What did you mod today?

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
3881

coooool stuff :slight_smile:

3882

Nice work. Iā€™ve never got my hands on a SST-40 but wouldnā€™t mind playing around with a couple. I couldnā€™t be bothered with the slicing and dicing though. How would the beam profile be of an unmodified SST-40 in a C8? Not too concerned about max throw, but very concerned about ugly beam profiles. And where do you buy yours?

3883

The double Strobe on OTP is annoying mostly because the same intensity on DD or highest CC. If people want to keep it, perhaps, lower the level it blinks at. On my light the Luxeon V is insanely bright for the size. That blinking is disorienting.

Also learned that my thermal calibration (with pre-heating light) wasnā€™t timing out. It is the driver on board OTP, 5+ blinks before it quit. And I do not believe the other settings changed at that time get stored when that happens. Not sure.

Thanks for participation and considering input from customers.

3884

I upgraded my ZY-T08 MT-G2 dual switch modded light (Mod/Driver: ZY-T08 series conversion, MT-G2.) with a new custom 1634 based driver with FET and 8 x A705s (instead of 7135s), and a new lighted momentary side switch to replace the old boring black one.

Iā€™ve seen a few lighted momentary switches, but this is the only one Iā€™ve come across where the actual button protrudes the switch casing. I donā€™t like the ones with the button level to the casing, very unnatural pressing action on those. This one is sweet.


This is one of my work horses down in mines and caves, it usually gets pretty dirty and beat up so Iā€™ll have to see how the new switch holds up. Itā€™s pleasing for the eye though.

3885

Looks real nice Mike C. Love your lighted switch mod.
Iā€™m not sure what the oā€™ring seal on your battery tube to head is like but Iā€™ve been using C8 bezel orings on mine for a far better seal.

3886

Good to know, thanks for the tip!

3887

Mike, I got the SST40ā€™s from Kaidomain. The beam profile is much the same as an XM-L2 would be.

This one wound up doing 2277 lumens with a Sony VTC5A, using every trick I know. Pulling 9.49A at the tail.

3888

Thanks. Itā€™s an interesting LED. How is the size compared to XM-L2? I have TIR optics that fit XM-L2 perfectly, would these fit without modding the optics?

3889

Same, difficult to see a difference

3890

I have a Nitecore Night Officer that had a tested 900 lumens with the XM-L2, swapped in an SST-40 and got 1400 with no other changes.

3891

Nice real patina on that light!

Share a pic of it glowing in a puddle of muck! :smiley:

3892

Ordered a few for trial. Thanks for the inspiration and info!

Iā€™ll take a photo of it next time it gets down and dirty :slight_smile:

3893

Though I'd post this here:

Amutorch/Galuxia JM70 XPL HI - from BG, paid: $39: banggood.com/AMUTORCH-JM70-XPL-HI-1200Lumens

Driver diam is 28 mm. No glue accept a dab under the driver - probably to get the switch aligned to the button, but driver still came out easy. Has a thin brass retaining ring on the driver. Very moddable.

The driver does not act like a buck or boost. Output decreases as the cell drops. My first test was with an LK cell at about 4.05V or so, and got 870 lumens, 188 kcd (2.55A tail). On a full LK cell @4.21V, got 950 lumens, 205 kcd (2.84A tail)

Then made a few mods:

  • 20 AWG bypass wires on both springs
  • 20 AWG LED wires (stock were ~26 AWG)
  • bypassed sense resistor with a jumper
  • sanded down centering piece a little
  • swapped stock XPL HI with a XPL HI V3 2B from MtnE, sanded MCPCB smooth, MX-4 thermal grease

Stock:

  • stock MCPCB is a good one: 32 mm DTP MaxToch, screwed down by 2 screws - excellent
  • Reflector I.D. is 61.5 mm - outstanding
  • Weight: 305g - fairly light for it's size
  • nice solid shelf
  • the blue bezel is not SS unfortunately, it's aluminum
  • the switch looks like a heavy duty one. There's 2 slots next to the rubber switch boot to unscrew the tail - the removable tail/switch housing is plastic though

This got:

  • 1240 lumens at 30 secs, 266 kcd (3.74A)

This is slightly better now than the specs posted. Really needs a FET driver though. Because the switch is driver mounted, I'd probably go with a piggyback driver mount.

3894

Was working on the Clone M3 again. Final revision. It charges!

Specs: Ultimate EDC Light.
MtnE 15mm Fet+1 with D4 v.2 style rampingIOS,
XM-L2 T6 4C on 14mm SinkPad,
ME4056 charger circuit lowered to 550mA
relocated Red LED from ME4056 to the SW board
Green LED always lit except when charging
Hacked a magnetic charge port adapter and mounted where the micro USB used to be.

By far the most complicated mods I have done to a light. Definitely worth ALL the aggravation.

Wasnā€™t easy stuffing all that into a small light. Used the tiny ME4056 charge board.

Used a completely waterproof magnetic connector, no more Micro USB.

Green LED is lit all the time but green goes out and red turns on while charging. When Charge completes, no LEDs are lit.

3895

Cool!! :+1:

3896

Thanks Don!

3897

Really cool. Do you have more details? Iā€™ve googled the charger circuit, but what magnetic port charger adapter and so on? Iā€™m interested in replicating this in one of my lights.

3898

I used this cable
Detachable Magnetic Charging Cable Lightning Type-C Micro USB 3-in-1 Charger Cable with Indicator LED Light
Tore into the USB C connector and soldered wires to the back.

3899

Very Nice :+1:

3900

Thanks Stevi