Fenix E01 and Steel Wool

Hi. I'm a newbie and new to the forums. I bought 3 Fenix E01s. One of them has a nasty purple tint and another has a slight blue tint. I used steel wool to sand them down and it has made the lights into a nice floody beam. However, they have lost some brightness. I have a third E01 which I have currently left as is because it was the best one out of the box. Compared to the sanded ones it is brighter because it still has a bright spot. I'm trying to decide whether to sand that down as well or just keep it as is. So my question is do you do the steel wool modification to all your E01s? I find the sanded down beam to be nicer but since I have two sanded down I'm thinking of keeping the third as is for times when I want a hotspot.

Welcome to CPF, Howie. Lots of folks have done the sanding trick, too. I think I'd keep the third light stock. Stay around here for long you'll be adding some new lights soon.

Geoff

I have an E01 that really isn't too bad beam wise. The 2nd one was real angry blue purple. I used a plain old SOS pad on the bulb on that one & am very happy I did. It is now a very nice flood light beam.

I used OOOO steel wool on two of my four E01's. Kept the other two stock.
Since the sanded ones are floodier they will seem dimmer coz the light is spread over a larger area. I like the hot spot when I need it.

I have an E01 that really isn't too bad beam wise. The 2nd one was real angry blue purple. I used a plain old SOS pad on the bulb on that one & am very happy I did. It is now a very nice flood light beam.

I finally carried out this mod as well on 2 EO1s I have around. It is very pleasing. I had many more EO1s but they have been lost or given away. I am considering getting a few more and using this mod on pay day at the end of the month.

I use toothpaste and a q-tip, it makes finer scratches and allows the light to retain a little bit of throw.......you can even use this mod after you already sanded down the led

dd61999 said:

I use toothpaste and a q-tip, it makes finer scratches and allows the light to retain a little bit of throw.......you can even use this mod after you already sanded down the led

Click to expand...

Oddly, if you lick the LED (or wet it somehow) the water tends to fill in the micro-scratches and give you back much of the throw you lost with gentle sanding.

Thanks for the welcome Geoff, I actually bought a couple of ITP A3s, Romisen RC29s, and Jetbeam BA20s from reading the forums so I have a few lights to play around

I think I am going to leave my third E01 stock. It liked what the steel wool mod did to the other lights but I think the unmodded one really is good the way it is and I'll just keep it that way.

AnAppleSnail said:

Oddly, if you lick the LED (or wet it somehow) the water tends to fill in the micro-scratches and give you back much of the throw you lost with gentle sanding.

Click to expand...

Really? Does it last?

dd61999 said:

I use toothpaste and a q-tip, it makes finer scratches and allows the light to retain a little bit of throw.......you can even use this mod after you already sanded down the led

Click to expand...

I like that. Any polish should give similar results..

actually polish works better, but everyone has easy access to toothpaste and its still better than ultrafine sand paper or steel wool. Unless you are looking for a dimmer floodier light

Howie said:

Really? Does it last?

Click to expand...

Until it dries, yeah.

anyone able to post pictures (photos) of the mod? ive got a E01 coming in..

I bit of an old one but here goes a roughed up solitaire lens works a treat it's what I did with mine purple tint gone..of course anything opaque like plastic milk bottles would work just as well