Consumer to Creator - SST-50/90, XM-L? Direct-Drive, Regulated? Calling all modders!

Hey CPF!

I've always been a consumer when it comes to flashlights. From the first 2AA Maglite when I was a little one, to the lights nowadays, buying the new tech as it makes its way into mass-manufactured lights.

I want to change that.

I've been doing research independently and will continue to do so, but I'd also like to hear opinions about what works and what doesn't, lessons learned, and the collective experience gained by the modding community on CPF.

Hopefully this will become a thread with an insightful look into the current state of flashlight modding for those of us flashaholics taking our first steps into this new endeavor.

Any other modding newbies feel free to add your questions to the mix!

Some general questions I have:

- The pros and cons of the SST-50 and XM-L emitters.

- How to and where to procure the high amperage circuit boards necessary for the new generation of high-output LEDs. (For small 1*IMR16340 and 1*IMR18650 lights) Edit: www.taskled.com seems to be a good source for boards.

- General supplies a modder considers "must-haves" in his tool kit.

- How to put together an LED pill (emitter, heatsink, board, etc. There's a good chance there's already a tutorial on this that I haven't found yet, I'd appreciate a nudge in the right direction!)

I'm planning on purchasing an Aurora SH-032 as the host for my first build, heat-issues aren't a problem as this will just be a "shock and awe" light, purely for fun.

Thanks in advance everyone!

shomie911 said:

Hey CPF!

- The pros and cons of the SST-50 and XM-L emitters.

- How to and where to procure the high amperage circuit boards necessary for the new generation of high-output LEDs. (For small 1*IMR16340 and 1*IMR18650 lights) Edit: www.taskled.com seems to be a good source for boards.

- General supplies a modder considers "must-haves" in his tool kit.

- How to put together an LED pill (emitter, heatsink, board, etc. There's a good chance there's already a tutorial on this that I haven't found yet, I'd appreciate a nudge in the right direction!)


Thanks in advance everyone!

Click to expand...

Ill give ya a bump to get this up to see if some fresh eyes will take a look.

I too have a few of these questions. Im set on using an XM-L instead of the SSt-50 for my next mods as I have read a lot about them. Ill let someone else break down all the pros and cons.
Im looking at putting together my first drop in / drop ins using XM-L... One with a regulated, multi-mode driver and one with a direct drive setup. I already am DD'ing an XM-L in a SF L1 head with an AW 17670, but would like to do the same in a P60 host. It is amazingly bright (measured 900+ OTF lumens by BigChelis) but gets hot in a couple minutes ... or less... I cant help but think the setup inside a 6P host would run cooler for longer as there is more mass to pull the heat away with...

Im looking at this for the P60 drop in. And at this for boards ,etc. But am open to better ideas by more experienced peopl.e

Ive read about using plain old JB weld as "thermal potting compound" to fill the void inside the pill with. Who would have known!? That is something that I have plenty of.

I,m a big fan of the XM-L emitters , i am getting better results than with the SST-50 , I am using the 3mode 2.8 amp drivers from shinning beam with excellent results.http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-132/3-dsh-Mode-Regulated-Circuit-Board/Detail

I'd recommend to get an ultrafire c8 host for around 12-18$, then get an xm-l in it and one of these ebay pwm drivers (ebay# 290516945697)

With the bigger reflector you gain a lot of throw and that reflector works very good with the xm-l. with smaller reflectors you only have a lot of flood, but not much throw.
Personally i prefer the xm-l before the sst-50, since the sst wakes up only with a lot of current and i like my lights to run at least for an hour on high
i just built an 2x18650 xm-l with a lck-led driver in a sacredfire nf-009 host..pretty nice and very bright