Corrective Surgery: Pila Led Tailcap

[Phaserburn]

While larger and heavier than a SF 3 cell, the Pila G3LR is a great light. The incan lamp puts out a hearty 130 lumens with a really great, spread beam. It's a pleasure to use outdoors, because your vision is so good with it. See my review in the Reviews forum for more details.

However, as anyone with a Pila (or anyone that has examined one) knows, the led tailcaps, while a great idea, are a let down simply because Pila uses substandard, non-Nichia leds. The body is great, even the quirky on/off for the leds and incan is smooth. The output is just subpar in comparison to almost any other 4-banger. In fact, if you were shopping for a 4 led light, you'd never buy this one if you could compare. The (comparitive) output is dim, and mine had an unattractive green halo around the hotspot. To be fair, a small number of artifacts are going to be present due to the unique fact that the leds are shining through a tough lens designed to be usable as a momentary push button for the incan headlamp on the other end.

What to do? Rush your tailcap to Milky Labs, that's what! I was visiting my friend Milkyspit in NJ recently, and he offered corrective surgery on what he deemed the Pila Beast Light (PBL) by replacing the stock leds with Nichia rank S 9200mcd ones.

Aaaaah, finally the tail produces the same high quality music that the headlamp does! Milky, a decidedly leds-over-incan kind of guy, had high praise indeed for the headlamp output and beam; hence PBL. When he saw the leds, however, I quote: "that just sucks!". With this mod, the Pila tail is now a top-quality piece of equipment.

The leds are bright and white, with the trademark blue tint that comes with them. No other changes were necessary. As it turns out, the leds are already being over-driven substantially at approx 50mA. The only extremely minor downside is that you lose the glow in the dark part of the tailcap. This could be remedied by Milky, I'm sure. I didn't care much for that to begin with, so I don't miss it. Milky does good work!

Now the best part: YOU TOO can have this mod done for your fine Pila flashlight, regardless of model. This straight replacement of the leds is available to you for the measly price of 20 plus shipping, and Milky will supply the leds. If you have a Pila, do it!! If you were considering one but didn't like the tailcap reviews, get one and do it. Milky's an A-1 guy, and I enjoyed my tour of Milky Labs, so I don't mind shilling for him!

PM him for more details, and tell him Phaserburn sent ya.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Phaserburn]

Wow, don't everyone pile on at once...

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon6.gif

 

[Zelandeth]

One word: Pics!

Especially given that I don't actually know the light in question!

 

[Phaserburn]

Ack!! I didn't take pics before the mod because it was a spur of the moment kind of thing. I could take "after" pics; would that be beneficial? I figured anyone who's seen the tailcap previously would know about the color and output already.

 

[bquinlan]

I would love to see an "after" picture.

Also, silly question, but are the post-mod LEDs white?

Thanks for the tip! I just PMed Milky about it.

--Bob Q

 

[milkyspit]

Hey guys! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink2.gif

And thanks, Phaser, for the glowing endorsement! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I've got a bunch of Nichia Rank S white LEDs on hand and have been using those in the Pila tailcap mod. Yes, the post-mod LEDs are white.

As a rough estimation of the post-surgery beam from the tailcap, it looks something like what you get from an Inova X5T. Quite nice actually, if I dare say so myself! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The original tailcap that Phaserburn brought me was TERRIBLE. It was really dim and the "white" LEDs were more of a sickly greenish white. I've never seen white LEDs that were so sad... which was a shame, because I really came to like the GL3 in general! Not sure if his was exceptionally bad or all the tailcaps are that way, but this mod should make pretty much any of the tailcaps look better.

 

[milkyspit]

Okay, last night I did the same mod for bquinlan, and THIS time I attempted to take some before and after pictures. I'm not very good at taking beamshot photos, unfortunately, so the colors aren't quite right, and the post-surgery tailcap beamshot doesn't show the extremely broad sidespill that's also generated. But at least it gives some hint at the increase in intensity following the mod.

I compared the Pila tailcap before and after with my NightCutter NC005C Sport Light, a very nice 2x123 light featuring 5 white LEDs and putting out a beam that for all practical purposes is identical in both brightness and pattern to an Inova X5T. Subjectively speaking, the Pila tailcap post-modding was about as bright as the NightCutter even though the tailcap has only 4 white LEDs; and the Pila tailcap before modding was nowhere close.

Here are the before and after shots...

NightCutter NC005C Sport Light on left, Pila stock tailcap on right.

NightCutter NC005C Sport Light on left, Pila modded tailcap on right.

In reality, the hotspots of all these are slightly blue. The sidespill of the NightCutter is basically white, or perhaps even a slight beige. The sidespill of the pre-mod Pila is a strange beige-green, and the sidespill of the post-mod Pila is similar to the NightCutter, essentially a white or very pale beige.

 

[hotbeam]

Good one Milky/Phaser! How difficult would it be to put in a BB??? and a Lux? As you can tell, me no have any Pila lights! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Phaserburn]

Milky and I were discussing that; he can give you more diffinitive answers. But, getting a lux in there is probably do-able. But, do to the construction of the tailcap assembly, a reflector or optic would probably be very difficult. So, you'd get a bare lux beam. That's not bad considering it's easily useable in candlemode. If you were willing to reconstruct the tailcap, the power supply is certainly available from the 2 Pila cells.

 

[milkyspit]

Hotmeister, there's maybe a centimeter of clearance heightwise in the tailcap, so whatever got installed would need to fit in that space. That's not counting the circuit board, so in theory the BB board could replace the stock board... but even there, the width inside the tailcap is larger, so ideally the BB might need some sort of "extension" board sitting around it to make proper contact... maybe something like an aluminum washer to which the BB board could be epoxied. The only reflector or optic I could see fitting in the tailcap would be an SO17XA, but even then it might need to be trimmed a bit heightwise. Hmm... now you've got me thinking of a cool little design...

Anyone with a lathe wanna jump into this one with me? I think I know what needs to be done. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

BTW, given that the Pila cell ranges in voltage from 4.1V down to maybe 3.4V, you might actually need a DB rather than a BB.

 

[madecov]

Could a PILA GL3 be modded so the main light (head) used either a Luxeon 3w or 5w ?

 

[bquinlan]

I just wanted to step in here to say that my light arrived from Milky today. Wow is that thing bright! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif Beautiful workmanship too!

I understand that practicality is never that big an issue... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ...but I can't think of any practical reason for putting anything much brighter into the LED side of the GL3. Milky's modified version kicks out plenty of lumens for almost anything except blinding or long-range throw applications. And the other end of the same light gives you 130 lumens of fun. That covers all of my needs very neatly.

Thanks for an amazing light, Milky! You rule! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

--Bob Q

 

[milkyspit]

Bob, you're very welcome. It was a pleasure! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

 

[hotbeam]

Scott.... hmmm, that is pretty tight in terms of space. Looks like a BB module or rather, DB module would do the trick. I doubt you can get any sort of optic/reflector in there to really make a difference to the flood beam given the space. Maybe I am wrong /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

 

[Phaserburn]

bquinlan, I kind of agree. The 130 headlamp and nicely bright Milkytail really cover all needs. Doesn't mean more shouldn't be tried, of course, and I'd be interested in seeing what develops. I just think the GL3R is a nice platform that is underdeveloped.

 

[bquinlan]

And on that note... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I've ordered a P91 to try in the front end of my GL3.

Now that the "dim" end is fairly bright I feel the need to boost the "bright" end. Bwahaha! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif

I need professional help. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

--Bob Q