Digital Projector LED Spotlight - MT-G2 Mod (Not Yet Started)

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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EDIT: At this point, I do not recommend this light as an MT-G2 host. See post 5 for additional information. I intend to finish this light, but I would not have purchased it had I known what I know now.

Just received my Digital Projector Spotlight (also called Wideshine) today. It cost me $43.11. The beam is awesome. This would be interesting with a dedomed xml. It has a big hot spot that goes straight out and doesn’t seem to grow wider. The hot spot is dark in the center at close range. The dark spot fill in completely and the beam seem uniform after a distance. It has a faint usable wide spill.

Shining up into the sky, the beam is dimmer, but visible further out than my modded TN31. I haven’t even had a chance to fully charge the built in battery yet. Targeting objects 800-900 feet out, the hot spot is larger than the TN31, but not nearly as bright. Nicely lit up though. The TN31 is dedomed and has a much more intense, but small hot spot. Keep in mind that the TN31 modded and currently pulling 381kcd. I don’t know why the beam appears to go out further into the night sky.

EDIT: Fully charged I am measuring 100kcd (2,090lux at 22’9”). They were measuring 110kcd in the thread linked below. Their higher reading makes sense to me because they were measuring at a further distance (32.8 feet). The beam from this light needs a good distance to fall together.

This light is so much more portable then the Defiant spotlight that I modded. That’s due to it’s shape and the handle not sticking straight out. It’s real comfortable to carry with the shoulder strap. It tucks behind you and you can forget your carrying it.

The aluminum part of the body does not appear to be large enough to displace the heat of the over driven dedomed MTG2 I plan on using. But since the body is straight (not curvy and plastic like the Defiant), I can attach a lot of heat sink fins it. Here is a thread on the light. I tried to get it moving again, but got no response. So I’m starting my own thread here. I hope to make it rock in a big way.

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/14967

Here is a link to the current listing from vendor I purchased from:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/free-shipping-Wideshine-t6-hand-lamp-10w-glare-high-power-searchlight-outdoor-flashlight-search-light/779045149.html

I can tell already, this light is going to be fun, fun, fun!

2 lousy phone pics:

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MT-G2 spotlight sounds like a lot of fun! :wink:
I like the light and 30$ is a great price! Sounds already nice in stock condition.
I’m curious to see how it works out with the big LED. :slight_smile:

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There are some beam shots towards the end of the OP in the above link. FlashPilot has a mouse over in post 41 of that thread:

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/14967?page=1#comment-320253

EDIT: I forgot in the excitement. I didn’t pay $30. I ordered it for that price, but the vendor refused to ship it due the weight and cost of shipping. So I purchased it from another vendor for $43.

EDIT2: I think the pictures in the link above are dimmer than reality. I say this because I don’t see any spill in the pictures and the general area around the target is not lit. In my usage, there is a good area around the hot spot that is also lit up. I imagine it is hard to capture this in pictures at long distances. I will attempt to take a couple before beam shots (I’m really lousy at it) so I have comparative pictures.

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Nice base for a mod, this should be quite interesting!

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Does anyone know where I can buy AR glass sheet (preferably 3ish mm)? I have been doing some researched and it appears that I can get a decent glass circle cutter and running pliers for about $60. Not professional, but should be good enough for hobby cutting. The actual cutting process doesn’t look too bad. I wouldn’t bother with getting the equipment to sand the edges.

This light has a nice thick glass lens, but I’m thinking a good low iron AR lens should help nicely given how large it is.

Here is the circle cutter I’m thinking about getting. I’m sure it isn’t high precision and durable, but it should do for the number of lenses I would probably cut over my lifetime. I already have quite a few big lights I would like to equip with AR lenses. I also want to make a few lights from scratch. So this would be a great item to have if I can get the AR glass.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007TCMRKI/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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I seem to be stuck in design paralysis. Frustrated with not begin able to make a decision as to how I want to mod this light, I decided to tear it down and try out the reflector with a dedomed MT-G2. I can see emitter height is very sensitive with this reflector. I quickly focused it to the point there is no doughnut hole at 10 feet. Not sure this is the optimum placement, but I was just wanting to ballpark the potential of this reflector with an MT-G2.

A couple notes on the light. The reflector is quite thin. I already dented it just taking the light apart. The finish to me doesn't look shinny enough. It is much duller than my Defiant Spotlight reflector. The aluminum exterior housing for the spotlight appears to be too thin to disburse all the heat the MT-G2 is going to produce. I will have to beef the thickness of the walls in order to have a big enough path to move the heat to the far end of the body. I'm playing with the idea of building a heat pipe using acetone. This may be a good light to try it in. With the temperature levels involved, I may need to use a different medium like water. I have more research to do still.

Generally, I don't recommend the light as a host unless you are willing to do a lot of work and have an alternative reflector available just in case the stock one is not finished well enough or you damage it while modding.

Anyway. With 2 CGR18650CH's direct drive (read almost 6amps at emitter), I got 22,900 lux at 10 feet or 213kcd. This is lower than I expected. The stock Non-AR lens was used. Hopefully, adjusting the emitter height will improve the throw. I doubt performance will improve significantly though.