XP-E1B my latest mod.

First off I would like to thank all of the creative people of the CPF for their inspiration. 1 year ago I didn't know how to open a Surefire head. Now I am doing most of my mods.

I purchased this E1b head a while back with the intention of modding with with an XP series lamp. I upgraded the driver to run a rechargeable 123 as well.

The first run around I placed the XP-E on top of the board that the original XR-E sits on thinking the focus would be better that way, only to find that I could not tighten the housing down nearly far enough. Then I moved on to the second XP-E I had and 8mm board to mount directly to the " SF pill". For the record reflow soldering is way less fun than it looks when you don't have all the tools.

I had to eye ball the centering of the diode by gluing it down with arctic silver and then placing the optic back over it and looking to see how centered it looks. In the end I think I did pretty well but it's not Surefire perfect. The beam is also very tight, driven at 1A it seems pretty bright but I'm not sure it's appears 280 lumens bright.

I am looking for an suggestions on better reflectors that would easily fit into the E1b head. I am also waiting on XP-Gs I ordered that I plan on running in this set up for maximum output. Any comments and thoughts are welcome.

I am not so go with the camera when it comes to beam shots so the image does not accurately reflect the brightness, in this case I think it is overexposed? making it look brighter. I am still very pleased with the output but look forward to the XP-G upgrade.





The last image was the mounting setup I stuck with.


To see the original thread on opening the E1b head look here

As far as reflectors, I am using a cut-down McR-19xr reflector in mine. It works great and Don's xr reflector line is the best IMHO. However, I do not know how well it will perform with an xp-e or xp-g for that matter as I don't own any.

I have some XP-Gs on the way so I'll see soon enough how well they perform with the SF optic. I'm hoping for a little more flood.

nice job but how do you took out the stock pcb?i'm still trying on my KX2 head.

Could u post some comparison beamshot?

nanotech17 said:

nice job but how do you took out the stock pcb?i'm still trying on my KX2 head.

Click to expand...

I am assuming you have opened your KX2 head? With that assumption in place you will have 3 parts. The top portion with optic, the "pill" and the bottom or base with threads on both sides. It is important to separate all three parts to remove the PCB. The PCB has 2 wires that deliver power to the LED, these will need to be de-soldered from the LED while removing the PCB. Otherwise they will rip off the board or LED. Part of de-soldering the power wires from the LED requires you to bend the wires perpendicular to the board. The reason is that they are bent over when they are soldered, this makes them a lot harder to remove if they are not straight when they are pulled out.
After the driver is removed from the pill you will have to de-solder the negative connection from the contract ring on the other side. There should be two points across from each other that can identified easily. Once that part comes off you will be left with one positive wire going to the center contact, de-solder it or cut it and you're all set.

I will see if I can find some pictures of this to post from the process. As far as beam shots go I'll do my best to get some up in the next couple days.

yeah,currently my KX2 head is using 1A driver + 19mm McGizmo XRE reflector,ijust want to use Q5 emitter in it without ruining the stock Cree P4 pcb because i want to mount a Q5 emitter on it.
Thanks

nanotech17 said:

yeah,currently my KX2 head is using 1A driver + 19mm McGizmo XRE reflector,ijust want to use Q5 emitter in it without ruining the stock Cree P4 pcb because i want to mount a Q5 emitter on it.
Thanks

Click to expand...

In that case you will also need to unscrew the PCB from the pill. I totally forgot about this step. I have a small T4 bit I use to remove the screws form the head. This then allows you to push out the PCB from the back side, freeing the LED from the pill. The fun part is reflow soldering the P4 off the board. I will post some pictures tomorrow of some of the reflow soldering process. As well as beam shots, I know people have been waiting. This will soon be upgraded to an XP-G anyway.

Nanotech17 if you are interested in having some one do the emitter swap for you please PM me and we can talk details.

Holy poop, is the beam tighter than before?

RyanA said:

Holy poop, is the beam tighter than before?

Click to expand...

It is, I'm hoping for a little more flood when I use and XP-G.

As far as beam shots go I'm using an R2 D10, modded SF L1 head running a XR-E Q5 at 1A and the XP-E modded E1B driven at about 1A as well.

The usual suspects


Below is the the D10 on high using a fresh battery (NiMH 2700)


Next is the Modded L1 head


Lastly the XP-E1B

Notice the warmer tint, about 5K. I'm not sure if I think this is something I like about this light yet or not. I also have XP-Gs and 17500 body on the way. I'll be sure to post pictures of the final product.

"Originally Posted by nanotech17
nice job but how do you took out the stock pcb?i'm still trying on my KX2 head."



I know the arrows are small but the red arrow points to one of the desoldering points where power is supplied to the LED. The green arrows point the direction the wire needs to bend as it's being desoldered. The purple arrow points to on of the two T4 screws that need to some out as well. Once removed and leads desoldered you will need to push the PCB from the back side as it is held in place with a mild adhesive as well. Hope this all helps.

Thanks foxtrot824,i will follow your method first by pushing the pcb from the back once i manage to desolder the stock wire.

Thanks foxtrot824, for beamshots and sharring this mod!

Hi foxtrot824,i manage to get the stock pcb out of the head and now i'm mounted a Q5 pcb in the head with DX cheapo 1A driver power it in an E1L tube with AW IMR 16340 and the output is compareable with my Malkoff M60 with 2xcr123 in a VME head.
at least 235lumens out the front :wow:

nanotech17 said:

Hi foxtrot824,i manage to get the stock pcb out of the head and now i'm mounted a Q5 pcb in the head with DX cheapo 1A driver power it in an E1L tube with AW IMR 16340 and the output is compareable with my Malkoff M60 with 2xcr123 in a VME head.
at least 235lumens out the front :wow:

Click to expand...

Glad to hear. As far as I'm concerned the more Q5 upgrades the world has the better :laughing:. Congrats on the mod. My main EDC is a Q5 driven at 1A in an L1 head and it's great!

I'll most some updated pictures of the XP-G upgrades. Due to errors on my part in the reflow soldering process it didn't come out so well.

Advice for any one modding an e-series head with an XP-E/G lamp:
Use a thin PCB is very important (such as the ones from the Shoppe). I used a thicker one and was not able to focus the head. In order for the head to come close to stock position an thin PCB is necessary.