I just received my 3 X6 flashligts they look nice but I HATE that the box has sticky tape all around it, its not worth putting BLF special edition if it gets ripped off by tape we all should get replacements
Krono should make a sticky of the hairdryer/hot air solder tool thing in his first post.
Now that Sully has received his BLF SE, I can openly say that the LD-1 driver from led4power is a very sweet option for this light. :)
~4.86A and 1500 lumens, really put's this light into a category of it's own. Not exactly a budget option, but a splendid match nonetheless.
more info , please. To us non modders, could we replace this driver ourselves? And is anything else needed? If this is possible for us, what cell is desirable also? Thanks!
The LD-1 is a single sided 17mm driver, designed by our own led4power and sold by him exclusively. He has a thread on the building of it and a separate thread for sales.
It's pretty much a straight drop in, you have to solder leads onto it and then solder those to the star. Pretty much it.
With a Panasonic NCR18650BD at 3200mAh, it makes 1511 lumens with a ~4.86A draw on level 4, this is still good for 1463 lumens at 30 seconds. Level 1 is 3.86 lumens pulling 0.01A for a tremendously long run time. Level 2 is 0.07A at 43 lumens, Level 3 is 0.93A at 417 lumens.
This is measured using a UCLp AR lens from flashlightlens.com before the new SE's came out with their nice AR lenses. The UCL and UCLp are considered top of the class with 99% and 98% emissivity, respectively.
There is a caveat with the LD-1 though, or should I say 2 caveats...it costs $14.90 for each driver and he has a 3 driver minimum. This could probably be split with other members to make it possible if you don't need more than one. Led4power is currently sold out, with a new batch in the works as I write this.
thank you kindly for this information, including the caveats.
That sounds like a great option, still weighing what to do with mine! That link shows a 140% turbo mode that you can activate too by soldering a star…is that even further above the output you have written and it gives you 5 total modes, or that IS WITH the soldered turbo output you have above?
And…was that light an older emitter or the new ones we are getting? I’m anticipating we wont get quite so much in comparison if its the old one…
I haven’t even received mine yet, so this is premature, and the more I read the more I think I may really like it as is. That said, I am definitely considering a driver change for more lumens. Is there a good option available for less than $15?
B42, I think the design changed on the LD-1 and ended up with 4 modes. No solderable star for 140%. That should be in the thread, maybe further on as it was in the later development of the driver.
Cabfrank, you can drop in a Qlite 3.04A driver for about $4.00. For a little more than that you can have Richard add chips to raise the power level. 4 chips in addition to the 8 already on the driver makes for a pretty nice light, in stock form Star 4 can be soldered to the ground ring for the additional moon mode which is usually very low on those.
I have, uh, added a few more than 4 chips before the days of the BLF FET driver. I think the most I ever had on a Qlite was 22 total 7135 chips. :)
Crazy, but I like it! Didn’t you say the Qlite drivers usually deliver a lot less Amps though?
The Qlite 3.04A driver usually delivers 2.89-2.98 somewhere in there. Depends on what restrictions are in your host. If you take off the little short spring and put a bypassed standard spring on it, you should see right at that 3.04A with a good cell. Stacking chips ups that by steps of 350mA or 380mA, depending on the choice of chips.
So a driver with one added chip should do about 3.3A, 2 added chips about 3.6A, 3 added...well, you get the picture. 4 should be in the 4.5A range.
Thank you.
What do you use in place of a retaining ring with the Qlite? That retaining ring only wants to use a single sided driver.
I usually cut a step on the inside to clear the components. Don't like doing it, but it's a work around. They've already got a bevel cut inside the retaining ring, it's a nice guideline to cut a step for clearance. I'm a glutton for punishment I guess, so I hold the ring with my bare fingers and use a Proxxon to cut it out. The brass do get hot sometimes! New cutting bit helps in that regard.
I've also soldered solid copper wire onto the ground ring around the edge so the retaining ring would hit it higher, clearing the components. I took the copper wire from the middle of a TV cable wire. ;)
Wight has a new FET board that is one sided, makes it very easy to drop in lights like this.
I may have to try my hand at this once I get used to the stock lumens output. I’ve never modded before, so is it as easy as soldering on two wires or a little more labor intense?
i just switched this out>>> 
to this >>>
its a lot better
Brighter?
Oh yes i can tell with a half drained cell lol
East-092? D.D…. not really one of my favorites, but surely your X6 will be much brighter now.