To get more output over the stock XP-L’s this may be the nicest option. Another option would be the XP-L2 but you will give in on tint and beam quality (you will get a fairly ugly greenish corona). And yet another option, if you like cool white tints, is getting the led4power board and use SST-40 leds.
Btw, talking about “straight swap” , both using Luxeon V leds and SST-40 leds will require adapting the led centering rings to the larger led size. For the Luxeon V’s to fit I reamed out the stock centering rings quite a bit, a tedious job with a hand reamer on tiny pieces of plastic that provide no grip (times 4 ). The SST-40 leds are even larger and may require even further reaming or a different solution. The holes in the Q8 reflector are not standard size, so none of the various center pieces that are separately for sale will fit without adaptation (you could ream the Q8 reflector holes to fit one of the standard sizes, that is in fact easier than reaming tiny plastic centerpieces).
When I did my SST-40 mod, the Q8 reflector didn’t even fit properly over the emitter packages without reaming. They might have fit singly, but there was enough slop in the reflow of the emitters on the board, and perhaps the boring of the reflector that it wasn’t possible to get it to fit over all four at once without opening the holes up.
There’s no Q8 host sofar and I’m not sure about the demand for such a host, it will not be that cheaper than a full light.
The luxeon V mod is a while ago and I’m sure I did everything to get the resistence down, but the most significant measure is still bypassing the springs. I must have cleaned and tinned the screw-connections to the battery tube at the tailboard, and probably shortened the ledwires a bit. I think the stock ledwires were already 18AWG, but if not I changed to 18 AWG.
Here are 2 new pictures comparing stock XP-L LED with and without DC-Fix. https://www.taschenlampen-forum.de/media/albums/blf-q8.2372/
All Pictures (Luxeon MZ and XP-L) in automatic mode and with different output levels of the flashlight. But you will see the differences in beam pattern.
Stock lens about 6100 Lumen and DC-Fix lens about 6000 Lumen at startup. … with different batteries as on my former measurements. And I did Turbo-Beamshots between the todays measurements (with and without DC-Fix).
Cool. You did all that as a first mod? I’m still not up to reflashing mcu’s. Lol
I liked the 5000K LH351D myself until I compared them to the 5000K Nichia 319AT, then they looked a bit green/yellow. The only problem is the 319AT doesn’t put out the high lumens like the LH351D do. Decisions decisions.
Its just a strip of SS, allen head bolt with a aluminum “cup” I machined to go around it and help material slide through. Its sturdy but not low profile or anything. Didnt harden the SS so I can bend it to make it tighter or easier to slide. The Q8 is a heavy pig to hang on my belt but its better than it swinging around on a lanyard in the shop. Hangs on my backpack pretty nicely while hiking or on the motorcycle. Only took me about 30 minutes with basic tools to bang out.
[quote=junkyardbiker]
Its just a strip of SS, allen head bolt with a aluminum “cup” I machined to go around it and help material slide through. Its sturdy but not low profile or anything. Didnt harden the SS so I can bend it to make it tighter or easier to slide. The Q8 is a heavy pig to hang on my belt but its better than it swinging around on a lanyard in the shop. Hangs on my backpack pretty nicely while hiking or on the motorcycle. Only took me about 30 minutes with basic tools to bang out.
The end of the clip where it screws to the light is firmly butted against the raised fin in front of the flat spot, so it has something to kinda brace against.
Ok, so I ordered replacement copper/brass round top screws, as well as some wire, and copper caps to use for spring bypass, I was curious… so any of you think it would be an issue to use a little of this: Loctite 466863 C5A Paste Anti-Seize Lubricant on the copper screws. It is a copper based anti-seize that should help with power transfer through the threads (at least it wont hurt) and should prevent stripping the screws if they ever need to be removed.
I used like a boogers worth, and it is slicker than snot so that should be enough. Just not sure what I'm going to put the rest on? Think I'll leave it in the Will for the grandkids.
It all sound real good, though I have no experience with it. It doesn't say it's conductive - that would be important to me, depending on what screws it goes on. Thermally, it's probably excellent.