FS: Homemade Surefire A2 Aviator LED rings (2nd Run) *OPEN*

[Cypher_Aod]

Hi Cypher_Aod,

Congrats on the A2 purchase, hope it makes it's way to you safe and sound. They're a great light and I think you'll really like it.

I ordered a dozen UV LED's, so enough for 4 rings. smflorkey and nokoff look like they'll need 5, so I'll set 3 aside for your ring. Just let me know if/when you want it made.

I think I need to start ordering more UV's at a time - I wasn't expecting so many people would want them!

Thanks for your generosity! if someone wants the leds and is willing to pay don't hold out on my behalf, i'm happy to wait for the next batch if necessary


i think these are so popular because they're currently one of the easiest ways of getting hold of low-wavelength UV

[btorrenga]

I would like two red rings, please. Thanks for all your efforts in this.

[calipsoii]

nanomu, whitedoom34 and ninemm:

Thanks for all your patience with the postal strike. It's been a real pain in the neck not being able to send/receive anything at all. The back-to-work legislation bill is tabled and will be signed this week (probably Thursday). Canada Post and the union are back at the table too so they may reach an agreement even earlier than that. Only a day or two left and your packages should be on their way!

[whitedoom34]

No worries calipsoil, I have no problem waiting for such an great product.

[ninemm]

Thanks for the update! I agree with whitedoom above.

[Cypher_Aod]

Hey Calipsoii, I wanted to let you know that my attempt to buy an A2 failed, and reconsidering my finances (i've just graduated from University!) I've decided not to buy one from another source, so there's no need for you to hang onto those UV LED's for me

Once again, thanks for your kindness

[nwuboy]

Hi! I'm very interested in the red and IR LED rings. Can you send me your paypal info?

Also, couple of questions for you:

1) Will these rings fit in any other surefire models? I already have the G2 and G3 LED.

2) If these rings are only for Aviators, can i just go out and buy a current A2 aviator, or are these limited to the specific four-flats versions?

3) Do you know of any way to increase the power output or concentrate the beams so they will throw light out further? Perhaps with an aspheric lens? I plan to use these for night-spotting of animals.

thanks!

[shomie911]

16 days since shipped and counting Hope they work this postal strike out soon...

[shomie911]

Hi! I'm very interested in the red and IR LED rings. Can you send me your paypal info?

Also, couple of questions for you:

1) Will these rings fit in any other surefire models? I already have the G2 and G3 LED.

2) If these rings are only for Aviators, can i just go out and buy a current A2 aviator, or are these limited to the specific four-flats versions?

3) Do you know of any way to increase the power output or concentrate the beams so they will throw light out further? Perhaps with an aspheric lens? I plan to use these for night-spotting of animals.

thanks!

1.) No, only incandescent Aviators.

2.) Either round (newer version) or four-flats (older version) are fine.

3.) No, there is no practical way of increasing 5mm LED brightness besides waiting for brighter ones to be released. There's no point of using a floody 5mm LED ring to spot animals, the A2 already has a great main incandescent lamp that works great for that purpose. The LED ring is for close-up tasks mostly.

[calipsoii]

16 days since shipped and counting Hope they work this postal strike out soon...

Sorry shomie911, I'm thinking it's stuck in a warehouse somewhere and must not have made it out of the country in time. The national opposition party decided to turn this into a 3-day-and-counting record-setting filibuster. You'd think they were voting on sending the nation to war or something. I don't know how long they'll try to stall progress on it. I'm pretty sure the whole country is getting fed up of this by now - I most certainly am.

nanomu, whitedoom34 and ninemm I tried to ship your rings Fedex this morning but ran into some complications. I've fired each of you a PM.

Hi nwuboy! shomie911 has pretty much covered all your questions but I should add that I don't stock IR LED's, only UV. Actually, I don't even have any UV (or warm white) right now because they're sitting in a Canada Post warehouse gathering dust. If you'd like a ring made with IR LED's, I can certainly find some and make one.

[ninemm]

Did I hear it correctly? The Postal Service is back up and running?

[calipsoii]

Did I hear it correctly? The Postal Service is back up and running?

You betcha ninemm! Your ring will be leaving tomorrow morning as soon as the post office opens up. They're sorting the warehouses today so anyone who has one stuck in there should be getting theirs pretty soon.

[whitedoom34]

[oldways]

I will take 1 warm white.

[Knuckles]

Calipsoii,

I would like another warm white LED ring, the one I bought from you has been great and I'd like to outfit another one of my A2s with one. PM me when ready!

[calipsoii]

nanomu, whitedoom34 and ninemm your rings have (finally) been shipped!

Once my LED's show up (this week) I'm going to get to work on the remaining orders. Right now I hardly have enough to make a single ring of any of the requested colors.

[briteflite]

Just scored an A2 and would like to order one warm white ring and one deep red ring to make it perfect. I understand that you will PM me when it's time to pay. Thanks for bringing these to CPF. Briteflite

[paddling_man]

Please add me to the list for a warm-white ring. PM when ready for payment! Thanks

[calipsoii]

Thanks for the orders you two! My apologies to everyone who's waiting but a) my LED's still haven't arrived and b) it's crunch time for my home renos. Most of my evenings after work have been spent painting.

In the meantime, here's a little something to whet your appetite.

[archimedes]

EDIT: BTW, please let me know when and where to PayPal for a multi-mode ring with 1x deep red + 2x blue LED's, to turn my A2 into a "mini-Kroma"

[Nokoff]

nice instructional vid ...the ramping feature looks very useful...I was wondering if one warm white might be too much for reading in a dark car (yes I can read in a moving car ) so now I'll be able to ramp it down a bit if I need to do so...stlll very much looking forward to a 2UV, 1WW combo when these are ready...I'd love to have it for my overnight on 07/21 but it probably won't reach me in time

[nanomu]

That looks like one very cool controller in the 2-mode ring!

You also forgot to mention that because of the nature of the A2, there's always that burst incan available too.

[Z-Tab]

I'm definitely interested in one of those multi-mode rings. The demo looks awesome. The real challenge is picking the colors... Do you expect to get Yellow-Green LEDs in again?

[DM51]

Excellent - and you explain it extremely well in that video.

[run4jc]

Just AWESOME. Can't wait to get one of these! One of my wish list items was a VERY low "low" setting - this ring is perfect! I'd like one with all warm whites - set the single LED for ultra low, and the 2 others for max. You know I'll take one when you are ready - already loving the warm white ring I have!

[scout24]

I am SO in for two of these rings when they become available!!! SWEET!!!!!

EDIT- Just watched the video, just unreal! Adding so much versatility to an already great light and replacement ring is appreciated! One 1xww/ 2xww and one 1xgr/ 2xww when you're ready! House painting is over rated... Paypal ready!

[BobVA]

Hi Mike:
I'm in for one warm white ring. Please PM me when you'd like payment. If you're getting the parts lined up for the multimode version, I'll be ordering a 1R/2W when those are ready!

Thanks,
Bob

[smflorkey]

After seeing that great demo of the multi-mode ring I want to change my order:

Strike the single mode warm white ring; the multi-mode red+2white will work just fine.

I still want the all-UV ring; I'll have to switch rings on those special occasions when I need UV.

One more thing, don't worry about making my rings until mid-July. My car wouldn't pass smog inspection last week so I just gave the mechanic $505 for a new catalytic converter and an oil change. I just don't have any spare change until the 15th. At that point (assuming parts have arrived and haven't run out again) let me know how much for the two ring order. My A2 really needs these rings.

I hope you're enjoying making these as much as we're enjoying watching your progress and (a few of us) using these rings.

Thanks,
Steve

Single mode::
Warm White: $22
Ultraviolet: $28
Two mode: $??
- 1 Deep red
- 2 Warm white

[calipsoii]

Thanks for the nice comments all, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. They're shaping up eh?

For anyone I shipped rings to just before the lockout - they're on their way but things are still pretty slow. When I asked the Post Office attendant he just pointed me to the "suspension of delivery guarantees" notice and said I'd be best to wait until it's lifted. Sounds like they're clearing a warehouse full of backlog based on priority and my shipping method is way down the chain of importance. If anyone's doesn't show up by the time the notice is lifted, I'll get a new one made and sent out to you, don't worry.

For anyone who put in an order and is still waiting, I haven't forgotten about you! My LED's have yet to show up (over a week late and counting). Your rings are prepared and waiting on them.

...I'd love to have it for my overnight on 07/21 but it probably won't reach me in time

One more thing, don't worry about making my rings until mid-July.

Sorry you two, but they won't be ready that soon. The ring in the video is really a proof-of-concept right now. I've been packing it around for a few days to see how it does and there are a few things that need fixed before these are ready for use:

• There's a spring directly underneath the microcontroller that flexes the PCB when the head is repeatedly loosened and tightened. This is breaking my solder joints to the micro and causing all manner of weird behavior.
  
• The main incan LVR is causing power to the ring to jump around crazily which is registering as false clicks while the bulb is running.
• The firmware needs more testing to make sure it doesn't have any weird conditions that put it in an unrecoverable state.

Nothing deal-breaking, but I want to take my time and make sure they work before I offer them to anyone.

Do you expect to get Yellow-Green LEDs in again?

These are popular and my local vendor is unreliable so I'm going to search the net and see if I can order a bulk batch of them. Hopefully something in the nice 555nm range...

I hope you're enjoying making these as much as we're enjoying watching your progress and (a few of us) using these rings.

Thanks Steve! I have been enjoying them so far, particularly writing the little C program for the controller. Considering I knew nothing about electronics less than a year ago, I've learned a lot.

The one thing I didn't expect is that soldering the tiny components is taking a toll on my eyes. Astigmatism is worse in one eye so even a magnifying glass doesn't reduce the eye strain. My optometrist recommended against continuing to make these unless I get some prescription reading glasses ($$$).

So far I've been doing no more than 20 minutes of work in a sitting but as you can imagine, it's slowing down how many I can make. I'm currently looking at alternate ways to do this - maybe toaster oven reflow or something.

To give you an idea how truly tiny the leads on the microcontroller are:




Don't worry though, I'll work something out. I don't plan on going blind for any hobby.

Will post again once the LED's arrive and the next batch of single-mode's are ready!

[Solscud007]

I just saw your post after I sent my PM. Hopefully my UV and YG led rings are just sitting and waiting to be picked up and shipped out to the US.

A little disconcerting that the YG leds are so popular.