Hey guys,
I was recently asked to see what I could do with a KL2. Since I don't have a lathe yet, I was really limited in what I could do, but I did come up with something. For those that have a KL2, this might be a way to breathe new life into that KL2. If you can do a McLux build, you can do this. Below are pics of the modded KL2. On the inside are a Downboy biased at ~850mA with a TWAK 3W and a PR.
The first shot is for comparison purposes. It is a KL1 biased at ~700mA with a Q3J and an NX05 optic. Both beam shots were taken in a dark room about 30 feet from a white wall. Sorry, it's the best I could do.
First the KL1...
Next is the KL2 mod with the TWAK at 850mA with a Pelican M6 Reflector...
This is what the beam shot above came out of...
And the business end...
The pics don't really show it, but there was a spacer used for the 19 leds that were in there. It turned out that this spacer was easy to adapt to the Pelican reflector.
Now the tail end...
While doing the mod, it turned out that desoldering the leads from the springs was all that was connected to the post that supports the springs. The post actually unscrews with what can and was used as a heat sink and nook for the Downboy circuit. All it took to get the whole head a part was a bit of heat and needle nose pliers.
I should mention that the support for the stock board containing the leds and resistors (I think) just got in the way. I cut this away using a rotozip bit on my Dremel tool.
The KL2 head turned out to be really mod friendly. It just so happens that the way the post fits into the head affords a direct path for heat to the head and the body. I ran it for an hour straight and it never got more than warm.
Of course, I don't have to say anything about the throw. It was typical 3W with a PR. It easily lit things up out to 100+ yards.
I was recently asked to see what I could do with a KL2. Since I don't have a lathe yet, I was really limited in what I could do, but I did come up with something. For those that have a KL2, this might be a way to breathe new life into that KL2. If you can do a McLux build, you can do this. Below are pics of the modded KL2. On the inside are a Downboy biased at ~850mA with a TWAK 3W and a PR.
The first shot is for comparison purposes. It is a KL1 biased at ~700mA with a Q3J and an NX05 optic. Both beam shots were taken in a dark room about 30 feet from a white wall. Sorry, it's the best I could do.
First the KL1...
Next is the KL2 mod with the TWAK at 850mA with a Pelican M6 Reflector...
This is what the beam shot above came out of...
And the business end...
The pics don't really show it, but there was a spacer used for the 19 leds that were in there. It turned out that this spacer was easy to adapt to the Pelican reflector.
Now the tail end...
While doing the mod, it turned out that desoldering the leads from the springs was all that was connected to the post that supports the springs. The post actually unscrews with what can and was used as a heat sink and nook for the Downboy circuit. All it took to get the whole head a part was a bit of heat and needle nose pliers.
I should mention that the support for the stock board containing the leds and resistors (I think) just got in the way. I cut this away using a rotozip bit on my Dremel tool.
The KL2 head turned out to be really mod friendly. It just so happens that the way the post fits into the head affords a direct path for heat to the head and the body. I ran it for an hour straight and it never got more than warm.
Of course, I don't have to say anything about the throw. It was typical 3W with a PR. It easily lit things up out to 100+ yards.
