Hey guys,
I saw a few mentions on dedoming today, apparently it gives you more throw?
Could someone please explain what it is, what are the risks associated with it, etc?
It’s taking off the silicone dome from the LED usually with petrol, it reduces general overall brightness but increases throw and usually gives a warmer tint. The risks are it is very easy to destroy the phosphor layer or the tiny bond wires.
Check these posts
It is literally removing the dome (the clear plastic dome) from an emitter, and yes, it generally increases (maybe doubles) throw (lux measurements), but also generally (but not always) makes the beam tint warmer.
Risks:
- Could kill the emitter if done wrong, e.g., break the emitter leads
- Could remove the phosphors (the yellow layer) and get blue light
Ahh. I see. Thanks for the info guys.
Anyway, seems too complex for a clumsy person like me. Does anyone sell dedomed flashlights? Looking for a 2x18650 flashlight with lots of throw.
Mountain Electronics here in the US sells modded lights and some dedomed emitters. Postage to you may make it unfeasible though.
Dedoming is pretty easy, try it on some cheap LED's to get the hang of it.
RMM / Richard sells at least one flash light with a mod option of de-domed LEDs. Check this link, mod option 2. It’s currently listed as out of stock though: http://www.mtnelectronics.com/opencart/index.php?route=product/product&path=80&product_id=158
If you are interested, either send a PM to RMM or post here: MTN Electronics: LEDs - Batteries - Lights - Chargers - Hosts - Drivers - Components - 1-Stop-US Source
Just soak that mofo in gas or alcohol and you’re good to go.
Depending on the design of the light, it may be possible to dedome without having to unsolder the emitter. I think that someone in a thread said that they just removed the pill and dipped just the emitter part into gasoline and hung it there for the dedome.
I don’t want to take the risk of ruining my flashlight (even if its just dipping it!), so I might go with Mountain Electronics, thanks for the heads up Mike/Gj.
Odd how flashaholics are often DIY sort of people. Too bad I’m an exception.
I have mastered dedome technique after scarifying 2 emitters :)
I soak them in thinner until the dome fell off. Carefully scrap off the remaining residue with sharp tweezers under a Nikon 20x microscope.
You might want to mention the loss of OTF lumens too.
You just get a (virtually) smaller light source which improves throw, which is nice if you’re very much into throw.
If you’re interested, use car fuell as mentioned. Soak it for 24 hours.
i have a 1l bottle of thinner where i hang the emitter with MPCB on a thin wire just like a tea-bag
every 1/2 hour i shaked teh whole thing and after two hours i blew off the dome just like a candle
The tint definitely warmer than the original…
Vinhnguyen54 is a popular modder of lights and he made a video on how he did it.
after +–2 hours on thinner i steam my led with steamcleaner.
its total clear led no more silicone
I couldn't find my solder the other day so i took and cut the positive off the emitter using a shear cutter and just hung the emitter and star into gas using the negative lead ...About 12 hours later I rinsed it with rubbing alcohol and fluuxed both the emitter and lead and soldered it back together ..easy as pie .
de-doming is the easiest thing to do on the planet ...'cept maybe stubbing your toe .
the upside is the nastiest of all tints suddenlt doesn't suck so horribly and throw goes way up .
is a process when u make sure that everything that stay between led die and air has being removed
^ my best so far
very clean! 
Well it is not that clean as it seems... This could be fasttech XPG2 1A which is significantly harder for ultra clean de-doming than from other vendors.
On your de dome here I see hard silicone leftovers on the phosphor layer and small black dot. Although it will not influence on performance (especially of reflector flashlights) it could be seen on aspheric projection as a tiny dot.
You can do better than that :)