Modded pocket zoomies

I love modding pocket zoom lights. Here are my most recently modded ones:


These are both modded Aleto N8 budget lights. The stock Aleto N8 is the smallest 18650 zoomie ever marketed at 107mm x 24mm. This wasn't small enough for me, so I modded it.

Version 1: - Aleto N8 with metal button and fresnel lens.

At just 88m long this is quite possibly the smallest 18650 zoomie ever built! The entire light is 4mm shorter than a Sipik 68.

The battery compartment has limited space, but does allow the light to fit 18650 cells up to 67mm long including button top Samsung 30Q, Efest 35A and LG HE4. Works with flat and button top. The flood mode is nearly 90 degrees wide. Much wider than that of a Sipik 68.

Peak throw at turn-on with a fresh Efest 35A is approximately 29k lux. Downside is because the light is so small, it gets hot FAST. Turbo timer is set around 15 seconds or so due to heat. The switch is a soft touch metal button, that requires minimal pressure to activate. The button is small and deeply recessed between a #6 finishing washer making accidental pocket activation very unlikely.

The light is so small that just looking at it, it looks more like a 16340 or 14500 light. The build is unusual in that the majority of the interior of the light is battery compartment. The relatively small pill only extends halfway down the bezel. Typically, lights with sideswitches mount the sideswitch in a compartment ahead of the battery compartment. Not so these lights, where the sideswitch is mounted on the outside of the battery tube and the battery extends below the switch. I like this one for EDC because of it's small size, good tint, extremely wide usable beam and ability to focus. Also, the outer casing is all metal so it's faster to pull out of the pocket than my other Aleto N8.

29k lux. Distance to the tree is 140'
Flood mode beam angle of approximately 90 degrees.

Version 2: Aleto N8 with 20mm aspheric lens and rubber grip.
This one is very similar to the previous light. Main differences are I added a rubber grip to the body tube and installed a 20mm aspheric lens instead of a fresnel. Driver is the same. Due to the more efficient optic, this one is brighter … over 40k lux at turn-on with a fresh cell. The rubber grip around the body tube and rubber button provide exceptional grip, and the button is stiff enough that tailcap lockout isn't necessary for pocket carry. The rubber grip on this light is the "ribbed" portion around the battery tube and is in 3 sections.
Biggest downside compared to the fresnel lens version is its longer length (94mm), and that the rubber grip makes it slightly harder to pull out of the pocket.

44k lux. Distance to the tree is 140'.
Floodbeam is approximately 85 degrees wide. Considerably, wider than the spillbeam on most reflector flashlights.

For comparison, here is a distance shot of the Sipik 68 on L91 primary:
Notice how the spot is barely visible.

Here's some comparison shots showing the width of the flood beams for both Aletos (at 2% power) compared to a Sipik 68 (at full power on a lithium L91 primary).



Some more pictures of the Aletos next to a Sipik 68 with bezels extended and retracted:

Here's some pictures of one of the Aletos before I Duracoated it. Note that this version is slightly longer than the final version. After taking this picture I was able to take off approximately 4mm. I also added more knurling to the tailcap.


Here's some pictures of another experiment I tried with one of the Aletos: the "zoomable mule".

I mounted the LED on a post and had the post rise through the hole in a fresnel lens. A second glass lens sits ahead of the fresnel lens with a gap between them. In spot mode the fresnel lens is at the focal point. In flood mode, the fresnel retracts out of the way behind the LED converting the light into a true mule.


The advantages of this build is that it produced the widest flood ever in a zoomie, with a beam angle of 135 degrees. The downside is throw wasn't great in spot. Only around 10k lux. I also found the wide flood a bit dimmer than I'd like. And the optic and post system made the light longer than I'd like. I dismantled this experiment and converted the light to the version seen in the first post when XPL HI became available.

Its a good idea in the 2nd post. I suppose you are asking a lot of a 1cell 188650 to deliver a wide angle beam that is also bright, and a small led. The hole in the lense i'm not a fan of, the version 2 in post one has a convex lense, so will altering the lese further get to the 140 degrees of the first or are you happy with the angleon it now?

I think I prefer using the fresnel or aspheric without the hole. The beam angle is close to 90 degrees wide, which makes it considerably wider than the spillbeam on my conventional reflector lights. That's good enough for my use. I don't think I really need a 135 degree angle beam.

Also for pocket EDC I really like having as small a light as possible. The system of 2 lenses with a gap in between added 5mm to the length of the light.

I designed an easy method for putting the LED onto a raised post. The "post" is actually made up of 4 identical pieces of copper sheet: 2 on the outer edge separated by a thin later of kapton tape and arctic alumina. The 2 in the middle are soldered together. This whole sandwhich is then put on its side with one side soldered to the Noctigon and the other soldered to the emitter.

This post design can be easily filed down to fit different heights, is very secure, provides great electrical contact and excellent heat dissipation from the LED to the star. It could easily be combined with an LED Lenser style zooming optic.

So why the multi layer post then? Does it help with heat dissipation having the dual layer on the outside as it helps force the heat out? I should have thougth a hollow tube with air holes in would have helped vent the heat to the air.

It is amazing how optics can vary the light output so much, partial internal reflection, surface angle reflection can recuce output and increase heat.

A greater throw angle increases the lit area at a very great rate, doubleing the angle from 45 to 90 requires about 4 times the light to keep the same brightness according to pi*Rsquared

petrochemicals said:

So why the multi layer post then? Does it help with heat dissipation having the dual layer on the outside as it helps force the heat out? I should have thougth a hollow tube with air holes in would have helped vent the heat to the air.

It is amazing how optics can vary the light output so much, partial internal reflection, surface angle reflection can recuce output and increase heat.

A greater throw angle increases the lit area at a very great rate, doubleing the angle from 45 to 90 requires about 4 times the light to keep the same brightness according to pi*Rsquared

Click to expand...

The purpose of making the post with multiple layers is simple: That way the post itself serves as the electrical contact between the LED and the star. There are 3 contact points: two smaller ones on the side for the positive and negative connections and a larger center one for the heat sink pad. Thus I made the post in 3 separate sections all insulated from each other. Each section connects directly from a contact point on the star to the above point on the LED.

Since the connection is copper soldered to copper, heat conduction is about as good as it's possible to get with a post. And because there is no need for separate positive and negative contact wires, the post need only be the same width as the LED and can fit on an ordinary Noctigon. A narrow post means I can use a narrow hole in the Fresnel lens, so I get more possible throw in spot mode.

If I were to do this mod again, I'd probably use an XPL HI emitter, and possibly a wider head light, which would allow use of a bigger fresnel lens. The combination would produce a lot more throw.

Interesting mods! I like the concept. Can you make a detail photo of the post?

Had a brain wave today whilst thinking about optics. IF a torch had 2 leds mounted in the reflector, one at the baseof the reflector and one at the top near the lense, it would have achieved the throw spread combo that you are achieving with the post. If the led near the lense was on a pillar type heatsink as in your torch with a cone base very close to the led in the base, the led near the base would have its light reflected into the reflector and past the led in front of it, as in the search lights of lightsword. The pillar would keep the led in the front with a nice small footprint. You would have your zoom throw spread at a far smaller length. Just an idea!

petrochemicals said:

Had a brain wave today whilst thinking about optics. IF a torch had 2 leds mounted in the reflector, one at the baseof the reflector and one at the top near the lense, it would have achieved the throw spread combo that you are achieving with the post. If the led near the lense was on a pillar type heatsink as in your torch with a cone base very close to the led in the base, the led near the base would have its light reflected into the reflector and past the led in front of it, as in the search lights of lightsword. The pillar would keep the led in the front with a nice small footprint. You would have your zoom throw spread at a far smaller length. Just an idea!

Click to expand...

Someone already built a light somewhat similar to that several years ago. I think it was actually an Ultrafire light.

A "recoil thrower" is an unusual type of LED flashlight that is optimized for throw. Most LED lights with reflectors mount the LED at the base of the reflector. A recoil reflector mounts the LED on an arm at the lens. The LED faces backwards into the reflector. Unlike a traditional LED reflector, the LED in a recoil thrower is at the focal point on all parts of the reflector. This gives a very focused beam similar to that produced by an aspheric lens.

The light that had both throw and spot was a recoil thrower with an extra LED mounted on the arm. One pointed back into the reflector for maximum throw. The other LED was mounted on top of the arm right below the lens and shined outwards completely bypassing the reflector for a very wide, if dim, mule-like beam.