What upgrades can be done to an Inova X1???

I recently purchased a Inova X1 for 19.99. I have to say it was money well spent. The light is different from any other light I have owned. There is no sidespill whatsoever. But as all flashaholics, I want more. If anyone can help me with this let me know. I want to change or upgrade the led as well as driver. I want more output all the while keeping runtime as close to what it is now as possible.
Thanx Jason

If you want to keep the runtime, then you're pretty much limited to popping in a brighter 5mm LED. A Nichia CS is the obvious choice or one of KevinL's 35k LEDs would work as well. I did one with a B0-bin CS which is bluer than the blue and green C0 tint. Definately brighter than stock... I'd say twice as bright at minimum if not closer to three times.

I've also done a mod using a red 100ma LED but the driver only puts out about 20ma from what I've heard. Often, if you replace a white LED with a RED, it will kill the red shortly as they typically only run off of 2.2V as opposed to the 3.8V most boosters send to them.

I picked up a couple more X1s and plan to find some good 20ma blue and green LEDs to mod them with... Probably something from superbrightleds.com or lsdiodes.com I tried a green and blue 100ma THC3 LEDs but at only 20ma, they weren't very impressive.

There have been several modders that have built lux I or III lights with the X1 but it seems like there hasn't been much interest in them. I'd personally love to have an R-bin X1 with maybe 3 levels. The problem is finding a super small reflector that works as there is no reflector in the X1.

I'm suprised as to being no interest in this light. It actually is a great light. The build quality is excellent, and yet it fits perfectly in the hand. I also like the beam. Its almost covert in that when on no one would know your there as to evidence of sidespill. Just want to make it as bright as possible while keeping the covert sidespill intact.
Thanxs for info cratz2

I didn't know they only used a 5mm LED. I've looked at them a few times at Target while checking for a red X5 and am always underwhelmed by the output. Great build quality though like all Inova's..

Hello cratz2. I agree with jpfaff. I love the beam of my X1 but feel the output a big letdown. A CS modded X1 sounds great! Could you mod my X1?

Sign me up for the mod 2 ...

Probably the easiest way is to drop in a brighter LED. I did examine the circuit and it appears to be a run of the mill boost converter. One of these days when I get time I'm going characterize the circuit with a scope and look at frequency, duty cycle of the waveforms and come up with a mod. But for now, I'd be satisified to try a brighter LED.

I agree, a great, highly pocketable light with superb build quality. In fact, it's my EDC but I do wish it was brighter.

So who is Kevin and where can I get one of these 35k LEDs?

Regards,

Dave

What? Did someone say something about modding a Inova? lmao!

I must say, I hate the light, damn me for purchasing it.
The lack of any spill makes it totally useless.
Also it was not working reliable (maybe the positive contacts of some of my cells are/were too short, as I noticed when getting some of the inner parts out)

Thats why I want to mod it (keep it as a host), but I am not able to get it apart.

cratz2, could You please tell how to remove the head?
Are there treads to screw it into the body?
I tried to unscrew (even heated by hot air gun), but was only able to make some bad scratches into....

PS: found the info on the freeze/pop method

Nemul,
What do you mean by lmao, i know what lmao means, but why would you say that. Not worth doing or too hard to do???

I like this light a lot, it has a lot of uses actually. I use it all the time when my wife is sleeping and I need to go into the bedroom. With her illness she needs her uninteruppted rest and the X1 gives no sidespill to disturb her. I used it this weekend when working in an area on a furnace where I tried a normal light and the sidespill kept reflecting off a bright piece of aluminum, and kept bothering my right eye.

I wish it was brighter too sometimes, but it is really brighter than a lot think I believe. I think the no sidespill gives the illusion of less brightness from what we are used to, but things within the spot are illuminated rather well, especially at small to medium room ranges.

This light takes the place of all those hooded penlights, covert photons, etc. very well, it is the covered lantern of this day. And yes, some of the uses can be a bit illegal as if I were a burglar this is what I would use.

Is there any "tutorials" to show how ot open one of thse lights up and replace the led with a stronger, or is it pretty much trial and error? Ruining the light and replacing it in these days of high medical co-pays is not an option...

Disassembly instructions here:

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=52043

Dave

Nemul is the MAN when it comes to modding!

As far as modding them, I don't want to make a career out of modding them... but I'll help in anyway I can. After getting them apart using the freeze pop method, it's just a matter of desoldering the stock LED, cutting the leads of the new LED to approximate length, and soldering it back in place while ensuring correct polarity of the LED. Sounds MUCH more complicated than it is. If you can solder 4 joints, you're good to go.

Here's before and after pics of the one I did with the Nichia CS BO LED. These are fixed camera settings. While it doesn't seem like a tremendous improvement, look at how much more detail in the painting is evident with the new LED... I did get a bit of reflection with the stock LED, but the biggest difference is that the camera can pick up a lot more detail with the brighter LED. Also, the color is quite a bit better though if color is more important than brightness, I'd probably go for one of the 35k or 40k LEDs in place of the Nichia.

haha, nemul's the king of modding X1's.

So....., he's laughing because why?

He's just a LMAO kinda guy!

cratz2 said:

Here's before and after pics of the one I did with the Nichia CS BO LED. These are fixed camera settings. While it doesn't seem like a tremendous improvement,

Click to expand...

Actually, I think the pictures show a pretty striking difference, nice job. I'm still searching for where to get the brightest 5mm LED and then I'll freeze pop mine open again.

Regards,

Dave

Keep in mind that the regulator only sends about 20ma to the LED... there are a lot of very bright LEDs out there, but most of them that are any brighter than the Nichia CS or 35k or 40K LEDs that are so popular, tend to want closer to 100ma. I tried the white 100ma TCH3 LED from LSDiodes.com and it was FAR less impressive than the Nichia CS. I'd like to also try getting one of the Peak Snow29 LEDs in there, but they are slightly larger so some sanding will need to be done to make it fit. But they have a lovely tint!

I was thinking something in the 20mA to 30mA range, not expecting too much from the little switching supply inside that X1 . Where did you get your Nichias? Anyone around here sell the 35K LEDs?

Regards,

Dave

Yeah, forum member KevinL sells the 35k and 40k LEDs. And I bought my CSs from a couple group buys. Look over in the group buy section and see if there's still anything going on.