Surefire 9N...

[BruPri]

Anyone done an LED conversion to an original 9N? Have a turbo head I'd like to convert that as well. Probably would take some engineering to replace the high/low incandescent module with a fixed, high lumen solution.

 

[yellow]

thought about that very often ...
... but skipped it, there simply is not enough space there
imho the turbo makes it even worse, with its wide opening reflector. Possibly wont catch enough light emitted.

my 8X was modded with Luxeon, then Seoul and atm I am about to put an MC-E inside
it is not easy, but doable with the 8X

 

[PCC]

I'm thinking that a TLS TX-3 head could be made to fit a 9N with an adapter. There are no adapters to mate that head to a 9N so I was thinking of having one made or figuring out how to cut threads on my miniature mill and making one myself. The only problem then is how to get the required voltage to it (requires 4.5 - 15V). The solution I came up with was to use two protected 18650s in a sleeve. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to do any of this at this time so this little project will have to wait.

 

[Justin Case]

Can you measure the diameter of the aluminum "stem" for your 9N's main bulb (not the small side lamp)? Also estimate the filament height above the "pedestal". If the diameter and filament height are the same as for regular lamps that fit into TurboHeads, then maybe you can use an AW/Arcmania tower (not sure how the lack of the lower powered lamp would affect things though, nor do I know how the 9N mode switching works).

I measure a stem diameter of 0.373" for both the AW/Arcmania tower and an N62 lamp from a 12ZM. The filament height above the pedestal for an N62 is about 0.87".

Do you know if the 9N's T3 TurboHead has the same threads as other T or KT TurboHeads, and it is the adapter collar that allows the T3 to connect to the 9N? If that's the case, you could alternatively get a different TurboHead and use the 9N's adapter collar to connect the new TH to the 9N flashlight body. Again, you would use an AW/Arcmania tower for the LED conversion. With a different TH, you wouldn't have the hole in the reflector for the side lamp, although the low/high mode question still remains.

 

[PCC]

I measured .370" in diameter by about .375" in height. The hole itself is .375" by .455" deep. The filament height is around .600 - .610" above the pedestal. The difficult part is that the hole for the bulb itself is around .205". That's way too small for an LED to be squeezed through without boring it out larger. Not only that but I wonder how good the beam would be using this reflector?

What I was hoping to do was to keep the flashlight as original as possible but add an adapter plus the TX-3 turbo head.

The 9N is thte only SureFire flashlight I own and I don't own any components so I cannot answer any questions you have about the turbo heads. Here is a picture of the business end of the flashlight with the head removed.

Here is the album that has the pictures of my 9N. If you want any particular angle or view please let me know.

Short of buying the entire T3 turbohead how would you get the adapter collar?

 

[BruPri]

Nice work PCC, the 9N with the turbo head is my only real thrower, just wanted to see if a conversion is possible. Parts as you know are not as readily available now so I would hesitate to ruin a perfectly good light in the process. Hmmm, maybe I'll tape my Micro-Mega to the head and call it good!:D

 

[Justin Case]

Size15's has some photos of the threaded end of 9N THs:

http://www.littlefresher.co.uk/torch/photos/P37.jpg
http://www.littlefresher.co.uk/torch/photos/P172.jpg

This link has useful information on THs:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=79756

It looks like the T3 Turbohead for the 9N fits only the 9N and other TurboHeads won't fit. See

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=79756&page=2
(post #42)

and

http://www.littlefresher.co.uk/torch/photos/P36.jpg

Plus, it looks like the T3 TH attaches directly to the 9N -- no adapter collar.

In words, the T3 TH for the 9N, as shown in the second link above, has threads that are flush with where the N3 lamp's "pedestal" contacts when the lamp is inserted into the reflector. In contrast, the T-62, KT1, KT2, KT4, T1, T2, and T4 THs have an additional cylindrical extension. Thus, even if these TH threads (sans adapter collar) were compatible with the 9N, I would guess that this extension would physically interfere with these THs screwing down onto a 9N.

Since the OpticsHQ/TLS TX-3 TurboHead is designed to attach to SF Millennium and SF 6P series lights (with the M2C adapter), which use KT1/2 and KT4 THs, it may not fit the 9N either even if you had someone make an adapter collar.

How does the 9N execute its low/high mode switching? From web photos, it looks like you turn the tailcap to either the low or high setting. What does that do? Does it somehow turn something inside the body mechanically so that electrical connection is made either to the big lamp or the small lamp?

The 0.205" opening for the filament (plus I assume the glass envelope) is close to being able to work for an AW/Arcmania tower. The dome diameter for a Seoul P4 LED is 5.60mm, or 0.220". Just a little wider and the dome could protrude into the reflector. Whether or not it is at the proper height in the reflector is another matter (I would guess that the LED would be too low, but don't know what the practical effect on the beam would be).

 

[PCC]

For mode switching, take a look at this picture:

The right side of the picture is how the head would appear when it is screwed all the way down into the body. The left side is how it looks when unscrewed partially or all the way. The large metal plate on top that you see is the negative contact to the main flashlight body. In my previous picture you see that there is a ring of exposed aluminum that this makes contact with. If you unscrew the head the electrical contact is broken and the light turns off. This is not the preferred method of turning the light on or off but can be used as a lockout if you need one. If you look at the forward edge of this you will see a plastic bump. This is attached to the lever arm to the left. The bump is pressed when the head is screwed all the way down and, as you unscrew the head the lever arm brings the lever arm into contact with the body of the flashlight so that the secondary light turns on. Since I'm trying to convert my light to LED and it can be electronically regulated, I don't need the secondary lamp.

The tail cap basically has three positions: charge, push the button for on, or constant on. I can take the tail cap apart to show you how it works but it's nothing more than a pair of springs, a plastic spacer with cutouts in it and a contact under a rubber boot of the cap itself.

What I was hoping to do was to have an adapter made that will allow me to attach the TX-3 to the 9N. That's the hard part. Getting the thing to be connected electrically wouldn't be all that hard afterwards. OpticsHQ already has an adapter for the 6P to make the electrical connections inside the flashlight that may be needed here.

 

[PCC]

Almost forgot: with regards to poking an LED through the small hole, the emitter would need to go about 1/8" (3.2mm) further towards the lens to be in the optimal position to match where the filament is on the lamp assembly.

 

[Justin Case]

Almost forgot: with regards to poking an LED through the small hole, the emitter would need to go about 1/8" (3.2mm) further towards the lens to be in the optimal position to match where the filament is on the lamp assembly.

I figured that the filament goes in farther. Thus, a shortened AW tower would seem to require possibly undesirable modification to your existing reflector. You'd probably have to open up the 0.205" diamerter hole for the filament/glass envelope to about 3/8" diameter (i.e., basically the ~0.37" diameter of the lamp's "stem"). A Seoul P4's plastic case is 8mm (0.315") in diameter. Then the LED terminals protrude beyond that. When you build one of these AW towers, you trim back the terminals so that are in close to the plastic case. Then you solder skinny wire leads from the electronic converter/regulator board to the terminals. That adds a little more to the effective diameter -- very close to 3/8" (0.375").

With the larger opening, the AW tower can insert into the reflector to whatever depth is required.

 

[Justin Case]

Yeah, I suppose that an adapter can be made to accommodate any required length shortfall or excess due to the TurboHead design, and any set of male/female threading.

Who could have predicted when the 9N first came out that you'd want an adapter collar to mate to a third party LED TurboHead? That said, virtually all of my SureFire products are either Classic series compatible, Millennium series compatible, or E-series compatible. My sole oddball is an 8NX. In light of the hassles with the 8NX in terms of finding better battery sticks, LED drop-ins, or even higher powered incandescent lamps, I doubt that I will buy hard-to-upgrade (or at least harder-to-upgrade) SF products in the future, which rules out things like the X300 weaponlight. I dislike product lock-in.

 

[PCC]

Almost forgot: with regards to poking an LED through the small hole, the emitter would need to go about 1/8" (3.2mm) further towards the lens past the point where the LED is pressed up against the end of the hole to be in the optimal position to match where the filament is on the lamp assembly.

Fixed it.

 

[PCC]

Yeah, I suppose that an adapter can be made to accommodate any required length shortfall or excess due to the TurboHead design, and any set of male/female threading.

Who could have predicted when the 9N first came out that you'd want an adapter collar to mate to a third party LED TurboHead? That said, virtually all of my SureFire products are either Classic series compatible, Millennium series compatible, or E-series compatible. My sole oddball is an 8NX. In light of the hassles with the 8NX in terms of finding better battery sticks, LED drop-ins, or even higher powered incandescent lamps, I doubt that I will buy hard-to-upgrade (or at least harder-to-upgrade) SF products in the future, which rules out things like the X300 weaponlight. I dislike product lock-in.

Well, I'm in a "beggars can't be choosers" type of situation. You see, this light was given to me by my cousin so I'm locked in and it wasn't my choice, exactly. I'm not about to sell this light, neither.