KL1 Mod with SSC-P4, WOW!

[Marlinaholic]

I recently got a used E1L off Fleabay that was supposed to be a 30 lumen cree but turned out to have a late KL1 head instead. The seller wouldn't take a return, but the price was pretty low, and it was mine now, so I decided to see if I could mod it. After all the stories I read about opening the head on these I was scared to try, but lead vise jaws, leather covered plumbing pliers, and a propane torch later I had it apart with no marks at all!

I was happy about that, considering this is the first one I've ever taken apart. It isn't easy, but wasn't too horrible. I unsoldered the original Luxeon and put in a new SSC-P4 U bin. I put a thin plastic shim under the emitter as I had read on here that it would eliminate the "square" beam profile and isolate the base which is connected with the + side of the emitter, which I believe is the exact opposite of the original Luxeon. I put the stock TIR and lens ect. back in the head and just hand tightened the head back together. How do you guys retighten these? Can you over do it if you just go by hand? Seems mine kinda comes to a stop at certain point, and I figured if I ever want to upgrade again it will be fairly easy to open back up. Anyway, the beam is now round and NOT square and is nice and bright white, not green and dim like it was. Beam is very nice, hotspot blends into dimmer light smoothly instead of having an ugly dark ring like some lights. Throw is on par with my current gen E1L dual output. I am surprised by how bright this light is! I gotta say, if you can do this to one of these you already own, there isn't much reason to buy the current E1L unless you want the low mode, as this light is every bit as bright if not more so. You guys that are smarter then I am could change the driver out, but I just figured I'd stick with the factory one for now. By the way, this light should be fine with 2 primaries or one 123RCR as per the original KL1 right? Seems to run ok on such setups. Anyone who has done mod know what sort of runtime it gives?

 

[problemchild200]

I have this light and also have an ssc p4 emitter sitting here. Maybe I will give it a try. The last SF I took apart I used boiling water about 1 inch deep. I let the head sit in it for about 4 mins and then used a rubber strap wrench and a wooden clamp to remove the head.

 

[Snow]

Aren't you worried about inadequate heat transfer with the plastic shim?

 

[carbine15]

KL1 works up to 9 volts so three primaries should be okay. I wonder about using a plastic shim as the thermal transfer would be hindered. I guess if it hasn't gone angry blue then you should be okay. I just put my sscp4 right where the lux 3 was and the beam is pretty.
on the right is a beamshot of my KL1 just like yours without a shim.

 

[csshih]

to "retighten" surefire heads after you get them open, you'll have to get some threadlock.. it basically glues the threads and makes it hard/impossible to open until you're feeling like modding again!

 

[ROK]

I have modded many KL1's.
The forward current of KL1 is around 500mA. So, I don't believe plastic shim can handle the heat issue.
My recommendation is remove the shim and adhere to heatsink directly. And swap the optic with McR20-S reflector. You can see the perfect beam.

 

[mhejl]

I have modded many KL1's.
So, I don't believe plastic shim can handle the heat issue.

Exactly right. I did basically the same mod but used a paper shim thinking the epoxy would penetrate and help conduct the heat heat a little better. It worked for a while then

 

[Cuso]

I have modded many KL1's.
The forward current of KL1 is around 500mA. So, I don't believe plastic shim can handle the heat issue.
My recommendation is remove the shim and adhere to heatsink directly. And swap the optic with McR20-S reflector. You can see the perfect beam.

Yep NO shim is necessary in this mod, the heatsink is already isolated because its anodized, just use some Artic Alumina and you're set. The square beam immediately goes away when you replace it with the Seoul. There are some lights that actually need the shim to focus properly , but this is not one of them, and the pros use copper shims

 

[mhejl]

Yep NO shim is necessary in this mod, the heatsink is already isolated because its anodized

Are you sure about this? Everything I've read says the bare emitter's slug is tied to the anode (positive)? Now, mounted on a star is different.

 

[London Lad]

I don't like to trust the ano for insulation so I cut two very fine strips of kapton tape and place them like parallel supporting bars across the point where the emitter is going to go. I then use Artic Alumina to glue the slug down.

The end result is the tape lifts the slug a tiny fraction but the artic still has an unobstructed termal path between the slug and heatsink.

 

[mudman cj]

I believe it was Yellow who posted about using two hairs in a way similar to the Kapton tape 'support bars'. They make sure there is a *slight* gap between the LED slug and heat sink.

Another method which can be used with thermal epoxy is to apply a thin, even layer and allow it to cure before mounting the LED with another application of the epoxy. There are various ways to achieve a thin and even layer, such as with a razor blade edge or pressing into a non-stick surface such as certain plastic films.

 

[Marlinaholic]

OK, so since the head is anodized, if I still want to shim the emitter, I can do it with one of those little copper shims from the Shoppe and there shouldn't be a problem, right? Or maybe I'll do the thermal epoxy thing mentioned. I don't know if I really need to shim it from what you guys are saying, but sure l sure like the beam I'm getting now. Speaking of that, do any of those optics the shoppe carries drop in to this light where the old optic was without any modifications? Do any of them get you more throw or more spill ect. compared to the original. I know a lot of people just put a reflector in these, but has anyone tried a different optic instead of a reflector? Just wondered and thanks for the tips guys.

 

[mudman cj]

A copper shim from the shoppe will measure about 0.030" thick - just the right thickness to bring the emitter to the focal point of the stock optics when used to replace a Luxeon LED in a flashlight. Apparently, in the case of the KL1 stock optic you still get a nice beam even without the spacer. I have modded mine to reflectors, so I wouldn't know what the beam looks like using the optic without a spacer, and I can't help you with the optic question other than to say that Surefire has used some of the best optics available anywhere except in the very first generation of KL1, which used an NX05. You can tell the difference by looking at the emitter side of the optic. The newer optics have a recess for the LED. Assuming you have one of these, you are unlikely to find a better one IMHO.

 

[Marlinaholic]

I went ahead and took the plastic shim out and put the emitter back in with some arctic on the bottom of it so heat should not be a problem now. I don't know, the beam still looks pretty nice, I might shim it back up with copper, but I'll test it tonight when it gets dark to see if it is as nice as my shimmed beam was.

 

[carbine15]

so I wouldn't know what the beam looks like using the optic without a spacer,

See post #4 for an answer to this pressing question.

 

[Lighthouse one]

If you don't get proper heatsinking...the led will throw blue light in about 30 seconds to 2 minutes. 500ma isn't too much- so you can still get good results with an OK job. Kick it up to 1000 ma...and the job has to be perfect.

 

[Marlinaholic]

The beam appears the same tint as when I started, so I don't think I hurt anything with my shim, but I wasn't leaving this thing on for more than a few seconds at a time for testing anyway. Now it should be ok, since I removed the shim all together, to run it longer. I always wondered about that blue tint stuff though. If heatsinking is not good, how blue do these emitters get before ? I mean, is it really blue, like super obvious ugly blue light, or just a mild blue tint? I'm still learning as you might have guessed.

 

[carbine15]

Almost purple it's so ugly. Happens pretty quick though. At least it has with me. I think it has something to do with the phosphors burning away. No phosphors, no converting blue light to white light.

 

[Cuso]

Are you sure about this? Everything I've read says the bare emitter's slug is tied to the anode (positive)? Now, mounted on a star is different.

I'm sure, Novatac lights are the same deal, they anodize the heatsink and drop the led in with some thermal epoxy, has long has you don't scratch the whole surface area and remove the anodizing ( which on this case is the hard type) you will be all right...

 

[Nake]

I'm sure, Novatac lights are the same deal, they anodize the heatsink and drop the led in with some thermal epoxy, has long has you don't scratch the whole surface area and remove the anodizing ( which on this case is the hard type) you will be all right...

The two Novatacs I have didn't have epoxy, but a thermal compound under the emitter. They lifted right out after the wires were desoldered.