(still editing, will add information for parts)
I was thrilled with the discount code obtained here for the Skilhunt H02. I promised a report on my modification. For hiking, skiing, climbing and mountaineering I like a headlamp with a versatile wide beam for trail use but with the option of throw for routefinding. So I add a throw reflector to my headlamps. This pushes the useful
range out to about 200 meters.
A warm xpg-2 has its Noctigon base soldered directly to the brass pill. The reflector is wonderful but the threading on the pill is atrociously loose fitting. I tried spacing it with aluminum foil but couldn’t get a tight enough fit so I wasn’t happy with the heat gradient between the pill and the aluminum reflector. I added a thick layer of super soft pure indium solder to the threads. When turned into the reflector threads are formed in the solder. With the high thermal conductivity of indium the temperature differential is gone! Maybe you know a better way? The solder is only on one half of the pill to correct centering.
Copper strip soldered to grounding ring of 7135 driver. This strip is expoxied to the pill for heatsinking.
Switch epoxied to head and driver card removed. There is a web of aluminum just under the led that bisects the cylinder. Appears to be well heat-sinked.
Red wire on right added as a positive power source going to switch.
Black wire added to ground ring. A hole is then drilled on the led side of the driver board. The wires are fed through to the switch and to the ground of the 7135 card
Reflector Dremeled to avoid contacting the solder points on the Noctigon board
I left the 7135 driver board visible with a coat of transparent epoxy. The wires are similarly coated. Maybe next time I will try to use thin copper strips inside the battery compartment for conductors. This would be prettier but somewhat difficult since the extra space around the battery isn’t much. Reflector is simply expoxied to the body of the Skilhunt. Crude but effective.
Red plastic ring came from the lid of either of these two bottles. Same dimensions, I cut one for this light the other for another.
Wire path
Headlamp will bob some of course. You can reduce it by rethreading the stretch bands through the silicone rings right next to the lamp. You can eliminate it by using a stiff plastic base instead of silicone.
White wall shot from 5 meters. This is how the focused beams hotspot appears to the naked eye.
Beautiful beam, shorter exposure, almost no artifacts. Graininess is actually the texturing on the wall.
Skilhunts wide beam. Neutral white and perfect.
Skilhunt beam centered at about 10 meters
Tiablo A9 xr-e q5 1A; premium thrower from a few years ago; 150 meters to trees; f/5.6 2.5s ISO-800 focal length 55mm
mag-lite modified with xm-l 3A same camera settings as above
Skilhunt thrower reflector; warm xpg-2; 2A same settings