They said I was crazy. They said it couldn't be done. I did it anyway.

Maybe someday the voices will learn who's the boss of my head.



Oh yes...that is a Cree MC-E you see inside my (second) Arc6. I'm sure I've pimped out my K2-modded Arc6 enough that a few people remember I've mentioned it before; well, I got bored again tonight, so I put one of my MC-Es into my new Arc6.

Wow. oo: Whereas the K2-modded Arc6 gained a noticeable amount of throw compared to the stock SSC P4 emitter, this MC-E-modded Arc6 gains about as much throw and a lot more flood -- it's like having a floodlight clipped in my pocket. There is a bit of a donut-hole at intermediate distances, but it's not severe, and honestly the thing is so bright it doesn't even matter. I wish my camera were good enough at taking nighttime photos for me to show you what it's like, but...wow.

Good idea. Would mod again. The voices can shove it.

very nice! any chance of some beamshots?? outdoors would be much preferred. That's some cool modding work man!

A genuine report that brighter is better, I like it.

You so crazy... Nice to have the choice of which to use? Same UI, different missions...

The light that Arc should have built. :twothumbs

I don't know much about the Arc lights. How much current is it pushing through the emitter? (Mostly, I'm curious how an SST-50 would do in there...)

The Arc6 driver puts about 1.4 amps through the emitter on the highest setting. I thought about using an SST-50, but I already had some MC-Es so I used them instead. I'm sure an SST-50 would work fine, because cmacclel is selling small production runs of a 1xRCR123 flashlight using the SST-50 as its emitter. The two most popular drivers are 1.4A and 2.8A 3-speed drivers, and I ordered the 1.4A driver, so I'm looking forward to its arrival so I can do a little shootout.

The most tedious part of this mod was grinding down a 1971 penny into a small 1mm thick square slab of copper to shim the MC-E with. The MC-E's die carrier is about half as thick as the P4's or K2's die carriers. Generally I prefer heatsink epoxy to reflow soldering as a means for heat conduction, but I opted to solder the copper shim onto the back of the emitter before epoxying the whole shebang to the inside of the light. I was pleasantly surprised that the MC-E is a perfect fit for the Arc6's stock reflector; the thing looks like it was intended to go there.

scout24 said:

You so crazy... Nice to have the choice of which to use? Same UI, different missions...

Click to expand...

Definitely nice to have the options, yeah. I also quite smartly (though somewhat unintentionally) chose a cool-white tint for the MC-E and a neutral-white tint for the K2, which turned out to be the right combination because the cooler light from the MC-E gives its flood a little more punch, whereas if it were tightly focused like the K2 is it would've been blinding. (at the time I really just chose the tints because they were pretty. )

Monocrom said:

The light that Arc should have built. :twothumbs

Click to expand...

Honestly, that's the appeal of the Arc6. It has a good emitter which can be replaced in about an hour and a half and it has a driver that can output an impressive amount of power, so you can make it be the light you think Arc should've built.

Honestly I kinda have an itch to take an Arc6 head and fill it with a 5mm LED array -- but at the same time I know 1.4 amps would burn it out in short order.