Requirements:
For this light I am interested in the maximum output possible without generating too much heat for run times up to a few minutes on max mode, and full battery cycles on medium mode.
What I want to do:
Replace the driver with a three mode (excluding useless blink modes) with mode memory. I have used Qlite and Nanjg 105C drivers in other lights. Are there better drivers out there?
Replace LED with a more efficient one, but has to be on base plate already. Color temp/tint not so important.
What I can consider doing:
Replace pill if there are better pills that fit without additional modifications.
Replace the lens if there is any advantage to it. This is a zoom light and will mostly run on medium to widest focus.
What I absolutely will not do myself (but can purchase parts with mods done from other BLF members):
Stack chips on driver or any other extremely small/tight soldering.
Programming driver myself.
De-dome a LED myself.
Buy LED and base separate and put them together myself.
So I would like suggestions to parts to use, like driver, LED on a good base plate, pills etc, and also suggestions to improve heat handling.
The parts themselves do not have to be dirt cheap, but this still has to be a reasonable budget light. I prefer to buy from Chinese shops and other BLF members (that accept PayPal).
On a side note, are there BLF members that build lights according to specifications and do not charge a fortune? I have seen BLF members sell specific lights with specific mods and so on, but not “I’ll build the light you want” kind of sale. Modding is fun and I learn a lot, I have a few I’ve done myself, but some lights I’d prefer someone experienced build instead of me.
Well… zoomies are suposed to be all rounders and you have to accept compromises with light looses. Pill inside uf-t20 is the same standard as one in C8 hosts. It should be brass so it’s solder friendly. You can put in XP-G2 on noctigon xp16. You can also put in XM-L2 t6 4C on noctigon xm16. Both dies are presoldered on star and u can order them form IOS . For better throw you will be better of with xp-g2, but for overall maximum output xm-l2 is better choice. For driver I would recommend you Qlite with 4 mode level options (moonlight, low, medium, high). Btw which battery do you use?
Are the Notigon considered amongst the better LED bases for handling heat? I noticed people use them, but only after I had put together my previous lights.
What soldering is done on the pill? Previously I have just run the wires through the holes and have had a little plastic part that came with the hosts to fix the base into the pill.
The cells I use are mainly the protected Panasonic NCR18650B.
Yes copper has a better thermal conductivity, heat from the LED flows thru the copper to the aluminum or brass pill, then conducts from there
I recommend getting the STAR V1.1 driver, it has a VERY neat option of a “turbo” mode (wide open) with a timeout of 120 seconds and an automatic step down to “high” which is a PWM of about 50-60% power
Nanjg 105c 8*7135 (maybe a few stacked just because)
This way for 2 min you have max light with auto step back to safer levels
Once you get an XM-L or XM-L2 to 3 amp, the light output doesn’t increase as fast as heat output…more power at that point means more heat
You can use RTV silicon (get sensor safe gray rtv ) to seal the emitter to the pill, silicon once it’s dry actually has better thermal conductivity than epoxy
Thanks a lot for that STAR driver thread! I see I can order it pre-flashed with added chips. That’s extremely useful to me!
Just so I understand correctly, is “turbo” mode the same is the full capacity of the driver? Meaning turbo mode on a 3.04A driver (without added chips) is 3.04A?
What kind of current is recommended as max continuous current for UF-T20 with Noctigon XM-L2? Continuous meaning running for full battery cycle without overheating.
What kind of current is recommended as max current for short two minute bursts (turbo mode)? I will be running protected Panasonic NCR18650B in this light only.
Three amps should be just fine since you are using protected NCR18650b. If the linear driver is rated at 3 amps emitter will see those 3 amps first 10-15 minutes or so because it will fall out of regulation due voltage drop. For two-minute turbo burst 3.7-4 amps should be perfect but I’m not sure can your protected battery even deliver that current at all.
That STAR driver looks very good. I will order one but I think that I will have to do some soldering and change the spring because T20 uses bigger spring.
Here is my T20 vs C8:
I have modded a few of these. A de-domed XP-G2 on a noctigon with a 3amp driver is great.
De-doming is so easy that there is no reason not to do it yourself. All you do is soak it in gasoline for a couple hours and the dome falls off. After that just be very careful with it because the tiny wires are fragile.
I finished my first UF-T20 last night. XP-G2 R5 1A dedomed on a 16mm Noctigon. QLITE driver a 4.5A, measured 4.58A with a fresh 20R. My light meter is away right now but visually it doesn't seem to throw as far as my Small Sun ZY-T08 mods with a dedomed XM-L2 at around 5.5A. The throw is pretty nice for the size of the light and I like the smooth beam you can get up close when needed. The big reflector lights are definitely more efficient but a zoomie can still be useful in certain situations.
Don't have exact measurements (check out Wallbuys for an estimate) but it is both longer and much wider than an SK98, which I also have. This is almost the same size as a C8. You can get much better throw out of this lens though than the one in the SK98.
Yes in that particular instance “turbo” is wide open no PWM, what comes in goes thru the 7135’s and right to the emitter
Once you get above 3A on XM-L or XM-L2 the emitters end up making MORE heat than light amp for amp, sure they can handle 5A but the heat output is astronomical
The STAR will kick up to wide open for a pre-determined time then step back to a lower power PWM mode, lowering heat and power draw from the battery, thru for say 2 minutes you get max light, max heat, on a copper base that heat is quickly absorbed and dispersed over a larger area, keeping the emitter cooler, a cooler emitter is more efficient, better light for the same amount of amps/power. however eventually that heat will saturate the material around it and the light will start diminishing as the heat increases internal resistance. The BEST way is to have a copper base soldered or brazed on to a copper pill and that copper pill inside a copper flashlight tube…aluminum is next on the list, then brass
I went for a pretty simple upgrade for my UF-T20. Just an XM-L2 on copper with a Qlite 3.04A driver and then painted the top of the pill with matt black paint and protected the LED dome with a straw. I never intended to do anything major to it but it works great, and can be used for quite sometime on high.
Can you give me suggestion for a good driver because I can’t order STAR driver from “mtnelectronics”, they’ve told me today that the shipping will be the problem because they can’t find anything under 100$…
