Hi, i have TK35 with the original XM-L emmiter. However i am seeing the specs for the newer version with the XM-L2 are significally better(820lumens for 1h33min vs 960lm for 2h). Is the newer XM-L2 emmiter so much better? I am thinking of replacing the LED with an XM-L2 do you think i will see such an improvement, or the driving circuitry is significally different?
It’s actually a very small difference in brightness. You will hardly see it unless the you put both light side-by-side.
Also the XM-L2 is a three year old emitter. The XP-L is the current version of this LED (looks a bit different though).
The runtime is probably longer because they tested the newer light with newer batteries which have a much higher capacity. You could just buy some of those for your light.
I understand that newer 18650’s are significally better(when i originally bought it i had some 2200mAh batteries while now i have 3400mAh), however i am reading that XM-L2’s are like 20% more efficient(and i assume newer bins and the XP-L will be even better) so do you think that updating the emmiter is in order? I have experience dissasembling the light and soldering and i dont even like the bluish colour it has now(:-p).
Also i was similarly comparing some other lights i have of the same generation, like the LD20and tk12 and i am seeing a big difference in runtimes and output. Is this differnce similarly primary due to larger batteries or are the newer generation emmitters that much better?
This is my experience.
That looks nice. You put in a XM-L2 and de-domed it. 80kcd compared to 27kcd. That’s a very noticeable difference.
But it makes tk35 a thrower.
I put xm-l2, boosted to 4A on turbo. New life into old torch.
You can consider also mt-g2, but need to open reflector a little bit more on the lathe.
Thank you very much for your input. I have some questions:
Why did you de-dome your LED, what are the advantages?
As far as the circuit board modifications, these 2x100Ω resistors are the current sense resistors, and you lower their value to increase the current, right? Are all the modes increased linearly and how hard can the XM-l2 be driven, and how much current can the driver support?
Isnt mt-g2 a 6V LED? Is the circuit capable of driving it?
Yes it is. Worked for me.
Mike
The current XM-L2s can take maybe 5.5A, above this they they might fail.
The highest bin ist U4.
Dedoming causes a decrease in output but increases the distance reached.
Why? I like throwers…
I don’t know how much current can the driver suport. I have no knowledge of electronics. I think I found this mod somewhere in this forum.