HowTo: Modding a glued Romisen RC-G2

[gOhAsE]

Here is a short HowTo how I modded my two Romisen RC-G2 flashlights (sent 17th Jan 2008) with a SSC Seoul P4 (U-bin) SW0 and the 3W/5W 20-Mode Regulated Circuit Board for Flashlights (aka SKU.7880).

Because my two lights were heavyly glued I had to treat them in a special way. (FYI: Someone ordered 2 lights mid-Feb and got 2 un-glued lights: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...&postcount=380 )

So lets start:

First I unscrewed the head containing the reflector and the lens and the bottom of the light containg the switch etc.


Then I desoldered the two wires to the LED and pushed them into the holes of the heatsink.


Then I bubble-wrapped the light and put it in the freezer for several hours.


To unscrew the pill from the body I used two nails which I put into the two holes of the and used a gripper to apply some torque while holding the (cold) light in the other hand. (Does someone want a frozen Cree? ;-))


I succeded and screwed the pill in again to remove the glued LED board. I used a small screwdriver for doing this. I did not remove the rest of the glue. It is the perfect insulation for the SSC-LED.


I pushed from above through the holes with the nails to pop out the driver board. Then I used the gripper again and removed the inner ring which was holding the board. (it's on the right side of the pic)


Because the sku.7880 board gained in the diameter and I didn't want to remove the outer rims of the board, I had another plan. I noticed that the diameter of the board is exactly the same as the diameter of the pill where it has no threads. So I screwed the pill into the body backwards, because I was going to use my Dremel to cut off about 1mm (the thickness of the driver board I was going to use) off the pill (and I could hold the pill this way perfectly). I planned to hold down the driver board by the pressure of the pill against the flashlight-body.


This is the pill about 1mm shorter. I sanded it down a little bit to make it even. Please don't cut off too much because you won't be able to screw in the pill as much as you want to (because of the lack of more threads inside the light's body).


Then I screwed in the pill pressing the driver board against the flashlight-body and itself, so it would make good contact. I applied a little bit of solder to be sure that the contact will be fine. The SSC is glued onto the pill with thermal epoxy. I didn't remove the white rest of the glue from the LED-board mounted before because this made the perfect insulation for the slug of the SSC-LED.
I centered the LED "by hand" screwing down the head and looking if it's centered or not.


Result: Very bright.
- Ampere draw with the sku.7880 board at highest mode is around 3Ampere - so you should use Hi-Quality Nimh rechargeables that can handle that amount of amps.


P.S. I wasn't able to remove the switch or the tailcap. I assume it is glued, too. (At least at my lights - see note above!)

[nein166]

Nicely done tutorial.

My RC-G2 is glued real well too, pill and tail switch.

[geek4christ]

Thanks for the tutorial. This might be a good first mod for me to try. I think I'll order up an SSC emitter and the 7880 board and have a go at it

[Jarl]

Nice. I've got some rebels, anyone know how they'd work with this light? (focussing in the reflector, mainly).


How is the driver board attached to the pill?

[meuge]

Nice. I've got some rebels, anyone know how they'd work with this light? (focussing in the reflector, mainly).


How is the driver board attached to the pill?

It's soldered to the pill.

I prefer a stronger connection so after completing the mod, I potted it with epoxy.

[gOhAsE]

taschenlampe posted an additional pic which explains the mounting method for the board:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...&postcount=414

[taschenlampe]

The pictures from the lost RC-G2 thread:







tl

[gOhAsE]

Thank you Taschenlampe!

[cadjak]

I've just ordered a RC-G2 Q5 from shiningbeam.com. I have a sku.7880 board on it's way from DX. (Part of a planned mod of my standard RC-G2). Can I just add the 7880 to the Q5 model, as you did here? shiningbeam says their lights are not glued. How would I make the 7880 a single mode board (high)? I'm as new as can be and worry too much about messing up my light with my 11 thumbs. Thanks for any tips you can send my way.

EDIT:
I just saw that they have changed the specs for the 7880 board. They are now 17mm diameter base. I don't know when the change was made. If it's a 17mm, I guess I'm S.O.L. on a mod for this light. :-(
__________________________________________________ ___________________
"3W/5W regulated power output
- Only powered by 1 x AA 1.2/1.5V battery
- Output current: min.800mA
- 17mm diameter base, 6.5mm overall depth"
__________________________________________________ ___________________

[Brownstone]

If it's a 17mm, I guess I'm S.O.L. on a mod for this light. :-(

The post two above yours is an illustration on one possible way to install a 17mm board in a G2. Another way is to dremel or file the 17mm board down to fit.

[taschenlampe]

… How would I make the 7880 a single mode board (high)? …

By soldering the negative (white) lead to the outer rim of the 7880 board.


tl

[cadjak]

Thanks all. I appreciate all the help and advice. Starting out entering the guts of these lights is fascinating. Until last week, I dealt with lights by finding ones that I liked, and that I could figure out how to turn on and off. CPF is great community.

[ch33sehead]

By soldering the negative (white) lead to the outer rim of the 7880 board.


tl

This may seem like a completely silly newbish question, but do you mean like this --



-- or to the under side of the board?

[superstylefactor]

by single mode, do you mean the g2 can only give 1 type of beam ---> high? no medium or low power modes?

[Vince100]

Yes, the original RC-G2 has only 1 mode -> High