I wonder if it was built with lead free solder… it did not even want to melt at 700F. I did not want to get hotter and cook one of the existing 7135’s. Will live with 6!
I’m just starting to get the hang of it. I have to do it my way or I always mess up.
Bend the two outer pins down and snip off the center pin. It’s just something that I always bridge onto. Use flux and tin the legs of the existing chips, then tin the bent legs of the chips to be added. The tinning seems to lengthen them like a woman adding mascara. Then I put a dab of Arctic alumina on the top of the existing chip and set the new one on top. Let dry…ten minutes. I found with the pre tinned legs, most of the legs are already touching and giving me a connectivity tone. Then put some solder on the tip…let it get hot…squint your eyes, and go for it. Flux and solder the grounds on the other side where the ground ring is.
It works for me and I’m sticking to it.
EDIT: I just got some hemostats, so I might try holding the chip in place with them instead of the epoxy next time. I’ll only give it one shot.
What kind of a driver can I use in the little DQG 26650 triple's? I have gen's 1 and 2. I'd like to load some XP-L HI's in them both. Clicky drivers will not work because these are momentary switches. Looks like there is room in there for a driver and I can use the old board's switch, strip the other components if space becomes an issue.
What diameter is the driver? You can use the Mountain 17 FET + 7235 . Just select Eswitch firmware when ordering. Richard also has 20mm and 22mm FET drivers.
I just saw that on his website. I didn't know you could just order the electronic switch firmware. Doesn't get any easier than that, sheesh. Well except for overcoming the MCPCB issue..... for got about that one. Yikes!
Thank you!
I took a cheap eBay Ultrafire C3 14500 and made a sweet little eye burner.
Had to grind down the 20mm Carlco and a Noctigon to about 17mm.
As usual…stacking copper. It’s all the soldering bits and pieces together and then filing and shaping them that always takes me so long.
Okay, I’m hoping this will all fit together. I mounted 4 x XP-E2 0D on that beat up old noctigon. It’s been around for a while and has encountered some of my earliest reflow fails. It’s even starting to delaminate at the edges. I did get a negative short to ground, but didn’t bother correcting it since the light is going to be direct drive anyway. Since its DD, I also filled the inside of the pill with copper.
It works, and it blasts! Gets hot too. With my clamp meter I started out with 7.5A, which dropped to 6.5A pretty fast. I gotta be careful because the battery gets smoking hot too. I’m using my new Uni-T clamp meter and that’s the highest current reading I’ve gotten from a 14500 and 3 x XP-E2 so far, and I’ve built a few of them lately.
Look how sweet and slim it looks. Blows everyone away when I turn it on.
And some useless indoor beam shots that don’t really tell you much.
Really love the mod Of. Dont you really hate the white wall shots, especially that last one. It has a horribly large ARTifact in the middle of the beam. Thanks for posting the mod up. It should inspire a few others.
Excellent work ouchyfoot.
I’ve done a little more on my project
exploded view, the led shelf is 10 mm thick
assembled next to a c8 convoy
I have left enough metal in the head to take a 26650 tube later if need bee
i’m happy enough with it for my first build…
just waiting for the reflector. lens. led. and driver.
Very nice. Its all down hill from here.
Probably 5 years ago I bought 3 Sunwayman V10 electronic switch modules from Steve Ku of Veleno Designs. I’d purchased these modules with the intent of replacing the clicky switch in my Sipik 58 with an e-switch.
I still had a couple of these modules laying around leftover from that attempt. These modules were designed for the Sunwayman V10. I decided to try putting one into my V11R, which fits the same switch…
Unfortunately, at the time I got these, I only bought the switches themselves. I didn’t buy any of the other hardware that normally came with it (custom titanium switch cover, retaining ring, etc.). So the goal of today’s mod was to jury-rig one of these electronic switch modules into the light using one of my stock retaining rings and switch covers.
Took a couple hours, but I successfully rigged the switch and it works. I used the optional crappy Titanium switch cover that came with my V11R. I added an extra spring to provide more tension to the button than the tiny microswitch. The problems with the poorly designed stock titanium switch cover aren’t present because the new switch has much less travel so the titanium doesn’t bind.
I’m quite pleased with how this light is shaping up. If I try any other mods with it, I’d probably try boring out the battery tube for 18350.
Great. Keep us informed of any more Eswitch mods.
I have a few switches and drivers from mountain that I want to use in an attempt to convert some rear clicky switch lights to momentary. The logistics of the mods keep me thinking, thinking, thinking…mostly modding in my mind.
One good mod and one failed mod…
I replaced the cool white XP-G2 in my Brass Art with an XP-G2 4C. Will save the old XP-G2 for a de-dome mod somewhere down the road. It is an older LED so it should be a good one!
I failed a lighted tail cap in my BLF A8. The tail cap lights and looks great, but the driver hates it. It is a 7135 based driver without an OTC cap for memory, it is one of TomE’s firmwares that stores the modes in eeprom. I finally got a resistor combo on the tail cap board that would allow me to start on high and go to low, but never went back to high. It was also very sensitive to the internal resistance of the battery. I may try it with an added bleeder on the driver, did not have any axial resistors with me this weekend to test them.
Not something “new” , modified my A6 to triple today .
Pics are from my drive , i’m from my phone …
i modded my cheap xm-l + 2 xp-e (or more probable LB-versions) headlamp yesterday, changed the cold white xp-e to warm white nichia 219A instead, and put some matte tape on the TIR-optics to get a nice warm smooth beam profile.
Replaced the grease in the magnetic ring of my Sunwayman V11R with Brake Caliper grease from the local autoshop. This was about the thickest grease I could find. The magnetic ring now has the perfect amount of resistance.
Thought i might stuff a quad into a Lumintop copper Prince, because why the hell not. 
(click picture for more images.)
- 4x Cree XP-L HI V2 3B LED
- 20mm TPAD
- Custom fabricated spacer/heatsink made from copper washers soldered together ghetto style.
- 17mm DrJones H17F Driver w/ lucidrv2
- 10621 Carclo Lens
A man after my own heart! Well done Prince Stephen, well done!
I spent some time making a heavy light heavier.
I stuffed 13.7 ounces of copper into a BTU Shocker. I’ve already got a 9V MT-G2 Triple Shocker, and a XHP-70 TripleShocker, thought it might be time to go back to basics and put de-domed XM-L2 U4 1A’s in one, with plenty of copper just because I like copper. (and to get rid of the massive chunk I had that is so darn tough to cut)
I’ll be using one of Richards FET drivers, SinkPAD 20mm Stars and a modified cell carrier that is parallel. Will do the whole 9 and make sure all springs are bypassed, then see what kind of results the big ol bertha gives me in this more standard format.
Totally out of Kester solder paste, and Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive as well. So I used the old MG paste and the stars are being permanently affixed with JB Weld as I type this. 
As an aside, and for interest, I’ll disclose that I filled the entire driver bay area with copper, the aluminum threaded disc that once held a driver is upside down for a smooth surface for the ground spring to run on and the copper sink has a driver bay with a brass retaining ring flush with top of this aluminum threaded disc. I cut a long diagonal channel for 18ga leads to run up into the head, which was NOT easy with this copper. Part of one end mill bit is forever in the sink… The screw that holds the reflector is snugging the copper up to the emitter shelf, set deep into the copper sink itself, with the large diagonal hole emerging just behind the head of the screw. Gonna be fun wiring this one up! (The large reflector base was flat, I made clearance zones for the solder pads on the stars, remains to be seen if I did enough.
I felt a great disturbance in the Force.
Woke up early with my back hurting, figured I’d go ahead and complete last night’s adventure.
My 3rd BTU Shocker is up and running. I opted to have 4 mode levels, with memory. I don’t have access to my box-o-cells at the moment so am playing around with it with one 35A in the carrier, domed emitters. I may end up leaving the domes on, liking the look and it’s pretty tight as it is.
Glad I checked it early, the pressure (having snugged the reflector screw down quite firmly) squeezed some JB Weld up through the screw hole and made a “tower” between the emitter shelf and base of the reflector. Another couple of hours for the JB Weld to fully cure and I’d have never gotten the screw loose! I did manage to use 18ga leads throughout, and it looks amazingly bright but I can’t get to lightboxes for measurement until the household wakes up.
Fully assembled, it’s a solid big ol chunk of light, for sure! With only one of three cells in place, it weighs in at 3 1/4 lbs (1479 grams)!