kz1000s1
Enlightened
I put an XPG-R5 on a 10mm board in my HDS U60GT last night.
No special tools were needed. I used side cutters and a utility knife
to trim the board. Beam quality is good even with a smooth HDS
reflector. It has a nice floody throw. Output is an estimated 200-220
lumens OTF compared to a 170 lumen Quark in a ceiling bounce test.
Heat isn't a problem. It was run for 6 min. on max and it didn't get
much warmer than with the original Lux III. No thermal step down.
The tree is about 40 ft. away.
Stock HDS U60GT
HDS U60GT with XP-G R5
Quark AA XP-E R2, 14500 battery
New
The reflector bottom was sanded to shorten it about 0.5 mm to get a good focus.
Otherwise the center of the hot spot had a slightly dimmer center.
The board isn't that hard to trim. The aluminum is soft enough that I did the rough cutting
with wire cutters, and final trimming shaving the sides to fit with a utility knife.
After the board is in place with a little Arctic Silver underneath (also on the top and threads
of the heatsink), you need to extend the wires to the board. I used short pieces of 26g milspec
wire without insulation. Try to keep the wire and solder to the board as low as possible so it doesn't
make contact with the bottom of the aluminum reflector which rests on top of the heatsink.
Then I coated the top of the board and the wires with black nail polish for insulation and a cleaner look
around the emitter. And no, it wasn't MY polish!
Last night I took it for a long walk to do some testing. It works great!
The beam profile reminds a little of my P7 Maglite with a combination of flood
and throw, close to the same brightness, though of course less overall output.
And compared to my R2 Quark, it seems to throw as far or close to it.
That makes me happy because the goal of this HDS project was to have
at least the performance of my Quark combined with the HDS UI and build quality.
No special tools were needed. I used side cutters and a utility knife
to trim the board. Beam quality is good even with a smooth HDS
reflector. It has a nice floody throw. Output is an estimated 200-220
lumens OTF compared to a 170 lumen Quark in a ceiling bounce test.
Heat isn't a problem. It was run for 6 min. on max and it didn't get
much warmer than with the original Lux III. No thermal step down.
The tree is about 40 ft. away.
Stock HDS U60GT
HDS U60GT with XP-G R5
Quark AA XP-E R2, 14500 battery
New
The reflector bottom was sanded to shorten it about 0.5 mm to get a good focus.
Otherwise the center of the hot spot had a slightly dimmer center.
The board isn't that hard to trim. The aluminum is soft enough that I did the rough cutting
with wire cutters, and final trimming shaving the sides to fit with a utility knife.
After the board is in place with a little Arctic Silver underneath (also on the top and threads
of the heatsink), you need to extend the wires to the board. I used short pieces of 26g milspec
wire without insulation. Try to keep the wire and solder to the board as low as possible so it doesn't
make contact with the bottom of the aluminum reflector which rests on top of the heatsink.
Then I coated the top of the board and the wires with black nail polish for insulation and a cleaner look
around the emitter. And no, it wasn't MY polish!
Last night I took it for a long walk to do some testing. It works great!
The beam profile reminds a little of my P7 Maglite with a combination of flood
and throw, close to the same brightness, though of course less overall output.
And compared to my R2 Quark, it seems to throw as far or close to it.
That makes me happy because the goal of this HDS project was to have
at least the performance of my Quark combined with the HDS UI and build quality.
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