I´ve been hooked on knives my whole life… Then I saw this forum and have been lurking around a long time… This forum has amplified my budget knife addiction and has also got me hooked on flashlights. DAMN U BLF!!
Ok, to business… I´ve been craving a huge amount of lumens and to achieve that I think that I have to buy a light and swap the driver. I´ve read that KD has some rather beastly drivers for under 20$. Now comes the tricky part… TR-j18 or perhaps something to go with the 9-led beast driver? Heard that TR-j18 w/ beast driver would give something around 5500 lumens OTF. How about something with 9-leds? Would love to have more experienced input on the matter. Please tell me some viable options on 9-led torches too. AK 47? SR 9xT6?
I´m a MOD-virgin and now Im asking that can this kind of mod be done quite easily by a NOOB?
I would like a wall of light with a bit of throw too. Also I would like the light to be practical, not just a minute worth of daylight and then empty cells. Im talking about something like +10 minutes with HIGH and +30 mins with medium.
Please, gurus, help a virgin out. Is this even possible for first mod?
I don’t think the difference will be that much noticeable… save your money and just get TR-J18 with the beast driver.
if 5500 lumens ain’t enough? then you need HID light
But remember that either one you pick will require non-protected batteries that are high amps. ICR king kongs or Sony 50amp ones will work.
You can also pick up the beast driver set up specifically for 9x at lightmalls for $20.
These lights will not run with protected batteries with the beast driver. They will pop the protection and if you run regular 18650 unprotected they will get dangerously hot. So make sure you go with good batteries. For runtime I would go with the king kongs. I would also go with flat tops because the button tops might not fit and you can always put a small bit of solder on the flat tops just be really quick and make sure you don’t overheat the batteries.
Thx for the input guys. KD should have a beast driver for 9-led models too. Is the lightmalls version different? Im wondering that how much more output Im gonna get with 9 vs. 7 leds… Any experience of that 9-led alilight that u linked 18sixfifty? Also any experience on beast driver on J18 or any other 7 or 9 led models? I have read that the J18 would accommodate the beast driver fairly easy… Hoping to get something that will do the same. I just want to get with the least amount of hassle
I did have two of the 9x ones but I didn’t get around to putting the beast in them I just did spring mods. They are a lot bigger but take the same driver. More heatsinking for sure. I have modded four lights with the beast driver so far including a J-18 with XM-L2’s. The 9x had a very nice beam pattern. However my favorite so far is a 6x with a bigger head with the same beast driver. Because of the larger head I get better throw and the heatsinking is better than the J-18. It has XML-U3’s in it.
I’m doing another 6x when it comes in. It will have two drivers and the emitters on noctigons with each emitter being driver at 5 amps.
XM-L2… Now Im just plain jealous. Would love something with ´em. So the 9x Alilamp was of good quality? What about the throw aspect… J18 vs Alilamp? I know that they aint throwers but which one throws better?
Im just lost cos I dont know that should I get 7 or 9 leds… J18 would be carry-friendly though… Is the alilamp way bigger then?
Just about to pull the trigger on the niner and beast… Would it function properly with 2 king kongs or does it need 3? Quality good on the niner? Threads? Centering? Does it have a brand of some sort?
I think that I need to upgrade wires too (?) bury the driver in thermal compound?
Howdy I would go with three for the run time alone and I have never tried running it with two but I don’t think it would be a good idea. You would need the extra amps to do it properly you would probably overheat the batteries with two.
The 9x’s that I had were no-names but they sent trustfires I think they are all the same really. I didn’t pot my drivers at all but you could do it and it wouldn’t hurt that’s for sure. You could go with heavy wire but with the boost driver you don’t have to really.
One question occured to me… This niner you, 18sixfifty, linked… The reflector seems to have one led in the middle like TR ak 47… Then there is another trustfire that has 3 leds in the middle… What was your reflector like on your niners? Was yours in fact an AK 47?
Should there be any difference how the leds are placed? The niner you linked has a picture of the one-in-the-layout. I would imagine that one in the middle would potentially create a bit more of throw.
Well if it was me I would go for the one with One emitter in the middle and then de-dome that one in the middle. It would give you a little extra throw and give you a little more of a neutral tint.
De-doming is the easiest thing to do. Just soak it in gasoline for a few hours and the dome comes right off. Just be vary careful with it after the dome is off so you don’t hit the tiny wires on it.
How about then if I wont de-dome it? Any difference then? DAMN this is hard, dunno what to get anymore I just would like to get something that I dont have to tinker too much. Old driver out, beast in and WOW! Thats what Im after. Thanks for being a sport and helping a guy out
I just want something so bright that I can set the moon on fire
You don’t have to de-dome it for it to be incredibly bright. In fact all you have to do is put the driver in and as long as you use good batteries it’s going to rock.
flat top batteries won’t works on these lights… I have to use magnets to make it fit
I have 3 of them lights that you mentioned above.
for stock mode the 3 LEDs in the middle is slightly brighter than the 1 LED in the middle. (9 LEDs lights)
but the AK47 ( 1 LED in the middle) is easier to mod using resistor mod. cheaper
beware the beast driver is not meant for longer use on HIGH mode as it is very unstable, it is only for WOW factor.
I killed my TR-J18 after about 15 mins on HIGH :_(
I did mod’ed my other TR-J 18 with resistor mod and now 2 of my LEDs is kaput and I’m having a hard time removing the middle LED :~
anyone knows how to remove the middle LEDs?
