"Police" UX1K DD R123 Mod

[Sengoku]

\"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

Hi, ive been looking for a good small host for a luxeon mod for a while, then i came across this:

ebay link

Its really not a bad quality light, built like a tank, got a tacky LOTC and got what i think is bead-blasted finish /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif But its only a cr123 direct driving 6 very ugly and DIM leds, had to take them out! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
It was an easy mod, basically put new glass lens in, a SO20XA reflector, UX1K luxeon star with pos, neg wire soldered on, and dropped and screwed everything in. For heatsinking, i had to make sure the body of the light was a tight fit against the star and with some AA grease.

Size compared to other known lights, size is about 75mmx30mm

Beamshot of HDS Ultimate60 on brightess level 1(left) VS police MOD(right)
Which one do you think has a whiter tint? i think the tint of the UX1K is pretty good! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Photo of the bezel showing SO20XA reflector and lens

Photo of + contact

Draws 1.3amps from the fully charge cell, not sure what current the lux is running at, but according to the DD reference sheet, a K vf runs at 600mA?

Runtime is about 25 min of full brightness(cell charged to 4.2v) by this time the cell would still be 3.4v but noticably dimmer. being a K vf i should be alright with not over discharging as the lux would barely light up at 3v.
The light got pretty hot but not burning after 10mins.

Overall im quite please with this mod and impressed how bright and white the U bins are even a X1 tint(see pic of beamshot) the HDS is 60 lumens, im guessing the police mod is atleast 80 lumens(sorry guys no light meter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif)

thanks for looking at this very long post /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[evan9162]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

Drawing 1.6A from the battery with direct drive means the Lux is also getting 1.6A.

From the last photo, I can tell you that your heatsinking is very inadequate, especially for running at 1.6A.

 

[Sengoku]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

[ QUOTE ]
evan9162 said:
Drawing 1.6A from the battery with direct drive means the Lux is also getting 1.6A.

From the last photo, I can tell you that your heatsinking is very inadequate, especially for running at 1.6A.

[/ QUOTE ]

Evan thanks for clarifying.
It started off drawing 1.3A then after 10 secs it stabalized at 0.9A.
Yea i really should get better heatsink but theres just so little room inside!

 

[evan9162]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

Indeed. Are you using thermal paste between the star and light body? That will help.

 

[IsaacHayes]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

Yes I'd worry about heatsinking too you don't want to kill that nice U bin, or get it so hot that thermal run-away happens and it draws a ton of currrent and goes up in smoke!

Also, I think I see some clear epoxy before the wire for the postive contact. I hope it's insulated becasue the star aluminum is connected to the slug of the LED which is negative. So you could have a dead short if that postive wire touches the star at all!!!!

Yes that thing is built thick like a tank. Perhaps you could get some copper and thermal epoxy that to the light, then put the star on that. That should help increase the surface area and heat transfer rather than just the corners of the star touching the light. And make perhaps a better safer postive contact....

 

[H22A]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

I've similar a model. Instead of using star and DD, I used sammie BB500 SYAK. I bored out the mounting point and machined the inside flat so that sammie would sit nice squared for better heat transferred and electrical contact. This little thing is well built and needless to say "inexpensive".

 

[IsaacHayes]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

Does the sammie one run on a normal non-recharable then I assume?

 

[Mags]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

A normal BB500 should run on a 123, or any other battery of lower voltages.

 

[H22A]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

IsaacHayes, Mags - I ran my with both R123 and normal without problem. That's because of "K" Vf. If this were to be "J" Vf I wouldn't risk it.

 

[Sengoku]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

Thanks for the advice guys, H22A thats a great idea and your right, this really is an inexpensive mod.

Just improved my mod further,
-new + contact
-new 20mm orange peel reflector
-green glow powder around the emitter
-used thermal paste to improve heat transfer

20mm OP reflector

Green glow powder

+ contact

Star on body(heatsink)

Beamshot of Police mod vs. HDS Ultimate60 on level 1

thanks for looking

 

[evan9162]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

If you're up to doing a little cutting/filing, you could pop the emitter from the star, then form your own 1/16" circular heat sink disk to replace the star board. You will get much better thermal transfer to the body, and you won't change the emitter height, so the optics will all work the same.

 

[Sengoku]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

I was just thinking about that! ill probably go for a 2pence(UK) copper coin for better heat transfer, better get sanding/drilling!
Cheers.

 

[IsaacHayes]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

yes copper I was just going to suggest that! Go for it!! It might be brighter b/c it will run cooler too ! hah!

 

[Turboman7]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

Alan,

How did you get the Glow Powder to stay on the base of the emitter? I would like to try that on one of my lights, but I have no idea on how it's done.

THX

 

[Sengoku]

Re: \"Police\" UX1K DD R123 Mod

Turboman7: Basically i cutted a small square piece of glow sheet(paper form) and hole punched through it and placed it on the emitter, it fits perfectly and does not ruin you emitter.