Looks like your hot spot is as hot or hotter on the MT-G2. That’s impressive. It took over 6 amps (which is over FOUR times the amount of watts of a 3.04 amp XM-L2) and a bigger reflector (ZY-T08) for my MT-G2 to match the hotspot intensity of my XinTD C8 (albeit at around twice the size 
) Now you’ve got me itching to slice an MT-G2 dome. Kind of scary considering the cost but now you’ve planted the seed in my mind I don’t know now if I can get it out.
Well, keep in mind that the M8 has a nice reflector, a hybrid reflector, and that's a big difference.
Edit: I'll try to get a decent pic of the shaved-dome. Be back...
What's to say?
Tried to keep the top of the dome about flush with the reflector, worked out pretty good.
I would love to see the MT-G2 in a rebel reflector.
What’s to say? Awesome! If you were to give an estimated percentage of apparent die size reduction, what would it be?
WOW, that’s amazing Dale, great work!
Now tell us what happens when you cut away the surrounding phosphor/dome remnants off the top of the substrate... all the phosphor is excited to some extent even if it's not directly over the die area, my guess is the spot will get even smaller.
That is awesome Dale!
I've just went through the entire thread, and those initial beamshots you posted of M3 with de-domed XM-L U2 at 4.28A was very close to the M8 when you had it with a XML2 on copper and 3.6A. Would it be possible to get us a few comparison shots between the M3 and M8 with MT-G2? Perhaps some close range, medium range and long range shots?
Thanx, really looking forward to seeing how this M8 will compare :)
Comfy, you make it tough! Here I was thinking it was pretty much a finished project and you toss something like that out there! So now I feel compelled to remove all the phosphor around the circular part of the “dome” and find out just what, indeed, does happen!
Will it survive if I do that? Is there a right way and a wrong way to go about it? Obviously, I’ve already damaged it, squashing it in the multiple assembly attempts. Guess I have to find out.
Lothar, I’ll try, but the light may very well be altered before it get’s dark again. Can’t leave well enough alone, it’ll be my downfall yet…
Challenge accepted, I ain’t gonna lie, it was scary diving into it, but there were visible benefits! The hot-spot previously was hard edged, now it blends more smoothly into the spill. Also, previously, the spill was quite warm by comparison to the hot-spot, now the spill is the nice neutral white we’re used to from this die, with the hot-spot concentrated of course.
Looks great, nice work!
Sorry about getting the quote for the pill, I’ve been quite busy. :~
Pick up a can of LEDseal, I believe that'll let you skip the sanding/polishing after cutting. Spray a little into a cup, then use something like the end of a chopstick to pick up a dollop of silicone and dab it onto the LED. It should give you a nice defect-free surface even if there are some cut marks in what's left of the dome.
No problem Ryan, I’m in no hurry at all…plenty to do. lol
Can you recommend where to get the LEDSeal?
Really like how the spill is whiter now, thanks for putting me up to that!
I used the standard settings on my G1X, ISO 1600, f/5.8 and 1/2 sec exposure. Manual mode, manual focus. M8 first, mouseover for M3. 28mm wide angle in first set, then 112mm zoom. The short range...trailer in shed is 55 yds. Middle range... red oil drum is 97 yds. Long range...white barn is 610 yds.
As a reference point, the fence visible in the near range is 100 yds away. A larger pic shows that there is actually some light hitting the barn from the M8, just not nearly as much as from the M3.
Thanks for sharing those great pics!
Thanx for the great pics Dale!
So, has the tint got cooler than before the dedome? And even more cooler with the sides removed? Seems similar to the results in this thread: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19900
Dale, with your current modded Qlite, you are limited to 2 x 16340's or 2 x 18650's. Have you given thought to this driver: http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S020121 Richie confirmed that it works with a MT-G2 and with both 1 x 18650 and 2 x 18650 in this thread: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/15950
Man, at this point I'm really leaning towards modding my M8 with a MT-G2 on copper with the S020121 driver, resister modded to give some 8A to the MT-G2 for some 3500 lumen goodness :)
Thanks DBC. Nice beam shots of some nice lights. Question. Who was the fool who put the power pole up outside the shed so the car cant get out?
The tint got warmer in the spill when it was just capped off flat. Removing the sides at Comfy's suggestion brought the natural white back into the spill. Overall cooler? Well maybe it is just a bit, didn't think to compare it to my K3 or S2200. But the mental comparison I think it is a bit more white, where the stock MT-G2 say in the S2200 has a bit of a golden glow to it. Will have to look em both side by side.
Going for more power in these smallish lights hasn't really proven out for me. I had the M8 running 12A, can't handle it as it's firey hot in 20-30 seconds. At 7.5A it's not horribly bad, but you woudn't be able to use it for any real length of time before the heat got crazy in it even then. So I'm settling for closer to 5A as it's a whopping lot of light, a compromise between output and heat. The M8 is only at 3.74A right now because I ran out of chips. It gets hot at that level and drops output as the Zener mod needs the chips to spread the difference around. Being conservative is actually not working here, more chips on the board handle the drop from 8.4V to 6.4V more efficiently. So I will be adding chips to the 10 on the board now as soon as I get more chips....in the next few days hopefully.
Steve, the power pole is not in front of the shed, lol, rather in line beside it. There's a driveway between the pole and the shed, plenty of room to go between em across the face of the shed, and plenty of room to back the Caravan out. The pole has been there since '72, the shed was built around '83. :P
That's Dads truck and trailer, they've been going camping since Dad retired in '83, He turned 85 yesterday and they're planning the next trip with their Good Sams group. Play a lot of dominoes and card games. lol He's talking about quitting it, loading up the trailer is getting to be taxing on the old guy. But, he's working on a project out in the shed and doesn't hesitate to lug the table saw outside for fresh air and a breeze. Sometimes I think he's lost it and still considers himself to be 20 or 30 years old or something. 