Lens Light mini mod, XM-L2 w KD 2.2 amp 3 level driver

Really like the focus feature of my LL TAD Ti Mini but it just wasn't bright enough on my last work trip. Had some parts laying around and decided to tear into it.

The LED is mounted to a plug that sits in the top of the can, the can is mostly filled with epoxy and the driver board itself is attached to the LED MCPB, prying the plug out wrecks this connection the way I did it. The plug is held in by the epoxy and the ground from the driver, it is visible in the lower right of can.



once the ground and epoxy are removed the plug slides in and out no problem



Positive from board is soldered to the copper at bottom of can the touches the positive of the battery, and the negative from batt connects through the body to the can and then to the wire sandwiched between the plug and can to driver.



Used a KaiDomain 6x7135 V2 driver 2.2 amp high set to three level Hi-Med-Low, doubled up on Pos and Neg wires (mine seemed thin)



skipped a couple pics, filled the can with what arctic silver epoxy I had, only enough for 1/2, sandwiched both Neg wires from board between can and plug, tapped plug in lightly, epoxied the MCPB down XM-L2 5000K



results, the narrow beam has artifacts due to the different height of the LED and larger size (expected), not noticeable outside



the wide beam isn't a perfect circle anymore but not bad outside



LL Mini XM-L2 widest beam on left Oveready triple on right both on high 2' from wall, at 2.2 and 16340 the LL isn't a killer but it is a lot brighter!



general construction of LL minis, I added more o-rings to the extra grooves:


swapped the switch boot for a GITD green



Much brighter and more usefully to me with the burst high, doesn't look like there is enough metal behind the tail threads to bore it out to 18mm for 18350's, so I already ordered a 1200 mAmp high GDUP driver and plan to switch to an XP-G2, I think it will focus slightly better with the XP-G and should run longer

Thanks for looking!

Was thinking of getting a K.O but worried about only being able to run on 123/123r's only - also there isn't much talk about these lights on CPF or any real comparison beam shots to other known lights, so its hold for now.......

The focus part is pretty cool, and with the amount of room inside of the can it's pretty easy to mod, they're well built, I really want to try to bore one to 18mm but I would want some better parts for my lathe before trying to bore Ti, a 6 jaw chuck and serious boring bar, would cheat on cooling and use a spray bottle.

The Mini is a solid entry level light, taking primary's and rechargeables, the aspherical lens isn't for everyone though, not a fan of the regular delrin clips, the Ti clip is ok and it rides at a good height for me.

Nice mod. I've always been tempted to upgrade my LL. Mine is one of the first 2xAA versions, so it might be a little different, but how do you get the front focusing half separated from the rear battery half?

Really long narrow needle nose pliers, up though the battery bay, there's two holes in the bottom of the can, it's threaded into the body standard so you twist the pliers clockwise to unscrew it. don't have to remove the twisting focus part of the body just the lens.

To remove the LED plug I used a 1/8" flat screwdriver and tapped it into the groove around the top of can working my way around prying lightly, I though it was press fit in but it is only pressure from the Neg wire and the epoxy holding it in.