A guy at work wants me to pretty much rebuild this light. The emitter will be simple and I already have or should have an XM-L2 on the right size noctigon. This board has throw. Ot is a dual cell 18650 which I'm guessing not ot series. No clue what to replace it with or of I should being a dual cell.
I'm going to replace whatever kind of clone XML that is with an XM-L2 U3. Get rid of those tiny cheap wires. It's 21mm board and I have nothing that size so if I do swap it I will have to order one. I happen to be getting together an order for Mountain now.
Yeah there is a huge amount of space under the pill. In this one it's all just open empty space. I should have at least checked the current before I took it apart.
Does anyone happen to know if it running at 5.8V with the board it has now. Before I order a board (no big deal really not at that price) but, he is trying to stay cheap.
LOL he is going to be amazed after looking at that very blue light when he sees the XML2 shining. It is pretty easy to get 800 lumens with a single 18650 and just a decent board.
Unless that driver comes a little bigger it is going to come up a little small. The slot that the driver seats on is 21.8mm wide so I will probably need at east a 22mm.
Pretty sure that's a buck driver. No markings appear visible on the chip that would be the buck converter. Sometimes taking a picture with flash makes the chip markings jump out. Most likely, it the same buck converter that used in most Chinese lights. Can probably run on 1S to 4S cells. The .2 ohm resistor is your voltage sense resistor. Decreasing resistance will increase current. With 1S cell, you can probably just short it as the driver will not have enough voltage overhead to truly regulate. If you go 2S cells, decrease resistance in small steps.
I like to connect a wire to each side of the sense resistor so that I can try out different resistors without multiple reflows to the pcb.
You probably know all the above already, but saying it just in case.
I tried and tried to tell him, I could sell him an SK98 that I stripped and almost doubled It's output for way less money than rebuilding something through trial and error. I usually keep 2 or 3 here new and ready to go all of the time and they all have XML2's 8*7135 boards. I even change the tail switches and put in far better o-rings that get the wiggle out of the head when you zoom. I get anywhere from 30 to 40 dollars for one and I back them up. Never had one come back yet.
He like the light for some reason. I will install this XML2 and get some decent cells in it and take some current readings. It may already be pushing plenty of power, that emitter is just total trash.
Before I forget, he also wants a custom. He wants what he will call a piece of the sun. Maybe 6 to 8k lumens, says he wants an hour of run time. Not constant just total run time.
I don't or at least have not done a multiple emitter light, so anyone that wants to throw out some numbers just shoot them to me and I will relay it to him. He is paid pretty decent. Hell of a technician, but for some reason he just does not get the concept of these lights.
This may seem unkind but its not your job to baby him.
I don’t see the point but i can understand upgrading is current light. Tell him the LED, and driver will cost about as much as an M1 with Noctigon. So he can owe you a favour and pay about the same money to upgrade his current light or just buy another light for about the same money.
As for 6-8k lumens, real lights cost money, if he wants such a light there are options out there ready made and priced for it.
Actually not until you pointed it out but now that you have I can get this under the magnifier and it is looking like you are dead on. LOL thank. I missed this post, I am glad I went back through of them. I didn't have a problem ordering and replacing a board, I just have not seen very many around at this size. I could make a slightly smaller board fit but that just opens up room for mistakes or problems down the road.
Thanks for pointing out what I was looking right at and did not even pay attention. LOL I worked like 64 hours this past week. dead on my feet.
Happy to be of some service. Thanks for the feedback.
That board appears to be using a "Mode" chip for modes. That resistor marked "000" is probably for selecting a mode group (e.g. L, H, Strobe). Removing the chip will probably give you a different mode group (e.g. L, M, H, SOS, Strobe).
Probably going to put it down for tonight, even if I could find a board I need this order back from Mountain back before Christmas. I already have the emitter pretty much everything else. I do want to get the emitter in tomorrow just to see what I can do with the stock board.
Fellows, please strip down those quotes, or stop hitting the freakin' quote button, please. Your answers will (waay quicker) be read anyway.
Did you said hollow pill, Terry White? LoL!
With regards to the driver, if that sheesh is like the one I found in a quite similar torch I have lying around somewhere, chances are it doesn't have low voltage protection for 2 cells in series, so my advice is to dump it.
Terry, that looks similar to one of my first lights, a Trustfire Z1 zoomie. Same driver too. I put way too much coin into it and I absolutely never use it. It is good for nothing. I used the MTN buck driver as mentioned above and put in a dedomed XPG2. It actually throws nicely now, but is still good for nothing.
Like you stated, maybe some better wiring and a different emitter and that should make him happy. If he wants ‘crazy’ light out of that thing it aint gonna happen.
