WF500 BiPin Mod - Is it possible?

[herulach]

Right, the search is driving me crazy, I've recently developed a bit of an addiction to Incans, and the Ultrafire Wf500 looks like a decent light for the price.

Looking around a couple of the threads it seems like there was a fair bit of speculation about its ability to take a bi-pin bulb, but I can't find anyone that successfully did it.

Chances are I'm going to buy one on pay day and have a stab at it anyway. If it works I've saved buying Lumens factory bulb for it, if not I'll get that anyway.

If anyone has done it, or can point me in the right direction it'd be greatly appreciated.

 

[ma_sha1]

It won't "plug in" but you can either solder a bi-pin bulb in there or DIY a bi-pin socket in there.
I believe Plasmamen did one a while back & put a WA1111 in there, but I don't think he posted any instructions.

The WF500 bulb holder looks to be slightly larger diameter than FM bi-pin socket for Mag, I'd imagine if you drill a hole
& JB weld the FM socket into the WF holder bulb, it wouldn't be to hard to do & you don't have to solder a new bulb each time.

But the 5-mode 5xCree LED drop-in for WF500 is so much brighter & throw as far as Mag 85. Mine is still working well.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=237067
.

 

[RichS]

But the 5-mode 5xCree LED drop-in for WF500 is so much brighter & throw as far as Mag 85.

Wow, really? It's suprising to hear that a fully driven Mag85 at ~1300 lumens can be equalled in throw by a 5xCree build w/ small reflectors.

Any way we can see a beamshot comparison?

 

[TriChrome]

A Phillips bi-pin bulb was what I put in mine when the original bulb burned out. It never lit up (have a feeling some wiring was burned out somewhere), but it fit in there like it was made for it.

I'll have to dig through my junk drawer where I think I have the packaging for the Philips bulb to tell you the model number if that will help.

 

[ma_sha1]

Wow, really? It's suprising to hear that a fully driven Mag85 at ~1300 lumens can be equalled in throw by a 5xCree build w/ small reflectors.

Any way we can see a beamshot comparison?

I have a beam shot in the link above, look for it you'll see. but not a very good beam shot, as it doesn't cut throw fog as well as yellow incan. But on clear days, it throw just as far as Mag85.

I have another light SSR-50 at 5-6A, with beam shots next mag85.
The SSR-50 is confirmed to be >1000 OTF, and it rival the mag85 in throw.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=254481

The 5xCree WF500 throw as far as the SSR-50 at 5-6Amp,
maybe even a little further than the SSR-50. I think the 5xCree drop in is driven pretty hard. It throws amazingly for the price.


Also, look at the Big C OTF lumen chart. The mag85 won't give you 1300 OTF.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=260659
With IMR, ~1200, With Nimn, only about 800. My Control light is 3x17650 Li-ion Mag 85,
I am estimating better than Nimn but not as strong IMR, so perhaps 900 OTF or so.

 

[RichS]

I have a beam shot in the link above, look for it you'll see. but not a very good beam shot, as it doesn't cut throw fog as well as yellow incan. But on clear days, it throw just as far as Mag85.

I have another light SSR-50 at 5-6A, with beam shots next mag85.
The SSR-50 is confirmed to be >1000 OTF, and it rival the mag85 in throw.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=254481

The 5xCree WF500 throw as far as the SSR-50 at 5-6Amp,
maybe even a little further than the SSR-50. I think the 5xCree drop in is driven pretty hard. It throws amazingly for the price.


Also, look at the Big C OTF lumen chart. The mag85 won't give you 1300 OTF.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=260659
With IMR, ~1200, With Nimn, only about 800. My Control light is 3x17650 Li-ion Mag 85,
I am estimating better than Nimn but not as strong IMR, so perhaps 900 OTF or so.

Thanks for the beamshot! :thumbsup: The 5xCree is certainly hanging in there at that distance! But it looks like the Mag85 could take it another couple of hundred feet. It would be interesting to stretch the Mag85 legs to 400-500 feet, and then see how the 5xCree holds up in comparison. I've done this with 3x and 4x Cree lights, and they tend to really fade at that distance. The Mag85 makes that distance pretty easily. I think the great throw of the Mag85 compared to multi-LED lights has to more to do with the larger single reflector and surface intensity of the filament than overall lumen output.

 

[herulach]

The drop in does look pretty snazzy.

Did you replace the emitters prior to those beamshots? I assume its this DX drop in? If so P4 for R2 swaps (or even Q3-5a to keep the nice colour).

This is definately going on the 'buy it on payday' list. If anyone has one to hand could they post up the dimensions of the board the bulb mounts to? I have a couple of pretty small ceramic sockets I reckon might fit, which will save me a good bit of cash if it works!

Tri-chrome, the bulb number would be handy, I was intending to use a WA1111, but more options are better! did you solder it or was it a push fit somehow?

It won't "plug in" but you can either solder a bi-pin bulb in there or DIY a bi-pin socket in there.
I believe Plasmamen did one a while back & put a WA1111 in there, but I don't think he posted any instructions.

The WF500 bulb holder looks to be slightly larger diameter than FM bi-pin socket for Mag, I'd imagine if you drill a hole
& JB weld the FM socket into the WF holder bulb, it wouldn't be to hard to do & you don't have to solder a new bulb each time.

But the 5-mode 5xCree LED drop-in for WF500 is so much brighter & throw as far as Mag 85. Mine is still working well.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=237067
.

 

[TriChrome]

Sorry man, I was confusing which light I put the Phillips 7388 bulb into; it was an Ultrafire MX-600, not the WF-500.

 

[gallagho]

Out of interest what bulbs would be nicely driven by two 18650s is the WA1111 a good option?
If so I might give it a go. Strip down the original DX bulb and solder a WA1111 to exposed pins, sound do-able?
The bulb may end up quite far forward in the head though?

Will have to be careful not to stress the glass envelope of the WA1111 in any way, and wear safety glasses?

Any other tips?

 

[herulach]

Just to update this, the thing finally turned up, and I have to say I'm pretty impressed.

O-Rings are crap and unlubed, but the machining is reasonable and it feels fairly robust.

The stock bulb is reasonably bright, but the philips 7388 bulb DX also sell fits very nicely, and after a bit of fiddling focusing really brings it to life.

I haven't had chance to try the bulbholder mod, but I'm impressed as anything with the philips bulb. LuxLuthor's hotrater spreadsheet puts it at 900 ish lumens, not quite a 5761, but they don't flash on two fresh cells.

As a bit of an OT aside, I also picked up the single LED dropin for it, which throws excellently, even with the stock p4 emitter