Oh Man... Where to Begin?

[AdamBomb]

Hey Guys! New guy here. My name's Adam.

Within the last few weeks I have become... obsessed(?) with FLASHLIGHTS! Who would have ever thought. I just received my first budget light from overseas, it's the Amazon BBQbuy light that comes highly recommended from a few members on here. I'm still waiting on my 14500 flames to arrive from DX.


BBQbuy Amazon light by Adam Gerweck, on Flickr

Anyways, I'd love to pick up some more lights and try my hand in modding. I'm pretty decent with soldering, so I think I'll do well.

My Question is:

Do you guys have any recommendations on where I should start my learning process?

Obviously reading the forums will help, but there has to be some literature, or diagrams to check out. Are all lights basically the same... made up of switch, driver, etc? I'm a bit overwhelmed by battery draw, driver compatibility, driver size, etc. You can spill any info you'd like here, but feel free to pawn me off to other sources as well.

Cheers!

Adam

 

[harro]

For mine, i'd start with some of the cheaper, 'No-Name' Chinese lights. They allow you to fiddle around a bit with the electronics, and if you get a result, then all the better. If you bugger one up, then its not so much money down the drain. Some of them make a pretty good host for a decent drop-in. A lot of them have turned aluminium reflectors,as opposed to coated plastic ones.I've had a bit of luck with a SkyRay Black King, that now puts out as much light as its supposedly more powerfull Apex 5 x xml 4 x 18650, close relation. Just carefull setup and attention to detail and a few other small odds and sods was all it took.
The only thing you really miss out on with these lights is fancy packaging, all the spare orings and lanyards etc. Mind you, there are some really dodgy ones as well, which will only ever be good for throwing at the neighbor's barking dog!!
Good luck

 

[jamesmyname]

I've done one mod and it was a lot of fun. I used a cheap 9-LED light and swapped out the 5mm LEDs with a single Cree LED. I also added a driver that had regulation and multiple modes. If I were to take it a step further, I would swap out the 3xAAA for a CR123.

I'd second the "no name" Chinese light suggestion. In fact, my next mod will probably be on the light you referenced in your first post. Those Sipik SK68 clones are great lights for the price, but they could really benefit from multiple modes (rather, just a low and a high). I just ordered three more and I plan on opening one up to do a driver swap. Oh, and you'll be really impressed when you get those 14500's :)

 

[Match]

Great advice above. Less of a hearbreak to mess up a $10 light than a $50+ one. I'd like to offer another suggestion though...

Buy an OEM host from places like CNqualitygoods or FancyFlashlights and add your own emitter and driver. You'll alleviate a lot of headache by not having to deconstruct an assembled light, and you'll know that the parts will fit/work.

For example, on the other forum I just did a review of 3 different hosts from the afformentioned site. The one I'd recommend is the C8 Clone. Add a Cree XP-G2 on a 20mm star (only a little filing to make it fit perfectly) along with a KD 2.2a 7135 V2 driver and you'll have an outstanding little thrower (>38kcd) you build yourself for ~$25 total :D

Google "OEM Host Review" and it should come up, or let me know if you have any other questions.

-Match