 - this deal Is a No-Go because of shipping costs. When I first priced it out, I got a much lower shipping rate of about $5 - now it's $25. As an example, I ordered the DIY "Copper" C8 pill from them a few days before I found this J19 deal. Cost was $3.30, shipping was 21 cents. Now If I were to order the same pill, the shipping cost is $1. They increased the shipping costs dramatically right after I checked this.

Buy this TrustFire J19 light here: http://www.dealsmachine.com/best_174512.html, use promo code: "dealsmachine" for 10% off up to end of May. My total cost with shipping comes out to $53.74.

Since this light is a 3S big cell conventional with 3 LED's, a zener modded FET based Tiny13a driver would be the hot setup. Potential is about 6A per LED.

Add 3 XM-L2 U2 1A's on Noctigon's.

The driver should be the same one Richards packs in the Super Shocker, here: http://www.mtnelectronics.com/opencart/index.php?route=product/product&path=80&product_id=235. You can build one up yourself or maybe Richard would sell you one, all configured and loaded with the firmware.

I'm guessing about $90 invested at most (~ $20 for LED's on copper, ~$16 for the driver), or about $76 at the least to get a 5,000+ lumens big light that can throw pretty well. Maybe it can't throw as well as a Super Shocker, but should equal it in lumens, plus this light has the advantage of using 26650's or 32650's for much better runtime.

With 3 32650's from FastTech, another $36, little cheaper at WallBuys. These cells would have great runtime (relatively), but sacrificing a bit on the amps and resulting lumens. These cells have gotten decent reviews. 3 unprotected button top King Kong's would be the best performance in the 26650 form factor most likely.

This would be an interesting mod build with the cost savings on the J19 host at that great price. Of course you could select tint, or de-dome emitters for better throw - lumens reduced accordingly.

Why I like this setup:

  • relatively cheap, compared to modding a Shocker
  • looks like pretty good heat sinking - can run longer at high amps
  • decent battery capacity, up to 3 6,000 mAh cells
  • nice combo of total output and throw (guessing 5,000+ lumens domed, ~4,200 de-domed and ~350-400 kcd throw)
  • better balanced than a Shocker
  • I'm guessing with using a zener FET based driver, you will get excellent efficiency out of the batteries (no buck or boost)
  • with a Tiny13A based driver, lots of flexibility of custom mode configuration

Only thing lacking may be availability of an AR lens, but could probably get a UCLp made to fit. Chris at FFL will do custom sizes of UCLp's for no extra cost.

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Thanks Tom E. Its a shame there out of stock of the J12.

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Can the 7135’s handle 12vdc? (I thought they were rated for max of 9vdc)

NM…you said FET driver

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That’s a heck of a good price on one for sure. They do have great heatsinking. The pill is really large and the light itself is just a little bit heavier than the Shocker, so there is plenty of mass. I’m a little burnt out on them myself right now or I would pick another one up for sure. Right now I’m into modding the SP03’s. Pretty amazing how well they do once modded up right.

Still the J-19 is a fantastic light and for this price it’s pretty hard to beat. I do like them better than the shocker, for carrying especially.

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If I hadn’t just modded one of these, I would jump on this deal. Great price.

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Thanks for sharing. Id probably take one for 54$. Especially if came with XM-L2s, like pictured.

No special deal for me though. Cheapest shipping option is 24,44$. (Total 73,03$. Which is several bucks more than Wallbuys)

I checked some other countries. Same shipping price (on the countries I checked).

Seems like this deal is mostly for people in the US.

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Interesting points Tom, but I’m not so sure the Zener modded driver would work in this instance. The issue with 3 XM-L2’s at a Vf of 3.4-3.6 each would require some 10.8V, the Zener mod is designed to run 8.4V to a Vf of 6.3-7. Running 3 cells in series would give a much higher scrub of power to keep the mcu from blowing, would that fry the Zener?

And, you mention the high capacity of an 32650 cell, but where do we get a 32650 that can supply 6A? The only one’s I have trip at just over 4A. Tried to run an MT-G2 with a Zener modded BLF17DD driver off a pair of Novae 32650 protected cells and had one trip, when they were running they couldn’t hit the demand levels of any of 6 different 18650’s I have.

I’d like to know about what to expect from the BLF17DD Z driver with 3S cells and triple emitters though, as I have one to do for our buddy. :wink: Has this been done or is it still speculation?

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If those drivers are questionable for this setup there is always the LCKLED 5A driver. I think someone mentioned it can be tweaked for ~6.5A. It’s like $12 iirc.

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RMM seems to have done a fair amount of testing on the Zener modded driver with 3cells in series (and also 3 emitters in series) Which is why he is now using them in his Shocker builds.

Ouchyfoot have made a light with zener modded driver too (9 XM-L, 3 cells in series. 3s3p emitters).

I dont like cells that says trustfire. No matter how good they perform. But check the 10A graph here. Not bad.

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Are those the ones that have been giving issues with 2 cell operation? They work with 3 but fry with 2? I don’t know, have heard about an issue like that but can’t remember what driver it was.

The Zener mod is a way to get a driver intended to run a single Cree 3V emitter to run the MT-G2 6V emitter. I don’t know if it can be applied to this type of light, but there are those here that would know. And I’d like to find out…

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No. Its not possible for it to fry 3 emitters in series from 2 cells in series with a buck driver.

With 3cells in series and 3 emitters in series the FL-2 goes into direct drive. But with a tad more resistance compared with the FET drivers.

The drivers will handle it. If they work as a normal buck driver. Say, 2 cell series, 1 emitter. The driver needs some cooling though. Otherwise the FET or negative emitter wire can "un-solder itself". But you could just put the parts back on and chances are high it will sill keep running.

[quote=DBCstm] The Zener mod is a way to get a driver intended to run a single Cree 3V emitter to run the MT-G2 6V emitter. I don't know if it can be applied to this type of light, but there are those here that would know. And I'd like to find out... [/quote]

Did you read my reply above you?

It can be done. Its already been done in several builds. RMM have tested it for months. He now sells his "Super-Shockers" with that setup.

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Yes - think RMM has something nice there goin on, well tested, and I think (think/maybe/perhaps) it has more applications than just 3S cell to 3S LED... Ouchy did one more variation, but there are a lot more possible variations...

I think I read Richard stated the zener insures the MCU gets only the voltage it needs, so 3S should work (actually does work), but maybe more?

I'm thinking maybe for the troubling J12's and J18's, but the odd 3S cell to 5 or 7 LED's may be problematic. I'm running a J18 with 6 XM-L2's and love it, but for a J12, it would be nice to keep 5 emitters going.

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I had thought the light I am about to work on was 3 emitters and 3 cells, with an option to run 2 cells. But it’s the J12 with 5 emitters. Seems like it fried the driver running 2 cells. Was it pulling too many amps through the 2 cells trying to supply the demand of 5 emitters? But 3 cells can do this without overheating the driver? A Zener FET driver will run 5 emitters? I’ve never done these before and don’t have a light that is like that.

I can see running 6 emitters, using 3 pairs, but 5 is an odd mathematical issue. Can I just run 5 ATiny10’s piggybacked onto the original contact board, lol…yeah, I know, I could if the cells were parallel but they’re not. Perplexed at the problems the J12 presents.

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Sorry there Dale - my bad. That light was stock resistor modded, and 2 cells sent it to 9A at the tail.

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Just trying to figure out how to run 5 emitters off 2 or 3 cells. 2 preferably. I think it gets a lot easier when the emitters can be paired to a cell, so 4 for 2 cells, 6 for 3 cells, 20 for 10 cells and so on. lol (just saw a light advertised for like $35 that had 15 XM-L2 emitters! Worth the price just to strip the emitters!)

Some of this just gets crazy…

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The center LED on the J12 can be a sacrifical lamb -- then you got a nice even # of LED's. Smile Or, wondering, if you wired the 4 outer LED's in two groups parallel, then make the center LED by itself, use 3 cells and you got it, but the center LED may get twice the amps the the other LED's do. Wonder if that would work?

Edit: No - bad idea to use the center LED. That would be ~8v to one LED...

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I’m in that boat. Trying to figure out running those 5/7 emitter lights too. I wonder why the standard in reflectors seems to be 3-5-7-9 emitters. I’m having a hell of a time trying to track down a 67mm 6 XML reflector for my Boruit. I want one real bad. Been searching every kind of light I can think of for one.

I just got a J12, and going to throw a 5*XML KD driver in it. It should give 4.3A per emitter with three cells. The 7*XML and 9*XML versions seem to be trash, but so far I’ve had good results with the 5**. The battery per emitter ratio seems more obtainable for the 5** driver. I’ve been running two of them for a couple months now.
I just can’t figure any other way to drive 5 and 7 emitters.

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I just got like 5 mins out of a 5X LED KD driver with the stock XML's in a J12... Worked well for a while? Back to resistor modding the stock driver...

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Two cells or three? I think two cells for five emitters makes it work too hard.
Seems to really like two cells and three emitters.

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Happened with 3 cells. Was testing it, going thru modes, etc., when poof! All gone, never to return...