Rebelized (x2!) HDS EDC Ultimate by Milkyspit!

[MSaxatilus]

Along with another light I recently reviewed (the Deerhunter), I also got to check out this light......

Seems normal enough till you look through the bezel......

Milkyspit took TWO rebels and two smaller reflectors and replaced the stock reflector and stock emitter. The results are this light.

I will insert more specs here as I get them, but for now, I can say that the rebel emitter really increase the overall output of the light. You get a huge and floody result of nice white light. The only drawback is that you loose the lowest low setting all together. For whatever reason, the stock driver board cannot properly drive the lowest setting so instead the light remains off.

But lock on the Boost mode and it more than makes up for it. Awesome mod.

Hopefully more details to follow!!

MSax

 

[Thujone]

Wow.. Very very cool!

 

[clg0159]

Looks impressive enough, but I am having a hard time telling without BEAMSHOTS!!!!!! Lets see it in action.

 

[Strauss]

Yes, beamshots please! I was actually thinking about having this done to my McLux PD. And please, take some good shots, not just whitewall ones

 

[ggaarryy]

And its mine, all mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Milky has been working on this one for a while for me and I cannot wait to get it back.

Superb pictures as always Msax.

Looking forward to the beam shots.

 

[milkyspit]

MSax, great photos as always! Especially the one on the woodpile... looks like the front cover of a catalog or something! oo: :thumbsup:

Some earlier photos I took INCLUDING BEAMSHOTS...

The light seems to generate about 200 lumens overall output on max in the 2x Rebel-100 arrangement... in ceiling bounce A-B testing it illuminates a room slightly more than my benchmark M180 light, which Leef has tested to be pretty much exactly at 180 lumens. Runtime should remain about the same as that of the stock light.

Remember, this is a prototype mod, the first of its kind AFAIK... results were good though not perfect. As MSax said, the lowest brightness seems to have disappeared... or more accurately, it may give a little spark of light now and then, but mostly it's just not there. Cause for this is unknown at present. In general the lower the brightness gets set, the more prone the light is to a randomly occurring flicker... it doesn't happen all the time nor does it seem predictable... in most cases it's not even noticeable unless one is looking for it, and even then, only at very close range (ouch! my eyes!!)... but yes, the minimum brightness has disappeared almost entirely. :thinking:

Interesting: the dual-emitter arrangement at close range makes for some interesting artifacts, mainly due to reflections off the sides and through the scallops of the bezel ring itself. Note how the sidespill takes the shape of an American football... and though not visible in the photo, there are some very faint, symmetric lines patterned through the spill region as well. If anyone used to play with those Spirograph toys as a kid, the patterns remind me of what one might create with one of those. Actually it's kinda neat.

Hotspot is completely round and normal looking.

The beam has a relatively soft hotspot plus a generous radius of sidespill, so it's suitable for viewing objects a few feet away, and equally useful walking down a dark block in a city. This is no pure throw monster, but then, the platform itself isn't designed to be one.

Shining the light down my cellar steps seems a good representation of the beam in real-world use. Note the hotspot at the base of the stairs and beam coverage down the stairs themselves, as well as on the walls to either side. The field of view this light creates gives a sense of comfort, if that makes any sense.

All in all, this was in one sense a minor headache to build, but in another sense a lot of fun. And the result was IMHO worth the effort! I would most humbly call this one a success... hope Gary thinks so, too, once he receives it!

 

[ggaarryy]

Milky

I have no doubt that it will be all that I expect and likely more.

Thanks for your efforts and sorry again for chasing you about completion, as I said I suppose patience is not my strong point.

Cheers mate.

 

[Strauss]

Thanks for the beamshots! That is one sweet lokking light

 

[Ty_Bower]

Scott,

Why didn't you stick three of them in there? :nana:

 

[milkyspit]

Scott,

Why didn't you stick three of them in there? :nana:

oo:

Coulda stuck perhaps 4 in there but the reflectors wouldn't fit!

 

[LED_Thrift]

Milky - looks like a beautiful and useful mod, as usual. You said runtime should be about the same. Does that mean you used the same driver?

 

[gottawearshades]

Very cool.

 

[MSaxatilus]

Milky - looks like a beautiful and useful mod, as usual. You said runtime should be about the same. Does that mean you used the same driver?

Yes, the driver remains the stock Novatac.

MSax

 

[milkyspit]

Yes, the driver remains the stock Novatac.

MSax

Uh, technically the stock HDS driver. Didn't want to lose all the bells and whistles the stock driver provides, so it remained in the light.

 

[LED_Thrift]

Thanks guys.

 

[Russianesq]

WoW

 

[Nitroz]

Uh, technically the stock HDS driver. Didn't want to lose all the bells and whistles the stock driver provides, so it remained in the light.

That is one of the best things about an HDS IMO, is the driver.

Nice work milky!

Did you just cut down the HS on this one?

 

[milkyspit]

That is one of the best things about an HDS IMO, is the driver.

Nice work milky!

Did you just cut down the HS on this one?

Thanks Nitroz!

I actually fabricated a new heatsink from brass bar stock with an aluminum backing, and mounted that nearer the head of the light in the reflector cavity. The stock heatsink remains in its usual location and adds further thermal mass to the thing for better long-run heatsinking.

 

[luminata]

what's the white goop around the emitters at the base of the reflectors? is that how the reflectors and emiiters are attached to the backing plate? anyway to clean that up during modding?

 

[thermal guy]

Would this mod have at least as much throw as the novatac 120?