HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!! *updated beamshots*

after lots of thinking, i decided to mod my HDS rotary 200 with a cool white XM-L T6. This took A LOT of hard work and patience, as well as lots of planning and measuring. The total time i spent on this light was probably 3 1/2 - 4 hours from start to finish.

i know theres a tutorial thread by Flucero28, so this is just my results. (i was inspired by him to do this mod by the way!)

i used:
CW XM-L T6 on a 10mm board, (had to file it down from 2mm thick to 1.15mm thats why it took a while)
silicone insulated wire (because it can withstand high temps from soldering)
arctic alumina thermal adhesive (for best thermal transfer and to keep the LED centered)
and most importantly..... PATIENCE

heres the results.

The black and white wire leading to the screw is the ground wire with some heat shrink tube to prevent it from shorting out on the reflector.




this is also to prevent anything from shorting out on the reflector.




BEAMSHOTS.

Ti v10r with cree XP-G Q2 (High CRI)




And the XM-L rotary!!!




if you have any questions, please feel free to post them here or shoot me a PM!!
thanks for looking!

Lovely looking mod! What is the beam pattern like when compared to the stock setup? And does it work on primary lithiums?

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

fortean101 said:

Lovely looking mod! What is the beam pattern like when compared to the stock setup? And does it work on primary lithiums?

Click to expand...

thanks!
ill have to do a beamshot, but i got excited and forgot to take a before shot, so i really dont have much to compare it to. It is a bit bigger of a hotspot, and looks noticably brighter, lighting up a good area (which i prefer since i mainly use it around the house)

Primary cr123 cells work just fine!

I have modded my hds to a XML T3 warm white, no where near the standard of yours, the beam has a floody profile with a large hotspot, it is brighter than stock but floodier, my hds can use primaries but they only just light up the led, the rcr123's work fine though which is what I use anyway.

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

I also have a XM-L U2 in my HDS. Yes it's bright in terms of overall output. But it's way too floody for my liking, thus it does not seem bright in normal use as the area lit up is just too big. I Still prefer my XP-E powered HDS as the light is where I need it.

For those loving floody lights the mod is perfect though (close up work, reading etc).

Great work Jake! Very clean mod. What would you estimate in terms of output with the XML?

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

Flucero28 said:

Great work Jake! Very clean mod. What would you estimate in terms of output with the XML?

Click to expand...

thanks frank!
id estimate it to be about 300-325 lumens.

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

Nice work on the HDS Jake...These and the old Novatacs are some of my favorites to have modded....Robert.

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

beamshots added to OP

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

Nice work! I've been trying to decide which way to go on my HDS's XP-G HCRI or XM-L T5 5000k.

I just got finished modding a 120P with a neutral XM-L on a filed down 10mm board, I too had to file the back quite a bit to get the height right. I used my dremel with a sanding disk for most of it.

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

IMO filing down the board is the hardest part. i just used a wide hand file and a caliper to constantly check that its filed evenly.

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

I know what you mean, it takes a lot of patience and measuring to get it "just right" but the outcome is worth the time spent.

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

clean work


I was wondering why you filed down/shortened the mcpcb? was the reflector bottoming out on the emitter/board or was it to focus the beam?


when I modded a 120t (ACME) with a XML and XPG, both were on the 2mm thick mcpcb(both 10mm wide X 2mm thick, the ones from illumintaion supply, looks to be the same exact board as yours)... they both worked out fine & focused well without having to shim or file down the board with (barely) enough room to spare.

maybe the depth of the Rotary and 120t are different?

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

that may be the case. i put the led in there before soldering anything, and it was to tall. i filed it down so the reflector can screw all the way on, without forcing it and ruining my led.

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

cool thanks... sounds like the Rotary and at least the 120 have different depths.

Not looking forward to filing down the board when I get my Rotary.

jake royston said:

that may be the case. i put the led in there before soldering anything, and it was to tall. i filed it down so the reflector can screw all the way on, without forcing it and ruining my led.

Click to expand...

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

Thanks for posting a beamshot. XML in an hds sounds perfect

Ill take some with my camera tonight, these dont capture the differences to well...

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

CarpentryHero said:

XML in an hds sounds perfect

Click to expand...

The beam looks wonderful but the ramping is affected as the levels are optimized for XP-G.
The XM-L puts out less light at lower levels with the same current so the lower output range lasted too long as you rotate the dial.
I had to un-mod mine as I found it too degrading to the rotary feature.
I'm sure it would be a simple matter for Henry to program the levels around the output characteristics of the XM-L if he were ever to produce such a light.
Also, I only used the Rotary level on my light, so if you're OK with using the click activated levels you could program it so you'd never know there was a difference.
It's the same price as the non-Rotary and if you're careful with the board during removal you can always go back to the stock configuration.

This post is not to discourage anyone but to make sure you know ahead of time that it will behave differently.
I've made the choice on many lights to take the hit on low-level efficiency for the benefit of the larger hotspot and improved spill these mods produce.

Re: HDS rotary, cool white XM-L T6!!

Thanks Bansuri, that's really good info to know before taking the leap in modding

Beamshots updated in the OP!!!!