Novatac 120T Modded to Trippple Nichia 219

eala

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
1,452
Location
Canada
I have a beautiful Novatac 120T. The light is amazing with great anno, but it was lacking one simple thing. A trippple Nichia 219 high CRI board from Craig.

This project has taken me the better part of 3 months to plan and complete (with more time in the planning than the completing). It was far more complicated than I anticipated.

I am delighted with the result. Beam is fantastic; high CRI is great; output is very bright. It is a floody room clearer.

Basically, I had to build a custom heatsink to connect the LED board back to the original pill to transmit the heat back down.

The whole project was many more steps than I originally thought; with many late nights. I am not as skilled as many of you out there as you can see by my soldering job. It doesn't look pretty, but the mod is solid.

I upgraded the original Novatac lens from plastic to glass and also bought an 17670 body that I modded to take an 18650 with copper foil. That was a pain in the a55 too.

I will tell this tale through some photos...

Enjoy!

eala



















































 

eala

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
1,452
Location
Canada
It is a lot more than I expected. I will try to get it measured in the next week.

Guessing 300 lumens, but it is hard to know with floody beams.

eala
 

bluecrow76

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Messages
638
Location
Tiger Town
That is a sexy mod... I just love a good Novatac mod! I've been spoiled with my Novatac P7... between that and my E2L I haven't needed much else. I may have to give this a try.
 

eala

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
1,452
Location
Canada
That is a sexy mod... I just love a good Novatac mod! I've been spoiled with my Novatac P7... between that and my E2L I haven't needed much else. I may have to give this a try.

If you have any questions as you go, let me know. I learned a lot doing it and had to feel my way around a lot of issues. I can walk you through the steps if you like.

I would want it to take less time for you that it did for me. :)

eala
 

The_Driver

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
1,177
Location
Germany
Great mod :thumbsup:
Could you post more details on how you modded the 17670 battery tube with copper tape? Why didn't you use a brass bar like some other people here have done?
 

eala

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
1,452
Location
Canada
Great mod :thumbsup:
Could you post more details on how you modded the 17670 battery tube with copper tape? Why didn't you use a brass bar like some other people here have done?


I guess I could have used some wire, but I was placing an order at Craig's site and he had this tape for $1, so I used that. It works well. Took a while to get the dimensions correct. I just put electrical tape over it.

So far, I have been very pleased with this mod. I will be selling it once I measure the output (which will be next week now).

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I am pleased with my work.

Some other shots below. You can see the tool I made for pill removal beside the original spring for the 17670 tube.

I bought the narrow focused optic too and it is pretty good as well, but I prefer the floody one.

eala











 
Last edited:

The_Driver

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
1,177
Location
Germany
Thanks for the pictures eala. I also have a Novatac (Wichita) and ordered my 17670 tube last week. I might try your method. Does it work reliably with repeated removal of the head? I have some copper tape lying around in a drawer. Have you ever measured the resistance of this setup?
 

eala

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
1,452
Location
Canada
I have only had 5 or 6 removals and no sign of issues. I think the brass wire method may be more robust.

I should say that all of the mods I have shown here can be 100% un-done with no damage to the light. I like this way of doing things. Basically, I kept the original LED and could completely reverse this mod if I chose to. Novatac is a great platform for modding.

eala
 

think2x

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 3, 2009
Messages
1,581
Location
Pulaski, Va.
You can see the tool I made for pill removal beside the original spring for the 17670 tube.



Just as a side note. I had one of the NovaTac's I've modded have a stubborn module retaining ring and I used my digital caliper to free it. The ends for measuring inside diameters(the ones opposite of the coin in the pic below), slide them open until both ends are in the notches and tighten the hold screw. Then you can twist it free easily.

 

Flucero28

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
Messages
417
Good tip think2x! Thank you, I would never have even thought of using my digital calipers.
 
Top