Gerber Infinity mod step-by-step

[gunga]

I have a GS in mine. I sanded the dome a bit so it provides a soft fairly even flood. Very nice. How much brighter is it? I can't remember. I did compare once, and was happy with the upgrade, but I can't give you a definitive answer.

I would do a DS mod next time. Once you have it open, it's not hard to remod, so I would just swap for a DS and if you burn it out, swap it again later. They are about $1-2 so it's not like you are frying a cree/seoul or something...

:naughty:

 

[Hondo]

20 mA at the battery?!? :ironic: Even for a NiMh, that is VERY low, you might want to check that again. After the boost circuit, that would mean the LED itself is only getting maybe five or so mA (wild guess), and would be quite dim. My IU's all pull around 170 mA at the tail, give or take, even with a NiMh. Remember that because of the voltage boost circuit, the LED only sees a fraction of the current, at over 3 volts, of what is being drawn from the battery, at less than 1.5 volts.

The brightness difference with the DS is very noticable side by side with the CS, and I use CO (warmest) color tints, so it is also less blue than the stock. I can line up an original BS light with a later CS, or one of my warmer CS mods, and my latest DS mod, and it is a very nice progression of brightness increase. I think the DS does a bit better job of focusing light to the hotspot, and so has just a bit more throw to it, such as it is in a 5 mm light.

The circuit does not seem to be sensitive to the Vf of the LED used, like the one in a Fenix E0 is, so the runtime and drive current stay about the same after the mod. It is a little overdriven from the start, but the Nichia CS and DS LED's are about the toughest 5 mm's out there, so lifespan should not be a concern. For reference, an Arc AAA drives the Nichia harder. And as I've warned before, in an overdrive applicaton, the GS with it's lifespan rating of 1/10 that of the DS would be the one to manifest lumen maintenance issues first.

But like Gunga said, once you have done this once, it is no big deal, and the LED's don't cost much more than an incan lightbulb, which only lasts about 25 hours, so enjoy! When you do "kill" an LED, unlike a light bulb, it usually won't leave you in the dark, it just gets a bit dimmer over time, and bluer if you really are cooking it. Dorcy 1st and 2nd Gen. 1xAAA lights drive their LED's very hard, and I managed to take one with a JELED mod back down to stock output level after about two years of use. I re-modded it with a Nicha CS, and I doubt I will see the problem again, the Nichia is much more durable.

 

[Black Rose]

20 mA at the battery?!? :ironic: Even for a NiMh, that is VERY low, you might want to check that again.

Amazing what the interpretation of a decimal place does for a reading

I just rechecked it:
190 mA with an Eneloop NiMh
230 mA with a new Energizer L91 Lithium
220 mA with a new Alkaline

My DS LEDs are CO bin according to the GB thread.

Thanks for the info on the runtime...that was one of my concerns whether swapping the LED out would have a big effect on the runtime.

 

[Black Rose]

I finally got it apart!!!!!

My previous attempt at taking the light apart ended up causing the light to work intermittently, so I had no choice but to take it apart

Boiled the kettle, placed the light in a baggy for 4 minutes, took my leather work gloves and it twisted apart fairly easily.

The only issue (aside from actually modding it) is getting the front o-ring cleaned up.
It is sticky beyond belief and gets caught on the head when trying to screw the head back on.

Will isopropyl alcohol do any damage to the o-ring?
I have some spare o-rings I got from DX but they don't look as good the ones that are on the Gerber.

 

[Hondo]

To be honest, I'm not really sure about the alchohol attacking the O-ring. You would be safe, and might get the desired effect just using your lube of choice like a cleaner.

By the way, you do have a choice in how you replace the LED. The "like factory" way is to unsolder the ends from behind the board and clean the holes out, and re-fit the new one. The other way which I have developed in my lazyness, is to snip the leads on the old one just below the bulges, and solder the legs of the new one to the old leg remnants of the old one. This also leaves you with a lot less bending to do on the new legs to match up with old legs. I really do not see the function of the little black shrink wrap bits on the legs, they don't appear to have any opportunity to short, and therefore a need for insulation - perhaps they were thinking of someone managing to jam the LED straight back into the light by impaling it on an object :shrug:. I left them off on my last mod. I struggled with them on my first one, because I was unsoldering the LED, and that caused the shrink material to contract around the leg, so if you go that way, and want to have them on, best to cut some new ones from fresh shrink tubing. Good luck!

 

[Black Rose]

I attempted to do a "like factory" mod, but could not get the original solder to flow enough to get the LED out.
I tried two different tips on my 25W iron and the solder just would not flow.

I'll try it again at some point with my 30/35W iron and see if that helps any.

I used a set of helping hands (which should really be called hindering hands ) to hold the metal ring.

The good news is that the light still works, so I didn't cook the circuitry.

 

[Hondo]

For that type of removal, you will need to "rock" the LED out. You heat one leg while loading the LED sideways till it pulls the leg up a bit, bending the opposite leg. Repeat on each side as needed until it is free.

If you are not getting the solder fluid, make sure your tinning on your iron tip is clean and shiny. I use a wet sponge to wipe away oxidation, alternating with a touch to the rosin core solder to keep it tinned and clean. With that, it should melt the factory solder almost the instant it touches it. You're having fun now!

 

[gunga]

HOndo, did you ever mod the Trio? How did that go?

 

[Hondo]

Not well. Actually, it could be worse, I have not wrecked it yet. That would be a shame, as it is a nice light and already has what appears to be Nichia CS LED's in it, I just want it brighter and less blue. It is tighter than any light I have ever tried to crack. I had it in the vise between two hardwood blocks - thank goodness for the two flats machined into the body. I had that sucker so hot I was worried about melting the LED domes! My rubber strap wrench was getting good traction on the head, since it is a pretty big diameter, but no joy. I am thinking about launching another attack, since it is the #1 thing I would like to put some DS's into. I was contemplating a freeze/heat cycle approach. I have not heard of anyone getting into one before, I hope it is possible. I will update here if I ever get it open.

 

[cckw]

This thread was linked to because of a great close-out on the lights. I picked up couple. I want to check in case there is a newer LED of choice:
In Feb 2010 what is the LED the cool kids would use to update?

 

[Hondo]

I just struck out trying to find currently available sources for the latest Nichia 5 mm LED's, the DS and GS. There were a couple of group buys, but none active now, and many were harvesting the GS LED from the cheap DX lights that came with them here: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12270 , but those are currently out of stock.

The Sandwich Shoppe http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.com/index.php has had them, but I failed to locate anything but the older CS Nichias on there now. They do have the uncut MJ LED's, which are very bright, but are very flood oriented beams, if you want that. They are also very durable and capable of being driven to higer currents than most 5 mm's.

You can buy the Nichias direct from them http://store.nichia.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=17 , but you will need to buy a bag of 100, for about $90 shipped. Be careful though, they might have upgraded the latest ones from the CS's that I last got in an Infinity to DS's, and you really can't improve on that, but I suspect that all of the SMKW clearance ones are still CS's. The above link takes you right to the NSPW500DS LED, which is the DS you would want. There are some "warm white" ones, but the intensity is so low on those, I think they would be very dissapointing in this light. You can, however, specify the C0 tint bin for the NSPW500DS, which is the least blue of those offered in this LED. Don't expect the W intensity bin, V is readily available, though. Direct contact numbers are at the top of the page, one in Michigan and one in California. If you only need a few, think about running a group buy to share the others, there must be some demand by now, since it has been a while since the last one.

 

[gunga]

Yep, I'd be in for a few if a group buy is arranged.

 

[Black Rose]

I had 10 each of DS and GS that I bought from Buck91's last group buy.

I sold them on the MP last summer, since I never got around to using them.