Trustfire X100 Mod XP-L and Driver Upgrade

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

My first flashlight mod
I purchased the X100 back in 2013, used it a few times, then went to upgrade the driver and in the process shorted out a few of the XML cree emitters rendering the flashlight dead.
Tossed it in a drawer and there is sat till now. Decided I’d give modding another try and this time I’d replace some of the bad XML’s to newer XP-L’s on copper stars.

I do want to give thanks to this thread https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/20064
as in that thread is how I learned to mod a centering bushing from size XML to XPL. I ordered butterfly gaskets for XPG emitters which are the same die size as the XPL.

Anyway, on to the pictures and the mod

Step one, disassemble flashlight and pry off the old original XML emitters.
Next locate dremel bits but couldn’t find my dremel. Used a craftsman mini cordless drill as a dremel, worked fine except it turns much slower than a dremel and is harder to handle but ultimately it did the job to clean off the Fujik thermal compound left over after the XML emitters were pryed up.

thanks to this thread https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/20064 I learned how to cut down a butterfly gasket for an XP (as in XP-G or XP-L) to make the small square that is inserted into the factory XM-L centering bushing.

All 7 new XP-L emitters with the modified centering bushings and a tube of Fujik thermal compound

Using the dremel cut off blade, mark notch in the body and reflector for orientation. This doesn’t matter for the emitters, the reason orientation matters is on the back side of the body and reflector there are 6 screw holes that look to be manually cut, so if you don’t have the body and reflector in correct orientation, the screws won’t line up when you put it all back together.

XP-L on copper stars turned upside down with the gaskets centering the emitters on the reflector base

Fujik thermal compound getting applied. Stick is the shaft of a q-tip with the fuzzy ends cut off

Picture showing the emitters nicely centered in the reflector

Picture showing a nick out of the edge of the glass - plans on replacing this with an upgrade AR coated lens

Driver spring upgrade by adding copper wire soldered to spring for additional current capacity

Upgrade driver from Kaidomain. http://www.kaidomain.com/p/S020166.7-LED-Series-3-Mode-Low-Voltage-Protection-for-Two-li-ion-Battery-Circuit-Board

2 days later and Fujik was still not hardened up. I read on here about others having it cure over night. I decided to heat things up a little and set the head on my stove and turned it to temperature #1 and left it on there for an hour. Even at oven dial setting #1 it got the head hot enough to not be able to handle it. But I don’t think it was hot enough to do any damage other than dry out the Fujik.

For wiring up the newly installed XP-L emitters, i used some JST connector wire that I had laying around in my R.C. car stash pile. This was 22awg 200C rated silicone wire, perfect for this flashlight application.

Picture of the silicone wire being soldered in place.

All buttoned up, emitters nicely centered

Wall shot of the tight hotspot. I don’t have any fancy cameras to take outside pictures with distance measurements. Maybe I’ll get a picture shining on my house or at my car, but for now there is just a wall shot.

Picture of Trustfire X100 dominating its size over some smaller lights, HD2010, SkyRay King,

2

Nice looking build.

3

Nice mod

Too much heatpaste
I used always small amount of arctic silver less than 1/10 of your blobs, less is better
or 2 compound that hardenens in 10 minutes
If the boards are not as flat as Noctigons you can always sand them flat with 320 sand paper

I hope you got XPL V6-3D very pleasant color
You could have gone XML2 U3-3D very nice emitters less efford to modify things

Copper MCPCB helps but DTP is a lot better

4

Nice mod! If the driver delivers the rated power you should be gettting about 4,000-5,000lm

5

Very nice mod.

I love that reflector with clearance for the ledwires, the average SRK has no clearance and so very thin wires are only allowed.

As said, you could have gone fancier with DTP boards but the current per led is under 3A anyway so there is not too much gain from that.

6

Nice comeback from the failed mod. Makes me want to drag out the TR3 and update it. :+1:

7

thanks for all the nice comments.

With 3 freshly charged keeppower 26650 batteries i’m getting around 4 amps at the tailcap, anything i can do to the driver to push it harder? the light is bright, but in high mode the head is only getting barely warm, not hot, so I think there is more room to push the emitters even harder. what do you think?

What do you mean about DTP. is there a difference between the fasttech copper stars verse DTP? I noticed noctigon and sinkpad mention DTP, are they better than the fasttech copper stars I used? I paid around $4 per copper star with XP-L emitter from fasttech.

8

DTP from Kaidomain is not that much more expensive
http://www.kaidomain.com/p/S026291.Cree-XM-L2-U4-White-6500K-LED-Emitter-with-KDLIGHT-5050-16-16mm-x-1_5mm-DTP-Copper-MCPCB

The U4 is as bright as XPL V6

But on 3A and more the Chip stays a lot cooler so the LED is more efficient

If this light has 3 cells it depends how much you can drain

9

I did not know there was a difference between the fasttech copper MCPCB and DTP copper MCPCB. I thought noctigon and sinkpad were more money because they were namebrand copper MCPCB, i didn’t realize it is because they are ‘better’ DTP.

This light is 3 or 4 cells. If I run 3 cells, I get a tailcap reading of about 4 amps. I think this seems low considering there are 7 emitters. At 7 emitters and 4 amps, the head only gets barely warm. can the driver be ‘modded’ to pull more than 4 amps at the tail cap.

since it is 3 cells and 4 amps in series, doesn’t that mean each cell is only producing 1.333 amps?

10

Thank you for posting, nice pictures with explanation.
Good model to improve.

11

the current is on all cells 4A just the voltage adds up to 11.1V in series

48W on 7 LEDs there is not so much difference between copper and DTP
a copper board may cost in retail 1$ and a DTP 1.5$
you loose less than 5% lumens at that current

often those nice bins of LEDs costs you extra 1.5-2$ extra

XPL HD V6-3D that I got is one of the nicest lights I got with orange peel reflector plus micro textured lens,
as it eliminates the little ugly tint and shape around the hotspot

XML2 U3-3D is also very nice for whitewall hunting

12

Looks like the fujik grease rather than adhesive. The adhesive comes in a tube and does harden on its own.

13

X100 is a good flashlight. I bought it in 2011-2012. In rus language it called a Bitchblaster. Cool but useless. 26650 batteries only have a slightly higher capacity than 18650, but the pen is a bit thick because of them, but the 18650 pen is thin (other models). The flashlight weighs 1090 grams with 4 batteries. I rarely use it. It always lies in the car instead of a baseball bat - to beat off suckers and from bitches =) At full brightness, it lasts for 1 hour, it often turns off due to overheating. At lower brightness, strong ripples. From memory ~ 150% and 600%. Now everyone has a flashlight with them in their smartphones, so flashlights have lost their former popularity. But thanks to this flashlight, I have a plan to make an etonite mace from Skyrim a flashlight. With 7 sunlike LEDs (10W model with 18 purple crystals) and 4-5 batteries of 21700 format. Thus, you will get what I always wanted - a mace from Skyrim, and as a bonus also a flashlight.
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Я купил X100 в 2011-2012. По русски это насывается сцукобластер. Круто, но бесполезно. Батарейки формата 26650 обладают лишь слегка большей ёмкостью чем 18650, но ручка из-за них толстовата, но ручка с 18650 тонковата (у других моделей). Фонарик весит с 4 батарейками 1090 грамм. Пользуюсь крайне редко. Лежит всегда в машине вместо бейсбольной битвы - отбивать от лохов и просититуток =) На полной яркости его хватает на 1 час, часто выключается и-за перегрева. На меньшей яркости сильные пульсации. По памяти ~150% и 600%. Сейчас у всех с собой фонарик в смартфоне, так что фонарики потеряли былую популярность. Но благодаря этому фонарику есть чёкнутый план сделать этонитовую булаву из Скайрима фонарик. На 7 солнечных светодиодах (10вт модель с 18 фиолетовыми кристалами) и 4-5 батарейках формата 21700. Таким образом получится то, что Я всегда хотел - булава из Скайрима, а как бонус ещё и фонарик.

I starter thread about this idea here - Skyrim mace (ebony) & SunLike flashlight