Regalight WT1 modded to multimode..

[StefanFS]

Sometime during the last month someone asked if I ever succeded to get the pill/light engine module out from my Regalight WT1. I don't remember who it was but it made me start thinking about it. I hope you see this, whoever it was asking...

I suspected that it was a press fit so I took a big screwdriver and a hammer and just hammered it out with the light upside down in my vise. It's a press fit. It also has the exact same driver that Tiablo uses for their A9 model. Then I removed the black plastic cover around the led. The new driver was prepared with emitter leads and two copper ground wires soldered to it's rim.

I used regular 15 minute Araldit epoxy to pot the new driver (driver=SKU 7882 on DealExtreme, it's very popular and sold in a lot of places). The driver has adjustable output with a miniature variable resistor and works very well with both one 18650 and two primary CR123, it will burn from two RCR 123 LiION. Since it wasn'nt possible to use the contact ring I used ground wires, one wire screwed down into the light engine and the rest going around the light engine into the tube (I like good contact). I also decided to solder a cut down spring to the existing spring on the driver (from a standard dropin) for a bit of cushion effect. The light works better with the new driver and has modes in different UI groups. My favourite is Low-medium-high with memory after 2 sec. Very nice. I set it to a compromise level for max. runtime and still being brighter than most other lights in it's class, about 18 000 lux in throw on high and 100+ minutes of runtime on high.


The original driver.

Stefan

 

[primox1]

:thumbsup: Thanks Stefan...great post!

I was looking to fix my nonworking WT1 with a new led and circuit. Do you think its a bad idea to fit the WT1 with possibly a P7? What LED are you using with that circuit board...orignial Q5? What parts do I need to replicate what you have created, considering that my wt1 is nonfunctioning due to reasons I do not know of...1. the circuit board (7882), 2. an LED, 3. the board that the led sits on????, 4. ?????? I would also need the spring you soldered as well right?

Thanks for the post and your intricate work.

 

[StefanFS]

:thumbsup: Thanks Stefan...great post!

I was looking to fix my nonworking WT1 with a new led and circuit. Do you think its a bad idea to fit the WT1 with possibly a P7? What LED are you using with that circuit board...orignial Q5? What parts do I need to replicate what you have created, considering that my wt1 is nonfunctioning due to reasons I do not know of...1. the circuit board (7882), 2. an LED, 3. the board that the led sits on????, 4. ?????? I would also need the spring you soldered as well right?

Thanks for the post and your intricate work.

Hello,

It's possible to use an SSC P7 bare emitter. It has very good heatsinking. You'll need to open up the reflector hole to a little over 9 mm with a tapered reamer/tapered drill for metal sheeting. And you must use an OP reflector with the P7. I recommend potting an AMC7135 sandwich with 2A or 2.4A output for use with an P7 led. See my MRV thread in this subforum.

I used the original Q5. CREE Q5 emitters are available from several places on smaller boards. But test the emitter that already sit in your light, just two depleted alkalines or one CR123 and some wires, if it lights up it's ok. It's probably your driver that's kaputt.
You don't really need the spring but it keeps the battery in place better. I used a piece of spring from a P60 dropin kit but almost any small spring of reasonable quality will do. Just sand the surface to solder on the spring, and fill the inside of the original spring with solder after you potted it, bend the additional spring to shape so it rests on the old spring/epoxy and have a bent tip going down into the solder. It takes a while to do this but the light is much nicer after it's done.

Stefan

 

[primox1]

Hey Stefan,
So the ball is in motion twothumbs Thanks to you!!!). In the process of removing the circuits, I destroyed the two black plastic caps. From the pictures, you can see the dome of the LED is gone. Is the copper color ring still needed?

From the looks of your photos, the 7882 driver has a shiny coating. Is that from the 15 minutes Araldite epoxy? Whats the reason for the +head screw in the driver?
For a new Q5 emitter, is this one (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2394 ) any good?
Whats the purpose of the copper wires you have to ground the light?
The stock forward switch works with your new set up?

 

[StefanFS]

Hey Stefan,
So the ball is in motion twothumbs Thanks to you!!!). In the process of removing the circuits, I destroyed the two black plastic caps. From the pictures, you can see the dome of the LED is gone. Is the copper color ring still needed?

From the looks of your photos, the 7882 driver has a shiny coating. Is that from the 15 minutes Araldite epoxy? Whats the reason for the +head screw in the driver?
For a new Q5 emitter, is this one (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2394 ) any good?
Whats the purpose of the copper wires you have to ground the light?
The stock forward switch works with your new set up?

The copper ring is not necessary. It's glossy from a coat of epoxy, make sure the cross screw is clear of epoxy since you set the output level with that one, it's a variable resistor. The copper wires are the battery negative from the battery tube to the driver, the wires are soldered to the small holes on the drivers rim. That's necessary since you can't use the ring for negative contact with this mod.

The Q5 you link to need to be filed or cut down to fit, it has the correct thickness though. Use some thin plastic fron eg. a microwave safe container to use as a protection for the Q5. Cut it to shape to replace the black plastic around the led.

You can also make sure the driver rests on a few mm of epoxy so you can skip the extra battery spring.

Stefan

 

[primox1]

Hi Stefan,

I am seriously considering modding the Tiablo A9 with a P7, same way you did. Any ideas if the original Q5 emitter in the A9 can be used for the WT1 and the 7882 driver? That would save me from buying a separate Q5 emitter.

You stated that you got about 18,000 lux with your modded WT1....thats quite a bit stronger than the original WT1 output!!! I hope I can get the same results.

Thanks

 

[StefanFS]

Hi Stefan,

I am seriously considering modding the Tiablo A9 with a P7, same way you did. Any ideas if the original Q5 emitter in the A9 can be used for the WT1 and the 7882 driver? That would save me from buying a separate Q5 emitter.

You stated that you got about 18,000 lux with your modded WT1....thats quite a bit stronger than the original WT1 output!!! I hope I can get the same results.

Thanks

It will fit as it it's on a small board. Just be careful when you twist it out of the A9. You also need to mod the clickie module if you plan to use a multimode driver in the A9.

Yes, I turned the Regal down a bit to 18 000 lux as I wanted a bit more runtime. You can go way over 20-25000 in throw but it will cut runtime dramatically and it will get hot.