How to remove infinity circuit board?

i just got an infinity...removed the black dot/gunk, and though it is brighter, it is still pretty dim. i was hoping it would be as bright as an ultra, but it is still about 1/2 as bright (16 lux vs 30).
this was going to be a gift, but i cannot bring myself to give away an underperforming LED.

me thinks it needs a mod...of some sort.

how to get out the circuit board and LED?
any way to easily make it as bright as an ultra???

hmm. i wonder if i could stuff a micropuck and a luxeon in there...

Bob

The original Infinity uses bipolar transistor-based boost converter and the Infinity Ultra uses ZLT-based boost converter. It will be difficult, if at all possible, to make a stock Infinity out-perform an Ultra.

Several people have made Infinity LS mods, either by building their own converter, by putting in a commercial converter like MadMax, or by tweaking the sens resistor of the Ultra board.

To disassemble the Infinity, first you will need to pry open the crimp seal; then use a heat gun or put it in an oven to soften the epoxy. When the epoxy is hot (aka, soft) enough, you can push the board out. But very often at this step you will distory the board (if the temperature isn't high enough, you will have to use excess force that can bend/break the board; if it's too hot, the solder will melt and the components will fall off /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

I have an old Infinity with the black dot, but recently got a couple new Infinities which have copper pads like the Ultra. Can it be that the regular Infinity now uses the ZLT circuit?

paulr,

In a word, yes. At least the Infinities that I have modded all had ZLT circuits. I guess its the ol' variable mileage thing again. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Bob,

I never had any luck prying open the crimp. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I normally just file it off and then heat the head of the light to 180 degrees F (approx.) and press hard on the LED with the eraser end of a pencil. My mods, which are Luxeon based, are basically retained by the potting material and keying my heatsinks into the aluminum of the head. If you wish to stick with the basic Infinity circuitry, another ground path would have to be established, as the crimp provides this in the stock light.

Now as modding the basic circuit, the easiest way would be to just replace the LED with something better. I hope this helps.

Dan

Perhaps you would like to have a look at Luxeon Infinity (LUXI) and Infinity tear down.

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koala said:
Perhaps you would like to have a look at Luxeon Infinity (LUXI) and Infinity tear down.

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Or here as well. The 6th, 9th, & 11th post down.