L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SS P4 a good idea? - UPDATE: Finished the mod...

[whc]

Have both a Fenix L0D and L0P both the Special Edition (means the L0P has 3 levels of output, and the L0D has some snow flakes engravings).

Anyway just opened both up, to reveal the emitter, and am thinking of upgrading with Seoul SSC P4, is it a good idea, and has anyone already made such a mod. Good advice and so on is much appreciated.

 

[datiLED]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

Have both a Fenix L0D and L0P both the Special Edition (means the L0P has 3 levels of output, and the L0D has some snow flakes engravings).

Anyway just opened both up, to reveal the emitter, and am thinking of upgrading with Seoul SSC P4, is it a good idea, and has anyone already made such a mod. Good advice and so on is much appreciated.

It is a great idea. File and sand 0.015" from the back of the reflector, add a 0.015" shim under the Seoul (isolate it) and enjoy the floody goodness.

For a tighter beam and better throw, file and sand 0.030" from the back of the reflector, add a 0.030" shim under the Seoul. This is what I am doing with all of the current L0P, L0P-SE and L0D Seoul mods (unless someone requests otherwise).

 

[nanotech17]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

i have done mine.very bright with ssc uswoj.

 

[gunga]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

I'm curious, since it's all flood anyways, how does a seoul modded L0D compare to a Jetbeam Jet-u?

People seem to love/hate that one due to it's all flood...

 

[whc]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

Ok thanks, will begin to prepare my flashlights for the mod, and order some LEDs and some 0.015" shims .

 

[nanotech17]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

Ok thanks, will begin to prepare my flashlights for the mod, and order some LEDs and some 0.015" shims .

enjoy you mod.

 

[ernsanada]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

How did you open up the head?

 

[datiLED]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

How did you open up the head?

I heat the head on a mug warmer. Then, I thread the head back onto the body. I wrap the upper and lower portion of the head with thick rubber bands (provides extra grip) and use strap wrenches to open the head. The last one that I did took four, or five heatings to open. They use a lot of epoxy in the head of the LOP series lights. I have not tried an LOD, though


FWIW, I saw a clever method posted for opening an LOP that used two pieces of wood with a hole drilled through. It had a saw kerf from the end to the hole, and a bolt through the wood perpendicular to the saw kerf to tighten it over the head. The pieces of wood were rotated against each other, opening the head. This method would be worth looking into if you do not have strap wrenches. I may try this method myself. It looks easy enough, and I love "shadetree" tools. Maybe someone will remember that link, and post it.

Good luck, and have fun.

datiLED

 

[whc]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

How did you open up the head?

I just used some tape (Scotch Magic Tape), and taped the lower part of the head to the body of the flashlight (requires a lot of tape for it to hold, and tighten the head all the way down first), and then put in a thick layer of tape on the upper part of the head as well (the part with the knurling), then I used my Leatherman (or what ever you have) to get a firm grip at the top part of the head (make sure you use allot of tape, so you don't scratch the head), and with some force the top part loosened and I could take the head apart.

As datiLED described the L0P has a lot of epoxy, did not find so much in the L0D though. The heating way is also a very good way of doing it, it is a matter of taste and what ever equipment you have.

 

[onthebeam]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

Would anyone do this mod for me for a price? If so, how much???

 

[Pokerstud]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

Have both a Fenix L0D and L0P both the Special Edition (means the L0P has 3 levels of output, and the L0D has some snow flakes engravings).

Anyway just opened both up, to reveal the emitter, and am thinking of upgrading with Seoul SSC P4, is it a good idea, and has anyone already made such a mod. Good advice and so on is much appreciated.

I have one of each of these exact lights, my LOD-SSC P4 is the red one with snow flakes, my LOP SE is a black one ( 3 stage ). They were modified with Seouls and they are beautiful. You WILL NOT be sorry.

I have a LOD-CE that I compared the LOD-SSC, and the LOD-SSC was a little brighter to my eyes, with a smoother beam, about VO tint. The output of the LOP-SSC is at least 40% more to my eyes.

I did not do the modding, the credit goes to EngrPaul , beautiful work.

 

[amanichen]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

I've modded my L0P-SE with with a SSC P4 (USV0H bin.)

The medium and low settings actually appear a bit darker than stock -- the overall output is higher, but it's spilt over a larger area because the stock reflector was designed for a Luxeon. High is noticeably brighter than stock, and has a more useful spillbeam compared to stock.

I did two runtime tests, and got: (950 mAh NIMH battery)

1h 20min high
2h 57min medium

Compared to some stock graphs that Chevrofreak posted here a while ago, this is 33% more runtime on high, and a negligible increase on medium.

That's ok though, I'll gladly take the increased output, and a useful spillbeam =)

Would anyone do this mod for me for a price? If so, how much???

I'd almost volunteer to do it for only the cost of shipping, but you can probably do it yourself. All you need is some Arctic Alumina thermal adhesive, a pair of wire cutters, and a 35W soldering iron.

EDIT: Made a mistake on the high level runtime. It's only about 33% longer than Chevrofreak's result, not 100% longer.

 

[onthebeam]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

I've modded my L0P-SE with with a SSC P4 (USV0H bin)

The medium and low settings actually appear a bit darker than stock -- the overall output is higher, but it's spilt over a larger area because the stock reflector was designed for a Luxeon. High is noticeably brighter than stock, and has a more useful spillbeam compared to stock.

. . .PWM drive (less efficient at a given average current) and high is a straight voltage boost (more efficient at a given average current.)

Does the wider spill and apparent darker low setting have any perceived affect on how much you notice the PWM flicker?

 

[amanichen]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

Does the wider spill and apparent darker low setting have any perceived affect on how much you notice the PWM flicker?

It seems less noticeable than before, where I don't notice it on low. However, I've become somewhat accustomed to PWM, so you might so you may or may not notice it.

 

[whc]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

All sounds very good. What is the best bin SSC P4 Leds, and the best place to buy. DealExtreme has som very cheap ones, are they any good? http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2026

Has bean thinking about using some heat resistant spray paint (or just normal heat resistant paint), to paint the bottom of the led to isolate it, and that way directly use som thermal adhensive to mount the LED to the heat sink of the flashlight, without using som chopper spacer. Will that work?

 

[nanotech17]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

i think the usxo bin is better than uswo.
i use spacer on mine and i had to file the bottom of the reflector a bit to avoid the gap between the upper head section & the bottom.

 

[AvroArrow]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

It seems less noticeable than before, where I don't notice it on low. However, I've become somewhat accustomed to PWM, so you might so you may or may not notice it.

After I did my SSC swap into my L0P-SE, I also noticed that the PWM flicker on low (which was annoying before) was greatly reduced to the point where I don't really notice it anymore. I can still see it if I wave my hand in front of it really quick, but in actual use it's not that annoying anymore.

Another vote to go ahead and mod it if you can. I swapped in a SSC-P4 USV0I and boy does it make a difference. When I compared my SSC'ed light to my co-worker's stock L0P-SE, the SSC'ed version was much brighter. The hot spot is about twice as big and noticeably brighter, the side spill is a lot brighter. The mod definitely made it a much better light than before. The best part is that it doesn't have those useless (to me) strobe & sos modes of the L0Ds.

And good luck opening the head. Mine was a super beotch to open up. I also had to do multiple heat gun blasts before the nasty glue would give out. I heated the head up with a heat gun for about a minute, then I used a cut up old foamy mouse pad to grip the 2 parts, and used 2 pairs of pliers to wrench it open. And like someone else mentioned, if you're going to use the 2 pliers method, make sure to screw the head back onto the body before wrenching it. The walls of the head alone are pretty thin and you could easily deform it if you grip it too hard with the pliers.

 

[Nake]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

It is a great idea. File and sand 0.015" from the back of the reflector, add a 0.015" shim under the Seoul (isolate it) and enjoy the floody goodness.

What I don't understand is why raise the emitter .015" and then have to take off the same amount off the reflector. If you didn't raise the emitter, then you wouldn't have to mod the reflector, right. What am I missing?

When I put a Seoul in my P1, I raised the emitter .030" to get the dome up into the reflector. I didn't touch the reflector.

 

[amanichen]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

The mod definitely made it a much better light than before. The best part is that it doesn't have those useless (to me) strobe & sos modes of the L0Ds.

Exactly! I've upgraded both my Fenixes with SSC P4s for this reason.

 

[datiLED]

Re: L0D and/or L0P mod with Seoul SSC P4 a good idea?

What I don't understand is why raise the emitter .015" and then have to take off the same amount off the reflector. If you didn't raise the emitter, then you wouldn't have to mod the reflector, right. What am I missing?

When I put a Seoul in my P1, I raised the emitter .030" to get the dome up into the reflector. I didn't touch the reflector.

If you had the reflector lathed down the 0.030", you would have noticed that the beam was very similar to stock (but on steroids). There would also not be contact between the LED and reflector.

The shim raises the LED to achieve a better focus in the reflector. You need to remove material from the back of the reflector to allow for clearance (pressure on the Seoul is a bad idea), and to get the Seoul into the right focus. The die height is lower on the Seoul than the Luxeon. The 0.030" shim solves that problem by raising it to the same height.

The reason for using a thinner shim on the LOP, is that the LOP doesn't have much reflector to begin with. The Seoul makes this a great floody light with respectable projection.