E01 to E0 GS mod...

[warlord]

I recieved my E01 and I was a little disappointed about the color and brightness compared to my GS modded E0's. In order to test the led compared to my supply of GS K1 led's I pulled the board removed the potting and led from the E01. Beamshot comparisons here:

E01 GS led vs GS c0W bin, headlamp host

The color & brighness as determined by the eye appear about the same!!! So this means the board is the culprit. Fortunately or unfortunately, during the E01 unpotting process I broke the driver board .

I thought briefly about just buying a new blue E01 and just swapping the heads (this E01 is engraved) I had a better thought. Since the brightness and color of my E0 modded with GS's were actually better than the stock E01's why not pull the driver and led out of the E0 and put it into the E01???

So that's what I just did. Pics in a few minutes...

 

[warlord]

E0 driver board with GS K1 c0Wbin led. LED is glow epoxy potted on bottom and board is potted in hot glue. Already filed down to fit E01 host:

Previously shown board fitted into E01 host:

Still sits deep in the reflector which I chose not to polish as of now:

Beamshot of E01 after mod:

Compared to beamshot of E01 GS led in headlamp from yesterday's test; showing good color and brightness these leds are capable of (no reflector):

I love this thing now. It has the color and brightness I think we all expeced of these things when we bought them. Now I need to buy a new E01 just for comparison.

 

[tricker]

your the reason i opted to cancel my order of an EO1

 

[paulr]

Once you've got the E01 board out of the light, how hard is it to just swap the led and/or the current limiting resistor, instead of changing out the whole board?

 

[warlord]

your the reason i opted to cancel my order of an EO1

Well thanks, I guess?!?

The E01 has great construction. It's just that the modded E0 you have will be putting out more light of a better tint unless Fenix makes some adjustments.

Once you've got the E01 board out of the light, how hard is it to just swap the led and/or the current limiting resistor, instead of changing out the whole board?

The hardest part is getting the board out and unpotting it. After that, it depends on how good you are at soldering SMD's. It takes a bit of work with a soldering iron and it's a bit easier with solder paste and a hot air soldering gun. Like most things, it just takes practice.