Maglite 2D XHP70.2 Mod

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Hello this is my first post on the forum and I want to show you one of my latest mods. Unfortunately I dont have pictures from the building process but I will try to describe it!

Generally I am using for this mod:
-XHP70.2 neutral white on SinkPad II
-Convoy L6 driver
–5 degree collimator, 32mm for xhp70 leds
-Liitokala 5000mah 26650, 2 in series
-Stock Maglite switch and stock driver switch for mode selection, stock tail-spring
-AR coated lens from KD (actually worse than stock one in terms of performance but I wanted glass)


Stock reflector was used (cut and fine focused) before my TIR arrived and gave according to my meassurments around 2600lm at 5A, which I found disappointing but was expected too.


For heatsinking I have found a method that works very nice for me for all mods, I am cutting with a saw 2mm thick copper disks from a sheet and turn them on a dremel tool adjusting the diameter to +–0.1mm which is pretty accurate for my needs, I then stack and screw them together and have a custom heatsink for any flashlight. For this Mag I used 10 disks, giving a 20mm thick copper cylinder that fits perfeclty in the tube. The top disk doesnt seem to have a nice fit because the tube diameter increased on the top 1-2mm so it seems to be too loose, but its ok in real life.


For any case i drilled 2x holes 0.8mm thick and around 5mm deep and inserted 2x 0.8mm pins to secure the heatsink in place. Only problem with this method is that is difficult to remove again if needed. See picture above…


Stock spring was heated and pressed to reduce the lenght and pressing force. I used a copper wire to bybass it as much as i thought was needed.


Here is the stock switch and mode selection switch. If I would build another one i would put the small switch deeper because my switch cover doesnt fit without cutting and destroying any waterresistance.


Custom battery tube for 26650 using rolled A4 sheets of paper :person_facepalming: , it works perfectly though

Thats it! I am meassuring my outputs with a light box and smartphone app which i calibrated using a stock Convoy S2+ and confirmed with stock Convoy C8. I calibrated it to give an output of 900 and1000lm for these two. C8 gave more output due to bigger reflector i suppose.
My XHP70.2 Mag gave an output of 3860lm at 5A(turbo) meassured with this method and TIR, which i believe is realistic. Maybe my calibration was too coservative beacuse this emmiter should give 4200lm. I am satisfied with the performace and I will not mod it any more i think. In high mode I am meassuring 1700lm.
Temperature is not an issue in high mode(barely gets warm), in turbo I didnt run it too long but I dont believe it will be problematic as a 2min run warmed up the body of the light but not higher than 40-42C.

The beam profile is pretty floody for throwing, the TIR is 5 degrees but seems to have no hotspot. I like it though.

Anyone noticing the wrong polarity on the star, its because i reflowed it with the wrong polarity in first place!

2

Thanks for posting! Do you know how to insert images inline? It would make your thread easier to follow if you do. I like the creative use of rolled up paper sheets for a battery tube spacer!

3

No unfortunatey I dont know, I read the thread for image posting but didnt help… Can you please explain?

4

5

You can quote my post and see how it’s done.
basically you put the link between exclamation marks:

like that.

6

Ok done! Thank you!

7

Nice mod Kourtinoksylo. I gather you screw the head on last with the light assembly assemble to the battery tube/switch area?

8

Yes head comes last with the stock reflector to cover the star and the ugly wiring. Practically the flashlight can be used even without head, only with the TIR but who would do something like that? :stuck_out_tongue:

Some thoughts for this mod were to use 2s2p 18650s but they dont fit for 1-2mm only which is just bad luck….I dont have a lathe to make the tube wider, but its possible with lathe. And secondly, I was thinking to use the stock switch for mode selection and add a tail switch for ON/OFF. I prefered though to keep the looks as original as possible. These are some thoughts for someone that wants to do something similar. Also I tried to make it as repairable as possible by using as many original parts as possible, using no glue and only screws.

9

Thank you for your ideas. I had very good experience with TIR reflectors and XML2s and I really wanted one for this mod, so I didnt spend much time with the stock reflector.

For example my Convoy S2+ had stock 900lm(my meassurment), I added 2 or 3 7135 chips to its driver and went up to 1200lm. With the addition of a TIR it went up to 1450-1500lm !!! Same lumen increase as increasing the current by 1A only with the use of another reflector! I couldnt believe it so I put back the stock reflector to meassure again, went back to 1200. Replaced again the TIR and went to 1500lm, so I guess its staying there and will be used for now on. Only problem is TIRs are pretty floody, even the narrowest beams…

10

Nice mods! I like the double switch… I’ve tried that before but lost my patience too quickly to make it work.

11

Very nice
Would love to see a beamshot :wink:

12

I like this a lot! My buddy has a mag light sitting in his shop that makes my cell phone light look like the sun lol… I want to do this mod and give him a light to brag about. Never modded a light yet but this would be a good start. I need to look around and figure out how to do it exactly … I could try with what you listed here but I’m new so some of it i need to search for more detailed instruction. … thanks for the inspiration

13

Good stuff :+1:

14

This is a relatively complicated project if you want to keep many original parts. Is difficult to make the heatsink accurate enough to fit tight in the tube if you dont have a lathe, and to modify the switch structure to accept the driver and micro-switch is also a small fight. I am also a starter-moder and every flashlight that I mod I learn many many things during and after the process. Start with the project and you will soon make your second one and third one and so on. Every difficult project is a challenge to show yourself your skills, this is how i see it!

My first try with flashlight moding was to modify a 5x XML Skyray King (is my favorite host), I worked 3-4 days for it and burnt out in 2 seconds. Very big disappointment, I gave up. After some weeks I wanted to throw it away and looked a last time at the emmiters which were partially black, I noticed they were too small for XMLs. They were just fake XMLs that couldnt handle the 6A I gave them, so I understood it was not my fault that they burnt out sience original XMLs can handle 6A each… From there I started again with this project and now I have a SkyRay with SinkPads and 16mm copper core that pulls 30A. (will upload build process)

The Miller , I will upload beamshots soon! Waiting news from the GT….

15

Thanks. I think I’ll start with a c8 mod first.it should be less difficult for a first mod

16

Nice mod. You don’t see a lot of maglite mods anymore. One of my first mods was a 2D maglite SSC P7 conversion that was popular in 2010 or so. I might repurpose that host for a similar XHP70 mod; the light is such a classic shape.

17

I believe the biggest problem with Maglites is the heatsinking. They have no fins and the area that is being heated the most is covered from a thick aluminum head. So better use as much mass as possible, at least it would take longer to heat up and you can stay longer in higher modes before going down… I used 20mm of copper, I wanted to go to 30mm but had no time/patience to cut more discs.