Modding my PD questions

So I bought some P4 Seouls from dealextreme, and I want to throw one in my PD.

Once I get the seoul off of the star its on, do I just need to desolder the lux thats in the pd, swap the emitters, and drop in the Mc20seoul reflector? I've got the reflector ordered from the Shoppe already.

Also if theres anything i should know about removing the emitter from the star, and the emitter from the head, let me know!

Thanks in advance!

With Luxeons, after you de solder, just twist the star, the emitter should pop right off.

Back in the day I swapped a luxeon for a Luxeon in my PD, but the procedure should be exactly the same for the actual LED swap.

Check out the pictures/tutorial here

The McR-20S is shorter than McR-20 by 0.030" so you'll need to account for the difference in die height between SSC P4 and Lux emitters. On newer PD's with removable heatsinks, you can raise the emitter platform with a 0.030" tall spacer ring.

Recently modded an older slate aluminum PD with Wiz convertor from a TW0J LuxIII to Piglet convertor and SSC USW0H P4. It was necessary fabricate a copper shim as the emitter platform is part of the head and non-removable like cryhavok's light. Here's what it looked like during the test fit before it was lapped smooth and after installation.



HTH,
Derek

Howdy Stillphoto!:wave:

I have some pictures of an SSC P4 star I :thinking: ....... lets say dismantled. I am on good old super slow dialup so it can take a while to upload the pictures to Photobucket. You might want to wait until you see the photos?? :shrug: Not exactly like a Luxeon.

Ken

Alright, I only uploaded two pics but this is what I did to my first SSC P4 star. Hey, I wanted to learn more about them. You can see they are not exactly like a Luxeon. Notice that the emitter is attached to the layers of material that are isolating the slug from the Aluminum star. Appears to be three layers. Black on top, Copper in the center and a white layer next to the star. I couldn`t get the emitter off the isolating layers but it comes right off the star easily. This star was destructively dismantled, obviously! I hope the pics help you out.

Ken

EDIT: I uploaded a third pic to post for fun.

Waiting on the copper spacers from the shoppe...Got the seoul reflector in the other day, and I managed to get the original emitter out of my pd head. Well sort of...pictures to follow.

Are there any members that are willing to swap a Seoul into a LuxIII PD for a fee? I was just wondering, because if so, I would love to get this done to my PD to bring it "up-to-date"

Yeah I would like to do the same to mine... Not sure if I can manage to do this and maintain the reliability.

Honestly guys so far this is a slam dunk. You really only need to solder the wires to the emitter, and Don has provided ample extra wire in the head, its almost as if he envisioned that people might mod and made the leads a bit longer.

So far the only thing I'm really concerned about is removing my P4 from the star its on...which you can bypass by just buying an emitter only directly from the Shoppe or DX.

Got my head open today... A lot easier then I thought. I guess I was just scared to attempt cracking it open. I will order a replacement SSC USVOH and MCR-20S today.

Also... is the existing lens a UCL? I didn't notice a green or even red tint like my other UCL lenses. If not, I will replace this as well.

AFAIK, all the PD's have sapphire lenses.

- Chris

Yeah, the lens is good to go....no need for a UCL. Looks like I am gonna need to order a McR-20S myself

So disappointed... I went to order a USVOH from photonfanatic and realized they are all sold out. I guess I will have to settle for a USVOI and a little less runtime. They should be available tomorrow.

Spacers arrived today. Woo Hoo! One question. They aren't perfectly flat, they are a tad bit domed. Should I attempt to hammer them flat? I'm guessing not haha. So the question is, when using the arctic alumina epoxy, do I need to worry about which side of the copper spacer is up? Obviously its much easier to have the slightly (very slightly) domed side facing up toward what will be the back of the emitter.

Thanks in advance for any answers

Just tap them with a mallet or something, or tap it softly with a hammer. Copper is pretty soft and you don't want to flatten the spacer, as in make it thinner. They should be flat.

Have fun with your mod.

I've successufy done this to my first run PD.
couple things
1. i didn't seem to have to shim the Seoul to get it to work with the Mcr20-S
2. You will have to either enlarge the hole in the heat sink that the LED drops in, or , file down some of the plastic base of the Seoul LED itself. I opted to file down the led with a careful hand and my dremel. the base of the Seoul is slightly larger than a Luxeon, not so much that it will make a difference normally but in a light with tight tollerances it just won't fit without a little work.
good luck and have fun
Jimmy