hi, the led came off the board.
thanks keltex,is there any info out there how to do it and what to buy.i am not bad at doing most things when I have been showed and do enjoy it.any help would be great.
or could I just buy everything I need ready to just drop in to the host.
Wow, that’s very unusual. (picture?)
So you now have a bare emitter and an empty ‘star’/ MCPCB?
You could ‘reflow’ (solder) it back on, if the emitter is not damaged.
I don’t know how to put pics up.
Try these:
If it’s a “real” Convoy C8, chances are by now you have the type 2, with integrated head, and NO pill. Iirr, the Thorfire also uses the type 2 host, and the XinTD uses the type 1 with the pill (and the reflector screws onto said pill).
That said, either way, you’ll have to desolder the existing LED+star, and replace it with a new LED+star.
For simplicity’s sake, keep to the same XM-L / XM-L2 that you’ve got. No worries if you’re a noob, as we all were at one time or another when starting out. 
And don’t worry about all the lingo like direct-drive, dedomed, blah blah blah. It’s broke, you wanna fix it… got it.
My 2 recommendations would be https://www.fasttech.com/p/1574600 (U2 4C) or https://www.fasttech.com/p/1425002 (T6 3B).
The first is a slightly warmer neutral-white 4300K, and the second is more of a “white-white” 5000K. They’re not DTP (direct thermal path), but they’ll do in a pinch. Me personally, 4300K or so is perfect, not too warm (yellowish), yet brings out reds and browns sooooo nicely compared to cool-white LEDs.
Anything from overseas with free shipping comes over via slow-boat from Chiny, so be prepared for a bit of a wait.
Use that time to mull over the 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not poke thy emitter to dislodge it, lest ye be cast from the Light into Darkness.
Only thing to remember when doing this is to NOTE THE POLARITY. Look at the LED now, and see how the red wire goes to one of the pads on the star with a (+) on it, and black to the one with (-) on it. When soldering the new one, keep the same polarity, else nothing will happen. It’s not a light-bulb, so which wire goes where does matter.
Do that for a quick emitter-swap, and you’ll be back to lighting up your neighbors’ houses in no time.
yes that might be easier if I can.
Okay, per Lightbringer’s reminder above, older Convoy C8s have a removable pill, while the more recent models don’t. If you have the old style, with the removable pill, you might be able to find someone on the forum who would be willing to build a replacement for you. Or, might be willing to rebuild what you have if you have it shipped to them.
At this point, I’m out of other suggestions.
yes mine screws out.so obviously the older one.
Does it look like this :
yes it does.
so guys what xpl hi pill and led and gaskets do I need to buy.or just one that screws in(xpl hi)or would I be better off getting an xml and dedoming it.
s I want the on with the furthest throw.
Hmmm…
The Convoy C8 is (seems to be) designed for XM-L(2) with dome.
Otherwise the LED sits too deep and you have to play with spacers etc…
Sure, an XM-L(2) may not give you the most throw, but it makes it more usable in normal circumstances.
I have an old model (like yours) with an XM-L2 and an orange peel reflector, and it’s a good light for normal use with a good amount of throw.
My new one (new model) has an XP-L HI (without dome) and i had to grind the centring spacer down both top and bottom.
It’s now 0.7mm between led board and reflector, which seems to be thin enough.
The XP emitters themselves have a flatter base than an XM-L(2) so it sits deeper in the reflector than an XM-L(2)
And because the XP-L HI has no dome, things get even ‘worse’.
With the flattened centring spacer i had to use a thicker O-ring in the bezel to push the glass and reflector down (deeper in the head).
Obviously my new one out-throws the old one and has a smooth reflector.
so you bought the new model c8 and had to grind it down.so if I bought the new model torch would I have to do the same.
You always want the reflector as close to the led mcpcb as possible. This produces the best focus (most of the time) and the best throw. I’ve built several Convoy C8s (the new ones) with XP-L HIs, dedomed XM-L2s, and dedomed XP-G2s and when using the centering ring it has to be sanded in order to get the ring below the top of the emitter. It’s not an issue if you use an led with a dome…only dedomed and HI leds have this problem. Just get some sandpaper and sand off as much of the top of the centering ring as possible so that the reflector still centers itself on the ring, then work on the bottom if you have too.
I need educating please.
So you can’t just put a XPL-Hi in a light that had a domed led in it and expect it to be focused? Is that correct?
How do you tell if it is at its best focus point?
Looking at standard flashlight beams on low close to a wall, I see a faint “X” in the hot spot image …. is this what I am looking for as the best focus point?
I have a new standard Convoy C8 with XPL-hi and on low and holding it close to a white wall I see a large hole in the hot spot, I guess this is out of focus?
If I move the LED deeper into the reflector this hole will get smaller? is that correct? Getting better focus?
I get the part about slimming down the centring ring to do this , Could I remover the ring all together to get the reflector as close to the PCB as possible?
If I am correct about the hole in the hot spot as out of focus because the LED is too far behind the reflector what would it look like once it had gone past focus the other way? Although I am not sure that would be possible without hovering the LED midway in the reflector!
Yep…
The faint X is because the emitter die is square and it’s turned inside out because of the mirror (reflector).
There is no light from the reflector in the middle.
With a perfectly centered and focussed point source of light you will always have a hole in the middle.
I read somewhere on the forum someone had a de-domed XP-G2 in a big reflector light (a Courui i think), and he still had a doughnut projection even from yards away.
Yes, but watch out for short circuiting the LED with that.
Use a sticker for insulation.
Also it’s difficult to centre the LED / reflector without a ring of some sorts.
(I’m experimenting with a thin copper (sheet) ring or spacer, soldering it to the thermal path of the MSPCB so you have a heat path to the reflector.)
Thanks for these answers.
A few more questions…
So you sand down the centring ring to get better focus , but how do you know it’s at its best point?
What are you looking for , less hole? , tighter hot spot? do you measure the lux with something?
Basically…no rings and no odd shapes around the hot spot.