I have been lurking for a few months and have brought a few flashlights based on the forum. Started with an old Fenix L2D, started giving me trouble and I came across this forum. Now have a Convoy C8 and Convoy S2 and small no name zoomie along with Panasonic NCR batteries and soshine S2 charger … Omg I think I am already addicted as I put my name down for the group buy HD2010 and have a UF-T20 on the way….
Anyway, that’s the intro, now to the questions. I have purchased a Uniquefire UF-T20 from wallbuys and it is on the way. Having read many posts on this light I would like to modify it to use an XP-G2 emmiter and a more powerful driver and would appreciate some assistance. Some of these questions may appear stupid as I this will be my first attempt and I would like to be as informed as possible and I seem unable to find a thread with quite enough details for a noob.
Disassembly :
Is this light easy to take apart for a first timer?
How is the existing led held into the Pill and how easy to remove? Or should I keep intact and get a new pill?
Is the driver attached to the pill?
Assembly:
So the led goes in the copper pill, do I just use heatsink pasted between the star and pill and it just sits in there or is it attached with screws or something else?
Does the driver just require red to + and black to - and away we go?
I will be making a log of my progress with photos as I go but would really like someone with a little experience to offer advice?
this is one of my favorite zoomie… I bought 3 of these
I mod’ed one with XP-G2 on noctigon cooper, one with XM-L2 U2 1A on nogtigon, and one stock
you can get 16mm XP-G2 on nogtigon copper from RMM’s Mountain Electronics and get it faster
pretty much straight forward… red to + and black to -
before you dedome it… try it first with dome on and see if you like it,
personally I like it with XM-L2 U2 1A on nogtigon copper, as any zoomie you want the light to be versatile
bright enough for close up work and zoom when you need it, just don’t expect it too much to be a killer throw
although dedome XP-G2 does gives you more throw but with the expense of less floody when you need to see up close up.
somebody even put dedome XP-E2 to get more throw
have fun with it
to change the LED, first you have to open the black ring that hold the lens and then just push the head down toward the end of the battery tube and then you can just unscrew the driver pill
I know th Noctigon would be better and I went round that sit as t has all I need … unfortunately shipping to Australia would put that store out or reach hence the ‘cheap Chinese with free shipping’ options I am looking at.
I work for a company that has significant presence in SLC where ME is so will certainly buy there in future…. Just no plans to get there in the next few month unfortunately and want to try the mod now…
Howdy and welcome to BLF. (bust your)Budget light forum
I also love the UF-T20 I have modded a few of them and just got two more in today. It’s an easy light to mod and a great light to start with.
I think you are pretty much on the right track. You can get away without the noctigon but honestly if you are going through the trouble to mod it’s really better to put in on copper. You could just buy the XP-G2 from Hank on a noctigon. It really is worth it in my opinion. The thing is is that 3amps for an XP-G2 is really still a lot and you will get thermal sag with just the regular star. It will really limit how useful it is on high. It’s the difference between a good light and great light.
Thanks for the reply, I also looked at that but was confused by the different tints. Most recommend the 1A or 2B for de-doming for this torch it seems, this is XP-G2 R4 5A2, so I really do not know what the light from a de-domed one would look like or what the numbers mean on that led? Any idea?
Yep, read that thread and is pretty much what I want to do… I am just missing the finer details. Also not sure I want to do the solder paste directly on the pill/led for my first ever mod….
Yeah it might be a little too neutral de-domed. I would take MRsDNF up on his offer. He’s not a bad bloke for a crazy old blighter, but don’t tell him I said so.
Soldering a star on might be a bit much, but whatever you use, use a thin layer, less is more just make sure it’s covered completely. Getting rid of the air is really what you are after.
18sixfifty or anyone else… can you confirm the led size that is required, I think you mentioned a 16mm in your mod, but in the recent djozz thread it he said it is 19mm, so slightly shrinking a 20mm is required.
Actually on UF-T20 pill, diameter for star is 19.7 mm. Noctigon is almost 21mm. Either way you will have to sand down star or machine pill to larger diameter. 16mm star is a tempting solution but there is a problem with centering…
I’ve been using various LED on16mm nogtigon on this light, I haven’t yet encounter centering issue, all you have to do is align the star with the 16mm raised bump on the pill… beside this is a zoomie light anyway
