I’m thinking about putting a hard driven xpg2 in a convoy C8 host. This will be my first mod so any advice would be great. My biggest question is probably how hard can I drive the xpg2 and which driver would be best.
I've done them up to 3.5A, not sure how much more they will take. I haven't pushed to find the limit. Of course copper is mandatory at those levels.
How hard you drive your XP-G will depend on how cool you can keep the led. The first step would be a copper star. Secondly the copper colored pills are more likely to be brass. If they are brass you would be better off with an aluminium pill. How hard do you drive it? You are going to get a hundred different answers. You may want to get a smooth reflector also if you are going for maximum throw. Good luck with the build and show us some beam shots when your finished.
Should work just fine. Should drive to 2.5A easy on that star, with a good seat on the pill. Will throw like crazy.
I have an XP-G2 C8 driven around 2A and it throws rather nice. Smaller spot than XM-L, but still useable.
That will work fine as long as the diameter of the star matches the pill. Keep in mind that the led is cool white. You will also need an insulator to stop the led wiring from shorting on the reflector.
Something like this.
http://intl-outdoor.com/cree-xpgxpexte-led-reflector-positioning-gasket-10-pcs-p-601.html
I don't know about the C8, but in p60 format the XPG2 does not focus correctly if you use any insulator whatsoever. As long as the reflector sits on the top layer of the board and doesn't touch anything electrical it will be fine.
Or you can use kapton tape to isolate the reflector from the wires
C8 with XP-G2 beamshot vs a few others here.
Im not too impressed by the C8 for its head size. Its OK, Id take any other light instead though… Only good thing I can say about them are they are fairly cheap, and because of the large surface area they does not have much heat issues on high, even when driven fairly hard.
My XM-L C8 was my least loved XM-L light (I got rid of it, and that was nicely driven). Now that I have made a fairly hard driven XP-G2 on copper light, its still… meh… Not feeling it.
I only gave it a 2nd chance because so many people rave about them…
Is a proper XP-G C8 reflector considerably better than XM-L C8 reflector? Maybe I should buy one??
I need to try a de-domed XP-G2 in the C8 too. And maybe a bit more juice. If all that fails, Im giving up on the C8s… I don’t think they are my thing.
XPG2 de-domed in a XML p60 reflector is really impressive especially considering the size, and has a nice ring- and artifact-free beam pattern. And it's still nice to use for real-life stuff like rooting around the back of the closet and such.
I just did an XP-G2 on copper SinkPad mod. Driven at 2.8A and it’s happy so far. This was in an UltraFire XM-L zoomie 18650, just seeing what I can get. So far, not overly impressed, almost quadroupled the throw of the original XM-L emitter, but still not where I expected to get it. Was looking for a 50kcd pocket monster, ended up about half that. Gonna try another host now…
Dome intact or de-domed? They are fairly unremarkable until that dome comes off.
Thanks for all the help everyone.
Second host, much better, 36.6kcd. This one is an UF-009 26650, drives about the same, close to 3A.
Both are still dome-intact. I will probably dunk one to see how it improves. I know that the XM-L zoomie was modded to about 100kCD in a similar fashion, so that would be very impressive. Makes me wonder what the UF-009 would do dedomed… the aspheric is much larger.
Maybe I got lucky. l cant remember where the reflector in this build came from but this light had a nice beam using an XM-L reflector with XP-G2 led. I’ve also used an XM-L led in a Q5 reflector without issues. Careful tuning of the reflector height works wonders.
the posted C8 beamshot looks quite amazing. Wonder if any C8 would ever come as stock in the xp-g2 version.
its worth a look at cnqg for this build, they do an ultrafire c8 host, a c8 upgrade and a few c8 xp-g reflectors. I’m actually planning on a similar build myself but I’m not rushing about it.
Another consideration is putting an xp-g2 in a uf-v3, and making a p60 pill press fit for the driver mount, at 2a I’m impressed with mine but I do want to push it up to a 3a qlite driver. it does give a brilliant thrower beam in a c8 sized package.