Awesome Homedepot light

[Hmmm]

I was at homedepot a few months ago and I saw a light that caught my attention. I finally decided to buy it yesterday and man, was it worth it. It is a 3c light, with a cree xml driven at 2.4 amps. It has a deep reflector. Roughly 3 inches deep and 2.5 inches in diameter. Its throw is pretty good. The overall build quality is fairly good, some of the threads are alittle rought and the thread for the pill is alittle rough aswell. The switch does not seem to be h ighquality. I plan on making a new pill out of copper and converting it for 2x18650 cells. I'm thinking of using an XML2 at 5 amps or so.

 

[Canuke]

Sounds like the Defiant XM-L, second gen. I have one of those.

 

[JNieporte]

I have one, the "Defiant Super Thrower". Nice light for the money, like most of the Defiants.

 

[Poppy]

LOL... me too! Two nights ago, I was at HomeDepot and just couldn't pass it up. The "Defiant Super Thrower" the reflector is almost 60mm in diameter and 57mm deep, and coupled with an XML I anticipated that it would throw well, and I wasn't dissappointed. Perhaps I measured mine wrong, but I got a 2.0 amp draw.

When I took mine apart to see... well just to see I was surprised to see what looked like a lot of extra wiring coiled up haphazardly inside the battery tube, up near where the positive end of the battery would contact the bulb. When I took it further apart to inspect, that curled up wire, was the shaving of the battery tube from when the threads were cut! :yikes: The switch has a folded piece of thin metal to contact the battery terminal that just about makes it to the tip of the battery. I'd say that quality control is about what I've come to expect from low cost - mass produced products, not made in the USA.

 

[Lobstradomus]

I picked one up a while ago as well, it should make for a great project host -I'm thinking an XM-L2 on copper star powered by a 5a driver and a pair of 18650 cells. In the meantime I added some new thermal paste since it had barely a drop between the star and pill, soldered some copper braid to the springs to reduce resistance and finally rewired it with better wire to true direct drive by bypassing the resistor/IC. In stock form I was pulling less than 2.4 amps at the tail cap, now I'm getting close to 2.9 for a bit of time a few cents worth of wire/solder/etc.

 

[Poppy]

I think that I would like to be able to put a pair of 18650's in series, in there with a spacer. Would I have to change the driver?

 

[lightknot]

I put an Endor Cyan Triple Star in a Defiant 493 lumen Tactical Super Thrower from Home Depot. And it throws Bright Aqua light a city block no problem. Switched the batteries from 3xC to 4xCR123, de-anodised the tailcap, lengthened the tailspring and put in a PVC spacer so the batts would'nt rattle. Voila! It's alive!

Currently working on the artifact in the beam.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Nice job, lightknot. Very flashy.

 

[lightknot]

Thanks photonwrangler, the host has lots if room for diff. Batt mods, and the triple LED fit right in with no reflector modifications.

 

[Poppy]

I picked one up a while ago as well, it should make for a great project host -I'm thinking an XM-L2 on copper star powered by a 5a driver and a pair of 18650 cells. In the meantime I added some new thermal paste since it had barely a drop between the star and pill, soldered some copper braid to the springs to reduce resistance and finally rewired it with better wire to true direct drive by bypassing the resistor/IC. In stock form I was pulling less than 2.4 amps at the tail cap, now I'm getting close to 2.9 for a bit of time a few cents worth of wire/solder/etc.

I'd like to follow your lead on this mod.
How would you do the batteries... in series or parallel?
And how would you make them fit?

 

[tallboybass]

I was at homedepot a few months ago and I saw a light that caught my attention. I finally decided to buy it yesterday and man, was it worth it. It is a 3c light, with a cree xml driven at 2.4 amps. It has a deep reflector. Roughly 3 inches deep and 2.5 inches in diameter. Its throw is pretty good. The overall build quality is fairly good, some of the threads are alittle rought and the thread for the pill is alittle rough aswell. The switch does not seem to be highquality. I plan on making a new pill out of copper and converting it for 2x18650 cells. I'm thinking of using an XML2 at 5 amps or so.

Thanks 'Hmmm'...you saved me lots of money. I'm sort of a newbie and was getting interested in flashlights with more throw after obsessing over the tiny AAA & 123 lights and realized it costs a lot of dough to get something that will throw very far. After reading your post, I went to Home Depot and bought one on your word. A light that will throw for a quarter mile for $22.97...and it comes with batteries?!! Color me imPRESSED!!

 

[Lobstradomus]

I'd like to follow your lead on this mod.
How would you do the batteries... in series or parallel?
And how would you make them fit?

It's still in the planning stages and there are a few other projects ahead of it in the queue but the general plan right now is a pair of sleeved 18650's or possibly 26650's with a small spacer feeding one of the 5a drivers like the one from LCK LED. I still have to decide on how I want to mount the driver, I could cram it into the pill but then I would need to add at least a 20mm long spring for it to make contact with the top of the switch or I could solder fill the pill and find some way to secure the driver inside the flashlight body between the pill and the switch.

 

[Poppy]

Today I built a spacer and a sleeve, and put in an 18650. It is pulling 2 amps. I have a 2.8 amp multi mode driver coming in the mail. It accepts a 3-4.5 volt input.
Are there any end to end parallel carriers for 2 - 18650 batteries?

I looked at those 5 amp drivers, and noted that there is a note that the drivers must be heat sinked. How would one go about that?