uniquefire uf1504: driver/LED recommendations

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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Been out of the game for a while, not sure whats what now a days for a high lumen emitter/driver combo that can be driven by a single cell.
The host is a 26650 zoomie with an almost 70mm asperic with what looke like its a 17mm driver and 16mm LED board
Got a stack of old lights that I either want to get built/modded or move along, and want to start off with this monster

Any suggestions greatly appreciated

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Look at the Convoy site. Plenty of drivers and leds of all sorts

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For a zoomy, you should take an LED with a round LES like the SFT-25R:
LUMINUS SFT-25R - Convoy flashlight, or in 5700K HighCRI: SFT-25R High CRI LEDs

Or other round LEDs:
LMP W5050SQ5
LUMINUS SFT-42R, or in 5700K HighCRI: SFT-42R High CRI LEDs

Brand new and therefore untested yet:
F45R
F150R

I personally would probably go for a W5050SQ5 in 6500K, because of the low price, small LES and very nice pure cool white. I would also order one F45R LED with it and try it out since it is so cheap.
If you care about CRI, the two HighCRI variants are the LEDs to buy. The SFT-25R is a smaller LED with a smaller LES.

Since this Zoomy, like most of them, has basically no cooling, I would choose a 5A driver:

Edit:
And for the rest of your lights, Convoy is the place to go.
THe Nichia 519A is the Go-To LED in 3535 Size, the LMP LHP531 is the Go-To at 5050 and the LMP LHP73B in 7070. Both of the LMP LEDs will be available in High CRI (or just the 531? Don’t remember) in a couple of weeks or months. Still, the tints are amazing for both 531 and 73 (except the 1800K, that is just amber)

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You are so very old my friend . Your lights are mostly sticks with rags soaked in dinosaur tar. I’m glad to see you again . Xeno is old but Farka ? Gidoutta here

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Wish I still had my ol Farka. Those things were built nice lol
I was actually just fiddling around with my old l2m a bit ago. That thing is about due for a rebuild too

This is what I am thinking about going with for this beast. Still want to look around a little more
17mm 3V 20A BUCK driver, 12groups - Convoy flashlight.
F150R LED - Convoy flashlight

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I would recommend against a high-power setup like this, for a couple of reasons:

  • Aspheric zoomies have worse thermals than one-piece lights, so heat dissipation is a huge problem
  • Aspheric zoomies have very low collection efficiency, which doesn’t justify the high output (and high power consumption + heat production). Most of your hard-earned output isn’t even collected by the lens!
  • Due to voltage sag, you’ll never see 20A in practice from a single 26650, not even on a full cell. Unless you can find a modern-day tabless 26650, which is gonna be hard because the size format is being phased out.

I would instead recommend the SFT25R with 8A driver, or SFT42R with 10A driver. Both will throw much better than F150R in your light, at a fraction of the power consumption and heat production.

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Haven’t used that specific driver combo myself, but two things I’d check:

First, make sure the driver diameter actually matches your pill — I’ve had 17mm boards that were slightly undersized and the ground ring didn’t make proper contact. A quick continuity test between the driver outer ring and the host body will tell you.

Second, if you’re planning to run high-current LEDs, pay attention to the inductor saturation current rating on these budget drivers. Some of them are only rated for 2A continuous even if the FET can handle more. You’ll see output sag or weird mode skipping under load.

For a cleaner build, I usually add a small 10uF MLCC across the driver output pads — helps with PWM noise on lower modes too.