Great job Tom. Looks like I need to get one of my own.
Anybody have an SK68 they could post a side-by-side pic? And is it a 16mm button cover?
Ahhh, forgot a SK68. The one to the right of the TG06 is the slim AA zoomie - that one is from GearBest. Yes - the button is the big size, 16 mm I believe. Actually I replaced it because the stock one kind of bulged up a little. The replacement fit well and seems to have a lower profile, so I think it's tailstanding better.
It's a nice quality host for sure - I'd say same quality as a Convoy or Eagle Eye X6. It's got the small white Omten switch - decent. I went for lumens more than throw, with the XP-L, but has a nice soft hot spot with the OP reflector. The smooth knurling is like an X6. Also has the quality smooth 2 hole support for a lanyard. The 5 modes I set it up with is a bit too much maybe, but with this power, it works well. It's a NOINIT based driver, using the brown out detection for OFF time memory.
The reflector is smaller in width than the G10's, and much smaller than the SC01, in the pic to the left, but bigger than the small form factor AA lights.
If/when I get one, it will probably get a Nichia 219C (I have two sitting here that I can’t decide on a place for) and a moonlight driver with 2amp max. I think it would become my EDC.
TomE,
That is a great mod. Where did you get your parts by the way? I like the copper disks and had not seen those anywhere. Did you have to build the driver yourself, or was it pre made? Let us know your sources if you get the chance.
I can answer some of those…
The emitter on Noctigon came from either IOS or RMM
The driver is a wight driver, they aren’t sold anywhere, you build it yourself (or RMM has essentially the same thing for sale)
It looks like he got the copper discs online, maybe etsy? (or other craft supplies)
Yes, all above true. Got the copper rounds from the "bopper" on Etsy, originally recommended by O-L. I have a supply on hand of various diameter copper rounds, I believe 18 gauge is the max thickness they make. You can message Beverly, shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Bopper, and ask for any custom sizes or quantity. She has the best prices I could find, but these copper rounds aren't made for what we use them for, so they aren't perfectly flat. I usually sand them down to at or near flat before installing them (basically they bulge up - one side bumps out in the middle, the other side has a center indent. Since the pill is brass, could reflow the disc to the pill. For alum pills, I use Arctic thermal epoxy.
I had the emitter bare, reflowed to a 16mm Noctigon. The Noctigon needed no trimming/sanding - fit perfect.
The driver is this: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/31102. Sanding down to 16mm gets a little hairy. The grnd tab of the 7135 was interfering with it sitting on the lip in the brass pill, but the pill has those 2 cutouts in it. So, if you align the 7135 tab to one of the cutouts, it seats down perfectly.
You’re the boss!
Bravo!!!
Can anyone help with information on Modding flashlights ?
Would like to know if the modes on a Flashlight can be changed.
Also can a light be upgraded to accept 14500 batteries ?
Thank you
Well, a 17mm replacement driver is the way to get changed modes. Once it's switched over to a standard driver, all it can run is 14500 cells. My mod described above is restricted to 14500 cells only, for example. Richard at http://www.mtnelectronics.com/ has quite a few 17mm driver options, but you really want one with a flat bottom (called single sided) - no spring, no components. Not sure what his options are, but think he has some.
The Thorfire TG06 is specified for use with AA and 14500 as well. No need for a change if it’s only to use LiIon. Most replacement drivers will be “14500 only” as Tom E said. That’s the main difference to it’s predecessor TG05 which is AA only. What was rather disappointing for me (compared to the TG05) is the lower output/performance with AA’s/Eneloops. With the TG06, it takes a 14500 to get almost as much lumen as the TG05 with AA. But as far as I’ve read here I’ve got an older revision, maybe the current ones are brighter… The mediocre performance could be the only reason I see for a mod.
Thanks for the reply. Its actually some different lights I would like to mod if its possible.
Like the nitecore MT1A was wondering if its possible to mod it so it could use 14500’s
Also have some of Nitecores newest lights but I hate all the different modes would like a more simple UI instead of 8 modes (Ridiculous)
I have the newer TG06, which states it puts out 300 lumens but the manual still has the old info of 150 lumens. I got it off amazon and they do say that in the product description which I thought was kinda funny. I’m currently running a 14500 and it runs very well.
BTW TOM E:
Crazy nice mod!
I looked briefly at the MT1A. I'm think'n it's moddable, but can't be sure. It sure looks like a spit'n image of the TG06. They tried to copy it, but minor differences I can see. Internally, could be totally different. NiteCore's in general are moddable, but some can be extreme challenges - all depends.
Only way to change modes would be a driver replacement or MCU replacement, like what Everett did with the MT1C here: CPF-Nitecore-MT1C-mod.
I much prefer high qual budget host lights, generally much more mod friendly than the big name brands.
ideas of modding a nitecore mt1a makes me wanna swap my Fenix LD12 to some XPL HI
I did a couple other AA size lights with XP-L's: ThruNite T10 (old style), UniqueFire G10. Both turned out awesome! You may lose a bit of throw or potential throw, but the lumens, and tint of your choosing is pretty incredible. WIth the T10, I kept the stock driver - was good enough as is.
Has anyone tried to find/use an extension for this light I would like a 2 X AA option. I am going through all of my spare parts tonight.
I finally got around to modding my TG06. I must say, it’s darn near perfect.
The first thing I did was swap out the awful green tail boot for a black one. Then I used a shaved Nichia 219c, and a 17mm PZL driver (sanded to fit) with 6x7135’s,switchable between 3 or 4.modes.
I’m really impressed with the build of this little light. It’s well thought out and feels just as solid as a bigger light. Heatsinking is as good as you could expect, the anti-roll ring is a nice touch, the clip is solid and reverses to the front (so you can clip it to a hat), it tailstands perfectly, and did I mention it’s tiny? The only issue I ran into was I just couldn’t get solder to stick to the pill to hold the driver in. I eventually figured out that the battery tube holds the driver in perfectly, so it ended up being a non-issue.
It’s the perfect EDC mod-host in my opinion: much more compact than an 18650 light, but much better performance than a 10440 light.
Soldering to brass can be tricky for sure - you have to have the surface clean pretty good - isop. alcohol, maybe light sanding, also flux and heat is the key - I'll usually hold to iron on the brass for a couple of secs first when I'm trying to get solder to bond to it.
What's a PZL driver? I'm finding references, even a link that doesn't work (no direct post #). Links to posts don't ever work for me...
Oops - found the A17PZL driver thread: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/30227
I agree - it's a real nice host to mod. Cranked up, it gets incredible output for a 14500.
My problem was that I didn’t want to sand my driver any more than necessary, so I sanded down the ID of the pill. That didn’t leave me with enough of a surface for the solder to stick to without gunking up the threads.
Wow, this is a good host. I put one of RMM’s 15mm FET drivers (NO SANDING) in flashed with Guppydrv rev1 and could not be happier.
I have tried the XPL HI V3 2B, Nichia 219C and now an XPL V6 3D like TomE has.
The XPL HI (one of my favorites) did not produce as big a change on throw/tight spot as it did in the BLF A6.
I swapped it out to the Nichia 219C, WOOOO hot in about 5 seconds (I do not have the extra copper in mine like TomE has)… Even though Guppydrv has a reprogrammable Turbo Timer, the ramp down still left the light pretty hot with a five second turbo timer.
The current emitter is a V6 3D XPL from a BLF A6 (swapped the 219C into it, beautiful, but another story) and It is the one I will be staying with. Beautiful tint first of all, but the pure amount of light is incredible out of something this small. I can set the turbo time out to about 15 seconds and it gets warm/stays warm during the ramp down, but is useable.
I also shoehorned in a shaved Nanjg 105C 3A driver into another TG06, it works, but you cannot screw the battery tube all the way down… That driver also does not have a turbo step down, so I hit up RMM’s store for another FET driver…
I wonder if I could shave down a BLF A6 driver to fit? That would be sweet too…