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The Klarus XT12GTS

Lexel

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Messages
457
Location
Germany
IMG_2200.jpg

The GTS print on it is photoshopped, but the rest is real.






Sadly I have to tell you it's a mod from me and will most likely never been sold this way,
two options to lego this light
First but it is not to hard to build if you have a spare XT11GT and put the driver of the XT12 in the XT11

just sealing the side switch and charger port of the XT11 with a spacer
or
sand down the XT12GT head to make it fit on the XT11GT


I choose first option as I dont like build in chargers with silicone cover like the XT11GT has
IMG_2191.jpg

IMG_2174.jpg



Sanding down the XT12 head is pretty much the easier option to do this mod, then its just a swich of the lights hads and you are done
The XT11GT will have a larger gap between head and middle sections raised parts you may have to seal it as well as the o-ring may get exposed
On the XT12GT head you have to sand down a few mm to make it fit the CT11 body or mill the body




so when did this idea came up in this thread user chrisc reported his review GAW light died the way of electronics, hot and with bad burn smell,
he got a replacement after he addressed that his light died,
so I contacted him to donate the light to me to do a review and a possible repair and/or mod of the light


I did already a teardown review and mod on my XT11GT Light, and I thought, hey lets try to lego XT11GT the side switch into the XT12GT and try to repair or replace the burned driver putting it in my XT11GT later.


Now I took the XT12GT apart the same way I did with my XT11GT before, heat itz up to about 80°C and get torque with an alligator wrench
IMG_0284.jpg

I noticed some differences in the head and middle section design, first and most important the XT11GT and XT12GT position where the LED connects to the reflector is slightly different
in the XT11GT it sticks a little outside, while on the 12GT it is recessed
IMG_2191.jpg

I removed XT12GT charger port with a lot heat to get the plastic part soft and applied force with a small screwdriver to lever it out not caring how bad it gets damaged
it is press fit but with additional silicone to seal the light


IMG_2164.jpg



What I noticed right away is that the Charger has a diameter of 10mm while the switch retaining ring has an inner diameter of 12mm
IMG_2175.jpg

it is press fit I am no CNC guy but did my best to get a 12mm hole in the old charging hole using a cheap box column drill with a normally long 12mm drill bit


I did my best to fix the middle section of the light on the base plate of the drill, which worked fine,
but the drill has too much clearance on the guiding and bearings for the drill bits drive
So I ended up with a 13mm hole due to rattling while drilling the hole up, should have taken a 11.5mm drill instead, also some minor scratched around the hole were around the holes edge
IMG_2181.jpg

For my machine park and mechanical skills the hole is good enough and with glue I can make the switch cover fit,
but some minor blank aluminum is to be seen near the switch edge








dismantling the defective XT12GT




first thing I noticed was the collapsed spring on the driver,
IMG_2167.jpg

so I took the switch apart, to see its spring as well collapsed and oxidized
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after a fast inspection of the driver I could see one part burned on the boost driver board,
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its exactly the same as in the XT11GT even the print on it says XT11GT
IMG_2171.jpg





The middle section


it is slightly different from the XT11GT,
IMG_2174.jpg

I never liked onboard charging with a silicone cover


The LED in the XT12 GT was mounted with some arctic silver like heat paste evenly and a very thin layer, compared my XT11 with a good amount of arctic silver
you see the machining to make the USB port fit is not done for the XT12, so the heat transfer to the body is a little bit better
IMG_2183.jpg



there is no switch for the side button and it has 2 LEDs for the magnetic charger,
on the other side it has a non mounted USB micro port, just 2 contacts with leads on the board for the magnetic charge port
IMG_2171.jpg

The LED is in good shape which is typical for a short circuit burned driver
IMG_2173.jpg



Here we got the XT11GT which had already the E4 HD with dome replaced with a neutral white HI E4-3C,
for some unknown reason the XT11 board has 2 holes, that are useless just increasing the thermal resistance a little bit
IMG_2190.jpg



I started to try to make the XT11 driver fit in the XT12 tube, so I filed down the USB connector and tried it out,
IMG_2178.jpg

but it didn't fit, because there is no space machined out for it even if the diameter fits the depth not,
so I unsoldered the main blobs and bend the connector to get it off the board, as I was not planning to separate the 3 driver boards to get a full access to unsolder it,
but still carefully there are tiny resistors near the charge port


Here is a picture of the burned part on my working XT11 board,
IMG_2182.jpg

I unsoldered the one on the XT12 board, but it was not easy as they have build in a double sided thermal path in the board to cool this thing,
which is well done from the driver designer putting the XT12GTS together


I added a small amount of blue Locktite to secure the head
IMG_2192.jpg

you can see the charging port is not perfectly centered with the side switch as the XT12GT middle section is a little bit different
IMG_2193.jpg

nevertheless the switch assembly fits in well, when I put the switch cover on top of it I noticed that I had the outer diameter not drilled deep enough
less than a half millimeter, so I sanded down the switch retaining ring a little bit
now glue in the switch retaining ring, also cover the silicone cover to make it airtight
IMG_2195.jpg

After it was hardened within a spanner I removed the glue residue around the switch discovering it doesnt cover all of the scratches around the hole so I used a little black paint to make it look nicer




now we come to my XT12GTS photo with a good Photoshop job to *** the "S" and remove the scratches around the side switch
IMG_2200.jpg



Original vs photoshopped


IMG_2200-2.jpg

IMG_2200-3.jpg







let me know if you like it
 
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