I just received a Solarforce M8 that I bough off eBay. It said the LED just needed replacing, but a wire has come off the driver. After reading the thread about removing the driver, it looks like this will be a driver and LED replacement.
Problem 1, what LED and driver should I go for? I have the extension tube, so it will take two 18650, maybe a 6v LED, such as the XHP50?
Problem 2, the switch is a little funny. Does it have a driver in there as well? I’m measuring 50ohm between the body and spring when on. Will I need to mod this as well?
I managed to get the driver out undamaged, I hope. I put the probe from my multi-meter through the hole under the spring, hooked it on the ridge on the probe and gave it a good tug. Seller said he’d had the pill out, but said it was threaded (possibly a misunderstanding).
I’ll add some new wires, an XM-L T6 I have spare and give it a go. I’m still thinking about a fitting a 6v LED (XHP50 or XHP70).
Fully working now, just 1A at the tail though. Tail is just a switch, I had my lead in the amp socket on the meter (glad I didn’t check the battery voltage).
Just trying to decide what LED and driver to put in it now. XHP50 and a zener mod driver looks like the simplest solution.
This light is a personal favorite of mine. I’ve had it for several years, had a forum member, Bucket, make me a new finned pill from solid copper and put an MT-G2 in it, with an FET driver. I baked the Type III ano and it came out a military drab olive green color, perfect!
Have fun!
This one’s special… see the serial number? A0089? My birthday is August 9th, the 9th day of the 8th month. Even without that, I just love the style of this light.
The Convoy C8 had a similar copper pill morphed onto it by Bucket at the same time. Bucket hasn’t been on here in a while, hope he’s doing well! Love the pills Buck, to this day these are personal favorites!
Edit: A close-up view of the 8 oz copper pill. Just for inspiration you know!
As you may have noticed, I had him add length for a couple more fins. Works pretty well, the MT-G2 is running around 12A at some 4200-4300 lumens as I recall. (I actually wanted it to be wider, matching the smooth area where the text is so the fins would be deeper, but that got miscommunicated somehow) This type of light with the pill being, essentially, a light engine is really cool as you can change it in either direction at will.
The M8 has a hybrid reflector, this is an orange peel section down low then mirror finish the majority, as such, the beam profile is nice from this combination of M8 and MT-G2.
I watched the video of making the copper pill. Very tempted to have a go. I’ve a cheap bench top lathe in the garage. Really need to learn how do do threads on it. Last thing I made light related was a couple of driving lights for the TVR. I had planned on just mounting them to the grill, but they turned out to heavy.
Even without that, I just love the style of this light. 
