HOW, do I current boost a torch?

[CyclingSalmon14]

OK, so I have done a few things and learnt how to do other but this is one of the few I cant find any information on.

So far I have stripped anodizing off a torch, polished it, I have researched how to dedome a torch and am working up the courage to try it, might buy some cheepys to try it on.

I have learnt that reflectors are very very fragile to scratches even by microfibre cloths!!! (DOH!!!!)

BUT HOW ON EARTH DO I CURRENT BOOST A LED???

Do I need a new driver preset? Do I plug it in and flash it with new firmware somehow? Do I just turn up a pot or something somewhere?

I know pretty much nothing about electronics but interested in this modding business, and while I will never live up to someone like Vihn Id love to give it a go.

Can I current boost some modes but not others, can I lower them, can I make it to direct drive, what is direct drive?

Why do some drivers whistle or whine on lower modes but not high ones???

Yhea Im a noob but Im intrested all the same lol.

TEACH ME!!!

IM SURE I WILL HAVE MORE QUESTIONS AS i GO FURTHER IN THIS, like setting best focus ect, but that can wait!

 

[ven]

Sure vinh has a modding question thread or maybe a pm although he is mad busy.

But even for the masters it can be an expensive trial error!! be warned

Maybe sure whatsit fire lights that are cheap and app easy to mod........maybe a start,least then if it does go its not the end of the world........well money wise anyway :laughing:

 

[StarHalo]

You can replace the driver or make it direct drive; of the two, direct drive is the easier one that can be applied to pretty much any light. It involves removing the driver and wiring the LED directly, then you put as much voltage/current into the LED as it's rated for using battery configuration. The upshot is you're making the LED as bright as it can be made, the downside is you won't always see much of a difference, and runtime will start out bright and then decline notably over time, since there's no regulation.

If you just want a really bright light with a personal touch, it'd be a lot easier to just get a host light (a light used for its body, for modding/upgrading, like a Maglite or Solarforce) and then browse drop-ins. A stock 3D Maglite is ~80 lumens, pull the bulb and replace it with a Malkoff XM-L drop-in, now it's ~700 lumens, brighter than a car headlight.

 

[yazovyet]

direct drive: when you wire the LED directly to the battery (with a switch in there too fo course). tends to drive the LEd very hard (lots of current) depending on how much the battery(s) can source.

why do some drivers whine in low: this is common in 7135 based drivers (can happen in others but I don' have experience with those). the 7135 acts as a current limiting resistor; it will basically allow up to 350 mA of current flow then no more. So if we want to have only 50 mA of current flow what we do is get a computer to turn the 7135 on for 1 cycle then off for 6, then repeat over and over. this turning on and off can cause a little noise, similar to how doing up a zipper at different speeds can cause different noises. these drivers tend to run at 5khrz; which sounds like a high pitched noise. Some of these 7135 can be modified, via changing the software on them, to use a frequency well above what we can hear.

increaseing driver current: depends on the driver. 7135 drives can just have an extra 7135 soldered on. typically they come with up to 8 of them in parallel and you can put more on (good way to over heat it too). others can have different little resistors changed to change the drive current. others can't be changed and you'd just have to get a whole new driver.

 

[langham]

I typically would recommend just changing out the driver for one that provides more current. If you are new you should do a lot of research. I made a series of videos on youtube about modifying a Supbeam K40 with a de-dome and since resistor change, this works for drivers that have multiple batteries in series (ie the supply Voltage is greater than the forward Voltage of the led). In this case you can't use direct drive because the led would not handle the current for the given voltage. Direct drive is simple, but it is terrible. Trust me you will not like it. The best thing you can do is watch some videos on how to replace a driver and just find one that already exists that will do what you want. I use XM-L designed drivers to drive XP-E2 leds and that is pretty overdriven so if you just want to get a start that is a good way to do it. Remember that you will have a lot more heat to discipate though and don't use a cheap aluminum MPCB. You will need your led to be directly thermally mounted to copper. Copper has 2 times the thermal conductivity of aluminum and therefore you will be able to drive the led approximately 2 times as hard. Although you will have some problems as you will generate more like 3 times the heat. You will have to get rid of it somehow and typically the best way is to just heat up the body as fast as possible with Artic Silver and other high thermally conductive thermal paste. I hope this has been helpful. If it was not try this thread that I made and maybe that one will. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?382649-Supbeam-K40-de-dome-and-resistor-change
Another way to get more current is getting better batteries, with lower internal resistance. Most people like the Samsung 20Rs.
After a second read through it sounds like you have a K40 or a TN31 am I correct? The TN-31 is exactly like the one that I made the video for they have the same driver. You can PM me with any direct questions and I would be willing to show you my TN-31 as I am pretty proud, but I have never made a dedicated thread or video.

 

[CyclingSalmon14]

Cheers guys, much helpful info here, I was thinking of asking vihn but as stated he is a busy man and thought there are plenty of other people on here with the knowledge two.

yes, If i start playing around with this then it will be on cheapies haha, thanks for the explanation on driver noise, I take it you can also get noise in a strobe mode, at least my my D25c makes a whine in strobe mode (Only when the led is not lit so it sounds like a high pitched click in time with the flashing)

(Its a VN edition)

so it seems easiest way is to start with the 7135 based drivers and play around with resistors and adding more or less chips.

First mods are likely to be trying a Dedom as it seems simple enough, and I will give that a go when I have time then maby go onto the driver modding or direct drive, this is purly experimentation so the whole no regulation thing is not an issue its gonna be a show light.

Thanks very much guys, wish me luck haha, no idea when I will get round to doing this but when I do (If sucsessful) im sure oyu will see a thread on my results.

 

[langham]

You will have a hard time driving leds as hard as your average VN light. He takes things a little overboard, just my opinion. I would want active cooling for you things that he does on most lights. The external temperature of the light is a good indication of how hard a specific body can be driven and ultimately it is based on what material the flashlight is made out of and what the total mass/surface area and coating of the body. You will want to calculate waist heat in order to determine how hard a given light will need to be driven prior to diminished returns ie the light body is too hot to handle. The outside should get hot quickly and stay that temperature in order to transfer heat to the environment. The hotter the air the hotter the light and wind has a factor as well. You could really overdrive a dive light though as water transfers heat much better than air and it is typically cooler as well mixed with your movement through the water it would most likely run just fine. You can't just take any light and drive it as hard as possible and expect good results, just keep that in mind. I have never seen a light that can handle 20+W of waist heat without active cooling so don't try to run more than 1 XML at 6A and expect to do anything but waist money on leds. The Trustfire X6 is one of the bodies that I would say passes the most heat as a host for over driving, or maybe the SR90, but they are so expensive I don't consider them.