HDS upgrades?

Do any modders yet offer upgrades to the HDS EDC lights which will increase lumens beyond the 120-130 range? Love my Seoul upgrade from a couple years ago. Have another unmodded HDS just waiting for a lumen boost.

If so, do any forumites offer the service?

Milky put two rebels in one something like 200LM it's in here somewhere.
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=174494

Thanks for the reply.....

But, That's it?

In the world of modding, only one person is offering an upgrade of over 130
lumens?

I received my HDS U60XR from Milkyspit.
It was modded with a K2TFFC emitter, and looks brighter than my old HDS U60XRGT Seoul.

Great upgrade, love It.

skalomax said:

I received my HDS U60XR from Milkyspit.
It was modded with a K2TFFC emitter, and looks brighter than my old HDS U60XRGT Seoul.

Great upgrade, love It.

Click to expand...

Got pics? I gotta see how a K2 can fit in there.

Perhaps your old XRGT is driving the Seoul less hard than the XR. Also the K2 has slightly better color rendition so that also helps in making it seem brighter.

I'm sure you'd see an improvement with the latest Q5 Crees and P4 Seouls, but not anything dramatic. The emitters are still becoming more and more efficient, but I don't think we'll see another dramatic spike like we did with the early Crees vs. the Luxeons. Just my humble opinion!

The K2 TFFCs have merit, largely the tint (I agree with Tebore). Perhaps someone would/could swap out the light engine for a multi-level light with a 1A high- you'd definitely see a boost in output, but I love the HDS design and couldn't bring myself to totally gut one. It could be done, I'm sure...

Ooops, I'll get some pictures later on today.
Sorry for the delay, folks.

I think the K2 throws better than a Seoul. That might make it look brighter.

tebore said:

Got pics? I gotta see how a K2 can fit in there.

Perhaps your old XRGT is driving the Seoul less hard than the XR. Also the K2 has slightly better color rendition so that also helps in making it seem brighter.

Click to expand...

It can be done, I just removed some of the casing material from until it fitted in the Lux space and voila!! The K2 ahs those square corners that makes it difficult to fit where a Lux or Seoul drop. NO damage to the K2 whatsoever , Ill get some pic up latter.

Hmm if the K2's efficiency catches up and surpasses SSC I think I'll have to get one in my HDS. Pics of the K2 in the the HDS would be great guys.

Babo said:

...Love my Seoul upgrade from a couple years ago.

Click to expand...

I didn't think the P4's were out that long.

Babo said:

...Have another unmodded HDS just waiting for a lumen boost.

If so, do any forumites offer the service?

Click to expand...

I've done a bunch of these mods. I'll defer to Milky but if he's busy, I *may* be able to swing a mod like this (my thumb is messed up right now)

CM said:

I didn't think the P4's were out that long.

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Seems just like yesterday but the last doubling in efficiency in LED tech was about 18 months ago. C'mon another doubling.

tebore said:

Seems just like yesterday but the last doubling in efficiency in LED tech was about 18 months ago. C'mon another doubling.

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Time flies. There's possibly another 6 months to go for that doubling according to Haitz's law.

Bad news guys. :shakehead

I found my Camera, but the battery Is dead and need to charge It.
I can't seem to find It.

Maybe Milkyspit took some? :wave:

skalomax said:

Bad news guys. :shakehead

I found my Camera, but the battery Is dead and need to charge It.
I can't seem to find It.

Maybe Milkyspit took some? :wave:

Click to expand...

Hi Skalo! :wave:

Not sure if I've got photos of that particular light, but I'll check in a bit.

CM said:

I didn't think the P4's were out that long.

Click to expand...

CM, I could be a little off but if memory serves, the first SSCP4 emitters were available in late 2006... I seem to recall buying my first few from Mouser back in November? 2006.

That said, it seems like a LOOOONG time to be stuck at the U-flux... but I've gone through at least 1000 SSCP4 US*OH to date and have noted the average luminous output has been increasing. At first the parts seemed to be at the bottom of the range... 91 lumens or just a bit more when driven at 350mA. Now it seems a fair expectation that the average SSCP4 will be around 100-105 lumens... and since the U1/U2 sub-binning scheme has been put into place, one can get U2SWOH with guaranteed minimum 100 lumens, and as high as 118 lumens.

The main thing with SSC is their bin range is so broad that they sit in a single bin while equivalent Cree parts have gone through P3, P4, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, R2... Cree's binning is narrower, makes it seem like there's been lots more progress. Maybe SSC is trying to get into the game with these U1/U2 bins! :thinking:

CM said:

I've done a bunch of these mods. I'll defer to Milky but if he's busy, I *may* be able to swing a mod like this (my thumb is messed up right now)

Click to expand...

I'm always up for an HDS mod, anyone needs me send PM here or on CPF Marketplace, or email me at...



Gotta tip my cap to CM, though... he's not exactly a slouch with this stuff!

Appreciate the props, CM, that's a very classy gesture.

tebore said:

Hmm if the K2's efficiency catches up and surpasses SSC I think I'll have to get one in my HDS. Pics of the K2 in the the HDS would be great guys.

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Tebore, I've got a personal HDS U60GT that I upgraded to K2T (my unofficial and very lazy shorthand for K2-TFFC) that seems to clock roughly 171 lumens overall output on max! My equipment isn't the most precise in the world but from real world observation, it doesn't seem to be off by much. Kid9P saw it at PF10 last month... it's a real screamer! :naughty: (Finally, after upgrading a whole bunch of other folks' HDS and having my personal ones underperform the customer lights, I got myself a good one!)

Incidentally, the K2T needs to have the black plastic portion trimmed fairly extensively to fit in the round heatsinking cavity of the HDS... basically the whole square peg in a round hole thing...

milkyspit said:

Tebore, I've got a personal HDS U60GT that I upgraded to K2T (my unofficial and very lazy shorthand for K2-TFFC) that seems to clock roughly 171 lumens overall output on max! My equipment isn't the most precise in the world but from real world observation, it doesn't seem to be off by much. Kid9P saw it at PF10 last month... it's a real screamer! :naughty: (Finally, after upgrading a whole bunch of other folks' HDS and having my personal ones underperform the customer lights, I got myself a good one!)

Incidentally, the K2T needs to have the black plastic portion trimmed fairly extensively to fit in the round heatsinking cavity of the HDS... basically the whole square peg in a round hole thing...

Click to expand...

Would you say on average a K2T is brighter than a U-bin? If it is I'll have to find me some. What's the tint on yours? May I ask for a beam shot comparing a K2T to an SSC? This K2 business has peaked my interest.

My HDS' need a shot in the arm and I'm hoping to warm up their tints while at it.

http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS60.pdf
K2 with TFFC rated 75-95Lm at 350 mA.
So, new U2 Seoul still brighter, as well as Cree R2

Russki said:

http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS60.pdf
K2 with TFFC rated 75-95Lm at 350 mA.
So, new U2 Seoul still brighter, as well as Cree R2

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That's what I thought too. However with LumiLEDs especially the Lux III not to believe everything on the spec sheet.

There was the joker Fiasco, the U-Bin which had higher lms then the spec sheet, the Lux-V where binning was really a lotto.

I was hoping someone knew something I didn't.