Arc6 Upgrades/Mods Thread! Post your thoughts and mods here!

[fyrstormer]

Nice work. :thumbsup:

 

[Torchaddict]

Thanks! And NoFair, post up some pics when you are done! If you have the means to measure/compare lumens with a IMR, be sure to post up those results as well!

It'll also be interesting to see if your current draws are similar to mine as well (I'm assuming you also got a XM-L).

 

[NoFair]

Mine still has the XP-G in it. Waiting for decent output and higher CRI from the XM-L. No chance to measure lumens, sorry about that

 

[Torchaddict]

Maybe consider a Nichia 219 4500K HCRI? Only heard good things about that emitter. I didn't go that route just because I couldn't procure them mounted on 16mm stars. Cree's producing HCRI XM-Ls right now I believe, although they are in the traditional warm tint (3000K) and not commonly available.

Also, anyone have any ideas on who has modded a piston like this AND wanted to sell them?

 

[tx101]

Member Datiled did a run of 8mm XML boards which are available from Illuminationsupply.com

These boards are fairly thin and a copper slug is required to achieve the correct focus.


BTW I have an Arc 6 as well but my one has a neutral XPG. I used the 8mm XPE boards from the Sandwich Shoppe

which are compatible with the XPG. A copper slug is also used to raise the LED to the correct focus.

 

[Torchaddict]

Great call on Datiled's 8mm boards. I saw them, but didn't want to reflux at the time...

I think I got bitten by the modding bug hard though. I just bought a Nichia 219 HiCRI LED and a 20mm Carclo TIR optic to maybe go with it. Better color and more throw at the expense of lumens compared to my current XM-L T6 setup. It'll be interesting to see what the semi-unregulated L1 mode settles at with the Nichia (I actually really, really, really love that my Arc6 only takes 18mA of battery current to produce 8-10 lumens with the XM-L!) Peter Gransee designed L1 so it would be looong lasting and it shows here.

I'm going to use a 16mm sized board again. It puts the +/- contacts further from the LED and allows me to sneak in a soldering iron tip to desolder/solder the wires without taking anything out of the head for much easier emitter swaps IMHO. Updates won't happen for awhile though since the parts will take 2 weeks to arrive.

I'm probably going to sell off the XM-L LED and modded board for cheap as well if I like the results of the Nichia. Cutting the board was tough for me, so if anyone would like to follow in my footsteps and upgrade their Arc6 to a XM-L, then hopefully this will ease the pain. IMO, the XM-L is almost perfect for the Arc6. Large, efficient, and bright. Beam is perfect with the stock reflector. The brighter L1 mode is astonishingly useful and I never had any gripes with the tint (I actually thought it displayed colors very well!).

The main reason that compelled me to swap emitters is largely due to the use of a TIR optic. Cree XM-L + 20mm TIR = Round spot, with a squared-shaped spill. I don't know if I could live with that. I know that XP-G's produce a round spill and Nichia 219 = XP-G, so the Nichia mod came into fruition... And the main reason for using a TIR? Well, just for kicks! Actually, I heard that TIRs may be a little more efficient than reflectors and may provide slightly more throw (not that I care about throw in a EDC that much).

Beamshots of the Carclo 20mm TIR can be seen here:
http://www.carclo-optics.com/opticselect/intranet/optics/details/index.php?id_optics=79

 

[fyrstormer]

You're going to take apart the light you just modded and mod it again? :duh2:

 

[Torchaddict]

Yep! It'll be interesting to see how both emitters compare (beams, runtimes, tint, etc). I think it'll be a lot easier since both will be on 16mm boards. Just carefully move the soldering iron inside the head to desolder then swap out the boards (i just used thermal paste, so should be easy) and resolder. No need to remove the driver this time (hopefully). Maybe I should sell the modded XM-L Arc6 so it wouldn't be "wasted."

Kinda like #0019 though but on the other hand, I wouldn't mind selling/swapping it with another Arc6 lover to show off what the XM-L could do in this 3" pocket rocket! And then I can mod one that's still original to be fitted with a Nichia. If anyone's interested PM me, otherwise I think I'll go right ahead and mod when the parts arrive.

 

[Torchaddict]

Tried installing a TIR optic onto the XM-L a couple of days ago. As Fyrstormer pointed out to me, the 20mm Carclo optic needed to be shaved down to 19mm in order for it to fit inside the Arc6. Unfortunately, I slipped while filling it down and ended up scratching the lens, so another optic is on its way to me! The acrylic glass is very soft.

Anyways, pics of the mod. Still waiting on the 16mm XP-G/219 board to get to me.

Impressions are somewhat good. As expected, the beam is has a circular hotspot, but has a square-shaped spill. It throws further than with the stock reflector and a great side-effect of the tightened beam is the fact that you can tailstand the light and approach it without being blinded at all since the TIR collimates the beam forward very effectively. A very good upgrade, but I can't live with the square spill. If it wasn't for that I'd definitely prefer a TIR instead of the stock Arc6 reflector. More efficient (~90% vs 70%), allows for some throw in a pocket light, puts a unique, sophisticated/modern look on it and there's no chance to shorting out the LED!

 

[fyrstormer]

You might be able to get the spill to be more roundish if you insert a small bit of flash-diffuser film into the center of the TIR optic. If I understand TIR refraction at all, the hotspot is actually created by light refracting off the curved rear surface of the optic, whereas the spill is created by light projected straight out through the mostly-hollow area in the center of the optic. So inserting a bit of flash-diffuser film into the center might give you the beam you want.

Cigar punches are very handy for cutting small circular bits of stuff.

 

[Torchaddict]

You are indeed correct. I can tell just by peering into the optic. At severe angles of refraction, all I see are the yellow corners of the XM-L die at the center post of the optic. The Nichia 219 almost looks round and being much smaller should help with the overall spill beam profile. Today I managed to swap a Nichia 219 LED mounted onto a 10mm MCPCB onto a 16mm XP-G board. I discovered that by paper clipping the board onto my soldering iron at the 15W setting would heat the solder pad enough to make the swap after ~5 mins. Really simple and elegant IMHO. I see people online try to "reflow" their LED utilizing a stovetop. Scary stuff especially when Cree/Nichia only recommends a 1-3 degree Celsius increase/second as maximum thermal transfer. Anyways, should be done with the mod this week. Just gotta find time around work.

The funny thing is that my girlfriend discovered my handle-name on CPF and now frequents this particular thread to see what I do with my time... She thinks it's all so very, very, VERY funny.

:hahaha: But who needs women when you have an Arc6?! :nana:

 

[fyrstormer]

The stovetop might actually be safer, because it will heat the solder joint so fast the emitter won't have time to absorb much heat. Holding onto the emitter with a pair of tweezers, then pressing the backing plate against the stove, then holding the backing plate with a second pair of pliers while pulling on the emitter with the tweezers, should result in the lowest possible heat transfer into the emitter. Just make sure the tweezers are high-quality so they don't twist and send the emitter flying off, never to be seen again.

 

[Torchaddict]

Seems like a valid point. Still, boiling solder transfers heat pretty well. As long as it works I guess :thumbsup:

 

[Torchaddict]

Finished the mod with a Nichia 219. Ran into a problem with the TIR though. It seems that despite what Carclo states, I cannot get the 10003 collimator optic to focus properly with either a Cree XP-G or the Nichia 219. The beam is ugly for both. Anyways, the original reflector still works, although the light is obviously less bright than the XM-L. The color is quite amazing though. I noticed it right away when I fired up the torch. It's like using a monitor with twice the contrast. Although HCRI is nice, I may switch back to the XM-L; the Cree produces so much more light especially when combined with the TIR (500 *0.9 = 450 Lumens OTF, whereas the Nichia is probably around 300 * 0.6 = 180 Lumens OTF (reflector is optimized for SSC P4, I can tell just by looking straight into it that it doesn't "yellow" as much)...

 

[fyrstormer]

Maybe there's a way to shoehorn a Tri-219 setup into there? :devil:

 

[Torchaddict]

I was thinking along the same lines awhile back! If you can manage to get a Tri XP-G board that's <17mm in diameter, then it might be possible. Shaving a 20mm optic down to 19mm is no problem at all. I don't like the runtimes on Tri-LED setups, but using one on the regulated Arc6 would be result in decreasing the current to each of the LEDs to just a third, resulting in identical runtimes and similar outputs I believe (although the beam may be uglier). I wish I could've got the 10003 optic to work, but I'm definitely warming up to the High CRI; it's that great of an LED in terms of color!

 

[fyrstormer]

Well, keep rolling with it and see if you ultimately decide you're happy with it. I can say for sure I wouldn't want to mod the same light three times in a row.

 

[Torchaddict]

LOL, me either. I'm loving the Nichia more and more everyday. It's so easy on the eyes!

 

[fyrstormer]

I suppose this is an old thread now, but it seems appropriate to post this here anyway. I re-modded my Arc6 Luxeon K2 to use a Cree XM-L.

That last picture shows the Arc6 XM-L (bottom) compared to the Jetbeam TC-R2 (top) and the Haiku XR-E (right).

 

[NoFair]

Very nice. Planning to swap out my neutral xp-g with a xm-l when a better range of high cri emitters are available.