Make a short piece of spacer tube to fit between the bezel/lens and the pill. For something quick and cheap, find a cap off of something that is the right size and cut it to length, then cut out the end of the cap so that you just have a tube). You want it as close to the inside walls of the flashlight body as possible.
Another way would be to make a whole in the end for the LED to clear. You could even paint the inside of the spacer with some of that shiny chrome effect spray paint (never tried that, though).
Ive never had an issue with the LED floating freely when the reflectors been removed so i cant really comment on that much. I use a UF V6 XM-L with the reflector off all the time and its given me no bother. Like the others say, you could probably stick a bit of round flat bit of plastic with a carefully sized hole cut in the centre that snuggly fits into the barrell edge to hold it. With the XM-L the led resin drop is often softer than with other leds and gets softer as it heats up so youd want to be careful about touching it with much force against anything. Also its obviously not waterproof so even a few big raindrops in the right place could short it. Its not a workhorse setup that you can throw about much. Ive used a old Romisen RC-G2 as my main EDC light for years with the reflector off and its always been fine as a throwabout light but its LED is much tougher than a typical XM-L.
Ive always loved the portable lightbulb style of light from them.
HD2012, STLV6 and V2 use one single XML emitter and the head is designed for pure throw, as in a small tight hotspot with minimal spill.
Even if you diffuse the light, it will be dimmer than say an Apex 5T6 (5 XML emitters), or a Skyray King (3 XML emitters) or DRY (3 XML emitters).
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i thought i would need something that was designed for pure throw with high intensity and a tight hotspot because since im diffusing it, its gonna turn it floody so i was thinking i need something powerful to compensate for the diffuser.
or maybe this theory will work better with removal of reflector….?
how i came up with it was because i took one of my weaker single xml c8’s, and removed the reflector. it was near perfect flood. it made my skyray king look like a single xml. i even had to turn it on and off a few times to make sure it was on high mode. but since it was one of my weaker c8’s the brightness was not satifactory. flood was great.
so thats how i came up with maybe if i was to buy a super bright light regardless if i was meant for pure throw, taking off the reflector would just turn it into a floody beam, so i would basically take the power of the hotspot, and it would translate it to a more brighter flood……? am it crazy for thinking this? im fairly new to how led lights work so bare with me on this haha.
i dont understand how frosting the lens will turn it floody. i would think it would just become very dim because theres a layer of white film covering it.
but if it does indeed work, thats very cool, but removal of reflector would problably be brighter huh since there is no layer of film to shine through.
would you happen to have any pictures of the beam after removing reflector off of your stl v6? do you have a king or multi emitter xmls? if so, was it almost as bright and was it more floody?
When a led is concentrated with a reflector or optic it is brighter in the concentrated direction. When a reflector is removed, the angle opens up and the same amount of light is spread out over more area - that is why it looks dimmer.
With no reflector the led puts light out at whatever angle it was designed for . . so like 125 degrees for XML (180 would be all directions in front of the led, 125 is a bit narrowed). The angle is what gives you the flood effect.
Lights that are bright because of their reflector are no help in terms of more available flood. You want lights that have high draw XML and/or multiple leds. You want a short wide angle reflector, wide optic, or perhaps no reflector to use the max led angle.
ok, i just did something dumb. i tried removing the reflector off my skyray king, and all three xml’s came off with it! not sure what i did wrong but when i pulled off the reflector, the wires from the xml’s got cut/ripped off as well.
grrrreeaaat, now imma have to purchase either another skyray or apex. im happy and pissed at the same time. hahah.
ok since im at a frest start again, does someone in here actually own both the skyray and apex? could you give me some insights on which one you like better….brighter, floodier, run time.
i thought i would need something that was designed for pure throw with high intensity and a tight hotspot because since im diffusing it, its gonna turn it floody so i was thinking i need something powerful to compensate for the diffuser.
or maybe this theory will work better with removal of reflector….?
how i came up with it was because i took one of my weaker single xml c8’s, and removed the reflector. it was near perfect flood. it made my skyray king look like a single xml. i even had to turn it on and off a few times to make sure it was on high mode. but since it was one of my weaker c8’s the brightness was not satifactory. flood was great.
so thats how i came up with maybe if i was to buy a super bright light regardless if i was meant for pure throw, taking off the reflector would just turn it into a floody beam, so i would basically take the power of the hotspot, and it would translate it to a more brighter flood……? am it crazy for thinking this? im fairly new to how led lights work so bare with me on this haha.
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You may as well use the c8 unreflectored then since its brighter. Btw when you get your replacement king or apex 5t6 can you please post beamshots. Im having difficulty accepting that a single xml can be on-par with a king, which isnt even a cheap torch.
Hello guys!
im new here and i am poor in english so dont kill me!!
I have a specific demand. I am a beekeper and i moove my bees mostly at night and mostly with no light source anywhere near.
Since i drive a truck and park in all kinds off places i really need a strong flood light. These would be my “demands”:
1.18650 battery(already own 2) ;not a crucial demand
2. I would really like to have a simple on/off switch on the side of the flashlight.Modes are welcome but then tey sould have either a seperate switch or a memory function(not really sure if i truly understand how it works so if someone could explain)
If there is a better solution outside the led-cree lights, please do recomend.
I would be rally grateful if i got the links to view the items u thing are appropriate
after reading some reviews and comparision threads about the apex, i went ahead and purchased another skyray king! i hate it when i have to order another duplicate of something. i always like to upgrade to a better one. now i have to wait to see if its just as good as my first skyray king. i ordered my first one at lightmall, this time i ordered from aliaexpress since its only $55.
the reason i went with the king was some actually said it was brighter but the apex was just a tad floodier. to me, i dont think thats worth almost double the price.
plus i liked the kings side switch.
and yes, i will take some shots of how my single xml with reflector removed it more floody than my skyray king.
remember though, its nowhere as bright.
redbull:
if you like that light that you linked, i would recommend the trustfire j12. and you cant go wrong with the skyray king, i love this light. and i would also suggest a headlamp like johnnymac mentioned. its fun using one, handsfree and they come very bright…maybe someone here can recommend you some. the one i have is a cheapo one that uses 3 aaa batteries
Thanks for the wellcome guys, like the last picture the most:)
JohnnyMac, i checked it out, but i doubt it would have some serious flood… I mean i have to light up the whole barn so to say, with as little focused light as possible.
Maybe some HID light would be better? Something like this? HID
It is zoomable and can have red filter to be clipped on (good for bees as they dont see the red light). Do u think it is worth 100 dollars?
Thanks
