What did you mod today?

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
981

Can you explain the polarity reversal??? Or is this to change the potential on the copper board due to the design flaw?

982

Thatā€™s the reason.

If the screws short in the stock light you could get a direct short on the battery.

If the screws short after you do the polarity reversal the light would go into direct drive and bypass the driver, but would not directly short the battery.

At least thatā€™s my understanding of it.

983

great mod djozz!

984

What I find the most amazing is that the stock light already makes 1600 lumen, and with a minor solder job 1800!

985

Nice mods, Djozz.

I know itā€™s a little more work, but some of the mods in this thread deserve their own build thread :slight_smile:

:beer:

986

Nice job DJ. Great vid.

987

Luvit! :+1:

988

Today I made my first X6 triple with Nichia 219C D320 5000K and a MTN-17DDm - New Updated Version :

And a few seconds later my first triple dedome Nichia 219C D320 5000K :

Well at least it works :

I was ready to go and find my biggest sledgehammer and mod it a bit more, well maybe Iā€™ll try again tomorrow.

Edit :

Thatā€™s more like it :

Itā€™s the flashlight that pulls most amps of all I modded 10,82 A on a samsung 30Q, before I broke contact, I only have a 10 amp multimeter.

989

Been there before :laughing:

990

How did that happen?

991

Iā€™m sorry to see that happen :frowning:

992

To bore you once more with my modded S41 (ok, admitted, I canā€™t believe myself how nice it has become :wink: ), I did one more polishing job and made two glamour pics. This is the last time it will look like this, it is going to be carried in my pants pocket from now on together with penknife, keys etc. :evil:

993

Did you think of blackening in the grooves of the copper, and maybe a trit or two in the tail? Thatā€™s part of my plan if mine ever arrives.

994

Very inspiring mod djozz! Great job. Thanks for sharing.

995

I may do a lighted tailcap on this light someday, but trits are more a titanium flashlight thing the way I see it. Very soon the copper will be tarnished and the aluminium scratched, the whole point of removing the anodisation was so I would not have to worry about wearing it off, I have a series of EDC lights with beaten-up ano, the weathered looks just do not do it for me.

Edit: my EDC flashlight from 4.5 years ago, 16340 cell, AK-47A with extra chips, Nichia 219A 4500K 92CRI (the first ever reported budget light mod with that emitter, I bought the led from Illumination Supply the moment it came out):

996

I like well-weathered and brand new finishes, but that looks like an awkward in-between state. Perhaps it would look a bit better if you spun it up quickly on a drill or lathe and then sandpapered off a lot of the remaining anodizing? Maybe leave just enough to give it character and exaggerate the depth of the grooves?

997

As you have polished the light now djozz they dont take much to keep polished. I have been using the same well worn final polishing cloth which has turned black for years, a couple of seconds polishing every now and then and they come up a treat. Nice job again. :slight_smile:
Just beware the better half does not see you polishing your lights as she will keep you busy polishing other items.

998

Just modded a Sky Ray S99as below:

  1. Replaced original 3mm glass into 1mm Acrylic non-coated lens and 0.6mm O-ring into 2.5mm; because the original glass is too small whereby it slips slanted onto the bezel. Therefore the reflector not able to sit flat.
  2. Changed all the Lattice Bright T6 LEDs into XM-L2 U3 LEDs (1x 3D-centre, 1x 2A, 2x 1A and 5x 0D).
  3. Changed the LEDs wire to 22 AWG.
  4. Changed all battery-sleeveā€™s o-rings and add one more o-ring at the bezel cap (initially the bezel cap screw came without o-ring). No sealing at all.
  5. Applied Arctic MX-4 thermal paste on the base-plate-to-heatsink contact area.
    Note: Original driver already had a zero ohm sensing resistor.

Results:

  1. Original lumens (approx.): 1400 lm.
    Modded lumens (approx.): 4000 lm. (~ 450lm / LED)
    Colour tint is now ~ 1D.
  2. I believe it is water proof now :wink:
  3. Itā€™s not getting very hot even after 20 seconds.

This flashlight is a beast for mod if all the threads are square (or acme). Unluckily they are not.

Next mod if got time:

  1. DD FET driver
  2. Copper Heat Sink
  3. DTP base plate for each LED
  4. By-passes springs
  5. UCLp lens




999

Hi everyone! :slight_smile:
Iā€™ve been following, read lurking, all of the work going on with triples and now quads. I want to build one, looks like ME will be the best place to start putting all the parts together.
Nice work all of you guys! Canā€™t wait till my parts get here.

1000

Last week I modded my XTAR WK42. Iā€™d already had a FET e-switch driver inside with an XPL HI. I decided to try an XPG3 for the first time.

I was amazed at the result. For a light powered by a single Efest IMR 16340, the output was incredible. Output seemed better on that tiny cell than the XPL HI I was previously using, though it could have been the cooler tint.

Unfortunately, it didnā€™t stay good. Last night I noticed the XTAR was flickering. Today it was flickering some more and not staying at max output. I disassembled the light and redid all the wiring. Didnā€™t fix the problem. I finally removed the emitter and reflowed it onto a fresh star. Then I tested the LED outside the light (test setup is a single AA battery holder with 20awg wire). I touched the test wires to the bondpads on the LED star and max output was STILL very low. This was with no driver and the emitter not in a light.

Based on this, I concluded the LED was toast. Ended up replacing it in the light with a Nichia 219C, which works perfectly.

So far Iā€™ve attempted to mod two XPG3s into two separate lights. Neither has worked for long. Iā€™m not sure about the XPG3 emitter ā€¦ so far Iā€™m at a 0% success rate with them.