Dummy reference guide to SF A2 modding with MJ led (or 35k 5mm) leds
- Thread starter AuroraLite
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AuroraLite
Enlightened
03lab,
:wave:
I have played with the SMJ from lambda, and there are two things that you might need to watch out for:
1) Make sure you are getting the uncut version of the SMJ, orelse, you will be stuck with a really really wide flood of light and three really really faith rings of light...(believe me, I had tried when I first got them) and what I am getting now are the uncut version of SMJ.
2) if you look at my pictures, I had actually dremelled/sand down the ledge at the base of the leds. For this, you have to be extra careful not to sand too much(just enough for the leds to fit thru the opening of the reflector will be fine) orelse permanent damage will be done to the leds.
Good luck with the mod!
:wave:
I have played with the SMJ from lambda, and there are two things that you might need to watch out for:
1) Make sure you are getting the uncut version of the SMJ, orelse, you will be stuck with a really really wide flood of light and three really really faith rings of light...(believe me, I had tried when I first got them) and what I am getting now are the uncut version of SMJ.
2) if you look at my pictures, I had actually dremelled/sand down the ledge at the base of the leds. For this, you have to be extra careful not to sand too much(just enough for the leds to fit thru the opening of the reflector will be fine) orelse permanent damage will be done to the leds.
Good luck with the mod!
IsaacHayes
Flashlight Enthusiast
Just got done with doing this. I was able to remove the leds easily from the topside by heating both legs at once and pulling up on the led. They came off in about 2secs of heat. I then soldered on new (place trimed leads over solder holes, heat, push down), added some extra solder from the top, then from the back I was able to put my iron tip (flat skinny tip) between the anode contacts to smooth out the solder.
You need to grind off the bottom ledge or lip that the leds have. The ones I put in place, were wide front, and not tapered like the stock ones, but the only thing you have to do to make fit is remove the lip around the bottom. I noticed the stock leds had been sanded on the sides, but they didn't have lips on the bottom anyway from what I could tell. They sanded up way high. I just ground the lip off the bottom, this way it looks better and is all that is needed. Now from looking at the bezel they look un-touched normal leds.
A2 is pretty neat light. I wish it had a luxeon though as the main beam!
You need to grind off the bottom ledge or lip that the leds have. The ones I put in place, were wide front, and not tapered like the stock ones, but the only thing you have to do to make fit is remove the lip around the bottom. I noticed the stock leds had been sanded on the sides, but they didn't have lips on the bottom anyway from what I could tell. They sanded up way high. I just ground the lip off the bottom, this way it looks better and is all that is needed. Now from looking at the bezel they look un-touched normal leds.
A2 is pretty neat light. I wish it had a luxeon though as the main beam!
AuroraLite
Enlightened
Isaac,
Man, you speak my mind! :rock:
For the longest time, I was battling myself to whether I should put in a lux V or lux III in there for its main beam...but luckily, fellow local flashaholics had managed to calm me down and convince me not to do it.
But for what it's worth, I really wish SF will put a lux III or lux V in the middle and to shorten the length of A2(since now without the regulator) to E2E size. Now that'd be a great improvement(call it A2L or A3 or A5....)
Another spin to it will be to give the main beam also high-low and with three bright 5mms in different color...so now we not only have one really, really robust light, but 2 seperate independent light systems with different colors.
Man, you speak my mind! :rock:
For the longest time, I was battling myself to whether I should put in a lux V or lux III in there for its main beam...but luckily, fellow local flashaholics had managed to calm me down and convince me not to do it.
But for what it's worth, I really wish SF will put a lux III or lux V in the middle and to shorten the length of A2(since now without the regulator) to E2E size. Now that'd be a great improvement(call it A2L or A3 or A5....)
Another spin to it will be to give the main beam also high-low and with three bright 5mms in different color...so now we not only have one really, really robust light, but 2 seperate independent light systems with different colors.
AuroraLite said:1) Make sure you are getting the uncut version of the SMJ, orelse, you will be stuck with a really really wide flood of light and three really really faith rings of light...(believe me, I had tried when I first got them) and what I am getting now are the uncut version of SMJ.
Thanks, that's exactly what I needed to know. Can't wait to finally mod mine.
I'll let you know how it turned out.
IsaacHayes
Flashlight Enthusiast
Aurora: the K2 kroma is the closest to that. 2 level luxIII, red/blue seletable leds. I'd rather have red/UV leds though. It doesn't use a reflector for the luxeon, but I've heard it actually has sidespill with the optic...
PoliceScannerMan
Flashaholic
Isaac,
I sanded those leds to try to "Smooth" out the beam, stock they come perfect and round. I sanded them then buffed them to a shine on the light you modded for me...
I sanded those leds to try to "Smooth" out the beam, stock they come perfect and round. I sanded them then buffed them to a shine on the light you modded for me...
IsaacHayes
Flashlight Enthusiast
Ah, that makes more sense. I was thinking at first before I took them out that they were melted from the heat of the bulb. Then I saw they were sanded. I thought that's odd.. But the tops weren't sanded so I figured it wasn't to smooth out the beam!
AuroraLite
Enlightened
03lab,
Good luck! :thumbsup:
PoliceScannerMan and IssacHayes,
Hmm....that's keen observation. I'd never noticed that in the past about the 'sanded' parts, will it be possible the sanded parts at the side is to avoid the ugly beam artifacts?
I read about the kroma and played with a prototype a little while ago, to some degree it does answer my prayers, yet how I only wish they could make it a little smaller to be pocketable in my dress pants for work.
Good luck! :thumbsup:
PoliceScannerMan and IssacHayes,
Hmm....that's keen observation. I'd never noticed that in the past about the 'sanded' parts, will it be possible the sanded parts at the side is to avoid the ugly beam artifacts?
I read about the kroma and played with a prototype a little while ago, to some degree it does answer my prayers, yet how I only wish they could make it a little smaller to be pocketable in my dress pants for work.
lasercrazy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Sorry no comparison shots. Did you put them in your A2 yet? They don't have the throw of the original leds but they do have the even flood I was looking for.
AuroraLite said:Will,
I tend to agree--I remembered using the original leds for extended period of time and having it becoming warm in hand...
Flashlight,
Good luck to your future mod, and I assure you won't regret it... :naughty:
lazercrazy,
Ahhh...man, you beat me to it! Any comparison beamshots?
AuroraLite
Enlightened
Lazercrazy,
Haha...funny that you mentioned this, over the weekend I got a chance to put the new SMJ uncut into my A2. I was quite happy with the mod, though there is a slight scrafice on the 'throw'(which is not much to begin with anyway). The SMJ is wider in viewing angle(35 degrees) when compared to original MJ uncut(25 degrees), but from my eyes, I am more than sure that the SMJ does give higher and whiter output than the MJ(also confimred in my MJ uncut and SMJ uncut Minimag mods).
Another minor details I would like to contribute is the height of the 5mms up into the reflector, which now my newly put in leds are sitting rather high up(where the ledge/base of 5mm is almost at the opening). I am not 100% whether this way or to let the 5mm sit lower will be 'better', but I am sure it does affect the beam characteristic.
My educated guess is that if you are using 5mms that has wider angle of viewing, then it will more likely to be more affected by the height of where it sits in the reflector...I might re-mod the light once again just to experiment with the height.
Anyhow, I did manage to take a few pix for the SMJ and MJ A2 comparison, and I will put em up sometime after at the front page.
Haha...funny that you mentioned this, over the weekend I got a chance to put the new SMJ uncut into my A2. I was quite happy with the mod, though there is a slight scrafice on the 'throw'(which is not much to begin with anyway). The SMJ is wider in viewing angle(35 degrees) when compared to original MJ uncut(25 degrees), but from my eyes, I am more than sure that the SMJ does give higher and whiter output than the MJ(also confimred in my MJ uncut and SMJ uncut Minimag mods).
Another minor details I would like to contribute is the height of the 5mms up into the reflector, which now my newly put in leds are sitting rather high up(where the ledge/base of 5mm is almost at the opening). I am not 100% whether this way or to let the 5mm sit lower will be 'better', but I am sure it does affect the beam characteristic.
My educated guess is that if you are using 5mms that has wider angle of viewing, then it will more likely to be more affected by the height of where it sits in the reflector...I might re-mod the light once again just to experiment with the height.
Anyhow, I did manage to take a few pix for the SMJ and MJ A2 comparison, and I will put em up sometime after at the front page.
Last edited:
AuroraLite
Enlightened
Ok, I finally finished modding the SMJ leds in A2, and the result is floody beam with an improvement on the overall output vs MJ(of course, a lot white/brighter than the original leds in SF A2), and I love the tint of the new SMJ as well since it is whiter and cooler than the creamy yellowish tint of MJ leds.
I measured around 208ma current drawn(1.04v dropped across a 5 ohm resistor) for 3 SMJ leds at the tailcap with two 3.2v Panasonic CR123 batteries (around 70ma to each led). And as a comparison to Js measurement for a normal SF A2, he got a measurment of 110ma from a tailcap reading for his normal white SF A2.
The height of how high the led sits in the A2 reflector does play a big part, and I found that generally speaking, it seems to achieve the best 'throw'(or best hotspot lux reading) when the emitter pad is almost flush(or just a hair width higher) with the lower opening to the led.
Also, in discussion with Js in his great A2 thread in general discussion (The SF A2), I kept on wondering the question--how much led usage time will cut into(used up) the remaining incan usage time left? :thinking:
Today, I did two experiments, one is to find out when the incan fails to regulate, the V of the battery and the other is how many hours of SMJ led usage time will cost my SF A2 fails to lit up the incan.
For first set of my old batteries(which was originally in my A2 already), I run the A2 with incan until it fails to regulate(or fail to regulate when I turn it off and on), and I measure the V of the battery, and they read around 2.75v each(panasonic CR123).
Then, I put in two brand new panasonic 123 batteries(~3.26v ea) and turn on solely the led on A2, and after each hour usage of led, I would turn on the incan for approximately 5 secs to see whether it will fail the regulation. Then way, I would know how many hours of SMJ led usage will make my SF A2 incan fail to start...
After 9 hours of continuous use of SMJ leds in my A2, the incan failed to start/regulate.(but after 8 hours, the incan lit up perfectly for the 5 sec test). The V of batt reads ~2.645v each. So it probably will be safe to assume the incan will stop working sometime after 8 hours straight usage of SMJ leds.
If we were to assume the incan usage time is perfectly 50 mins, and conservatively, the 8 hours of SMJ leds usage will cost the A2 fail to lit up/regulate its incan...then my rough educated guess will be for every 1 hour of SMJ leds usage in my SF A2, it will cost approximately 6.25 min of incan runtime.
I will do more testing to confirm about this finding, and if anyone is interested in helping with the incan/led usage time test for your normal or modded A2, do feel free to let me know.
I measured around 208ma current drawn(1.04v dropped across a 5 ohm resistor) for 3 SMJ leds at the tailcap with two 3.2v Panasonic CR123 batteries (around 70ma to each led). And as a comparison to Js measurement for a normal SF A2, he got a measurment of 110ma from a tailcap reading for his normal white SF A2.
The height of how high the led sits in the A2 reflector does play a big part, and I found that generally speaking, it seems to achieve the best 'throw'(or best hotspot lux reading) when the emitter pad is almost flush(or just a hair width higher) with the lower opening to the led.
Also, in discussion with Js in his great A2 thread in general discussion (The SF A2), I kept on wondering the question--how much led usage time will cut into(used up) the remaining incan usage time left? :thinking:
Today, I did two experiments, one is to find out when the incan fails to regulate, the V of the battery and the other is how many hours of SMJ led usage time will cost my SF A2 fails to lit up the incan.
For first set of my old batteries(which was originally in my A2 already), I run the A2 with incan until it fails to regulate(or fail to regulate when I turn it off and on), and I measure the V of the battery, and they read around 2.75v each(panasonic CR123).
Then, I put in two brand new panasonic 123 batteries(~3.26v ea) and turn on solely the led on A2, and after each hour usage of led, I would turn on the incan for approximately 5 secs to see whether it will fail the regulation. Then way, I would know how many hours of SMJ led usage will make my SF A2 incan fail to start...
After 9 hours of continuous use of SMJ leds in my A2, the incan failed to start/regulate.(but after 8 hours, the incan lit up perfectly for the 5 sec test). The V of batt reads ~2.645v each. So it probably will be safe to assume the incan will stop working sometime after 8 hours straight usage of SMJ leds.
If we were to assume the incan usage time is perfectly 50 mins, and conservatively, the 8 hours of SMJ leds usage will cost the A2 fail to lit up/regulate its incan...then my rough educated guess will be for every 1 hour of SMJ leds usage in my SF A2, it will cost approximately 6.25 min of incan runtime.
I will do more testing to confirm about this finding, and if anyone is interested in helping with the incan/led usage time test for your normal or modded A2, do feel free to let me know.
Last edited:
wquiles
Flashaholic
I always wondered about this. Really good data - thanks!
Will
Will
IsaacHayes
Flashlight Enthusiast
Just did a swap again, and it had yellow-green leds originally. I measured the resistor and came up with a value of around 68ohms or so. So this is inbetween the normal white/blue/green and red values. Tailcap resistor was around 10 ohms. I don't think they are being overdriven super hard, but the leds are probably right around spec I'd say. 40k LEDs were used. I put glow epoxy on the back of them first, and wow does it glow good.
The new 131 lm/watt Cree's should be good, as people say they are really white and as bright as a SMJLED, but with a single die so it will throw far. Just found out about those recently.
The new 131 lm/watt Cree's should be good, as people say they are really white and as bright as a SMJLED, but with a single die so it will throw far. Just found out about those recently.
AuroraLite
Enlightened
cue003,
PM replied.
Issac,
Thank you for chiming in! I have done a few led/incan runtime-tradeoff test since then, and discovered that, more realistically, every one hour of led use(modded with SMJ) will lead to approximately 7 min of decrease in incan runtime.
Those leds that you have proposed sounded mighty good...and am still quite happy with my SMJ mod with the light, a great amount of light increase and more flood coverage overall...but I would also love to mod another A2 with powerful 5mms that have more 'throw' someday.
I too used glow powder on my SMJ, and if anyone take a closer look into them, there are area which the GID light will actually pass directly to the front. The glow is so strong that I could even read with it if I am in total darkness! :thumbsup:
PM replied.
Issac,
Thank you for chiming in! I have done a few led/incan runtime-tradeoff test since then, and discovered that, more realistically, every one hour of led use(modded with SMJ) will lead to approximately 7 min of decrease in incan runtime.
Those leds that you have proposed sounded mighty good...and am still quite happy with my SMJ mod with the light, a great amount of light increase and more flood coverage overall...but I would also love to mod another A2 with powerful 5mms that have more 'throw' someday.
I too used glow powder on my SMJ, and if anyone take a closer look into them, there are area which the GID light will actually pass directly to the front. The glow is so strong that I could even read with it if I am in total darkness! :thumbsup:
leukos
Flashlight Enthusiast
GITD is great mod for the A2!
wquiles
Flashaholic
That GITD is COOL !!!
Will
Will
oregonshooter
Enlightened
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2005
- Messages
- 313
Hello,
I've been reading this thread on changing the LEDs in an A2 and wondered if you think it would be a straight switch from my factory RED leds to these...http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/index....&products_id=36
As I understand it, the factory has 100ohm resisters and using non-rechargeables (6v) would still keep me safe with the rated 2v forward peak these are rated for?
Thanks for any suggestions. I'm just looking for more output for walking the dog and camping. The factory bulbs are a just a hair too dim.
-Jim
__________________
I've been reading this thread on changing the LEDs in an A2 and wondered if you think it would be a straight switch from my factory RED leds to these...http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/index....&products_id=36
As I understand it, the factory has 100ohm resisters and using non-rechargeables (6v) would still keep me safe with the rated 2v forward peak these are rated for?
Thanks for any suggestions. I'm just looking for more output for walking the dog and camping. The factory bulbs are a just a hair too dim.
-Jim
__________________
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