Piggyback 30k on top is much easier IMO, and will actually add wattage rating. And yes, you need 3 pcs.
EDIT: I opened up mine and confirm the original resistor size is 0603. But for the purpose, I find size 0805 still fits, so you still can use the fasttech resistor above.
Iām trying to dismantle my mimic, and Iām not getting how to get that driver board out. I took the button off, but thereās no leverage there to get to the board that I can see. Am I just being to gentle in my prying?
It really depends on your light builder, some, as in mine, are really epoxy-happy. Mine was overflowing with epoxy on the inside! I had to use NAILS and pound them on the sides, I think it required 5 nail points to finally break the driver contact with the body.
Please donāt try with 2 inches nails though :bigsmile: just use proper reasoning for nail size
āI just opened it and can confirm the original is 0603, not 0805.
However I tried putting an 0805 resistor, and it can sit just fine on top of the 0603 with enough space to solder for piggybacking.
I guess both sizes will work.ā
So i ordered the above link from fast tech with launch coupon for 1.89$ As soon as they arrive (about 1 mon or so) I will upgrade the resistors first to see how much of an improvement JUST the resistors makes.
in the mean time i will keep my eye out for xml2s stars
The one reason I havenāt modded my King with the resistor mod, is that Iām actually waiting for my light meter to arrive. I need the king in original condition to calibrate the meter and get its ceiling-bounce lux reading. Original CW King gives around 2250lm in general and donāt stray too far from this number, so Iāll just use that as a base for other lights.
I have retitled the original thread and will be updating the first post with results from here on out.
Today I did the following:
Remove stock lens & upgrade to UCL
The stock skyray lens has a diameter 54.87mm and thickness of 3.03mmā¦ I noticed that this is very close to the UCL size that fits Maglite - 52.1x1.90mm. And it just so happens that I have one in my 6d Mag. (I believe I bought it from Lighthound.com for 6.99)
The mag lens is smaller and it rattled a bit even with the stock o-ring in place. So I went back to the mag lite and pirated the o-ring off the mag headā¦ which just so happened to ALSO fit nicely on top of the ucl in the king head. (Just for reference - the stock o-ring was placed under the ucl, then the mag o-ring was placed on top of the uclā¦)
It took a few tries of screwing the bezel down carefully without having a small section of o-ring bulge out, but it really was less of a pain that I thought it would be! AND NO RATTLE whatsoever! You cant even see the black mag o-ring unless you look at the light at a sharp angle.
I updated the title thread with results of a ceiling bounce test I did before and after. It appears to have made a 5% increase in light output!
I suppose you COULD argue that this really isnāt a budget upgrade, since the UCL will run you 6.99 plus shipping for a total around $9ā¦ which is around 15-20% of the cost of the light itself. And if you donāt have a Maglite around you would have to hunt for an o-ring. But I already had all of this on hand. So it only took me all of about 5-10 minutes to do this upgrade.
Resistors just shipped today from fast-techā¦ resistance mod is next!
pics below (cell phone qualityā¦ sorry)
o-ring on top of the ucl to prevent rattle (bezel not installed yet)
I have changed my KING's original LEDs to "XM-L U3 1C", the beam pattern changed a little bit, the tint is my favourite and that was the only improvement because I measured the output and it's still the same than with the stock LEDs!!
I bought the LEDs from intl outdoor, and also replaced the original wires with Turnigy Silicone AWG24 (great wires, I like them very much!).
I'm waiting for the resistors to arrive and try the resistor modding (ordered them on December 3th, they should arrive now).
thats interesting info fx32ā¦ i wonder if its worth the time and money to upgrade wires/emitters thenā¦ i would think you would have seen SOME improvement
I took a stock TrustFire 168A-T6 at 2.5A, replaced only the emitter with a U3 1C. After the mod, I could not get that stock driver over 2.3A for some reason (??). Before @2.5A T6 1A/1B I got 525 lumens, after @2.3A 575 lumens.
Maybe with the SRK driver, there is a similar drop in amps when the emitters were updated?
im going to hold off on upgrading to xml2 for a while anywaysā¦ maybe some other members who have tried this (if any) can shed some light on this (pun intended)
for now, im going to see where the $2 resistor mod gets me once they arrive