ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond
Flashlight Enthusiast
I've been loving the Volere R4 Neutral I purchased on the B/S/T a few days back. It is very light, compact and the beam is really nice for such a small reflector.
But, I've been really bothered by the 3-levels and the PWM. The PWM kinda make the neutral LED look cold and unsatisfying on the Low and Med levels.
So...... I spent an hour tonight and modded out the driver. Used a L-mini II (my new favorite driver) and converted the light to 14500 only usage. Had to pull out the dremel as the original driver is about 15.5mm in diameter and the L-mini II is about 16 and change mm. Other than that fit is perfect.
What I love about this driver:
- Perfect regulated buck/boost driver for LiIon cells.
- Has a moon mode which kicks in at LVC.
- 3 drive levels - 1A, 350mA, 80mA. (for R4 XP-G assuming 0.8 OTF efficiency that equals approx 260, 100, 30 lumens OTF)
- Level switches are based on power Off then On timing, rather than On then Off timing. So no matter how long the light has been on if you switch off then on quickly the level changes.
- Current driven, not PWM.
Anyway - The mod went nearly perfectly. I can run the light on full power and the heat generated is much less than the stock driver on a 14500 on high, the tint of the neutral is consistently warm across the 3 levels and the separation between the 3-levels is much more useful.
I'll take some pics to post, but aside from the modification to the diameter of the driver there was not much to it.
I don't mind that it is a Li Ion only light, but I do have the 0.8-1.7v driver coming shortly and I will try that as well for comparison. It's rated at 25mA, 200mA and 900mA - that's a nice spread.
But, I've been really bothered by the 3-levels and the PWM. The PWM kinda make the neutral LED look cold and unsatisfying on the Low and Med levels.
So...... I spent an hour tonight and modded out the driver. Used a L-mini II (my new favorite driver) and converted the light to 14500 only usage. Had to pull out the dremel as the original driver is about 15.5mm in diameter and the L-mini II is about 16 and change mm. Other than that fit is perfect.
What I love about this driver:
- Perfect regulated buck/boost driver for LiIon cells.
- Has a moon mode which kicks in at LVC.
- 3 drive levels - 1A, 350mA, 80mA. (for R4 XP-G assuming 0.8 OTF efficiency that equals approx 260, 100, 30 lumens OTF)
- Level switches are based on power Off then On timing, rather than On then Off timing. So no matter how long the light has been on if you switch off then on quickly the level changes.
- Current driven, not PWM.
Anyway - The mod went nearly perfectly. I can run the light on full power and the heat generated is much less than the stock driver on a 14500 on high, the tint of the neutral is consistently warm across the 3 levels and the separation between the 3-levels is much more useful.
I'll take some pics to post, but aside from the modification to the diameter of the driver there was not much to it.
I don't mind that it is a Li Ion only light, but I do have the 0.8-1.7v driver coming shortly and I will try that as well for comparison. It's rated at 25mA, 200mA and 900mA - that's a nice spread.
