My first terralux purchase was the TLE-5, then later on I purchased a TLE-5EX with the SSC emitter. Eventually, as I accumulated more lights, I bought a pink minmag for my wife and put the TLE-5 in it. Today I got around to swapping the luxeon for a U-bin SSC from dealextreme.
The swap is very straight-forward. First I marked which side was positive with a red sharpie. This isn't even necessary as there is a small white "+" on one side. Desolder the luxeon using some desoldering braid and solder on the new emitter -- no need to trim anything. Be careful not to apply too much heat like I did. :duh2: I used some arctic alumina to secure the new emitter, but that is probably not necessary because there is a thin sheet of *something* between the emitter and the surface of the board.
Before:
After:
The result was good. Using ceiling bounce test, it's exactly as bright as the TLE-5EX, but it has a slightly warmer tint which I like. Actually, I liked it so much that I took the modded TLE-5 out of hers and replaced it with the TLE-5EX so I could keep it :devil:
The swap is very straight-forward. First I marked which side was positive with a red sharpie. This isn't even necessary as there is a small white "+" on one side. Desolder the luxeon using some desoldering braid and solder on the new emitter -- no need to trim anything. Be careful not to apply too much heat like I did. :duh2: I used some arctic alumina to secure the new emitter, but that is probably not necessary because there is a thin sheet of *something* between the emitter and the surface of the board.
Before:
After:
The result was good. Using ceiling bounce test, it's exactly as bright as the TLE-5EX, but it has a slightly warmer tint which I like. Actually, I liked it so much that I took the modded TLE-5 out of hers and replaced it with the TLE-5EX so I could keep it :devil:
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