Time to Make a Fenix LD01 Neutral

Been on my keychain for a while. Bright, but TOO COLD!

Got my thermal adhesive and Neutral Q3 emitters.



Got 'er open with pliers and tightly fitting PVC end-caps. Here I've already removed most of the blue epoxy.



Desolder.



Gently Pry until original emitter pops off.



I'll use this somewhere else... maybe a nightlight.



Gotta clean this.



So it looks like this.



Mix and spread sparingly.



Press emitter board against epoxy with fingernails, while centered.



Now I have to wait for the epoxy to set before soldering. I'll keep the sheet of material with the mixed epoxy here to check to see how hard it's become. Now I go eat...

OK, good meal!

Heat up soldering iron. Tin spots where I'm going to solder the wires. Then solder the wires... glad I got my (+) and (-) in the right position! :twothumbs



OK, now for the before and after pictures.

Before:



After:

Very nice :twothumbs. If/when I get an LD01 then I'm definately doing an emmitter swap.

You mentioned blue epoxy. Any more info on that?

Also, how is the original emitter glued down? Epoxy or paste? If it was epoxy, how did you remove it?

spencer said:

Very nice :twothumbs. If/when I get an LD01 then I'm definately doing an emmitter swap.

You mentioned blue epoxy. Any more info on that?

Also, how is the original emitter glued down? Epoxy or paste? If it was epoxy, how did you remove it?

Click to expand...

The blue epoxy is more aggressive than the brown stuff they used to use. It looks similar to a product I've used at work: Lord 305. Tough stuff!

That's epoxy holding down the original emitter. I pryed carefully on one corner until it released. I cleaned it off with my fingernail and a dental pick, then I finished with isopropyl alcohol.

Nice! Now you have a winner:twothumbsI love the neutral and warm tints and hope the damand for WC tint:sick2: eventually tanks so that we can buy our ideal flashlight and still have a warranty!

Great job Paul! :thumbsup:

I really enjoyed that little tutorial despite the fact that I don't own an LD01.
This should give encouragement for those that may have been considering doing the same thing but lack confidence in modding.

Very cool, thanks for taking the time to post this!

If you dont mind where did you get the emitters and adhesive?
Thanks again.
Matt

Very nice, thank you for sharing this with us!

Pontiaker said:

Very cool, thanks for taking the time to post this!

If you dont mind where did you get the emitters and adhesive?
Thanks again.
Matt

Click to expand...

For retail sources, check this post:

*LIST* of LED flashlights WARM/NEUTRAL/~4000K

Thanks everyone for the appreciation, I'll have to do this again on something else too.

Nice job on the swap.

I have a question, though. You said you just applied finger pressure on the emitter to press it into the epoxy. Do you feel that gives an adequate thermal pathway from the emitter to the sink? I've been applying constant pressure to the emitter until the epoxy begins to cure, but I'm wondering if that's overkill.

geek4christ said:

Nice job on the swap.

I have a question, though. You said you just applied finger pressure on the emitter to press it into the epoxy. Do you feel that gives an adequate thermal pathway from the emitter to the sink? I've been applying constant pressure to the emitter until the epoxy begins to cure, but I'm wondering if that's overkill.

Click to expand...

Once you squeeze out the epoxy, it won't go back, as long as there isn't something the emitter hangs up on and it doesn't have wires soldered to it yet.

It doesn't take too much force to seat an emitter. However, if you are epoxying a large star, you need to be very sparing of the epoxy, and/or provide lots of seating pressure.

EngrPaul said:

Once you squeeze out the epoxy, it won't go back, as long as there isn't something the emitter hangs up on and it doesn't have wires soldered to it yet.

It doesn't take too much force to seat an emitter. However, if you are epoxying a large star, you need to be very sparing of the epoxy, and/or provide lots of seating pressure.

Click to expand...

Cool, thanks.

Really nice mod!

Very nice mod! I´ve got a LD01 Stainless Steel and want to try to follow your example and mod it. How did you disassemble the head?

Greetings from Germany
Fritz

I will be getting a SS LD01, and might upgrade it if the original LED isn't that great. I have a hunch it might be easier to open since it's bare metal instead of anodized. I used PVC endcaps and pliers.

I also recently put a RED LED in a L0D-CE

See post here:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2866418&postcount=25

Can you repoort back when opening the stainless one Paul?

I'd like to neutralize my SS LD01!

:devil:

Great light!

EngrPaul,

I love these type of threads, but I think yours are my favorites because of the combination of excellent instruction in both text and pics, and your story telling way of writing.

Anxious to see what you do next, and also if anyone has figured out a way to give the L0D/LD01 a low-low setting.

EngrPaul said:

The blue epoxy is more aggressive than the brown stuff they used to use. It looks similar to a product I've used at work: Lord 305. Tough stuff!

Click to expand...

Haven't opened a Fenix in a while so I haven't run into the blue stuff yet.

At least they didn't go with the red, unlike the blue the red is basically permanent in an application like this.

Nice swap.

gunga said:

I'd like to neutralize my SS LD01!

:devil:

Click to expand...

First time I've heard a neutral swap referred to that way.

-Michael