You’ll also want an XP centering ring if you’re using an XP-L, as the original one is designed for the XM-L2 and will not precisely align the LED and reflector. There are lots of different options for the emitter. Here are a few:
XP-L V6 3D - V6 is an efficiency rating that means it will produce, on average, 1226 lumens from 3 Amps. You won’t get all that out the front of the light, but it should be comfortably over 1000. 3D is a tint bin - all the 3- tints are around 5000K color temperature, which is very close to the color of direct sunlight. Your existing LED is probably more blue than this. This is the one to get if your goal is to maximize total light output.
Nichia 219C - this will make a mere 900 lumens from the same 3 Amps, but it has a neat trick: it will keep making that 900 lumens until the battery is down to about 20% while the XP-L starts to lose output around 50%. It also has a slightly smaller emitter area, which gives a more intense hotspot and a longer distance beam, plus it has a substantially higher color rendering index, which means colors are more vivid under this light than most LEDs. It has the same 5000K color temperature as the above XP-L. This is my favorite general-purpose LED, and the one to get if you want the best appearance for objects illuminated with your light, or to maximize runtime.
XP-L HI V2 3C - Less efficient than the other XP-L with 1042lm from 3A, but with a flat protector instead of a dome for the smallest, most intense, longest-throwing hotspot of these three. Same color temperature. This is the one to get if your goal is to maximize distance.
So the Nichia 219C is very interesting and may seem best for as for there may be times when I may use the light for longer times and would be nice to distinguish what I’m looking at. A centering ring to ok. This could be kinda fun for me as I’ve never built anything like this and I think I will try more. Lol
All you need for this is a soldering iron and some thermal paste to go between the MCPCB and the pill. With practice, an emitter swap like that is a five minute job or less.
I’m holding my pill as a whole unit and looking at it and on it there is a LED emitter on a circuit board with a red and black wire coming from underneath it. What’s at the other end of those two wires under that bored? Sorry I don’t know about this stuff that’s why I ask funny questions. Is that may be the driver?
I’m going to start with no on the new driver. Several people in this thread have mentioned specific models of driver, but most or all of them are not suitable for use with two batteries in series. There are some options that will work for that use case, but see how you like it with the new emitter first.
You might want to consider new batteries though, especially if the ones you have are from Trustfire. *fire brands are anything but trustworthy and could, potentially start fires. I’d be especially careful with batteries arranged in series. LG MJ1s or Panasonic NCR18650Bs are good batteries for flashlight use.
How do I test the driver I have in there now? Do I use an ohlm tester? And how do I peal off the old MCPCB from the pill? And my flashlight currently runs with 1x 18650 but I’m willing to get a tube extension to make it hold 2.
1x18650 is fine for all the drivers mentioned. I googled that light what I found had two in series.
You can power the driver and check the leads going to the MCPCB for voltage and current with a multimeter. If you’re not sure the driver works and you’re only running 1 cell, getting a new driver makes more sense. Here are the options I’d consider:
Qlite driver - a basic driver. A multitude of firmwares are available for it - read the description. Star off-time is a good choice.
Moonlight Special - similar to the above, but with a super low low mode. Uses Star off-time or something very much like it.
17ddm - the hot-rod driver. On the highest mode, this simply provides a direct connection between the battery and LED without doing anything to the electricity, giving you the most output your components can provide (even if it damages them). BLF A6 firmware recommended for this one. Also has a super low low mode. Make sure you have good batteries if you use this one - preferably something designed for high loads like the LG HG2, LG HE4, Sony VTC5 or Samsung 25R.
Hey there, 1000 lumens from one cell is no big deal. There are some things you should learn concerning the risks of lithium ion cells in series that make it a good idea to start with a single cell. Just make it a good one and you will still have decent run time. The pill has the led on a metal core printed circuit board(mcpcb) on the top and the driver on the bottom usually with a spring to contact battery +. By un soldering the wires from the mcpcb it is then possible to remove the driver. Some are press fit, some have a blob or two of solder at the edge(ground ring), and some have a screw in retaining ring that holds the driver. If it’s press fit then a wooden tooth pick pushed through the wire holes can pop the driver out. If it’s soldered then you need to use solder wick or some clean stranded copper wire and flux to melt the solder and wick it away or simply carve it away with a knife(watch the fingers!). The retaining ring is the easiest, just use tweezers or needle nose pliers in the two small holes or slots and twist it counter clockwise. There are free image hosting websites that are fine for a not too large set of pictures and would work fine. I’d reccomend getting the led from Mtnelectronics already mounted on the mcpcb and shopping there for a driver as well. He can set you up with one of many different choices of UI (user interface) from simple to confounding and you would be able to get the led, driver, and a good cell all from one source. Be sure to measure the driver after it’s been removed as there are both common and uncommon sizes(17mm being one of the more common ones). What cell charger do you have? It would be a good idea to measure the cell voltage when fully charged as it should be very close to 4.2V without going above that by very much if at all.
Just so you know, the driver controls the current from the battery and gives the light it’s different modes if it has them. How did you test the driver?
It’s entirely possible that both the led and driver are fine but there might be a break in the circuit at the switch or if the tube threads are anodized the tube ends might not be making contact with bare metal in the head or tail cap. With the light assembled and the battery installed but the tail cap left off a paper clip bridging the battery - to bare metal of the tube will tell you if the problem is in the tail cap.
Okay so on another post I did read about all kinds of bad connections so it took the flashlight completely apart and cleaned all connections and vola it works. It’s not very bright though but that’s probably cause bad or poor batteries. But I still would be interested in upgrading the emitter to a brighter and better I guess.
I put some Nichia emitters in Convoy S6s and took some photos. This album contains beamshots and runtime graphs of the original XM-L2, Nichia 219C and Nichia 219B.
We haven’t talked about the 219B in this thread yet. The variant of it sold on Mountain Electronics has a light spectrum about as close to real sunlight as you can get in an electric light source. It isn’t especially bright or efficient though, and its output falls pretty rapidly as the battery drains. Now that the 219C is out, I consider this a special-purpose emitter for when getting the best looking colors is an overriding concern. The 219C does a pretty good job at that and puts out a lot more light and maintains its output longer.
I think the 219C is a good upgrade for your light. It won’t necessarily make a lot more light than your existing XM-L, but it will make better light and it will do it for longer. A high binned XM-L2 or XP-L will make more and still have better color than what you have now (if you get a 3- or 4- tint bin), but not as nice as the 219C.
it’s fun to take apart and rebuild lights, but building one from scratch gives you a whole new light. keep the one that works and build another to your specs. that way you’ll end up with two and you still have one that works.
Ya I agree on the 219c. And mine was not as bright as my buddies rigid industries that looked identical as mine with different logo on outside and that was with even trading batteries.
