Modified Xeno E03 with Nichia 219 emitter

Just finished a somewhat harrowing mod on a Xeno eo3 . (Voided the warranty on a perfectly good flashlight)
It works better than ever .

Pretty much de- soldered the stock xml (neutral) & installed one of the new hi cri emitters .

The brightness modes on both Enerloop & 14500 Changed from the stock med/low/high to low- medium- high . With a REAL LOW low.

The modes are so well spaced you would think the driver was custom made for this emitter .

The reflector had to deal with a bit of filing/grinding & a thin anti shorting washer had to be made . The beam is still on the floody side with a nice transition .
I will try to get some photos of the brightness levels .
Really happy with the results.

Tailcap measurements with Enerloop :
Low .03 med .07 high 1.84

Aw14500 IMR:
Low .03 Med .32 High 1.35

nice,any photos before and after?

Beamshots are futile . At least with my point & shoot .

how do you open the head of the flashlight ? do you need a special tool?

Loop a 5 " piece of tape into an "o" sticky side out & stick to a table top .Stick the bezel of the light against it & turn counterclockwise . Use a toothpick to carefully remove the lens & o-ring . Reflector should drop out . A split ring pliers or special tool can be used to remove the pill .

nice,thank you.

So, do you mean it start on low now? In another thread on putting the 219 into a SF U2 the OP mentions losing three modes, he reasoned to a lower emitter vf. It would seem that this driver is optimized for a higher vf/ xml<219.

Yes . It starts on low , medium, then high. With the Enerloop its more like super low ( you could stare at the emitter without discomfort ) then a lower medium than the xml . & finally what amounts to a turbo style mode . With the 14500 all modes are brighter with what seems to be better spacing than stock .

I was thinking of modding a E03 XP-G to use the Nichia 219 but it looks like the XML is the way to go.

Did you have to de-solder the LED and re-flow it back on or was the module already like that?

nice mod!

Mr Floppy said:

I was thinking of modding a E03 XP-G to use the Nichia 219 but it looks like the XML is the way to go.

Did you have to de-solder the LED and re-flow it back on or was the module already like that?

Click to expand...

I just de- soldered the supply connections & swapped the mcpcb's . The reflector needed to be shortened as the 219 from Illumination supply is a bit thicker than the stock xml . I believe the emitter swap/reflow should work with an xpg board without modification .

Still working like a champ . I have been using it for edc & camping . With a primary cell or Enerloop there is plenty of runtime & output. I dont' bother with the 14500's anymore .

I dont know if I damaged or reprogrammed the driver by shorting the terminals against the reflector :shrug: but I like the flashlight a heck of a lot more in this config . If someone else does the swap I would like to know your results .

its very strange that your modes changed ,also that with IMR battery you get less Amps i think thisi is strange also.mine with stock driver i get 2,4amps with xml.
did you manage to take any photos to compare the two leds?

How can you adjust height of MCPCB between the Nichia 219 is 2mm thickness (if you bought at the IlluminationSupply) and stock Xeno E03 MCPCB?

nofearek9 said:

its very strange that your modes changed ,also that with IMR battery you get less Amps i think thisi is strange also.mine with stock driver i get 2,4amps with xml.
did you manage to take any photos to compare the two leds?

Click to expand...

I did swap a 4000k xml t4 in for a week or so, but ended up putting the Nichia 219 back in . Strangely the modes stayed at : Low , med , high with both emitters . I may have just "hurt" the driver , maybe its just a lucky accident? I pulled the driver from the pill to resolder new wires & discovered no visibly charred or exploded components .

Since I did the mod it went through 2 cycles in my front load clothes washer with no damage .:thumbsup:

No photo's; sorry my camera is non adjustable and when I try to do beamshots it turns into visual mulch .

Bud

shrike2222 said:

How can you adjust height of MCPCB between the Nichia 219 is 2mm thickness (if you bought at the IlluminationSupply) and stock Xeno E03 MCPCB?

Click to expand...

The flashlight originally was equipped with a Cree xml . To fit the Nichia I carefully ground a bit off the reflector with my belt sander & fine tuned with a file .

Bud

BudK said:

I just de- soldered the supply connections & swapped the mcpcb's . The reflector needed to be shortened as the 219 from Illumination supply is a bit thicker than the stock xml . I believe the emitter swap/reflow should work with an xpg board without modification

Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I came into a number of 219's on the 20mm board but I think I might have to get the 10mm board. I hate having to reflow as I am not that good at it.

How easy was it twist the bezel off? Did it require much force?

Mr Floppy said:

Thanks for that. I came into a number of 219's on the 20mm board but I think I might have to get the 10mm board. I hate having to reflow as I am not that good at it.

How easy was it twist the bezel off? Did it require much force?

Click to expand...

It was easier than I thought it would be . See post # 5 . Good old duct tape should do it .:thumbsup:

Thanks Bub, I think I will definitely try this mod. When you swapped the MCPCB, were they attached in some way with thermal epoxy or anything like that?

Thermal paste . I just used the silver Arctic non adhesive .

Thanks Bud. I was going to get the XP-G model as it was a couple of bucks cheaper but if the driver for the XML is more suited, then I might have to change it to the XML model.