I modified this light for a fellow member who wanted it stripped and a Nichia NVSL219BT-V1 4000K 90+ CRI emitter installed.
Original Light:
Low – 10 lm, 140 cd
Med – 30 lm, 420 cd
High – 106 lm, 1520 cd
Disassembled the light and added protection for the area’s to remain anodized, best to keep the ano on the threads for wear & lockout etc and need to keep it on inner body tube for light to function due to the spring supplying voltage to the electronic switch in the tail. Then a bath in oven cleaner.Installed carbon fibre wrap in the battery tube and a sticky back felt ring at the bottom to help retain the spring in the light when changing the cell.
Filed down a 16mm Noctigon to shape as the cutout in the pill is an odd shape for the very old SSC emitter?, reflowed the Nichia, fixed MCPCB in place with arctic alumina, checked polarity, soldered wires and applied kapton tape over the top of the pill as the reflector sits directly on top.Pill installed with Artic Silver Ceramique 2, rebuilt & cleaned up switch, kapton tape, cleaned up all contacts, re-lubed threads and o-rings with silicone grease.A lot of polishing & tweaks later the light looks like this :-)
Nichia 219B:
Low – 26 lm, 280 cd
Med – 100 lm, 950 cd
High – 310 lm, 3100 cd
This is an older light, predecessor to the HDS lights I believe and built like a tank.
It was nice to work on and is quite respectable now with the increased output and good tint due to the new emitter.
Very cool! I’m always excited to see one of your new mods post:)
What did you use to remove the ano and what did you use to protect the inside of the tubes? I see something stuffed in there but can’t make out what it is:)
Amazing work, really is, attention to detail and perfection is 2nd to none. Really appreciate your help on breathing life into an old classic. The weak cold CT with a little blue has been turned into a usable hi cri light for the next 10yrs+
Over the moon steve, totally changed it for the better. The low mode of 26lm is pretty much perfect, so its just a click on/off for use as enough output for most my needs(general edc type). Double tap for 100lm then ample,still the turbo of 300lm is nice to have………
Great, is the spring retainer good, working ok? I didn’t like the way it just fell out when changing cells.
A triple would be nice, would need to check the depth of the angled reflector though and the driver might be potted in there, something with a bit more power would probably be better anyway so you could install a new driver, clicky switch, triple and run it on 18350 cells
Been great, no issues at all and spring has stayed put. Kind of a crazy design really, but must have been necessary back in the day and with this design for contact.
Defo up for a triple 219bt 4000k at some point :sunglasses: , will enjoy it as is for now. The h17f driver would be a lot better than the single/double click and press hold UI.
My guess is the spring still exists in the HDS design to this day, as a wire, because it provides power to the Electronic switch. If it had a mechanical switch, the spring could go away, and an 18350 could be used…
I believe it could be possible, maybe by clearing the stock driver board and connecting the MTN driver to the appropriate contacts.
I haven’t opened the pill on one of these so don’t know how it is inside but would imagine there would be space for a 14mm or 15mm driver?
I dont know the answer to your questions, and look forward to learning more.
I would like to learn more about options like the H17f driver in a Novatac, I dont know the pros and cons of that option, Im hoping CRX will come up with some real world testing soon…
My main interest would be to find a driver, with ramping UI, or at least programmable, that did not use any PWM below 3000Hz, and that would not have other types of visible flicker. afaik the D4 driver uses PWM, I think the H17f does too, but I have not owned any lights with those drivers, so have not had opportunity to test them with my phone camera, and my eyes.
Im very interested in coming up with a viable option to drive a tripple Nova with a NoPWM, NoFlicker driver, and that has a more intuitive UI than the Novatac or HDS. One that could be handed to a newbie with simple instructions, like, click on, click off, hold to ramp brighter…
Installed carbon fibre wrap in the battery tube and a sticky back felt ring at the bottom to help retain the spring in the light when changing the cell.
Pill installed with Artic Silver Ceramique 2, rebuilt & cleaned up switch, kapton tape, cleaned up all contacts, re-lubed threads and o-rings with silicone grease.
A lot of polishing & tweaks later the light looks like this :-)
