Supernam
Enlightened
Hey everyone,
I just received some reflectors and USWOH stars from Photonfanatic and modded my PT EOS. While I was at it, I wanted to see if my Black Diamond spot could be modded. It has a 1W Lumileds luxeon and 3 5mm led's which share a one piece molded reflector. I cracked it open and found the star to be soldered to the BACK side of the circuit board.
This was going to be tricky! There were no wires to unsolder. The star was soldered directly to the back of the board. It was difficult because one needs to unsolder one terminal and the other while pushing down on the emitter to get it to fall out.
To get the new emitter on, I had to visually align the emitter as best as I could and then apply pressure to the back of the star onto the board while soldering. If I didn't put pressure, the star would not fit flushed to the back fo the board. Success! It worked and it's bright!
While I was at it, I sandpapered the 5mm LEDs and the part of the lens that goes over them for a smoother diffused beam. The crappy 5mm's seem to project bluer at some angles than at others. The sanding down makes it a flood of the same color.
Anyway, I don't have detailed pictures of every step because this was a really spur of the moment mod. Here are pictures along with beamshots with my Seoul'd EOS. All pictures taken in manual mode, with lights on high mode only. Fresh batteries.
Finished product. Note the sanded down lens over the 5mm's:
PT EOS w/ Seoul USWOH, stock optic:
Black Diamond Spot w/ Seoul USWOH. Note the spill beam that is not existent with the EOS's optic:
5mm LED's at the same exposure (too weak therefore dark):
5mm's with longer exposure to show smoothness of beam:
Side by side: Spot left, EOS right:
Well there you have it. The Spot's reflector is not that great. You can slightly see rings in the beam, but in real world applications such as camping/hiking, it is quite unoticible.[EDIT: I resoldered the emitter to recenter it and the rings are gone, it's a perfect beam.] I would say that both Seoul modded headlamps are putting out the same lumens, they just have different beam profiles. One thing I really like about the Spot is the fact that it is NOT regulated. So on long hikes, I will have light that gradually decreases instead of dropping off all of a sudden. With a non regulated light, I can choose when to replaced the batteries, whereas regulated lights, you don't have much of an option once it takes the big plunge.
All in all, I am quite pleased with the outcome of this mod. I thought my Spot was quite beat when I discovered the EOS. But by putting new life into the Spot, my first headlamp is now one of my favorites! I cannot say that I would recommend this mod to someone with limited soldering experience. I have 5 years solid soldering experience from back in my R/C car racing days.
I just received some reflectors and USWOH stars from Photonfanatic and modded my PT EOS. While I was at it, I wanted to see if my Black Diamond spot could be modded. It has a 1W Lumileds luxeon and 3 5mm led's which share a one piece molded reflector. I cracked it open and found the star to be soldered to the BACK side of the circuit board.
This was going to be tricky! There were no wires to unsolder. The star was soldered directly to the back of the board. It was difficult because one needs to unsolder one terminal and the other while pushing down on the emitter to get it to fall out.
To get the new emitter on, I had to visually align the emitter as best as I could and then apply pressure to the back of the star onto the board while soldering. If I didn't put pressure, the star would not fit flushed to the back fo the board. Success! It worked and it's bright!
While I was at it, I sandpapered the 5mm LEDs and the part of the lens that goes over them for a smoother diffused beam. The crappy 5mm's seem to project bluer at some angles than at others. The sanding down makes it a flood of the same color.
Anyway, I don't have detailed pictures of every step because this was a really spur of the moment mod. Here are pictures along with beamshots with my Seoul'd EOS. All pictures taken in manual mode, with lights on high mode only. Fresh batteries.
Finished product. Note the sanded down lens over the 5mm's:
PT EOS w/ Seoul USWOH, stock optic:
Black Diamond Spot w/ Seoul USWOH. Note the spill beam that is not existent with the EOS's optic:
5mm LED's at the same exposure (too weak therefore dark):
5mm's with longer exposure to show smoothness of beam:
Side by side: Spot left, EOS right:
Well there you have it. The Spot's reflector is not that great. You can slightly see rings in the beam, but in real world applications such as camping/hiking, it is quite unoticible.[EDIT: I resoldered the emitter to recenter it and the rings are gone, it's a perfect beam.] I would say that both Seoul modded headlamps are putting out the same lumens, they just have different beam profiles. One thing I really like about the Spot is the fact that it is NOT regulated. So on long hikes, I will have light that gradually decreases instead of dropping off all of a sudden. With a non regulated light, I can choose when to replaced the batteries, whereas regulated lights, you don't have much of an option once it takes the big plunge.
All in all, I am quite pleased with the outcome of this mod. I thought my Spot was quite beat when I discovered the EOS. But by putting new life into the Spot, my first headlamp is now one of my favorites! I cannot say that I would recommend this mod to someone with limited soldering experience. I have 5 years solid soldering experience from back in my R/C car racing days.
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