Freeze-popped my X5, head is potted!

Picked up a blue LED X5 for $8.74 at Target. Opened it up to find the circuit board is glued to the stainless steel head with a light grey epoxy. I removed the 2mm screw, but not sure how I should proceed. I have Nichia CS LED's destined for this light, if I can find a way to get it apart!

Any advice on how to get the light head apart?

Thanks!

Adam

I think you can remove epoxy by heating it. You can boil it in a bag, toaster, or solar oven. I recommend the dash on your car. It gets HOT in the sun.

I also bought the Blue X5 thinking what a sweet deal I got and quickly opened it to swap out the LEDs. I found out these are not like the newer style as mine is also potted. I tried heating with no change in the epoxy....mine almost looks like silicone type as it is a little flexible.

A little brute force was needed to remove the board however I tore off most of the little surface mount resistors so the board is not really usable any more...it is kind of bent a little also. Looks like I will use this as a host for a lux mod or somehow make another board....good luck.

Hi there,

I've modded my 4~5 years old X5-T, and it seems that it had the same type of soft silicone potting.

Like Ropocop says, a little brute force was needed, but I was able to get everything out without any damage. It was necessary to design some kind of "extractor".

I used 5 screws passing through a soft plastic acting as a base (tupperware lid) forming a pentagon. The screws have to match the leds on the X5 stainless bezel. Now, just lay the "extractor" on a hard surface (table or similar) with the screws' heads down. Align the screws' ends (pointing up) with the X5 leds, and push down the bezel as strong as necessary to get the whole thing out.
Then just use an exacto knife to remove some of the silicone to gain access to the leds' legs.

It worked for me.

Good luck!!

I've removed epoxy before by simmering water in a pot or pan, using tweezers or hemostats and dipping it in the water. Then remove and pick off a piece of epoxy. Dip back in water and repeat. Do a little at a time.