SF 8X 2 MC-E

After having the parts here for more than the whole year, I finally installed them
(wondering noone beat me to that mod)

main point: must be redoable!

* simply had a "seat" for the led mounting/thermal plate milled into the back of the head (inside),
* cut a disc out of aluminium sheet to mount the led and driver, should feature a very tight fit to the "seat"
* dremeled 2 possibilities for the screws to fix the "sandwich" into head
mount driver and led,
* built a "seat" for the reflector with epoxy soaked foam (reflector is too big to go through the hole, so has to be put in from the front)
* put everything in

8X:


original LA right, sandwich left (fits inside back of the head):


Sandwich with Reflector "mounted" (in use will be pressed in by the front glass):


back side of sandwich, showing springs and how SHARK is placed:


back end of head, showing the milled "seat" for the mounting plate:


from the front, showing the places for the screws (and the sandwich behind):


look into back end of head, with Sandwich mounted:


other side:


with reflector mounted:



atm the board is set to ~500 mA per die, to give something like 1.5 hours of runtime on full.
Of course the three-cell battey is not perfect for a quad-die step-up setup.
Gotta have to do some measurements and additional thoughts.

... and somehow have to include a low/high switch (which has to work like the original ui).
I have an idea already, but that needs a very tiny switch, and ...

PS: + have to add some glow epoxy

Awsome:thumbsup: I love to see an older light get some new life built into it.

Which reflector are you using? It looks like a McR, but I can't tell which size. Are you using RCR123's or IMR's? Sometimes the Shark can be picky... but it's voltage range is great.

Most importantly.... what do you think? Was it worth the time and effort?

thats the reflector of a Jetbeam Jet III Pro ST, gave the best results out of the ones I had available (and that physically fit).

atm I use the normal 3-cell Ni-Mh battery stick

difficult to say now, if the effort is of use, or not.
The reflector needs a bit of adjustment (atm there is a dark hole in middle),
also the tint of this MC-E is something I absolutely dont like.

The last years the 8X saw pretty no use. If I get a 2-stage setup to work, I would consider the mod a must for the 8X. In original state, there is nothing it can do better than a good 18650 Led-lamp, with that MC-E is gets much brighter.
... will try it again, when it is dark here
+ maybe play with output, atm regulation is kept for 1 hour 20 mins. Considering raising power.

Please let me know if this can be done with a stock 8X head. I don't have machining tools for that.

Think it can be modded into a used X80?

Please let me know if this can be done with a stock 8X head.

Click to expand...

that is a stock 8X head
:thinking:

the "seat" for the mounting plate is no must, but it makes everything much easier and ensures a good thermal path.
I just went into a machine shop and asked them to do it + make a disc perfectly fitting into the diameter. Costed some € 10,-- for their coffee box.

Without that You have to somehow find the correct angle of the inside of the head and I have just hand tools. Also I have no clue how to fix the whole thing into the head. The way I did, with the dremeled screw holes, it was easy.


"Think it can be modded into a used X80?"
hmm, good question, have to check for that. The MC-E would have to work ...
But I dont think that the thermal path will be adequate in any way, therefore I did not do it that way.

I dunno, I think the reflector-head thermal path would be quite adequate, if it's a metal-reflectored lamp.

I'd much rather have an X80 dropin than a modded head, personally. If I was going to do that, I'd use an L7 head, with a bigger reflector.