6 x XM-L2 SRK clone @ DX [PIC HEAVY]

[Jufran88]

Hey guys, here is a quick tear down of the 6 x XM-L2 SRK clone I received from DX a few weeks ago. It's an overall great light and is easily moddable to get increased output.

From what I noticed all the PCBs have no finish, its all copper. No HASL or ENIG. The light comes with lubricated threads which is a plus!

Mods I did:

• Changed wiring to 18 gauge silicone wire
• MOSFET swap
• Re-pasted star to pill using Shin-Etsu thermal paste
• Cleaned all contact points with 91% alcohol and Deoxit

The pictures shown below are before I modded the light.

Unscrewing the bottom will reveal the screwed in battery contact plate. Copper springs are soldered on the back rather than the front.

The copper pads around the screws make contact with the body allowing the negative feed to the driver.

Electronic switch

Inner and middle ring are positive contacts while the outermost ring is the negative contact. Driver is not glued in!!! It's pressed in.

Glass lens: 54.8mm x 2.4mm

Unscrewing the reflector and desoldering the LED wires will get you here. The reflector might be tightly screwed in so a bit of force may be needed.

Take off the reflector screws and underneath you will the insulation gaskets. They just pop right in there. It's a bit high so cutting them down might increase output by a tiny bit.

LEDs are in parallel

Driver: 46.5mm MOSFET driven H35N03J

Driver schematic with all components used and unused

Driver schematic with only populated components

Again this is a great light with a lot of potential! After modding it I noticed a huge increase in light output. It would be a lot brighter if I had some high drain batteries.

Thanks for looking! :beer:

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

That is such a sad heatsink for 6 LEDs

 

[Jufran88]

Yeah, it is a bit lacking. I wish it was more like the DRY since that was machine straight to the body.

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

You definitely did the best with what you had to work with

It would be so much better if they just made the heatsink even 1cm thicker. It wouldn't add that much to the size, and would be much improved.

 

[sinner]

I bought SRK clone with 7x xm-l2 just yesterday, I am not sure how they put more emitters in there and forget all the internal changes required to make it a tiny bit more durable. I think i'll open it up and tidy it up a little bit, add some heatsinking and maybe mod the driver a little.

Thanks for the review :beer:

 

[Jufran88]

I forgot to point out that since the reflector is screwed into the pill/star it also acts as a heat sink, but it probably doesn't do it very efficiently. A custom job would really help the light a lot better!

 

[mhemling33]

Great pictures!

I bought a bunch of these, at $23 shipped I couldn't resist. I also love the modes, it simple Hi, Low, Off w/ hidden strobe.

There is a good amount of room between the driver and pill/reflector. Plenty of room for some type of heatsinking.

I swapped mine out with a 70N02 MOSFET that was discussed on BLF. Performance wise is there a reason you went with H35N03J?

 

[Jufran88]

I know I should have bought another one! Too bad prices went up.

Oh no, the stock MOSFET is the H35N03J. I switched it out with a 06N03 I had left over from an East-092 driver. I plan on switching it out again when I do another order from Digi-Key.

 

[ryansoh3]

Awesome, thanks a lot. +1 :beer:

Didn't know the East-092 driver's MOSFET was compatible, I'll try swapping it out.

 

[Jufran88]

No problem! I enjoy tearing things down to see how they work. :beer:

You can virtually use any MOSFET as long as they meet the criteria for PWM applications.

• Logic level (<5V Vgs(th))
• Rds(on)
• Gate charge/capacitance - also helps calculate for the gate resistor and see if the turn on/off time delays closely match in the datasheet.