Solarforce Skyline I to XM-L (how not to mod a light!)

sawlight

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Jan 2, 2007
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617
Planned on this the instant I bout a Skyline, more power, more better, right?
Finally got all my parts in, XM-L T6 from DX, 1400 single mode board from Illumination supply (just buy both from here, trust me!)
So now, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready!
Unsolder the emitter and pop it out. I've heard you can't take the driver board out without destroying it. Well, "I'm smarter than the average bear, I got this!" I tell myself. I poke the two wires down into the holes and use a punch and small hammer to tap it out. Nothing is moving, then all of the sudden it drops in even deeper. I'm thinking I've bent my punch so I take it out. Nope. Hmmm, that's odd, try the other side, same thing so I just keep tapping on it.
Soon the board that the battery makes contact comes out, "Cool, I did it!" Nope, that's not the driver! Just a plain board that feeds the driver. The driver is pressed in with the copper piece you can see around the contact board. Nope, no way to get it out without destroying it. I took it out in little pieces!
Sanded down my new driver to the same size as the contact board, put me a decent bead of solder on it for a good contact with the battery. (remember this for later) Then go to press it in, even being the same size it's an interference fit for sure, takes a lot of pressure to get it into the copper sleeve.
The XM-L was .040 thinner than the old emitter, "OK, I got this!" I go to the garage and rustle up a copper washer, it's exactly what I need, right diameter and .040" thick! SWEET!
Grab my left over Arctic Aluma to glue every thing together. Well, it doesn't want to come out, I had to cut the tubes to get it out, buy new, don't try to save this stuff for a couple of years!
Get it all glued in and time to test! Screw the battery tube on, no light! Nothing! This isn't good! Checked my connections on the emitter, good. OK, put a small bead from the driver board to the copper sleeve, no love! Nutted around for a while, then "DING!" On comes the light bulb in my head. The flux had built up on the blob I'd put for a battery contact, DUH! scrape it off, lights up fine!
Screw the bezel on, wont light up, loosen the bezel, it lights up! GRRRRRR! The emitter is shorting out on the bezel and I can't even come close to centering it set up like this.
Out comes the washer I was so proud of! I put the plastic cap back n the top of the emitter to center it and to protect the connections.
At last, it all works, kind of! Now it wont ramp down, I have strobe, but no ramp? I guess the driver did the ramping and the switch the Strobe.
So now I sit here, after getting my butt kicked, waiting for the dark to come to make sure it works as I hope it will!
I was going to take pictures and post them to show how smart I was and how cool it all went together. I'm glad I didn't now:naughty: I hope this at least can make someone feel better about their botched mod!
 

sawlight

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
617
It works alright! Bigger hot spot that reaches out farther and some usable spill now. My only regret was not waiting for a warmer tint for this mod, I think I would have enjoyed it more that way.
I still wonder what it would be like with the 2.8ma driver, but I wanted run time and throw. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the finished product.
 

^Gurthang

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Jul 2, 2009
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Maine, deep in the Darkness of the North
Saw,

Well now that you've replaced the OEM driver w/ a new board you could try one of Shining Beams 2.8A 3 mode drivers. Seems like it'd be a simple swap. Warm bin XM-Ls are pretty scarce at the moment. What I've seen thus far is more "neutral" binned emitters [~5000K], which I like.
 

sawlight

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
617
I could, but like I said, I liked the idea of the run time the 1.4a board offered, and I'd most likely destroy the 1.4a driver in the swap!
Cutter is listing the warm XM-L's as coming, 4k and 3k are due soon, but they've been saying two weeks for a few weeks now, so............
 

old4570

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Feb 15, 2009
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2,900
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Melbourne - Australia
Yeah , the driver is inside , mounted sort of back to front , only way out , is in bits ... But thats ok , you just put your new driver where the contact board was ..
Why solarforce did it this way ? Perhaps there were expecting folks to put the light on rifles ??? [ recoil protection for the driver ??? ] , but I dont think so ..
Perhaps to discourage mods ... Mine throws nuts with the 1.4A driver [ over 30,000Lux @ 1 Meter ]

But I went the other way , removed the contact board then destroyed the driver from behind !!! :hitit: , and then pulled out the larger bits with needle nosed pliers ..
If you want to run 18650 , then its a good idea to replace the original driver .
 

old4570

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Feb 15, 2009
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2,900
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Melbourne - Australia
Just open up the head so you can see the emitter , remove the cover over the emitter - protects the contacts from shorting ..

Then un solder the wires , replace the emitter , re solder , and that should be it ...
 
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