BORUIT Z001 meets the Beast Driver. The coat pocket torch I've always wanted.

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

I've been looking at the Boruit Z001 for a while. Fat bodied lights with serial cells are harder to find than hens teeth. There's a ton of soupcans out there, but they're all parallel.

I really got focused when OldLumens started doing a mod on one, but then...arrrrrgggh...Justin!!! You're changing it to parallel!! He got it nice and bright, but I wanted series.

Lately I've started playing around with boost drivers after seeing what TomE was doing with the 7 and 9 emitter KD boost drivers. I knew the Z001 was underpowered and really wanted to see if it would thrive with a beast driver.

I didn't go into detailed breakdown photos because it's already been covered in other threads.

OldLumens:

DayLighter:

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/14661

First off, I replaced all the LEDs with XM-L2 U2 1A on Noctigons wired in series with 24AWG Teflon wire. I've been using Teflon a lot for wiring multi emitter lights because it is lower profile, and you can bend it to whatever contour you want. I also replaced the centering discs that stick up too high with the lower profile wing type. The Teflon wire made for a very neat and tidy job. Since the photo was taken, I've replaced the two driver leads with 20AWG Teflon also.

I removed the stock driver from its base so I could attach a 9 XML KD beast driveR, but first I had too fix some resistance problems with the Battery/Ground contacts.

The first photo I borrowed from OldLumen's thread. I basically added copper braid to both springs the same as Justin.

When checking with my ohm meter, I found I couldn't get any continuity tone from the chromed surface of the spring caps unless I scratched at them with the probes, so I filed the surface down to brass. I also drilled a hole through the middle of the Battery + spring cap and soldered a piece of 14AWG wire, and filed it flush.


Okay. Let's get that beastie mounted.

I copied TomE and filled the gap between the two boards with Fujik. You can see the little nuts and bolts that secure components from the battery side of the board.


I had attached long 20AWG leads from the emitters which I planned to run through the tube and solder to the driver, but when I looked, the negative wire on the driver isn't soldered on, but comes up through the the board from the center. The stock leads were to short to attach and still be able to screw in the reflector retaining screws. No option but to splice.


Battery end all tucked in.


I started taking tail readings by touching the leads to either side of the switch on the battery holder. Probably not the best way to get good readings, but it'll have to do.

While I was experimenting, the light started flickering and shutting off. I thought maybe the switch blew, but it tested OK. It seems the springs, which were not that snug with my unprotected cells had sagged from the current and the batteries were loose.

I replaced the springs with heavy IOS springs. "The big nasty ones" as Comfychair calls them. A bit of copper braid and my current readings improved. I'll probably jumper the traces when I have time.


Tail readings from leads pressed against the in/out tabs of the switch on the battery holder. 3 x INR18650-20R Samsung.

100% - 6.70A x 3 = 20.10A = 2.87A per XM-L2

75% - 4.87A x 3 = 14.61A = 2.08A

50% - 3.15A x 3 = 9.45A = 1.35A

30% - 1.67A x 3 = 5.01A = 0.71A

10% - 0.39A x 3 = 1.17A = 0.16A

All I can say is this torch is pumping out tons of light. A compact flashlight that acts like its a foot and a half long. I just knew this would be the one! Seven XM-L2 @ 2.87 per emitter is a lot of light in my pocket.

I know from my tests it will do 3.2A with regular XM-L on aluminum. I recorded a lot of readings using the 5,7 and 9 versions of this driver with 5,7 and 9 XM-L's. With 5 XM-L on aluminum and the 9 emitter driver I saw 4.7A. I'll post my results when I get a chance, so along with TomE's test results we can get a better understanding of these boost drivers.

I've been waiting for summer, but now I have to stay up later for it to get dark.


BORUIT Z001 beside COURUI Big Head

Thanks for listening.

2

Good show .

Thanks for sharing .

3

Nicely executed and thought out as usual. Can you please PM some of your creativity to me. Thanks in advance. This monster must get hot quickly. The next mod for you will be to convert this to 32650 for a long run time on high. It should be reasonably easy to do being in series.

4

I’m waiting til dark to see how it handles the heat. No point wasting batteries while it’s light.
This is a five mode driver 100-75-50-30-10, so I can dial it down to save batteries and control heat. The difference between 100 and 75% is almost imperceptible! but will prolong runtime and run cooler. Even at 50% this light is bright as hell.

The head is pretty beefy and I coated the pill threads with Arctic Silver before I screwed it in.

5

Nice write up and mod. I really enjoy bright pocket friendly lights..

Anyone know of other similar sized multiemitter fatties?

6

The only ones I can think of that have cells in series are the BTU Shocker, Dry, and the Boruit, or clones under different labels. Oh yeah, my EYE40 is in series too. This Boruit is the nicest for carrying though.
If you find any others, please let me know.

7

On general basis I would prefer if it was not in series.

The BTU is too large (and heavy) for wearing in a pocket... Id take a SRK or similar over DRY.

There is a 12 emitter fatty.

But its too large for the jacket pocket IMO. A very interesting mod host though.. Edit: Here is a mod thread

8

Twelve is two many for me. Three to seven is good. I’ll go nine, but wouldn’t even know how to go about a mod for twelve emitters. I’m still on a learning curve.

9

I’ve read that thread by Hyprmtr. I’d want to make sure I had a better understanding of those Task drivers before I start messing with them.

10

No beamshots? :_(

11

I left it on high to see how it handled the heat. It’s was getting pretty toasty, and just after the two minute mark it shut down. I know the driver has a heat shutoff, but it’s not coming back on. I tested the switch and battery holder, and they’re OK.
I’ll leave it overnight to see if it miraculously starts working, but I doubt it.
If it’s not just a wire that desoldered itself the drivers fried. I’m not in the mood to start ripping and tearing, so it’ll have to wait for a while.

12

The beam shots should be similar to the one that Old-Lumens built :slight_smile:

13

Bugger.

14

No problem. It’s a flashlight. There’s nothing that can’t be fixed.
It would be nice if it’s just a wire that came loose, but if it needs a new driver, it’ll get one. Getting the driver out may be a problem. It may involve some ripping of wires.

15

I pulled the driver, and it’s DOA. I have another 9xdriver, but it’s three modes. I like being to be able to bring the the current down to 75% without losing any perceptable light, so I’m going to hook up my 7xdriver that has five modes.

I was lucky. I thought I’d have to rip out a bunch of wires to extract the driver. I didn’t think it would come out since it was press fit in…with a hammer.

I’m curious though. My 5xdriver is running 5 LEDs at 4.2A per, and running nicely. I noticed the 9xdriver was real sluggish changing modes. Press to change modes and it would turn off for a second, and then the next mode would light up. I tested the 7xdriver and it seems to react the same way. The 5xdriver changes modes instantly with 5 emitters. All are running from three cells. Could it be that there is less available voltage for the series of 7 emitters and it needs time to process? I have no idea.
The new driver is all connected to the contact board and should be up and running by tomorrow night. I just have to pack the boards with Fujic tonight.

16

Ohhhh, Ouchy! My J18 9X beast driver light is still fine, BUT - I don't use it much . Also got a J18 with 6 LED's and the 7X driver, and that's still doin well. These beast drivers seem to come with high risk. My first J18 w/beast driver didn't last too long - Daylighter had it and died after bout 15 mins of use. With all the 7X and 9X drivers I've seen, same slow mode changing.

I was really hoping the fujik would help to keep the driver alive, though it's not the ideal heat-sinking setup, and I'm too afraid to really test them for any length of time...

17

Thanks Tom. I’m glad to hear the slow modes are normal. The 5x driver isn’t slow though and is running 5 XM-L2 superbly. This Boruit is really a nice light and I’m determined to get it running smoothly. The current of the 7x is only a tad under the the current of the 9x with 7 emitters. Quite frankly, when I dropped modes down to 75% (2.0A) I couldn’t see any difference. If I hadn’t tested with a DMM, I’d think it was still on high. This light starts getting pretty toasty after two minutes on high.

I’d like to get another 5 x XML driver and test it with three emitters with two cells. If it could produce 3A per emitter, it might be the solution (expensive) to those triple lights that only take two 18650s.

18

Oh man. Sounds like a very sweet light.

19

I can’t wait to see the beamshots!

20

It is a sweet light… especially after it was modded by the master himself aka Old-Lumens… every time I showed it to non flashaholics at night, there’s always somebody in the crowd that says” What the F*!? was that? or Holy $#!.. dude where did you get that? ” it’s not really meant to be use for continuously for a long time but it’s always a crowd pleaser :wink:
heck… at 50% it has enough light to lit up the road :bigsmile: