What did you mod today?

[NeutralFan]

@Scallywag

So today I built my old Thorfire VG-10S light into a gift for my father, who will be visiting soon (finally everyone is vaccinated and he gets to meet his 9mo granddaughter).

Congrats on your daughter and this sounds really special!

[BOO5TED]

@Firelight2

Simple mod tonight.

Swapped the emitters in one of my FWAAs.

My first FWAA had 4000K Nichia 219C. Fairly nice tint. Looked good. But super floody. Bit too floody for my tastes. I didn’t like the beam pattern as much as my SST-20 version.

So tonight I swapped out the Nichias for Oslon White 1.

The beam is noticeably more focused, with a bright hotspot. It throws much further than before.

That said, the Oslons do have some disadvantages such as cool white color temp and low CRI. And despite having a much throwier beam than the Nichias or the SST-20, these lights still have tiny optics with light frosting on top. The beam is still fairly floody.

Any beam pics? I love my FWAA but wish a more focused optic was available also. I can deal with the lower CRI and cooler color if it’s more focused.

[JaredM]

@Light Veteran

Tiablo A8 with 5A driver and SST40

Love the classics! Awesome :+1:

[id30209]

@BOO5TED

@Firelight2

Simple mod tonight. Swapped the emitters in one of my FWAAs. My first FWAA had 4000K Nichia 219C. Fairly nice tint. Looked good. But super floody. Bit too floody for my tastes. I didn’t like the beam pattern as much as my SST-20 version. So tonight I swapped out the Nichias for Oslon White 1. The beam is noticeably more focused, with a bright hotspot. It throws much further than before. That said, the Oslons do have some disadvantages such as cool white color temp and low CRI. And despite having a much throwier beam than the Nichias or the SST-20, these lights still have tiny optics with light frosting on top. The beam is still fairly floody.

Any beam pics? I love my FWAA but wish a more focused optic was available also. I can deal with the lower CRI and cooler color if it’s more focused.

I have some beamshots in Lumintop Family FB group

[Tartarus]

I added the missing standby button light on the IF25. Finally I find it in the dark.

[djozz]

That is neat Tartarus!, I did not know that you could use the switch circuit to light a led.

[Tartarus]

@djozz

That is neat Tartarus!, I did not know that you could use the switch circuit to light a led.

I didn’t know either , I was surprised when I measured 2.9V on the switch legs. First I tested it with a warm white wire-leg LED, when I saw it was good I made it permanent.

[gchart]

@djozz

That is neat Tartarus!, I did not know that you could use the switch circuit to light a led.

I’ve done this before with a D25 headlamp. Yes, you can do it but it must be done carefully. Switches frequently have one side grounded and the other attached to an MCU pin with a pull-up resistor (be it internal or external to the MCU). That provides easy access to pos and gnd. But if the vF is within a certain range, the MCU will detect that as a grounding condition and register the switch as being held down. So it kinda depends on the color of the aux LED you use and the series resistor.

[jon_slider]

@BOO5TED

Any beam pics? I love my FWAA but wish a more focused optic was available also. I can deal with the lower CRI and cooler color if it’s more focused.

here is before and after:

@id30209

I have swapped emitters in my FWAA.
Now running Osram CSLNM1.TG

[before]

[after]

@id30209

I have some beamshots in Lumintop Family FB group

This Group is Private, since I dont have a Fakebook account, I cannot see those photos

[jasontheguitarist]

Whenever the 5000k XP-P is available, I wonder if it’ll be a good alternative to the Osrams to make the FWAA more throwy but with a neutral tint. I plan to get some whenever mouser gets them in stock.

[Firelight2]

@jasontheguitarist

Whenever the 5000k XP-P is available, I wonder if it’ll be a good alternative to the Osrams to make the FWAA more throwy but with a neutral tint. I plan to get some whenever mouser gets them in stock.

That could work.

However, I think trying to make an FWAA a thrower with more intense LEDs is probably a waste. The advantage of the FWAA is it is the world’s narrowest triple with a TIR optic. This means high lumen output with a very floody beam in a tiny package.

Trying to make it a thrower produces a bit of an underwhelming beam.

• My FWAA with 3x Oslon White 1 has less throw than my modded Sofirn SP10B with FET driver with D4 firmware and an SST20.
• Oslon White 1 has cool white color temp and low CRI. It’s pretty ugly. Meanwhile, the SST20 in my SP10B has 95CRI and pleasant 4000K color temp.

If you really want an FWAA thrower, a better option is to try to find a longer bezel that will fit and then retrofitting it into a single-emitter light with reflector. Or wait and see if Lumintop produces and FW1AA.

[Tartarus]

@gchart

@djozz

That is neat Tartarus!, I did not know that you could use the switch circuit to light a led.

I’ve done this before with a D25 headlamp. Yes, you can do it but it must be done carefully. Switches frequently have one side grounded and the other attached to an MCU pin with a pull-up resistor (be it internal or external to the MCU). That provides easy access to pos and gnd. But if the vF is within a certain range, the MCU will detect that as a grounding condition and register the switch as being held down. So it kinda depends on the color of the aux LED you use and the series resistor.

Yes thanks, that’s what I was thinking so I used 3V green led and 20k resistor. Still too strong in the dark a bit, FC11 will be next in that I think I’ll put 47k in series with the led.

[pinkpanda3310 (Pinky)]

I made some anti pocket toasting caps for the fwaa. It was a bit of a learning curve trying to machine soft plastic

[djozz]

It is outrageous that Lumintop makes pocket-size EDC lights that spontaneaously engage in your pocket making them unusable for pocket EDC-ing. I know that they make up something, just sell it and then we do the real-world testing. That is ok, and even the deal with BLF, but I can not understand that there is even not a hint of a learning curve from what we find out.

Ok, I lied, I do understand: what sells stays, and we buy anything.

I stick to clickies for EDC.

[Agro]

I got FWAA in my pocket for about 2 weeks. Got 1 accidental activation over that time. So…YMMV, FWAA is not perfect but definitely usable as a pocket EDC for some users.

BTW, I’d like to eventually flash it with my Andruil fork that makes the lockout mode so much nicer…

[djozz]

I’m convinced that is not just my OCD that the first and most important feature of anything that is EDC-ed is that it must work everytime that you need it. And a pocket flashlight that switches on just like that once every two weeks and then burns/drains I consider as not working .

I EDC my Tool AA Ti clicky flashlight with BLF-A6 driver in my front pocket for 6 months now, and it has proven reliable: I forget it and when I need it, it is there and works. That the light looks d*rn good and that it is very compact and that the sliced LH351D that it has gives lots of light with a beautiful beam with perfect tint, that is only secondary to it just working all the time.

[pinkpanda3310 (Pinky)]

I think you’re right djozz. They (lumintop) fitted the fw3a with a tail cap retaining ring after the first batch so why couldn’t they improve the shape of the tail….???

The d25c is the same size as fwaa but ‘feels’ more reliable.

[djozz]

Something worth thinking about is a novel switch type: it switches on as an oldschool clicky (fully press in to click on), then works as an e-switch so that fancy UI’s can be used (half press engages contact instead of breaking it), and full press to switch off again. Mechanically that is nothing difficult to design, it may even exist, but the flashlight world is very conservative, internally they use the same familiar parts over and over again.

[Agro]

@djozz

I’m convinced that is not just my OCD that the first and most important feature of anything that is EDC-ed is that it must work everytime that you need it. And a pocket flashlight that switches on just like that once every two weeks and then burns/drains I consider as not working .

I tend to notice within minutes. It causes some battery drain but not enough to impact reliability. It’s annoyance and nothing more than that. At this frequency - a manageable one. Again, that’s only my case.

@djozz

Something worth thinking about is a novel switch type: it switches on as an oldschool clicky (fully press in to click on), then works as an e-switch so that fancy UI’s can be used (half press engages contact instead of breaking it), and full press to switch off again. Mechanically that is nothing difficult to design, it may even exist, but the flashlight world is very conservative, internally they use the same familiar parts over and over again.

Boruit RJ-02 has some kind of a clicky e-switch. YLP F15 Falcon as well.
But I don’t remember the details of their actuation.

[pinkpanda3310 (Pinky)]

I’d like to try a 2 stage switch like that