Awesome HDS Mod by Milky...

[Edwood]

My understanding is that the 42 and 60 differ mainly in use of higher-flux emitters in the 60... if that's true then I'd expect both to end up about the same brightness after the mod... so no, the U60 wouldn't necessarily be any brighter than the B42. Of course, I could be wrong!

That said, the photos do show that even a U60 should see a nice performance boost, so IMHO it's still a very worthwhile upgrade. Heck, I'm gonna upgrade mine once I get more Q3 reflectors (have about 10 on order).

I'll have to find myself a U60 with a sickly green tint to send to you to CreeMate for me. Would hate to waste the fine Luxeon tha's in my XRGT.
-Ed

 

[tebore]

According to a discussion awhile ago in the HDS sub-forum regarding emitter swaps, a U60 would yeild the best for getting more brightness.

The reason is x60 uses more power than a x42 to get to the 60lm level, it's not much more but it's more power. A XR light uses less power than it's non-XR counter part. According to Henry a U60 would be the best candidate for emitter swaps.

 

[Edwood]

According to a discussion awhile ago in the HDS sub-forum regarding emitter swaps, a U60 would yeild the best for getting more brightness.

The reason is x60 uses more power than a x42 to get to the 60lm level, it's not much more but it's more power. A XR light uses less power than it's non-XR counter part. According to Henry a U60 would be the best candidate for emitter swaps.

But isn't a U60 and U60 XR identical, except for the emitter?
Pretty much all U60's the same, except for the emitter?

-Ed

 

[tebore]

But isn't a U60 and U60 XR identical, except for the emitter?
Pretty much all U60's the same, except for the emitter?

-Ed

Everything is the same except for the emitter. Henry at HDS tunes each driver to the emitter. Lets say one LED is TxxH and a TxxJ. Both can do 60lms. So the TxxH uses 3Watt and the TxxJ uses 3.2Watts. J bin goes to the non-xr and is tuned to 3.2 watts at Level 1. While the H bin gets 3 watts exact and goes in to the XR.

 

[Edwood]

Everything is the same except for the emitter. Henry at HDS tunes each driver to the emitter. Lets say one LED is TxxH and a TxxJ. Both can do 60lms. So the TxxH uses 3Watt and the TxxJ uses 3.2Watts. J bin goes to the non-xr and is tuned to 3.2 watts at Level 1. While the H bin gets 3 watts exact and goes in to the XR.

Ah, so there is a difference in the driver, so if you want a brighter one with the Cree, go for a non XR then since they are "tuned" for a slightly higher wattage then?

 

[tebore]

Ah, so there is a difference in the driver, so if you want a brighter one with the Cree, go for a non XR then since they are "tuned" for a slightly higher wattage then?

I don't know if you can call it a difference in the driver. It's just the way the driver is programmed. It's like using the AWR hotdriver you can tune it by turning the POTs on it. Is the driver different? nope just the tuning.

As for going for a non-XR for max brightness when doing an emitter swap. That's the idea. The driver is power regulated so you want a driver tuned for higher power output.

 

[Icebreak]

tabore -

Thanks for the insight. Could you help me understand what a U60 GT might do in reference to how the board may have been programmed? Also, some of us did that run time test, firmly gripping the HDS while it was on the highest setting. The longest run time I could get was 11 minutes. That was with an SF cell. The BS cells couldn't handle it. I figured the board was tuned for this emitter and needed a good bit of juice to maintain highest setting.

 

[THE_dAY]

in those pics, it looks like a big jump in brightness.

it would be nice to see a comparison: modded hds against the p1d-ce

the p1d-ce is around 110 lumens on high according to another thread.

we could get a relative understanding of the brightness of the modded hds.

great job milkyspit!

 

[milkyspit]

in those pics, it looks like a big jump in brightness.

it would be nice to see a comparison: modded hds against the p1d-ce

the p1d-ce is around 110 lumens on high according to another thread.

we could get a relative understanding of the brightness of the modded hds.

great job milkyspit!

Thanks Day!

As for your comparison idea, IMHO it's a great one. :thumbsup: Gonna have to wait until I complete the next HDS mod though as I already sent SCblur's light back to him! No worries... more than likely I'll have more of these finished later this week.

BTW, as far as I can tell these are the theoretical brightness levels with various emitters...

Stock U60... 60 lumens
Modded with LuxIII U-flux... 75 lumens
Modded with Cree P3-flux... 100 lumens
Modded with Cree P4-flux... 107 lumens

Remember, this is just theoretical, based on some quick calculations.

 

[Icebreak]

OK. I'm in with a HDS U60 GT.

It will be nice to have an HDS U100 MS.

Thanks for doing this, Scott.

 

[tebore]

OK. I'm in with a HDS U60 GT.

It will be nice to have an HDS U100 MS.

Thanks for doing this, Scott.

Did your light stepdown 1 or 2 levels after 11 mins? All lights should run at max for 20 mins or they get derated to the next Lumen level (60->42).

 

[Chronos]

Woohoo, I have a Cree-mated U60 undergoing Milky's magic. Heheheheh. Wow, does this look like a great little package!

 

[Icebreak]

Did your light stepdown 1 or 2 levels after 11 mins? All lights should run at max for 20 mins or they get derated to the next Lumen level (60->42).

It would step down 1 brightness level (not setting). The thread I was talking about was a poll that was unscientific because there were all different kinds HDS lights included. Some U60 owners did not see their lights making the 20 minute mark on the highest brightness setting. That HDS RT Poll Thread.

This topic is a little off-topic I guess. I think it would be good to know which HDS lights would recieve the most benefit from this mod. It's likely that all of them would benefit greatly. Any difference in brightness between the modded U60, U60 XR, U60 GT and U60 XRGT hosts would be something we might not be able to percieve. Runtime...maybe?

Thanks for the help especially the heads up on the U60s vf being higher than the 42s'.

 

[SCblur]

I just got my CREEmated HDS back from milkyspit today. WOW! What a sweet little mod, and the workmanship is top notch. I couldn't be happier. I'm leaving tomorrow for a few days, but I'll write up a more detailed review when I get back.

Josh

 

[peskyphotons]

I was wondering what this mod costs. I have a B42XRGT That could be in for a trip across country.

Thanks,
Alex

 

[Utik]

Does this mod permanently change the inside of the light? Based on reading the other HDS mod thread, one of the "features" that made modding with a Luxeon so easy was the way it fit into the heat sink. This made centering it a non-issue.

If we have this mod done, will it cause the heat sink to be modded such that it would not be suitable for future Luxeons?

 

[milkyspit]

I was wondering what this mod costs. I have a B42XRGT That could be in for a trip across country.

Thanks,
Alex

Alex, PM sent! Didn't want to post price and order info here... it's the wrong forum for that plus I didn't want to hijack the thread. Anyway, please check your PM, and hope the info helps!

 

[milkyspit]

Does this mod permanently change the inside of the light? Based on reading the other HDS mod thread, one of the "features" that made modding with a Luxeon so easy was the way it fit into the heat sink. This made centering it a non-issue.

If we have this mod done, will it cause the heat sink to be modded such that it would not be suitable for future Luxeons?

Nope, the mod doesn't change your heatsink at all, so it's reversible later if you wish. The only significant change inside the light (other than the new emitter, that is) is replacing the stock HDS reflector with the modded Q3 reflector. This reflector would almost definitely work with Luxeon as well, or you could swap-in one of the McR series reflectors to go back to Luxeon, your choice. Or hold onto the stock HDS reflector. I keep those for experimental purposes by default, but I'll send yours back if you specifically ask for that.

BTW, just as an aside... it's not always a virtue to have a form-fitting heatsink like the one in the HDS. Some Luxeons arrive with the emitter die off-center, and such a heatsink essentially self-UNcenters those.

 

[Walt175]

It looks like all the ones you have modded thus far are 60's. Would this be a worthwhile mod for a 42 XRGT?

 

[milkyspit]

It looks like all the ones you have modded thus far are 60's. Would this be a worthwhile mod for a 42 XRGT?

Actually, I believe russtang's HDS was a 42, but could be mistaken... and yes, it's DEFINITELY a good upgrade for a 42... the resulting output should end up very nearly the same regardless of starting with a 42 or 60, so in a way the 42 upgrade gives you even more bang for the buck!