seoul in civictor ss (UPDATED - BEAMSHOTS)

[aljsk8]

ok im going to keep this short and sweet

1st heres how to do it

1) buy a civictor stainless steel, a ssc p4 u bin emitter, aa epoxy, something copper 0.5 - 0.8mm thick

2) open the civictor and remove the pill ( the bit with the led and stuff) any pointed metal thing will work as the head isnt potted (glued in)



3) next you need to get that lux 3 led off - theres a few ways of doing this - i butted the pill against something solid - heated the solder tab for a couple of seconds while sliding a hobby knife under it u need to be quick with the heat if you want to keep the lux led

after that i slid the knife under the led to pop it off

heres what happend for me....

5) do the heat and slid knife under tab thing on the other side

6) scrape all the rubbish off the pill - i dont know how much it matters if you scratch it all up - but i thought - so what - it looked like this...

7) next i decided to thinly apply aa epoxy to the emitter and let it set ( a little differnt to what others have done) mix the epoxy 1:1 and thinly apply with a toothpic or similar...

8) to raise the emitter i used a copper washer 0.5mm thick - the reflector is a little different on this light so a thicker copper slug is pointless.
so i epoxied washer in the space on the pill like so...

9) id let the led epoxy set before i did this - so now i could just stick the led on without worrying about shorting (test the led with a multimeter to check its good to go)

after centering the led best i could very quickly solder the tabs

you will end up with... ( ok i forgot to take a photo of the soldering bit because i was too excited)

let it all dry / set and then wind the pill back in

turn it on

say - why did i bother doin all this!

results were ok but not great

HERES ALL THE BEAM SHOTS

all taken with exposure at -2.0
all lights 0.75m from wall (cream not white)

right - L1P (aprox 30 lumens)
left - civictor modded on LOW

right - L1P (aprox 30 lumens)
left - civictor modded on MEDIUM

right - L1P (aprox 30 lumens)
left - civictor modded on HIGH

right - ULTRAFIRE 601 (2aa - looks like a minimag)
left - civictor modded on HIGH

any questions just ask - im very happy to help or elaborate on any of it

Alex

 

[EngrPaul]

Re: seoul in civictor ss (photos and beamshots)

Way to :candle: !

:goodjob:

 

[Monolith]

Re: seoul in civictor ss (photos and beamshots)

What tint was the U bin? Did you mod the reflector at all?

 

[aljsk8]

Re: seoul in civictor ss (photos and beamshots)

no mod to the reflector

the U bin was the ones from photon - some warm white tint

he still has them for sale i think

in real life the improvement doesnt look as apparent as it does in the photo - but more pics tomorrow

Alex

 

[HEY HEY ITS HENDO]

Re: seoul in civictor ss (photos and beamshots)

.........VERY nice !!!.........this bit made me giggle..
( ok i forgot to take a photo of the soldering bit because i was too excited)

 

[LA OZ]

Re: seoul in civictor ss (photos and beamshots)

Great! You make it looks so easy . The Luxeon that came with the SS Civictor is very nice. Ashame that you did not take the photo of it on max pre and post modding with the same camera ISO, Aperture, and Shutter speed setting. Why raised it with the cooper washer? Is the P4 shorter than Luxeon? Do you expect a longer runtime with the P4?

 

[bombelman]

Re: seoul in civictor ss (photos and beamshots)

"ok but not great"......

Why not ?

 

[EngrPaul]

Re: seoul in civictor ss (photos and beamshots)

. ( ok i forgot to take a photo of the soldering bit because i was too excited)

Here you go. Just pretend this is your picture.

 

[bombelman]

Re: seoul in civictor ss (photos and beamshots)

:lolsign:

p.s. there is something on you dome :laughing:

 

[EngrPaul]

Re: seoul in civictor ss (photos and beamshots)

:lolsign:

p.s. there is something on you dome :laughing:

It came off just fine before assembly

(I need a cleaner desk or a crappier camera) :naughty:

 

[Monolith]

Re: seoul in civictor ss (photos and beamshots)

Is the washer used b/c the Luxeon is smaller in diameter and the SSC P4 won't fit in the same depression?

 

[aljsk8]

Re: seoul in civictor ss (photos and beamshots)

hi everyone

in answer to some of your questions

the copper washer is to raise the seoul up because it is lower than the lux
the diameter is the same and it will fit in the hole

another way to do this is to not use the washer but take the reflector out and file the lip of it down by about 0.5 - 0.7mm

just pick the way you want to do it

and to the point - "its ok but not great"... i was just expecting more
for example i have 2 ultrafire 602a1 1aa torches and if i put them both on
and put the spots together then the mod is the same brightness as this
so thats only about 60 lumens

i will try some li-ion when i buy them

as for runtime i have no idea if swapping the led changes the driver current in anyway - i tested the current before i totally removed the luxeon and it was 330mA on high - (which interestingly even if the seoul was 93 lumens at 350mA it should be 87 lumens - but i think it is max 70 lumens)


also ill be updating the post today with beamshots against the ultrafire 601 - the one that looks like a mini mag

 

[aljsk8]

the top post has a few more beamshots

feel free to comment or ask any questions

 

[Norm]

so thats only about 60 lumens

I'm sure I'm getting better than that with a Lux TXOH in mine, gets very hot quickly on the highest setting, and the tint is perfect.
P.S. Running a flupic and 14500.
Norm

 

[aljsk8]

60 lumens is only a guess - thats if the ultrafires are 30 each - to be honest i have no idea it might be 70 - and thats on 1.2v nimh

saying that it dosnt get hot - even after a long time

and i would expect that it will push it up to more like 100 lumens with the 14500 li-ion

after comparing the 2 infront of a non-enlightened work mate - he said it was easly twice as bright as 1 ultrafire or L1P so mabee its just my acustomed eyes.

the tint is in my opinion perfect - very white with a hint of warmness - better than any fenix i have seen also the beam is a very nice shape - not ringy like it looks in the photos - it smoothly changes from spot to flood but i think a lot more of the light has gone to the flood area - probably twice as bright as a L1P in the spot but 3x or more in the flood. outside throw is good but not amazing - just as good as the ultrafire 601 (2aa) which has a bigger reflector.

hope this info helps

 

[aljsk8]

just a little update

i went in the dark backroom at work and set up the modded civictor vs 3 other torches

2x ultrafire 602a1
1x fenix L1P

i aimed all the spots of the 3 torches together and the civictor on high was still brighter

so even at low estimates lets say the ultrafires are 20 lumens each and the fenix is 25 thats 65 lumens and it is definatly still brigter so im changing my guestimates to 70 lumens or above for this mod

ill get some fresh batteries in my different torches and post some triple torch vs mod shots later

 

[gregw]

You definitely need to use 14500 Li-ion to get the best out of the Civictor... 1.2V Nimh just doesn't cut it due to the low voltage...

 

[nexro]

hmmm, the LED module of the cvictor ss that I have is definately potted
I tried removing it but it just wouldn't turn.

 

[aljsk8]

aw man that sucks - its still removable - its just gonna be a PITA!

might be because its a different batch - i got mine quite a few months ago

keep trying

Alex

 

[bombelman]

Regarding the washer issue.
The DIE of the Seoul is indeed 0.030"/0.75 mm lower in height compared to a Luxeon.
With the washer, the Seoul die would then sit at the same height as the
Luxeon die. However, for this to work, the heatsink must also sit at the EXACT
same place. IF the the hole of the reflector is not wider then the dome, the die will
not sit at the correct height, because the shoulders of the reflector just sit
on the black-casing of the Seoul, KEEPING the die down and not in perfect focus.
For this to work, you would need to sand down the bottom of the reflector.
The washer only helps if the sink and reflector are at the exact same
position after the mod as they were before, and IF the reflector is not keeping the dome, die and package down...

This is my experience with the lower dome heights (similar to *Joker* Luxeons)

I don't know this light nor it's reflector, but please post pictures if you have,
and if I'm mistaken, feel free to correct me at any time.

Cheers !