Prolpoly 3C Upgrade

Hey Folks. A while ago I was inspired by a tutorial posted by Gryloc about how to wrench the 1W Luxeon out of a Streamlight Propolymer Luxeon 4AA and stick something else inside. After a bit of tinkering, I can now confirm that the process he describes also works nicely for the Propolymer Luxeon 3C. I can also confirm that this mod is significantly tougher than the simple LED swap outs that I have attempted before. On the bright side, swapping out the Lux for a Seoul P4 does appear to give you twice the output and a very nice beam pattern.

Please note that if you want to do this mod and you're not a guru, make sure you read the whole thread above – there are some important insights from the posts that follow.

Finally, the beams shots. Top left is stock 3C with 1W Luxeon. Top right is same but -2 stops. Lower left is 3C with Seoul P4 U-bin, lower right is same but -2 stops.

And just for comparison, here is an L2D-CE with a filed-down McR19-XR and Energizer NiMHs on Turbo.

SPT,

I am glad that is working for you. I ran into this thread by accident and it is cool seeing that this mod is being done. Those are some great beam shots. I am surprised that the flashlight beam (without the -2 stops) didn't overwhelm your camera. What set up did you have? How far from the wall was the flashlight and the camera from the wall? I was just wondering. The pictures make a great comparison. To all in doubt, you will not be disappointed. This mod is blinding!

I was still planning on making a comparison from the stock and modified light. I have to get out the circuit board and solder up the stock R-bin Luxeon I and put it behind the reflector, then get some pictures. Then I can to put the SSC P4 U-bin back in there and get some similarly set up pictures.

Would you mind making a post on the tutorial thread with your comparison shots? It was a PP 3C, but it is still very similar to the 4AA. That would be helpful to others trying to get an idea of what they will get. Thanks for reporting your findings!


-Tony

Tony: feel free to use the beam shots as you want - they're public domain now. I don't have the details of the exposures with me but I used a run-of-the-mill Nikon D70s w/ 18-70mm lens, shooting from about 10 feet away. Knowing the aperture and shutter speed won't really help you because it will be different in every condition (I think everybody tends to provide this information thinking that someone else would know what to do with it...) I think the key to capturing the hotspot is to use the RAW image files instead of JPEG and thus avoid any automatic in-camera exposure adjustments.

Thanks again for the great info. Hope somebody besides the two of us finds it helpful!

SnowplowTortoise said:

Thanks again for the great info. Hope somebody besides the two of us finds it helpful!

Click to expand...

I do. At work we do a lot of building inspection in attics and basements (trusses and foundations) so the 2 SL 3C's I bought get major use and blow away our old incan junk. I plan on getting a couple 4AA's to do this mod on. Building maintenance staff always comment on our SL's. Hopefully SL change over soon.

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