Does this normally mean that the die needs to be further into the reflector and a lower profile insulator needs to be used? LED is dome on. Host is SupFire L3. Photo at about 1.5 meters.
Thanks Matt
Wow that’s a pretty precise set of rings, looks like machining marks? :~ Can you see the machining marks in the reflector? Can you remove the centering ring and set this reflector on the board with out shorting? You could always try the PFlexPro High-Bred reflector technique? 8) It saved 3-4 of my crap made reflector lights! 
Struggle on my brother!! :bigsmile: Smooth Hybrid Reflector (P60)
I have an unaltered SupFire A1 (AAA light) that is the same way. I figured it was just that model. Maybe others with an L3 can chime in.
mattlward, I had a similar issue with a reflector and a member on here gave me some advice that worked. If you can’t get the reflector any lower, then take a Sharpie around the inner ring of the reflector that would snug up around the spacer or centering ring. That cleared up my ring issue. The led was reflecting off that tiny ledge and causing rings.
+1 use a black sharpie around here
Interesting, my Jacob A60 is the only light that turned out similar to that, not quite as defined as that though. I'll see what a sharpie does to it.
The led is completely covered by a rigid insulation gasket with an indented ring that the reflector sits into. When in position, the led is below the opening of the reflector slightly. I can't get the dam thing out either, already drew blood! I am going to drill a small hole on each side and try to turn it out with snap ring pliers.
Almost de-domed it trying to get the ring off. When I do it will be de-domed the right way.
That's doubly interesting lol. Iirc the A60 is set up similarly. That outside plastic insulater deal (the one that surrounds the inner centering ring) actually centers the LED star/mcpcb. The outside perimeter should extend downward around the mcpcb. They wedge in there pretty tight. I made a small hole through it and leveraged it up with small needlenose pliers.
The L3 has what I would consider to be a very unique reflector + centering ring arrangement that is different from most of the lights we see. At first glance it appears that it wouldn't work well at all, but for a domed XM-L2 the hotspot is very sharp, bright, and well defined for a light with a reflector of that size. I am not sure how it works, but I have wondered if the centering ring is recycling some of the reflected light back onto the die, making the resulting die face more intense. There is a downside, however, of the design: the centering ring seems to introduce some ringy artifacts into the beam. I suspect that while some of the light gets recycled onto the die, some of it is reflected at different angles into the reflector, which shows up as the ring pattern.
If the reflector isn't sitting down as far as it should be, then the pill can be slightly unscrewed to bring them closer together.
It is down into the ring on the gasket as far as it can go... I just was not sure if the recessed die was a problem or not. I will keep that in mind for my mod. I will need to maintain that distance, yes the hotspot is very good on this light even though it is severely underdriven.
Thanks Matt