"Got" my first LSH-P and had question.. Now w/Pics

\"Got\" my first LSH-P and had question.. Now w/Pics

What mA is the LS driven at?
400mA???
Knowing it would void the warranty and I'm not even sure if this is something I may do after I see the output..
But has anyone Modded the LSH-P up to say 500-600mA??
If so, was it worth the effort discounting the loss of warranty in the thought process??
Can it be done without too much trouble?
Or simply too much work and not worth the effort and time spent.

Just curious..

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

I am interested too. Anyone tried this?

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

See the LS4 discussion about the LS4's "Boost" mode. Basically you can overdrive the LED for a little while (typically 20 seconds) before it gets too hot and you have to back off. The LS4 will have a thermal sensor so it can know when to stop boosting.

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

I am also interested. The head is one piece. I believe the older models are in two pieces. So my guess is that just getting into the thing is more difficult (if at all possible) with the newest units.

I have two of the one-piece heads. I don't think I'd want to consider opening my premium. But it might be worth a try with my standard, if there's anything to be gained.

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

Paulr:

The questions for me are: 1) How do I get it open -- unglue? unscrew? . . . and 2) What do I do then? Change a resistor? Which one?

I'm hoping someone has gotten inside and can answer Bullzeyebill's question (not to mention flash's questions).

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

I haven't taken an LSH apart but my guess is there's a potted circuit board with tiny little surface mount parts inside. It would be almost impossible to modify the way you're asking. Wait for the LS4, or homebrew a light with a dat2zip pack, or something like that.

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

If memory serves, 330mA.

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

OK Got my LSH-P....
I will say .... "I'm impressed" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
It is very white, clean, professional and the brightest 1x123 I have seen.

You would think That this in itself would be good enough?? Right??
Noooooo... Well, I just had to make some mods.
Sorry but it's a problem with me.. I can't buy anything and not mod it. Baaaad habit on my part. I look at it like buying a sports car and adding headers to make it louder and get more pony's. a compliment no-less.

Anyhow, I wanted to make it brighter and add some Stronium Aluminate (sp?) or Glow powder under the NX-05 too.
Course, doing this was harder than I expected.. but not to bad.

After unscrewing the head from the battery holder there is but one threaded 13\16 20 ring in there. It has two nice little holes in the ring where a custom wrench must be used to tighten that little puppy down. I quickly fabricated my own tool and began unscrewing the ring.

It turned one full turn and then stopped... It was then apparent just how much loc-tite is in there... lots! Green too.

Anyway it wasn't coming out that way anymore....
Still undaunted by this, I grabbed the Dremel and removed the ring without damaging the threads by turning and only grinding the ring where the threads inside the head do not exist. After getting the ring out then the rest was cake.
The regulator\LS assy falls right out and exposes another delrin (plastic) threaded ring that holds the optic in place...
It comes out with ease using the same two pin tool.

I then found the Post's on the grey kits mod discussions and what resistor to fix for a brighter, higher mA output.
From the "Grey kit mod questions" post, I found this by CM (A trusted source and excellent modder.)
[ QUOTE ]
CM "If you can get low value resistors like 1.2 ohms, three of them stacked on top of the 0.15 ohm will drive the LED at 458mA"

[/ QUOTE ]

Indeed! There was the tiny R15 or .15 ohm resistor.
I quickly destroyed three old Seagate hard drives (I have tons) that gave up three 1 ohm surface mount resistors to stack on the existing .15.

I figure I'm pushing right around 500mA... just where I wanted to be. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

After this I added a small ring to float around the LS in between the optic to coat with Glow powder. Tested the output and was ready to put things back together...
Hmmm, but I destroyed the Aluminum keeper ring so I had to find a new one.... Not so easy.
But a quick trip to Home Depot in the faucet section quickly found a Moen cold valve part that had the necessary ring in brass. (the Keeper ring in the ARC is the thermal path for the regulator and LS to the body.) After hack sawing this part off the faucet valve and a little extra Dremel and file work... I created a replica of the original ARC Keeper ring complete with tooling notches to make removal easy for future mods /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif ...
She's all back together and SWEEEEEET!!!

Very bright now! and glows after use to find in the dark or if dropped. Yes it gets a bit warmer and I lost some battery runtime... no big deal for me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I now have a unique ARC LSH-P and I love it.
(I will try to post pics soon)

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

Yes, please post some pics. Sounds very interesting... I just wish I had the know-how to mod a light like that.

Thanks for posting that.

-Jim

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

<Sarcastic> Oh, great now you've done it. </Sarcastic>

I got a LS2 last week and have been staring down the head tube wondering how to unscrew that ring. I have to run to Home Depot to get some faucet parts (in the middle of re-doing the kitchen) and I have some surface mount resistors somewhere in one of my junk boxes. Hmmm, might have to try this.

Thanks for posting this, now I feel a little braver in case I get some free time to try this.

--Chris

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

Paul W, about changing output level, sorry, I meant that the LS4 will have that feature (adjustable output). Taking the LS2 apart and changing resistors hadn't really occurred to me!

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

flash, how much run time are you getting? Planning to get a 2AA battery holder for NiMH? Run time might be longer? Does ARC do any custom modding for fee? (not free).

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

Bullzeyebill... I have not done runtimes as I think it will get to hot for that. It is new and I have been using it like crazy on the same Duracell, beam shots included.

The Brass faucet part was called "Cold Stem 7E-5C for Indiana Brass" cost 10 bucks.. (I wanted to get this done and could not find anything else fast enough /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

The first pic is of the Two Rings compared.
I was happy with the fit.


Here is the finished Light with Stronium Aluminate in action.


Lastly, This thing is now a scorcher!! It easily wipes out both my 1x123 McLux running a MadMax wide open and also my E1e+KL1. So I compared it to one of my brightest Mini Mags running a BB500 to show the difference.
Uhhh the ARC is definately on the right side.

The wires going to the die in the beamshot are not noticable during normal use... But I do wish I could not see them.
For some reason this pic does not really do the ARC enough justice,... It really is much brighter than any of my Single NX-05 1 watters.
Overall, I could not be happier with the light.

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

You definitely have the cajones! I doubt I could rip mine apart the day I got it.......but it looks like you had a mission and some knowledge needed to accomplish it!
I'd like to see a beamshot side by side with another LSH-P that hasn't been danced on. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

JackBlades, I would be happy to do that if I had two /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
But they are a bit costly to do that.
All I can say is it's much brighter than it was which was already very bright and it stomps all my other 1x123's
Anyhow I just realized that the above beamshot makes the ARC look off center,... It is not.
It is the angle of the light aginst the wall with the camera at a higer level. oops.

Whats cool is the mod is reversable should I get fed up with an intermittant use light. It does get hot.
Course, now the Caution hot! message is a bit more on target /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

Beautiful job. Maybe we're getting a preview of the Arc LS4 in "burst" mode?

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

flash, please se PM. Bill

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

Very impressive, thanks for posting those pics Flash.

[ QUOTE ]
Beautiful job. Maybe we're getting a preview of the Arc LS4 in "burst" mode?

[/ QUOTE ]

Funny you should say that, Paul, I was thinking the same thing. As I said before... I just wish I had the know-how and skill to do that to my Arc LS'.

Now I need to find out more about this Glo-Powder stuff... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif

-Jim

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

Paul is on the money. And I will add that the glow powder could be seen as a preview of the "find me" blinker.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Peter

Re: Getting my first LSH-P and had a question...

Peter. I think we are slowly getting an idea of the vision for Arc. At least it has been a gradual process for me. You're making a light which will be appreciated by more than flashaholics. I think you'll sell a bunch. It must be exciting to be a part of this. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif