Greetings from Southern California!
Long time LED tinkerer here. I started making lights for boats and RVs back when 5mm units were all that were available, then moved on to eventually make CNC multi-thousand lumen boat lights of various configurations. I made so many lights, a company made me an offer I couldn’t refuse 5 years ago, and gone are my electronics inventory, reflow oven, PCB-making equipment, etc. I’m basically starting from scratch, save for my beloved stereo microscope (which is awesome for solder paste/component placement) and soldering station.
I modded a couple Maglites back when Cree MCE’s and Seoul P7s were top dogs. Now, I see there are MT-G2s and XHP70s to play with. I also have a couple P-60 sized lights that I put warm white LEDs in—I’m a tint snob LOL. All are 18650 based.
I thought I’d get back into the scene after reading a few horror stories of peoples’ flashlights turning into pipe bombs. Drained and tossed are my Trustfires from 2007—which were still working fine, BTW. I’ve replaced them with modern KNOWN cells, and in the process discovered just how far drivers and flashlights have come in the last 5 or so years.
Anyways, I’m looking forward to upgrading the Mags, and building some new lights for my collection. I’ve already introduced myself to Richard at Mtn Electronics, and made a nice little light out of his Convoy C8 host. I used to make my own drivers (both linear and switchers), and would like to again, though I no longer have the ability to make PCBs. I may just buy other peoples driver boards on OSH Park and go from there. I’m also jazzed that this community is making their own open source driver code, and that flashing has become so easy—well, sort of :).
