Xenon 1x123 Incandescent to 1W HD Luxeon Mod

Fox Outdoor Xenon 1x123 Incandescent to 1W Luxeon Modification

I purchased the Fox Outdoor Xenon 1x123 light from Cheaper Than Dirt about 1 year ago.

It is advertised as being brighter than a SureFire. It does have a very bright hotspot, but the beam quality is not all that great, and the spill light if far less useful than the SureFire E1. In flood mode, the beam quality is horrible.

The nice thing about this light is that it all comes apart very easily, and you can make plenty of space in the modified lamp assembly for a converter board. There is a bit of work involved in getting everything put back together, but the outcome is very satisfactory. I used a 1W HD Q3JW and a BB 500 for this mod. I think that there is a defect with the Luxeon, because there is a very noticable blue ring around the hotspot of the beam, but the light is very bright overall.

Sorry for the long post, but I want this to be as useful to others as possible. I have pulled out about half of the pictures, here is a link to the full Mod with Pics:
Fox Xenon 1x123 Mod

Click on any picture to enlarge.

The Fox Outdoor light beside a SureFire E1 Executive:


Top view of lamp assembly:


Bottom view of lamp assembly:


Push and pull on the lamp assembly a little, and it falls apart:


Push and pull on the lamp assembly a little, and it falls apart:


Removed bulb, drilled out hole, filled hole with 1/8" aluminum rod:


Ready for Luxeon, bottom view:


Luxeon and converter installed, top view:


5 foot beamshot, ARC LSH vs. Modded 1x123 Luxeon:


10 foot beamshot, ARC LSH vs. Modded 1x123 Luxeon:

Cool /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Does the Beam shaped by an optic of the reflector inside the light?

great mod, john

Sweet! Keep posting those mods. I really like your format and your work.

Ooh, Very Nice!

I like it a lot! Nice looking donor light there too. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I like that.

I was just on Cheaper Than Dirt's page and saw the 2 - CR123 light. I'm going to try that with a resistor and a 1W Luxeon.

Great looking mod,

Eric

Looks very nice.
Hell of an improvement in light huh? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Looks like that light was the perfect light for modding.

Very cool mod, John. Clean execution. And I especially like the fact the Fox comes with its own "module casing" too, just need to fill up the hole.

The blue ring is indicative of a small break in the yellow phosphor coating of the Luxeon, not uncommon, and manifests itself in different forms depending upon the type of optic or reflector used, as well as where the optic/reflector is positioned relative to the Luxeon.

Nice work, thanks for posting this.

Good one John! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

shiftd - I drilled out the stock reflector, which does a great job of focusing the beam. No optics. The lens is slightly smaller than the standard McLux, etc. lens. I am going to try to grind a mineral glass lens down to fit, the stock plastic lens sucks.

Sounds like a great review site. How come I couldn't see any pictures /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

I don't know. The pictures are coming up for me. Maybe it was a bandwidth thing? Try again if you get a chance. Sorry.

Sweet. Once again, nice mod! For all of you (meaning me) who didn't get the 1x123 Harbor Freight light, here's where to find this one:

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ctd/product.asp?sku=LOW%2D615&mscssid=9REXVMN68M1G8MS8H5UE5E1S328R98G5

I like this one better since it has it's own built in can.

Thanks for spending my money for me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If there is interest, perhaps we should do a group buy for this light? Cheaper than dirt has a very high shipping charge.

hello all

I have one of these single 123's that i modified with an Opalec. No pics yet, but works very nice. mike