mudman cj
Flashlight Enthusiast
I just finished modding my TLS with an XM-L and want to share the joy. This head originally came with an XR-E, and has had an MC-E as soon as it could be arranged, but the time had come for an upgrade.
I tried grinding down a 19mm KD board to buck the voltage down to regulate the current at 3 amps, but the treatment seems to have rendered the board useless since I have now fried 2 XM-L leds with it. I guess they can't handle 2 AW Li-ion cells in series. :ironic: So, after switching to a Shark buck (yes, that is 19mm) and putting in the 3rd XM-L all is now well. I couldn't grind the Shark down, so special measures had to be taken to use it.
I created an aluminum pedestal that fits down into the back of the pill so that the Shark can sit out above the rim of the pill to prevent shorting yet provide a thermal path for the circuit board. I then epoxied a spring to the other side of the board to make contact to the battery "+". The MCPCB was lapped down to 5 micron finish and so was the face of the pill for good thermal contact. Arctic Silver epoxy was used to bond the MCPCB, aluminum pedestal and circuit board into one assembly that threads into the back of the reflector.
I measured 32,688 lux @ 1 meter (measured at 6 meters and calculated back) at turn on!
Here are some pics.
In this beamshot, the measuring tape has black marks every foot that you can make out for scale. The light was 15 feet from the wall.
I can take some outdoor beamshots at a later time and add them, but it's sunny out now!
It's awesome to have a light that puts out the same light intensity (though not the same quality) as a Mag 85 in a Millennium Turbohead (same size as the TLS TX3) but only draws about 27% of the power!:devil:
I tried grinding down a 19mm KD board to buck the voltage down to regulate the current at 3 amps, but the treatment seems to have rendered the board useless since I have now fried 2 XM-L leds with it. I guess they can't handle 2 AW Li-ion cells in series. :ironic: So, after switching to a Shark buck (yes, that is 19mm) and putting in the 3rd XM-L all is now well. I couldn't grind the Shark down, so special measures had to be taken to use it.
I created an aluminum pedestal that fits down into the back of the pill so that the Shark can sit out above the rim of the pill to prevent shorting yet provide a thermal path for the circuit board. I then epoxied a spring to the other side of the board to make contact to the battery "+". The MCPCB was lapped down to 5 micron finish and so was the face of the pill for good thermal contact. Arctic Silver epoxy was used to bond the MCPCB, aluminum pedestal and circuit board into one assembly that threads into the back of the reflector.
I measured 32,688 lux @ 1 meter (measured at 6 meters and calculated back) at turn on!
Here are some pics.
In this beamshot, the measuring tape has black marks every foot that you can make out for scale. The light was 15 feet from the wall.
I can take some outdoor beamshots at a later time and add them, but it's sunny out now!
It's awesome to have a light that puts out the same light intensity (though not the same quality) as a Mag 85 in a Millennium Turbohead (same size as the TLS TX3) but only draws about 27% of the power!:devil:
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