Convoy S2+ with various emitters and beaded TIRs

ebastler · December 15, 2023, 6:45pm

Edit: this creeped from me asking about my first custom flashlight into me sharing modding and my growing S2+ collection ^^

Hi!

I am currently looking, as mentioned in my introduction thread, for 2 things:

A UV light - for no particular application, should be a decent compromise between being somewhat powerful and okayish battery life, and not too bulky. Hard to spec it any more accurately since I really don’t know what I want to use it for. I just want to have one.
A compact but decently bright white light to keep in my backpack, ideally high CRI neutral (love 90+ CRI 4000K emitters).

So I had the idea to basically buy the same light - but twice. Convoy S2+ UV in purple (+ purple 18350 tube) and a S2+ in gray with a 519A emitter, again 18350. Figured it’d look nice to have two lights, identical apart from the color and LED.

Does anyone here have the S2+ UV and has any experience with it? Is it worth getting the UV filter for it (I guess yes)? Shop page says 1A current (1 mode only), and the 16350s Convoy sells should be ~1 Ah real-world, so 1 hour runtime - sounds plenty to me.

As for the “regular” one - if I want a neutral, high CRI tint, I guess the 519A is the best emitter out of the ones offered in the S2+ for my needs? Battery life will probably be terrible when run at higher powers (drivers allow up to 5A, with a 18350 cell…), but it wouldn’t be a light I intend to use at full blast for extended periods (and I can always swap cells with the UV one once it is empty and have another full battery). If I just want it to be bright, I bring my SP33S.

And one more thing - do these clips fit the S2+ as well? I think I read they fit somewhere, but if anyone has a pic of a S2+ 18350 with it, I’d be grateful! Only found pics of it on the regular long tube. (EDIT: Found one just now, in this forum too… Had to scroll far down on Duckduckgo for it to pop up: [Review] - Convoy S2+ 519A 4500k - By Argo - this clip looks really sweet! on an 18350 tube S2+!)
Taschenlampe taille clip, edelstahl clip, für neue C8,M2,S3 - AliExpress 39

Or would you rather get the universal clip? That would open up the possibility for lanyard or magnet (not at the same time, right?

Some people said the universal one slides off easily, and it does not look as good as the screw-in, that’s why I’m not really sure.

Dropping around 70 bucks on a light I don’t need and a smallish EDC seems like a lot of money for me, so I wanted to ask here first, see what you people say before pulling the trigger!

Cheers,
moritz

gravelmonkey · December 15, 2023, 6:50pm

Yes to the visible light filter on the UV lamp, it’ll make the fluorescence of objects more clear- else you’ll have a weak beam of “grey” light which can wash out florescence.

No idea what the current ones are like, my UV S2 from years (5?) ago still has good output and does everything I want.

The 519a is a good LED. Just to add additional options into the mix, if you like rosy tints, you could get a cooler CCT then dedome (it’s easy on this LED), to get lower CCT, more rosy tint, and slightly more throw…

ebastler · December 15, 2023, 7:02pm

Thx for the info, filter it is, in that case. We have a lot of scorpions in our region, am actually quite stoked to see if they really are fluorescent

Also nice to hear that Convoy isn’t overdriving their UV LEDs…

I did not consider that, but it does sound fun - both rosy tint and a bit more throw.
https://www.reddit.com/r/flashlight/comments/tvkyrc/comment/i3cnsag/?context=3
This looks very promising, the de-domed 5700K hits close to 4000, and looks really nice. Neutral and a tad rosy. I also saw a video of a guy dedoming a 519K by just shoving the dome off with a plastic spudger - that’s easier than I expected it to be.

gravelmonkey · December 15, 2023, 9:44pm

I meant more as confirmation of S2 build quality and light output with a filter- mines an older generation UV led, with the 3-mode driver. 1-mode all you need, the S2+ dimensions are good compromise for a UV light- small enough to be pockatable but with enough output to get the job done.

There’s a load of stuff that flouresces, rocks are the commonly listed one but it’s not that common to find a rock that reacts to longwave UV. I’d recommend wearing a pair of plastic safety glasses that block UV (most do, you can check by holding the glasses over something fluorescent like a bank card, passport, banknote etc, and see if they block the UV).

Next step up in size/output would be a C8+ or the ?S12 with 3xLED, both of which are probably overkill for what you want.

Ive de-domed a couple of 519a’s, they’re super easy, I just use a toothpick and carefully lift the dome off.

I’m a big fan of the rosy tint, I know it doesn’t appeal to everyone.

ebastler · December 15, 2023, 9:51pm

That’s pretty smart, did not think of that. Ideally my regular glasses already block it - glass lenses with a blue light filter for long PC screen exposure. If I am lucky, it is just a low pass coating that attenuates blue and blocks UV. If not, I’ll try around.

Yeah, if I ever find an actual application for a UV light I may reconsider, for now I think I should not go overkill. I’d rather have it kinda portable.

Haven’t tried any rosy tint emitters yet tbh. Will be fun to see - and if I end up disliking it, I can always swap the LED, or the LED PCB - spares are luckily easy to find for Convoy.

Thanks for your input! I feel like this is the more fun way that will end up better than just buying a 4000K emitter.

Lightbringer · December 16, 2023, 1:41am

The Lumintop Tool-UV is a great buy, and comes with a rechargeable cell, ZWB2 filter, and glowy diffuser cap. 14500/AA size is great for just slipping into a pocket.

The S2+ UV is great, but definitely ONLY get it with the filter. Once you see the difference (in any UV light) with and without the filter, you’ll understand why. The nice thing about the shorty tube with that is that the UV LED isn’t too high-strung, so you won’t bs stressing out the cell by drawing too much like you could easily do with a made-for-18650 driver and LED in white.

I’ll be posting a review for the Sofirn UV light shortly, which comes with filter and low/med/high modes. That’s quite a nice light, too, but I’m not sure if it’s available on, like, amazon or such.

ebastler · December 16, 2023, 12:15pm

I was too impatient to wait any longer and have by now ordered the S2+ UV (+18350 tube), and a 18350 S2+ with 5700K 519A waiting to be dedomed. Got the screw-in clip for both, and the ZWB2 for the UV. Looking forward to getting my first Convoy lights.

Thanks! I was in fact considering that one too. Ended up going the 18350 route since I doubt I’ll carry a UV light on my body for a longer amount of time, and in the backpack 18350 seems like a nice form factor with plenty of runtime.

Thanks for the confirmation on that.

In fact I’m a bit worried about the 18350 with the 519A in the second light - they are selling it that way, but 5A on a 18350 seems to be stretching it even if it’s a good cell. Got a 18650 tube and some spare 18650s around just in case.

Ooh, I’ll make sure to read that, it looked promising as well. I just own too much sofirn and too little other stuff already, wanted to diversify ^^

Amazon or not doesn’t bother me, spent a ton of money on AliExpress in the past month, as I’m rebuilding the lighting for my bedroom, too, and can’t beat AliExpress prices forhigh CRI led stripes.

ebastler · December 29, 2023, 2:05pm

Aliexpress order showed up today!

First things first, I took the lights apart. The clips needed mounting, and since I did not want them to come loose again, I put a little bit of threadlocker on. I also swapped the PH screws for some stainless torx head screws I had around, and filed them down so they would not touch the rubber button anymore.

The UV version needed a filter, and a green o-ring instead of a black one, and the gray one needed removal of this thing here:

5700K 519A, dedomed, is really a beautiful LED. Sadly I was so excited I forgot before-beamshots for a comparison…

I thought I ordered 2 o-rings in the shop, but it seems like I did not read properly or something, this is closer to 20… So if anything in Italy/EU needs S2(+) o-rings in green, just ping me and I’ll send one or two out for shipping costs (letter) only.

And here’s the final pics of the S2+ - They really are beautiful. Very glad I bought them in this particular configuration.

As a last pic, here’s a bad shot of the beam on the only white surface I could find. Camera is locked to 4000K. The left flashlight is a Sofirn HS10, 4000K LH351D, Fresnel lens. Right is the Convoy S2+, 5700K 519A dedomed, Orange peel reflector. I tried to find a brightness where both hotspots are somewhat comparable, and don’t yet blind my camera.

gravelmonkey · January 1, 2024, 12:55am

Nice! Glad you like the lights, stick with the black o ring for the UVlight, the idea is to have as little distracting visible light as possible!

ebastler · January 1, 2024, 10:36am

I must admit, I did not consider that when adding it, but it seems to not cause any stray forward facing light. Only a very faint greenish “ring” at the very edge of the spill, which doesn’t bother me.

On the other hand, the green glowing ring is a good indication that the light is turned on at a glance. Hard to tell otherwise.

ebastler · January 16, 2024, 3:49pm

And yet another update - I dropped more money on Simon

I bought the backlit metal buttons, but installed them with the non-lit original Switch - especially the UV light is not used too often, and discharge of a 18350 with those buttons is pretty high after all.

Trying to keep the lights tailstand-capable I replaced the included o-rings with thicker ones, that made it almost impossible to get the buttons in though. I ended up inserting the (well lubricated) o-ring first, then pushing the button in and trying to get them to mate inside the light. Was a bit of a hassle, but ended up working.

Oddly enough, the purple one can now tailstand, the gray one still can’t despite being identical hosts and buttons, and both having the same o-rings. Maybe I tighetened the black one more. I will experiment with a thin plastic washer, cut to size, instead of the thicker o-ring. For now it is okay.

The gray light also got a Buck driver now, and it feels like it runs quite a bit cooler on mid/high. Regarding battery life I can not say much (yet).

Since Convoy used tiny drills in both the retention ring for the drivers and for the button in the back, I was struggling to open them. To fix that I took a cordless drill with a 2 mm drill bit, making the holes large enough for my pretty large circlip pliers. Made working on those lights a whole lot easier ^^ The pic shows the stock driver retention ring, I did not take any pics after drilling.

EDIT: Wonder if I should move the thread over to modding by now… Not much I left unchanged on the lights, haha.

Lightbringer · January 16, 2024, 5:25pm

Noice!

I had no idea he even had the metal buttons that were backlit.

ebastler · January 16, 2024, 5:52pm

Yeah they are pretty cool, and light up well. If I had them on 18650 lights, I’m pretty sure I would have used the lit PCBs. Luckily the backlit and the stock switch PCB are identical in shape and button type, so you can choose which of the two you put in. I will definitely give the backlit ones another try later on. It’s a 5 minute or less job to swap.

The metal buttons feel very premium, sadly they have a slight haptic bump before the switch registers a tap in “on” mode. So I sometimes miss taps, when trying to change brightness. Feels as if the button actuated, but it did not yet.

ebastler · April 27, 2024, 9:49am

After I saw the B35AM review of @koef3 I wanted to give those LEDs a try. So I got myself one in 5000K, and one in 3500K from Simon.

Will put them in my gray S2+ host, together with a beaded TIR, because I really loved the beam profile of the beaded TIR I put in the light for my gf (S2+ OP reflector with 519A next to EDC15 with beaded TIR and 519A):

I like the smooth transition from center to spill better than the beam profile of the reflector.

I’ll take some pics of the SW+ before and after the modification. Still not sure if I want to put the 5000K or 3500K in…

Edit: turns out I’m an idiot and ordered 17mm TIRs I stead of 20mm…

Lightbringer · April 27, 2024, 10:33am

Stick 'em in a D25…

ebastler · April 27, 2024, 11:08am

Turned out, the 6V 2A Boost (for B35AM) does not fit the pill, or rather the retaining ring, on a S2+. It would collide with 2 chips and a lot of smaller components.

Since I still wanted to get this driver into this light, I did an ugly workaround - and simply soldered it tight. Not ideal, but works. I just hope it will never break, because if I ever have to replace it, I will swear. A lot.

Since I wanted to use the light with TIRs I did not order a new gasket for it either… Had to improvide and filed the gasket a bit larger. Again, not pretty, but works.

Beam profile very similar to 519A, more floody though due to larger LES. I’ll order new TIRs and see. The light stays a lot cooler with a not-fully-charged battery - with the 519A the buck got pretty warm once it started running lower. Seems to be better with the boost. 6V 2A getting about as warm as 3V 2.5A (5A driver with 50% group).

ebastler · May 14, 2024, 9:06am

Looks like I finally ordered the correct TIR. 20° beaded for 5050 LEDs.

Comparison, S2+ stock orange peel reflector (left) and new TIR (right). Both with B35AM 5000K. I accidentally had it 1 level lower on the TIR pic.

Gotta try at night if/how I like the new TIR.

andrx · May 15, 2024, 11:36am

Quell’anello che tiene in sede il driver lo puoi limare col dremel e renderlo più fino così da non toccare i componenti elettrici, l’ho fatto su diverse torce e funziona tutto (il driver che hai tu non l’ho provato,ma ad occhio mi pare sia fattibile)

INeedMoreLumens · May 15, 2024, 4:38pm

Note: They require the host to be the rubber button version.

darosk · May 15, 2024, 5:03pm

Can you confirm the size of the emitter hole of your 5050 TIR? I got a bunch from one of Simon’s agents that seem too small to fit any 5050 emitter - even though I ordered 5050 size.