The output from the original Intova was a little lacking at 70 odd lumens. Apart from that it is a solidly constructed dive light, and was used as my cray torch for use during the day.
As the weather has not been the best, and I had a weekend without any water based activities planned, it is only natural to pull things to pieces, and see if they can be improved (seems to be a part of the NZ culture ).
The result was a XRE R2 on a star being used to replace the original LED. The original driver was kept, as it was putting out 3.7 V @ 700ma.
The whole modification involved grinding a little off the edge of the 19mm star to fit, and drilling the holes a little bigger to allow the wires to connect to the solder pads.
I reused one of the original screws to hold down the star, and attach the green wire. FYI...no light comes out if the green wire is not connected
The star also got glued in with thermal glue.
I pulled out the original lens by grabbing it with a pair of long nosed pliers, and replaced it with a DX sourced lens.
The final result exceeded all expectations
The final result
New lens glued in place. (you can see the required green wire here)
I does appear to have a small driver board, with the reed switch attached.
It was encapsulated in a black plastic insert, so I could not see what components were actually on the board. As the output voltage did not drop with a drop in battery voltage, I am just assuming there is a driver in there.
Getting the head off the body was not as easy as it could have been. It looks like it was glued on . Lets just say a large bench vice, an oil filter wrench, and a very long bar were used. It was a case of open or break!
Yes,there is some sort of assembly glue. They will come apart without breaking though. I found that a propane torch,bench vise,and pipe wrench is a good combination.. 2 people on the task helps also. Once opened the first time it is no longer a problem.
I've never attempted anything like this before, but think I'm going to give this mod a go. Could someone tell me if this is the correct LED to use or if I should be looking for something else?
Intova Cree R2 upgrade
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. Lets just say a large bench vice, an oil filter wrench, and a very long bar were used. It was a case of open or break!
. 2 people on the task helps also. Once opened the first time it is no longer a problem.
