I bought this light because it seemed similar to my STL-V2, but with a forward switch.
Was disappointed with its output up against the V2, so of course, I pulled it apart, tried my first de-dome. Fail. :8)
I was just going to buy another emitter on Aly mcp (is that the correct term?), but they seem hard to find at 25mm.
I’m a bit unsure of reflowing a new emitter onto the existing plate (Skill-wise), although I’m willing to give it a go.
I’ve read the various posts on this art.
So, does anyone know where I could find this (I’m in Au), or do you have thoughts on which way I could go in giving this light a boost.
You don't have to use a 25mm board. It's centered by the white insulator, at the OD by the stepped bore in the pill and the center hole fits over the square base of the LED. You may have to cut the clearance holes a bit to line up over the 20mm board's solder pads.
treat me like a numpty, Rusty Joe - I don’t understand the difference.
It certainly doesn’t throw the distance the V2 does.
On a wall bounce, the beam doesn’t (didn’t) seem as strong.
The head diameter is identical and the reflectors are very similar in depth.
If you have a DMM (meter), can you measure the current at the tailcap? It kind of sounds like it’s under-driven.
Also, if you want to replace the emitter itself, it’s not that difficult. I just started doing it, with the star on a copper plate off of an old CPU heatsink and one of those small butane torches (a soldering iron might work also) underneath, and I was “practicing” using an existing emitter+star, so you wouldn’t even need solder paste to replace the emitter (heat to remove the existing emitter, then just re-heat to re-flow the new emitter).
You’ve answered the question. Since the beam doesn’t look as strong on a wall, and since it has the very same reflector, then that means it doesn’t throw as well because it’s not as bright - aka not driven as hard. So you can take a tailcap DMM reading to see how many amps it is drawing. If it’s, say, 1.5 amps, then x 2 cells gives 3 amps. My guess is it is going to be less than that, which would be why it is less bright than the V2.
Thanks Ohaya for your reply. That is the light in question.
I’m up for replacing the emitter, so I think I will have a crack.
Now that it is dismantled, I guess the current test is redundant.
Depending on the size of driver you can fit into the pill, and the emitter of your choice there are a number of drivers out there which would be able to give that V2 a real kick in the pants.
If you look around there are 4 or even 5 amp drivers which would pair nicely with a copper MCPCB XM-L2 like this and this combo.
That's a nice looking light. Looks like it can be turned into a beast. Have you looked into modding the stock driver? If not, consider posting a close up picture of it. Maybe one of the gurus will see a way to make use of it.
Looks like the 2 parallel resisters on the top left are your voltage sense resistors. Reducing the resistance there will increase current to the emitter. Please wait for a guru to confirm before trying. I'm an amateur.
Wonder what the deal is with the chain of 3 components in the center of the driver is? One is a resistor, one may be a capacitor. Whatever they are, that doesn't look stock at all. Also that component on the bottom right between the bottom right 2 legs of the MCU. That doesn't look stock either.
EDIT: If you had the driver working and took a volt reading on each side of one of the voltage sense resisters, we could determine what amount of resistance you need to achieve a desired current.
… I understood what you are explaining ImA4Wheelr.
If someone suggests I solder a thing onto another thing, I’ll have a crack.
This resistor/capacitor/2 legs of the MCU talk is way over my head.
Unless someone can give me some direction on driver, I’ll order some new emitters and have another go at de-domeing and reflowing.
Thanks to all for your thoughts.
Is there any reason why I couldn’t use this emitter:
That emitter will work fine, but I would suggest the following emitter. It's less than $2 more, but you get more than $2 of improvement. You get an XML2 which should be about 20% brighter and its mounted on a high quality 20mm copper base. The copper base is a big time upgrade and will keep the emitter cooler. It's really necessary if you are going to drive it hard.
Do you have any other 20mm stars around? It would be a good idea to see if the pads that the wires will be soldered to will clear the back of your reflector.
Im more than happy with mine considering the extended run time and that it doesn’t overheat when left on in high mode.
Tailcap current in high mode @4.20V:
1 cell - 2.61A
2 cells - 1.14A
Sure, it would be better up at around 3-3.2A. Maybe I’ll try a resistor/pot mod later. It regulates well and also has low voltage warning when each cell reaches 3V on either 1 or 2 cells. Quality is impressive for a $20 light (special sales price) and includes a good AR lens, charger and carrying case.
I see some botch job on the driver with a cap. All these drivers with small inductors are not made for high currents, also unshielded inductors can break if enough shock is applied to the flashlight, I've seen it happen not only in flashlights. But that is a common plague, almost every other inductor is like that to save some costs.
