Premium Titanium Firefly (AA Triple 219b + Guppydrv + FClicky)

ghos

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
121
Location
Singapore
Hi all,

After a long wait, my firefly finally arrived yesterday night (Bought from http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?419969-100pc-Left-Titanium-Firefly)

It is bigger then how it looks, but it feels premium! Nice weight and beam as well, only complains are it feels a bit rough, and the metal tail cap is really rough and sticky

I've been looking for a nice AA sized host to play with for quite alwhile, the last being my Thrunite T10T, which was built into a MTG2 (Build thread here http://goo.gl/Q5irYG)

I spent some time playing with the light and afterwards, its mod time!

First up, really need to get it shiny and smooth, heres the condition of it right as i received it

1.jpg


First, the tail clip, really unique tail clip, mirror shined with green compound

3.jpg


After about an hour of polishing, starting with 400 grit, 800 grit, 1200 grit, 2000 grit, autosol and a round of dremel with green compound, here it is all shined up

2.jpg


Next, disassembly, all the parts except the copper heatsink are not threadlocked and is accessible with a strong pair of tweezers

4.jpg


First thing to fix, the tail cap and switch, I did feel the metal cap is a bit sticky and rough at time, so a quick work with a round diamond file and 400 grit sandpaper fixes this, I no longer get sticking presses

Also, I wanted to change the reverse clicky to a forward clicky (I prefer forward clicky switches as it allows momentary)

Taking apart the switch assembly reveals a reverse clicky with several metal gaskets and a rubber cover (for waterproofing)

This rubber cover tore upon disassembly, probably something wrong with it, so temporary I have lost water proofing capabilities until I can get a replacement

The switch space is small, so I had to file the forward clicky switch to a diameter to match the existing

However, after matching the size, I found the tail sticks out too much, preventing it from tail standing and switching off properly

6.jpg


So I decided to remove the board and make my own thin board, using the metal gaskets that came with the switch and some tape

Here is the "build", a small copper tape was pasted to the spring to allow it to reach the switch

5.jpg


The new switch

7.jpg


Do note a lot of adjustments is needed, especially to get the light to off! After fitting in a lot of pieces of rubber, it now works flawlessly, I can now operate the light momentarilly or switch modes by half pressing

Next up, the light and driver

The LED (Nichia 219b), is a PITA to remove, I did not realise the LED was actually not reflowed to the board, but reflowed to the entire copper heatsink, meaning the board is plastic and only serves to deliver current

While this makes excellent heat sinking, it does make it really difficult to remove, i ended up destroying my 219b completely trying to remove it

This means there is a "knob" in the middle of the pit.. a quick brush with a dremel removes it

8.jpg


I removed it to mess around with an XHP50 (my original plan), but i found out the amount of space within just does not permit that kind of thing, for one it keeps shorting everywhere and the head cannot completely screw back

9.jpg


So the next thing was to file the optic and triple star. the optic i used is a frosted medium (since using a clear optic with so much material removed will result in a ugly beam)

I used a metal file to the optic to shape, then finished it off with a diamond file and 1200 grit sandpaper

10.jpg


I didn't know if the whole assembly would fit, but surprisingly it does, in fact is FITS so well, it was as though this light was designed to put triples in!!

Look at the space with the optic and triple star in!! Just enough space to screw the retaining ring back in

11.jpg


Luckily, the heat is concentrated on the outer edges, and the design of this light does not permit a center heat sink, but it does sit or wrap around a copper core, and when completely scewed in, the copper heatsink touches the back of the star

I applied thermal compound and screwed it in, kinda looks a like a laser build

12.jpg


LED is done, next is the driver.

The stock driver comes in low, medium, high and turbo, no memory

However, I prefer more versatility, so the guppydrv was the way for me, it has 22 preset modes which I can change on the fly

I opted for a 7135 driver instead of a FET as a FET seems to affect color temperature and CRI for some reason

In my haste to assemble the light, I forgot to add more 7135 chips to the driver, so the total current is 3amps, the driver does need to be filed slightly to allow it to fit

The way the light is designed, the driver has to added last as it is much easier.. so this requires two sets of wires, one from the LED and one from the drivers..

I soldered them together and used shrink tubing to insulate them, then simply twist it close. there is ample space to allow for twisting of the wires in both the heatsink and driver portion

Spring also cut shorter to allow for more room for the battery

13a.jpg


And.. done!! Now a triple 219b with 22 modes and forward clicky, perfect!!

Light is now brighter and much more floodier, very pleasing tint and the repaired clicky tail now feels very premium

Am waiting for my tritium vials to arrive, in the mean time will use the steel rods for now

14.jpg


Joining the triple family

15.jpg


16.jpg


Thanks for reading!!
 

recDNA

Flashaholic
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
8,761
I wish I had your patience, dexterity, knowledge, and skill.
 

ghos

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
121
Location
Singapore
Hey all,

Thanks!! It did take me quite alwhile to find the correct combination of parts and measurements, in fact this was the result of several failed builds (osram oslon 4000k and XHP50 2x 14250), the thing shorted like crazy and it was really frustrating trying to locate and isolate the short, while I managed to find the short in the end, the head ended up not being able to screw in, which will mean the tritiums will bounce up and down

So triple was the most logical option next, and it turned out really good, I did try to drill holes for trits in optic but it seems rather thin and might break, the walls of the body look quite thick, I wonder if they can be bored to fit a 16500 cell or something like that


Note, it seems it is possible to change just the driver, but you will need to desolder the wires from the star (do not attempt to remove the star!)

You can then take a new driver (eg, drjones), file it slightly and just snake the wires back up the hole and solder it, twist the excess wires closed

Heres for anyone with a firefly who might be thinking of mods

Cheers!
 

ghos

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
121
Location
Singapore
Looks like a 17mm driver just fit right in?

Hi mk2rocco,

It will need a bit of filing (about 1mm-ish) around the the circumference in order to fit but yes it is doable without actually touching any of the electronics

Once it fits, you will probably need to find a way to make it stay in place, you could solder the outer edge to the pill, in my case I simply stuck a piece of rubber and pressed it in

One tip, on the backside of the driver (the side that is hidden in the pill), it helps to stick some tape to ensure the parts (other then the 7135 chips) are touching not the pill, if not it might short and result in full power

If you are looking to change just the driver, it helps to remove the lead wires from the led first (just apply solder and pull down the driver), then put your new driver and solder it back the same way (warning, make sure your solders are flat, the reflector is really a PITA when it shorts your leads), you driver should have excess wire length, just twist it close
 

ghos

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
121
Location
Singapore
Hi all,

Beamshots as promised

I'm using a frosted carclo optic (due to the file down nature of the optic, using clear will result in ugly star beams)

Here's how it looks like

beam1.jpg


Beam is very smooth, equally spread out and no hotspot, really very pleasing, but of course, throw suffers after a distance

beam2.jpg


Like my V10r with similar configuration, it makes an excellent camera light, here is an inkosi on my carpet floor with low light and using the firefly as a light source

beam3.jpg


Cheers all
 

mk2rocco

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 26, 2015
Messages
2,122
Thanks for the reply, I think I may file the driver so it's a press fit into the head. Maybe some thermal epoxy as well, I'll just have a break it out if it's an issue later.
 
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