Thanks 
.
Yep… I did a test for the Acebeam T20. I had to replace the LED though because I shaved the emitter off during testing. These should be about the same tint. The optics on the Brinyte take out some of the goldeness of the tint, even though it’s the same emitter. If you focus the beam of the Brinyte then look at the hotspot of the T20, the centers are almost the same color. Putting the Brinyte at full flood though, does seem to take out some of the warmness. Also the image of dedomed XPL HI is very clear at full zoom. The XML2 has a slightly smoother image at full focus. I have more pills on order, so I may drop in a dedomed XP-G2 in the Brinyte in the future.
As far as the mod. It too me much longer than you see in the video. It took me much longer to put in the driver. Minute amounts of shaving with my file then going to find that tiny plastic hammer, because my banging with the leatherman and a screwdriver back wasn’t making the driver go in. There was a lot of me retrying stuff and getting my method right, to get it to work. While I could leave all of my trial and error in, it would make for a much longer- boring video. I also have a monitor for my camera on order so I can see the shot and framing better, when I do one of these again.
It should be on the shipping option page. There’s about 10 different types of shipping- I want to say it comes before it takes you to paypal? Tracking should be one of those check boxes.
Thanks! I tried to add a few jokes in the video, although there wasn’t much room for them. These things can be so tedious at times… and the lightsaber gag wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t so foggy the first night I tried to do beamshots.
Mhanlen,
Modding... Movie atmosphere... I think you are talented as director and camerman.
My modding style is almost completely different than yours.
So 185 000 cd with XPL is almost same as with modded UF1503 flashlight so I cant say I am impressed with results but they are good.
But if you got 185kcd without bridged springs? That is different story indeed...
Can the red / green LED’s be driven harder with a better driver, would a better LED be recommended for that?
Does anyone know where to buy the latest/greatest color LED’s pre-mounted on copper base?
The mtn electronics driver comes with bridges springs on the positive end. But the tail cap is stock on my light and had a metal sleeve over the spring too. I’m not the poster child for modding. It tends to take me a while, and I don’t have be best soldering skills. But, my light works, and I can shoot a mostly clear video on my method… Even though it isn’t the most ideal method.
Thanks! I used multiple lenses while I did it, to keep the shot interesting. You can see a few sitting in my “work” area.
@ mhanlen: You 're a :star: !!! Thanks a lot for the fantastic DIY tutorial video.
Question: At ~2'50" of your video, it's clear that the wires from the driver are quite longer than needed for soldering them to the MCPCB.
So, what are you doing with the extra length of the wires? Are you cutting it, or you push (the part you don't need) back, at the remaining space between the driver's electronics and the "end plate" that the MCPCB sits atop? I'm asking because I wouldn't like to jeopardize the result by doing a wrong move at the end.
Here it is: An attempt for parts "terminology guide with pictures" for newbies!
Credits to all of you who helped me begin understanding what's going on with flashlights. :)
[quote=beam0]
On the B158 it appears the upper board (with components) is secured inside the pill by the press fit retaining ring, and the lower part (with spring) is held in place by a "press fit" between its edge and the ID of the pill. [/quote]
Got it for the rest, thanks for your reply! :)
Regarding the above part quoted: In ~2'10" of mhanlen's fantastic DIY tutorial video :star:, it's clear that the B158's pill has "1 floor" driver inside. I don't get it why KKW's pic @ post#93 shows 2 parts. :~
I originally explained this, but took a line of dialog out about it because I accidentally did it off camera and cut it out.
You can tuck a certain amount inside of the pill… I cut off a few millimeters with my knife on each lead because no more would fit inside of the pill… The wires need to come right out of the pill and go directly to the pads. If there’s any slack outside of the pill the spacers have a hard time fitting. In my video I have just a tad too much. The white plastic disc was a bit harder to tighten down. I also may have just a hair too much solder on the pads if we’re nitpicking.
Well, Im' certainly not worthy of nitpicking your modding skills, so I won't do it!
Thanks for your answer, that's what I was thinking as most probable to do.
My guess is that it’s due to him modifying a red version and me modifying a white one, either that or they changed their design slightly since the batch they sold to Fasttech that I got one from.
One suggestion on this - after you’ve trimmed as much as is comfortable from the leads and soldered it all together, give it all a twist as you seat the driver. This winds the two leads around each other like a helix, takes up that slack and holds everything down tight. Of course you don’t want to do it so tightly that you tear something loose; just enough to put some tension on the wires and keep them out of the way.
This is why I prefer to seat my driver last, after soldering the leads to the mcpcb. I just feed the wires through the holes and leave the driver itself dangling underneath the pill while I solder it to the emitter board. Then I twist the wires together and seat the driver.
Or course that’s just one way to do it. No reason it has to be done that way.
This is what I usually do. For some reason I put the driver in first which is a bit backwards. And once it goes in it ain’t coming back out, which is why I had to trim it. The way you mentioned is certainly better.
Trimming the wires is good, don’t be afraid to have just enough to reach the solder pads on the MCPCB. The only time it would ever be an issue is if you take the light apart in the future and needed to trim the wires back for some reason. Otherwise only good things come from shorter wires.
That is it :) Thanks for telling that.
Now I know it is at least 200kcd capable with xpl hi or even more with dedomed xpl.
Bypass tailcap spring and expect at least 10-20% lux grow. Please do that. It is easy. Lot of info about that here on BLF. Shorter driver wires also helps a bit.
I wonder if a spring bypass is worth it, with that brass stud covering the spring?b I don’thave any copper braid lying around either, so I may need to get some.
Not copper braid friend.
Use 22AWG wire.
Disassemble tailcap, Strip one end of 22 awg wire, tin it, solder it at bottom of switch mcpcb(direct on any solder contact of tailcap spring), now put up some solder paste on top of the spring, turn it upside down, and touch that solder paste with generous tip of solder, now when you have tinned top of the spring just cut needed length of 22awg wire, strip and tin it, and then solder at top of the spring.
Easy peasy :)
Forget the copper braid, go straight for silicone wire for the bypass. And you can solder right to the brass cap
With the bypass done is there a need for the brass cap?
Are the stock red / green LED’s useful at all? Can they be driven harder with a better driver, or would a better red LED be recommended for that?
I feel like it is. The spring is kind of flimsy and it acts as kind of a sleeve that goes through a nylon washer. As to your next question about the XP-E emitters. I personally don’t know how hard they can be driven.
The top bin available XP-E2's would do much better, the ones Richard sells for example, and his rating is 1.9A max. Looks like the stock ones are XP-E's on a typical cheap low end aluminum MCPCB. I have top or near top bin AMBER and GREEN XP-E2's on Noctigons in two UF-1504's, and they are outstanding. The green looks like a wide laser beam while the amber doesn't show the beam as much, but lights up objects at a good distance as well as the green, it seems like. We use AMBER instead of RED because the specs are much better, and really can't tell the difference much in beams outdoors. Comparing RED to AMBER, I can see the difference as in the picture below (RED in triple "nut light" on left), but hard to tell outdoors:
