Texas_Ace MT09R Modding thread, 20k+ lumens, 80CRI, can start fires? Yes please.

rdoc613 · April 28, 2018, 5:54pm

JasonWW:

rdoc613:

Would you say the MT09R gives off as much usable spill as the MT03? It looks amazing in your video but things are very different in real life. Thanks again!

Since they use similar emitters and have similar head diameters, you can say the biggest difference in the reflectors of these 2 lights would be the depth.

The “spill” is made up of the light that does not hit the reflector (for the most part). It would be the orange colored beams in this photo. Imagine making the reflector deeper or shallower. The angle of the orange lines will get narrow or spread out.

So when we compare these two lights the MTO3 has a shorter reflector height and wider angle compared to the MT09R. This means that both lights should have the same intensity in the spill, but the MT03’s spill covers a wider area.

Man Without Shadow’s video seems to comfirm this. When he shines both lights at the trees, the MT03’s spill is so wide it goes beyond the cameras field of view.

The MT09R’s spill is narrower and you can see the edges on the camera footage.

The intensity per square meter within the spill should be same, just the angle from the light, and hence spill width, is different.

So if you want a light for walking around and you hold it pointing directly in front of you, the MT03 should illuminate the ground closer to your feet than the MT09R. So if that is an important consideration for you, and it is for me because I walk around at night a lot and I don’t want to keep swinging the flashlight around to see both the ground and what’s around me, then the MT03 might be the better light for you. Of course, there are a lot of other factors involved such as how much distance do you need, etc…

Hope that helps.

Ps, the dim spill lighting from a tir based light is why I don’t use them for walking around at night. I always use a reflector based light. I also prefer shorter reflectors over deeper ones for a wider field of view.

For a thrower type light, a deeper reflector can reduce the glare from nearby objects (due to the narrower spill angle) and allow you to see longer distances.

Sweet explanation, thanks! After I get bored with the Q8, I think my next light might just be a TA modded MT03. I mostly use my lights for camping, hiking, and power outages at home. I feel a flooder is the ticket for me.

SKV89 · April 28, 2018, 6:02pm

Good explanation. I didn’t know the L6 can throw more than the MT07S. Isn’t the L6 reflector smaller? Dedoming is an interesting option but I’m afraid it may result in an ugly green/yellow tint. I read on BLF someone use Toulene to dedome and the resulting tint didn’t turn yellow.

JasonWW:

Newlumen:

JasonWW:

SKV89:

The hotspot on the MT07s is actually really big. I thought it was more of a thrower.

The true hot spot size in Newlumen picture can be seen in the low powered picture. It’s quite small.

The high powered picture overloads the camera and blows out the hot spot making it look bigger than it really is.

It’s not dark yet… I zoomed in little. Hot spot is big.

Here is what I was trying to explain to SKV89 about that other picture. The camera can make the hot spot look bigger than it really is.

In your picture above, the hot spot looks more accurate, but I’m guessing you think it’s still too big in your opinion?

The bottom line is that the xhp70/70.2 emitters are just really big. They are not considered good for throwy lights.

In order to get light to travel out to a long distance you need a fairly narrow angle on the beam to keep it concentrated in a small area.

“Throwy” lights pretty much all have a certain ratio of emitter die size to reflector size that allows them to have a tightly focused beam.

The MT07S has a bad ratio for a thrower. A head size of 68mm and an emitter size of 16mm2 x 50% to account for the dome and you have about 24mm2.

Compare that with a xhp35-HI with 5.5mm2 die size. This is 5 times smaller and gives a better ratio with that reflector size putting it into the range of a “thrower”.

Stock the MT07S is rated at about 500 meters with 5k lumen. Doubling the lumen is only going to do so much. It maybe pushes the range out to 700-750 meters or so.

As you change the ratio by going bigger in reflector size the hot spot shrinks and the throw increases. The same xhp70.2 in an L6 probably does 900-1000 meters. In a GT it gets up to 1200-1250 meters (iirc).

Now in the GT, for example, let’s say you slice the dome off. That reduces the “effective” size of the emitter from 24mm2 to 16mm2. This changes the ratio of emitter size to reflector size and moves it more towards a thrower type ratio. Now it will throw 1500-1600 meters.

Then let’s say we change the ratio again by swapping to the xhp35-HI (from 16mm2 to 5.5mm2) in the same GT sized reflector. Even though we loose a lot of lumens, the throw still increases to over 2,000 meters.

This explains why the MT09R in xhp35-HI out throws the xhp70.2 version even though it’s got 1/3 the lumens. The reflectors are the same size, but the emitters are 1/5 the size of the 70.2 (with dome on). So it’s emitter to reflector ratio is more towards the thrower side.

Newlumen, if you want more throw from your MT07S, slicing the dome will definitely do it.

I personally haven’t sliced a 70.2, but TA has. He says you lose a little lumens, but not much. He also says it changed the tint or corona or something. I can’t remember, but I’m sure he could explain it for you.

SKV89 · April 28, 2018, 6:10pm

Thanks alot for the video. I have all of these lights except the Q8. I like the MT03 for indoor use and for working in small spaces outdoors (e.g., back yard). I’m impressed how smooth the flood beam is on the MT03. It is really high quality and the light is evenly distributed. For the MT09R, I put on DC-FIX and it makes the spill even wider than the MT03 (but dimmer spill) and still maintains a strong hotspot for good throw. For me, that is the best beam. The wide spill is great for walking at night and still has a large hotspot so I can see what’s coming up ahead.

Man_Without_Shadow · April 28, 2018, 6:17pm

Thanks everyone for the comments! glad I can contribute…it was just a quick vid…I’ll go out tonight and try adjusting my phone cam to manual and see if I can get some better video.

rdoc613 · April 28, 2018, 6:30pm

SKV89:

Man Without Shadow:

smaller to bigger lights…havent labeled in vid yet,
quick and dirty…gives an idea…never shows what eyes see, but you know what your looking at and how it translates in real life…
voice announcments of lights…all fresh batteries and turbo

d4
d1
d1s
mt43
q8
mt03
mt09r70.2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaIb0XJ_ADA

Thanks alot for the video. I have all of these lights except the Q8. I like the MT03 for indoor use and for working in small spaces outdoors (e.g., back yard). I’m impressed how smooth the flood beam is on the MT03. It is really high quality and the light is evenly distributed. For the MT09R, I put on DC-FIX and it makes the spill even wider than the MT03 (but dimmer spill) and still maintains a strong hotspot for good throw. For me, that is the best beam. The wide spill is great for walking at night and still has a large hotspot so I can see what’s coming up ahead.

Hey, what’s this DC Fix you speak of?

yuhsin91123 · April 28, 2018, 6:33pm

I just got my MT03 back! And I can’t wait for the dark now lol.
And I notice the switch is lit up when light is off. And when light is on the blue light is off now .Is this part of the mod?

Man_Without_Shadow · April 28, 2018, 6:31pm

clear vinyl stickum

https://www.amazon.com/d-c-fix-Self-Adhesive-Film-Milky-346-8052/dp/B002YKL2WO/ref=pd_ybh_a_22?\_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=S4EPF032MFMRS5G343CX

Man_Without_Shadow · April 28, 2018, 6:35pm

ya…you can shut it off in various ways though

check advanced configuration modes

saypat · April 28, 2018, 6:43pm

username Boaz sells this in our Forum! The stuff is excellent.

saypat · April 28, 2018, 7:05pm

yuhsin91123 · April 28, 2018, 7:22pm

Just trying this for once… to make sure it’s working “properly” lol … HOLY SH*T!! This is insane!
I’ll do beam shots when it gets dark here…

Newlumen · April 28, 2018, 8:02pm

Yes. I saw that on my mt09r xhp70.2.

Texas_Ace · April 28, 2018, 9:33pm

This is normal, it is the indicator LED function, so that you can find the switch/light in the dark. It uses a very small amount of power, even with it on the total parasitic drain is around 110ua (0.11ma). Which is several years before it drains the battery.

As was said, you can disable it in the menu if you desire.

Texas_Ace · April 28, 2018, 9:34pm

Did I forget the spring bypass your tailcap? Strange I could of sworn I did all of them.

If I missed it let me know and I will pay for you to ship it back to me to take care of it.

Texas_Ace · April 28, 2018, 9:34pm

Very nice, we are going to start a new fad before long, well at least we are not lighting out balls on fire :person_facepalming:

yuhsin91123 · April 28, 2018, 9:38pm

How do we know if the light is a good light?
Lumens? No
Throw? No
CRI? Not really
How long it takes to set newspapers on fire? YES!

Texas_Ace · April 28, 2018, 9:39pm

Ok, I was hoping to start working on the mods today but I remembered that saturday is usually slower at the laser cutter and that I should try to get that taken care of for the spheres.

So I spent the morning working on the CAD designs for the 4” sphere centering rings, then most of the afternoon at the laser cutter getting the diffusers cut.

I also picked up the first batch of 3” centering rings. They are taking a lot longer then expected due to all the labor involved with printing 200 rings. It takes 2 batches for the 3.5” and only 1 of the 4.5” fits at a time, so 6 batches for it. They are quite a bit more expensive then planned due to this.

Could almost just buy a 3D printer, which I considered but I have also heard many stories about getting what you pay for.

Man_Without_Shadow · April 28, 2018, 9:41pm

Can Prevent Flashlight Fires!

JasonWW · April 28, 2018, 10:45pm

That light looks to have 4 x xpl.

Newlumen · April 28, 2018, 11:10pm

Someone modded my tn40 with the xhp70/70.2. I never impress the lumen or the beam profile… i dont know why…