Frozen Inova XO3

Did not know somebody post it or not before.
Please let me share some information to you.

Thanks for CPF guys show this wonderful method, no harm to the outer case.

Open the tailcap, put a small coin to protect the + contact. Submerge to the water and cover tailcap. Put it into the refrigerator.
After freezing a few hour, open the tailcap and repeat the same step until the bezel come out.
Pictures show more than words
Here we go.




1 Froze up


2 Froze up


3 Froze up


Driver still locked inside.


4 Froze up. I should do this at first time....much faster


Driver close-up


Driver up side down


Open


Took out Emitter


Took out circuit board. Tricks must be applied if you want to keep original board.
You see the Pin hold the board so tight, should remove pin first.


Crach show in TIROS

Any suggestion install the new circuit board or Emitter? :buddies:

Updated: Take extra caution, don't let the water cover the TIROS, If the water cover all of it, it will break the front lens. It is not reparable. Put a coin in the tail cap to prevent the water make a dome of the metal contact. Put it vertical when freezing, bezel upward. After freezing several times, ice might kill the driver and Lux already. So I couldn't suggest to open it. Your mileage may vary.
Good lucky!!!

:kewlpics:
:twothumbs

But can it be rebuilt?

How about a UYOK emitter and a Downboy 1000 or maybe Wiz2 936 driver?

I've been dying to know what a good "U" bin run around an amp will do w/ those optics.

Jon

whoa.. crazy optic!

Hey download, I saw this through your link in that other thread. Very cool that you were able to freeze the XO3 open. Pardon my ignorance, though... What is going on in the sixth pic, in the sink? I can't see very well on my monitor at work.

Also, did that crack result from the freezing? If so, that might be a little scary.

Hi Isonomy & all,
Still waiting for the best driver & Lux combination. Rebuilt should not be a big problem. When TIROS met Lux V hot spot became bigger, not my taste.
2 x (2AA) extender stack up X03. It extended the total volume of water made the expansion greater & reduce the number of freezing. The driver just took out from the body with frozen water attached.
Yes, I :thinking: the crack lens by this method. But it does not affect the beam shot at all. TIROS should make from Polycarbonate. I guess it is tough....

greenlight said:

But can it be rebuilt?

Click to expand...

Yes, but it will take 6 million dollars, and a really bad actor.

Im doing this procedure as I type this, I'm in the third round of freezing and bezel is almost out, not removable yet but I bet in some minutes more after water freezes again it will come out by itself.

My idea is to use a cree UV in there, time will tell if the mod went OK.

Thanks for the tutorial.


Pablo

You could put a Luxeon 5 right in place of the 3 right? I have the Inova X03 and the only thing that could make it cooler is turning it into a 5 watt power house.

are you guys submerging the light or just filling the inside of the light with water. I would love to try this as I love the form factor but hate the optic.

:thinking: How do you mount the board higher in the body? Reflector? How do you handle
the bezel, just press it in again?

And after the 3rd freeze, bezel came out by itself:



I simply filled the battery tube with tap water and left the unit in the freezer, after every freeze I removed the ice buildup and refilled. To fill it completelly I submerged both tailcap and body in a tupperware to remove any air before closing.

No cracks or damage to the lens, I warmed it slowly with water so the temperature decreased slowly

Now I left the circuit board so tomorrow morning sunlight hits it untill it dries with hopes it will still work after that, if it doesnt work, I have a nextgen converter ready to replace it




Pablo

Thanks I am in the process right now.

Come on, it's been asked several times... what if we want to reassemble it!!!

That part of the equation always seems to be left out...

Yeah, that is one thing holding me back from freeze popping my T3.

Results anyone????

For the led module, you just need a "Pipe" to push back.
I used old minimag body to hammer it back.
For the Stainless Steel bezel, 2 pcs of wood cover top and end then hammer is fine.

I broke the bezel glass when froze again & again.
Do not let the water fill full inside TIROS the bezel.
It is better let the bezel up (vertical) when froze your light.

greenlight said:

But can it be rebuilt?

Click to expand...

"We have the technology....."

Just popped mine XO3 open....scary! The freeze method worked perfectly, no damage whatsoever. It was getting little use due to being totally outshoe by my newer Jetbeam MK11x

I'm intending to pop in a seoul p4 u-bin to replace the Luxeon. The dimensions look pretty close. My only concern is that on the ssc the slug is connected to anode whereas on the luxeon it must be isolated. Given that the heatsink in the Inova is anodised and therefore presumably insulated from the slug in any case, is this likely to be of concern? I see that one previous post refers to dropping in an SSC. Was this insulated in any way?

Thanks,

Jules

i put ssc in my T1 with no problems. floodier beam than before. if i was to do it again i'd use edixeon.