What did you mod today?

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
10284

If you check post #10293, you’ll see that I admit to noticing the window. I just hadn’t looked at it right, but after it was mentioned, I knew exactly which part he meant. You can see the window frame on my picture where it contrasts with the green plastic it’s on. If you look at the top part of my window, it has some metal on it, whether that’s solder or thermal paste idk, but I can definitely see the window you guys are talking about. You can see the glue that’s underneath and around it, and also some pieces of what seem to be bits of clear silicone near the bottom? It’s definitely not moisture cuz it hasn’t moved. Either way, thanks for more pictures on it :+1:

By the way, now that we’re in the topic of the windows on the SBT-90.2, how much of a gain in output or throw is there to be had by removing it? There’s this dude that opened up his TM39 and removed the window on it, plus used Sony VTC6’s with the short tube (so only 4 cells instead of the 8 that comes in Nitecore’s sealed battery pack) and it was literally out-throwing an original BLF GT cool white version. He got over a million candela on his BLF GT and just under a mill on the TM39, but when he actually took em out at night to shine it on objects, the TM39 was clearly out-throwing it. Since he removed the window AND used those high amp cells, I can’t really know which of the two caused such a massive gain, or which one had greater effect in the end.

TLDR: What’s the consensus on de-windowing SBT-90.2? How much of an increase in output or throw are we talkin’ about here?

10285

Oh sorry. I misunderstood :person_facepalming:

As far as increased throw I don’t know

10286

Hey, it’s all good man, don’t sweat it :+1: I’m sure someone here must know of the benefits of removing that window, I mean, this IS a thread full of modders :stuck_out_tongue:

10287

Yes, about a 5-10% bump in kcd by removing the window, it's been reported here. I've done the mod on a few SBT90.2's and appeared to be under 5%, but can't be sure.

10288

Today I put SFT-40 in BLF A6 and in WildTrail D80v2. Both have stock drivers.

I measured almost 27kcd throw from BLF A6 with SFT-40. 116kcd from D80v2.

Let’s start with A6. Beam is a little ringy (sorry for the white balance):

I was afraid that it will be very green, but it’s not bad. Behaves like SST-40/SST-70, green on 1x7135, more neutral on FET. I’d say that more green I can see in W2.2 beam (right one in the first picture, second from the left in the second picture):

Then I thought why not install it also in D80v2. So here it goes :wink: Beam is awesome, less green than A6, there is very slight ring, but nothing near A6 (which also is quite decent).

Here it is compared with other throwers:

Here are other measurements, I know that some are missing but it is what it is :wink: I don’t have professional equipment, so numbers are just to compare different flashlights. I tried to use the same battery for each test.

10289

Modded my On The Road M9!
More details here: “REVIEW”: On The Road M9 – 1x18650 – 1100 lumens – USB-C Charging – 3 UI Groups - #12 by MascaratumB

10290

Hmm, 10% is VERY significant when we’re talking about lights that output well over half a million candela…. I still wouldn’t dare open up my TM39 and attempt to remove the window. MAYBE after I’ve modded other, cheaper lights and I feel comfortable in my ability to do the work and not damage anything in the process. But if you’ve done it on a few SBT’s already and seen under 5% difference, the headache/risk might just not be worth it.

10291

OK, today's mod - cheap zoomie from Ali, link here to old listing, paid $7.14 w/free shipping , back in June of 2020. Typical fake XHP50 as advertised. This one turned out to be not so bad for modding:

  • decent switch feel
  • decent switch LED's - 2 green, 2 red, nice window on the switch
  • enough room to piggyback in a driver
  • lens, though plastic, looks decent (generally I've seen plastic perform better than glass in aspherics)

Plan is to make it a decent thrower running Anduril 2. Here's the basic pieces, with the replacement driver mounted:

Stripped all components off the original PCB's, both driver circuit and USB charging circuit. Mounted it vertically on the short vertical board because it had the most open space, and could solder it directly to a ground plane. I notched the new driver with a hand file so it sits a little better to the stock vertical board. The rest was adding a grnd wire, batt+ wire (not shown on the other side), and the switch and LED wires. I traced things out to find the switch, green LED's, and red LED's pads. The switch, green and red LED's are all on the backside of the large vertical board (not shown). The switch wire is white, green LED is green wire, and red LED is the blue wire, all 30 AWG. It's actually a pretty clean piggyback setup.

The red LED's won't currently be used - they are wired to MCU pin #7, but just don't have support in Anduril 2 for a second color LED for the ATTiny85:

Here's the underside showing the batt+ and batt- connection to the driver, 28 AWG for batt+ (not for powering the main LED), and I believe 26 or 24 AWG for the batt- which feeds the driver and output circuit:

Replaced the stock spring with a "blue" spring of similar size and relative stiffness:

Went with OSRAM W1 3030 for best throw, moderate amps. The pill surface was actually in pretty good shape, better than many "brand" lights I've worked on. Did some light sanding to get it super smooth, MX-4 applied. The MCPCB will be secured down by re-using the stock black plastic press fit retainer - works for me.

Since I did away with the charging, thought I'd seal up the charging hole with JB weld. Came out pretty good for me:

Fully assembled, used 26 AWG long LED wires, same length as stock actually. because screwing the pill into the base results in twisting the wires, so the extra length comes in handy for that, plus I need to add resistance for the W1. No spring bypasses - driver spring is high performance ("blue"), and tail spring is thick and stocky.

With the 5000 mAh Wurkkos cell used in testing. The tailcap doesn't fit well to the tube when under pressure of a loaded battery. Stiff springs make it somewhat difficult but the threading is a poor fit. I can only catch the last 1-2 threads, but at least it tightens up.

Played around to get it centered well, actually didn't have to do much. Maybe cant see it, but the black plastic retaining ring is in this shot. Used a high quality lens cleaner on the plastic aspheric, and it came out pretty nice

Other Details

  • head diameter is 42 mm
  • plastic lens outer diam: 38 mm
  • plastic lens dome diam: 30.4 mm
  • used a 11K resistor for the 2 green switch LED's (primary)
  • used a 6.2K resistor for the 2 red switch LED's

The Results

Very happy how the switch green LED's came out with Anduril 2. The low setting is easily visible and the high setting is not too bright, but bright enough.

  • measured roughly 6 amps at the tail, but figuring the tail cap/spring will reduce that a bit
  • 700 lumens at start (maukka cal factor)
  • throw: 182 kcd, 853 meters
  • when zoomed out, the flood zone is very wide due to the lens' close proximity to the LED when fully retracted.

This came out better then expected. I'm not seeing any angry blue in the beam, though probably not running it more than 30 secs at a time.

Again, cheap plastic aspheric lenses do the job. There are many similar cheap (under $10) zoomies like this in slightly different styles. I have another one that I didn't even open up yet, but it does have a better fitting tailcap and identical size aspheric lens. It's always a gamble though when buying one of these to mod - never know what to expect inside.

10292

Nice mod, you’re an expert at transplanting drivers.

10293

I love mods where the sum of the parts is multiple times the price of the original light. Really highlights how crazy dedicated we are :slight_smile:

10294

Yep, about $12 in parts on a $7 light makes it into something useful, so for like $19 out of pocket I get a custom light no one seems willing to make. I'd love to have the quality of a host by Convoy for example, and willing to pay $20 easy for one, $35-$40 if already running Anduril 2 with a decent LED.

10295

Great mod Tom E! Definitely a winner! :person_with_crown:
I was suspicious about the Amps and that led, but I’m glad you don’t get any blueish on the beam! :+1:

10296

Convoy S21B GT-FC40 3000K and Convoy 12V 2,5A boost driver.




Easy build and I’m very happy about the light quality of 3000K emitter.

10297

Just an emitter and driver swap. 219b sw40 in a D80v2 with LD-A4 driver set to 2A max.

The beam is fantastic. Perfect for nighttime trail walks.




10298

Looks very nice Rayoui!

How did the soldering of the spring onto the driver go? It seems whenever I’ve needed to replace a spring on a tailswitch, I always struggle and usually end up replacing the switch due to it melting.

10299

I just apply a little solder paste and stick the spring in place, then use some hot air to melt the solder. It’s the easiest way I’ve found to do it and comes out very clean.

10300

Ahh, hot air vs soldering iron. Looks good!

10301

Liquid-cooled hack-sink, uh…. I mean heat sink.



10302

Very nice. Actually similar to my D80V2, traded highest output for beam/tint quality, but I used a sliced high CRI 5000K LH351D instead and the stock driver, slightly better output slightly less tint.
(measured in hotspot @350mA, CCT=3920K, duv=–0.0001, CRI=93.5, R9=58)

10303

Nice! I actually have a D80v2 with a sliced dogfart as well, but I’ve never been able to get mine to drop CCT that far. Using a ~0.8-0.9mm washer as a guide, they usually come in around 4500K. What method are you using to slice your 351D?

In fact, I have another one with a sliced 4000K 351D that comes in at 3800K which is very close to what you got out of your 5000K emitter!