Has anyone upgraded heir HDS with Skylumen’s (Vinh’s) XPL HI 6500k LED upgrade?

moltenmag

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Hey guys. Moltenmag here. Wanting better throw out of my HDS. I'm wanting to send one of my HDS lights to Skylumen for an aftermarket LED upgrade for $50. Has anyone done this? If so, how is the throw? Beamshots are welcome :)
 

INFRNL

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I believe he has modded some HDS lights. Not sure how they turned out

A quick call or email would probably help. Not sure if he has any vids on it but you could look or ask
 

moltenmag

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I believe he has modded some HDS lights. Not sure how they turned out

A quick call or email would probably help. Not sure if he has any vids on it but you could look or ask

Yeah I already talked to him. He said he would gladly do it as he has a lot of experience with HDS. I just am curious as to if anyone else has upgraded theirs.
 

bigburly912

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I have one he put an xp-g2 in. It's very nice. I've owned several of Vinh's mods, I generally give people one chance to do crap work. After about the 20th light I'd say his work is pretty good. Haha
 

moltenmag

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I have one he put an xp-g2 in. It's very nice. I've owned several of Vinh's mods, I generally give people one chance to do crap work. After about the 20th light I'd say his work is pretty good. Haha

Beamshots? How is the throw? I have a Golden Dragon 170 that throws but I'm curious if it's worth it to upgrade... hmmmm
 

INFRNL

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How much will an emitter swap change throw. Doesn't the reflector have a large part of that

Doesn't the golden dragon throw better than the 250? Or do i have that backwards

I know Vinh"s modded lights throw like nobody's business but that is because he does more than an emitter swap to them. If Vinh just does an emitter swap, not sure how much you will really gain. This is definitely not my department, im also trying to learn from what you are seeking

Hopefully more will chime in or bigburly can enlighten us with all the details
 

bigburly912

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Beamshots? How is the throw? I have a Golden Dragon 170 that throws but I'm curious if it's worth it to upgrade... hmmmm

It threw very well but I changed the reflector to the semi diffuse because I needed to cut that throw back for my uses. It started its life as a golden dragon 120, I never saw that emitter. I purchased it as a mod light. It's A LOT brighter than 120 lumens now. I have a 200 LE and it's probably as bright if not brighter than that one. Even with the diffuse reflector which cut the lumens and softened up the beam this is what I have.

First pic is just pure awesomeness. Second is the 200 and lastly you have the xpg2 with the diffuse and STILL pushing the Lumen output of the 200. So if you want a modern more efficient emitter then yes it's worth it. If you are happy with what you already have there is nothing wrong with keeping it as is. Surely it will have some appeal to die hard HDS fans. You could always go with a hand picked Nichia and get that HIcri goodness. : )

https://postimg.cc/gallery/1zopnh3ng/
 
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Lithium466

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What light would you like to have modded?
I've heard a story of a HDS driver being fried after mod cause too much heat was applied while changing the led. Wonder what modder did it ?
 

RCS1300

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Throw is more a function of reflector size and shape not the LED. If you want throw, get a different flash light. If you want a different LED talk to someone at HDS Systems as they may do it if there is enough demand. Personally, I would not have anyone but Henry at HDS make or repair a HDS light. Too much could go wrong and then you will have to go to Henry to get it fixed. I would not want to do that.
 

bigburly912

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Throw is more a function of reflector size and shape not the LED. If you want throw, get a different flash light. If you want a different LED talk to someone at HDS Systems as they may do it if there is enough demand. Personally, I would not have anyone but Henry at HDS make or repair a HDS light. Too much could go wrong and then you will have to go to Henry to get it fixed. I would not want to do that.

This cant be stressed enough, in my original post what I was trying to say before running off tangent was that if you simply just want a new emitter and arent happy with what you have then go for it but know the risks involved. If you are just wanting to improve throw you will have pretty negligible results. There are leds that can improve the throw but it wont be a huge amount.
 

emarkd

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I can't speak to Vihn's mods specifically, I've never used his services for an HDS or otherwise, but I do have an XP-L HI HDS. Built it myself. I used a 3D bin emitter, 5000k. That's not normally Vihn's wheelhouse as I understand it, he prefers cool white for max output, so his numbers may very well be slightly higher than mine. But if it helps, here's what I measure:

* Stock GD170 -- 4100kcd = 128m throw FL1
* Stock 250 -- 4500kcd = 134m throw FL1
* XP-L HI 3D swap -- 6200kcd = 157m throw FL1

Note that these aren't in the same host, the Osram host doesn't even use a normal mcpcb so doing the swap in that body would be quite a bit harder. I also did nothing to the driver, just emitter swaps. If Vinh's doing driver mods too he may get more from his, but I'm not interested in that. But maybe my numbers at least give a baseline for how the two may compare.

PS: Before the PM's come, I don't swap HDS emitters for others. Never have, never will. Its too much risk on these expensive lights. I'd hate to break someone's HDS - out a few hundred bucks AND become the scuttlebutt of all the bad-modder talk around here? No thanks! :D
 
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RCS1300

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I'm wanting to send one of my HDS lights to Skylumen for an aftermarket LED upgrade for $50. Has anyone done this?

Three years ago I had Skylumen put a High CRI emitter in my Fenix PD30 flashlight. He did an excellent job and I still have that light today.

A month ago I purchased six High CRI LEDs (219b 4000K R9080 and 219b 4500K R9080) and was thinking about having Skylumen put one of them in my HDS light. Decided against this and gifted the High CRI LEDs to HDS for their inventory.

HDS will not swap out LED emitters in an already built light as it is not in their business model. They will make lights with special LED emitters if there is enough demand. This process, in my experience, typically takes 3-6 months from the decision to make the light to the light being ready for sale.
 
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Hogokansatsukan

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What a lot of folks don't understand is that there is a rather heat sensitive part... where heat is applied in emitter swaps buried in the electronics in the potting compound. This can be damaged, and it will not rear it's ugly head sometimes for weeks or months. While Henry is extremely generous with his warranty (thank the stars I'm not the one in charge of that), if your head is fried, you are SOL. And no, that part was not put in that location on purpose.

Now, as a partner with HDS, I would highly encourage emitter swaps and the modifying of your light, the reason being, we will sell more lights when bad things happen. It's just good business to get people to start doing things that would make them buy a new light...

I do know the names of a few who have taken money to fry the electronics on in an HDS... and I will not say who they are because I have no idea how many they have done vs. the failure rate. Not fair to them, and reread the paragraph above this one.

I have tried since teaming up with Henry to get the emitters folks want. Yes, in limited quantities which was the only way I could convince Henry to do it, but it is happening. RCS1300 is totally correct. If I see a demand for it (and it fits the footprint), I will do my damnedest to get it offered as a factory option. You may have to pay attention and jump on it quickly though.

Just yesterday Henry sent me an email and stated he picked up 5 emitters we had been looking for over 3 years (don't ask). I read the email and got on the phone and asked why only 5. I told him to order another 20, and in a few minutes, had him convinced to do just that. (Would end up a very specialized light in the end... but 5? When he is going to take one for himself, knows that I want one, and have wanted one for a few years... Well, this is why Henry and I teamed up. Instead of 3 being available in the future, there will be 23.

If you want a special emitter, get enough interest going and I WILL make it happen IF it has the right footprint and Henry doesn't see something that would make it awful. It's like a group buy but without the headaches I endured running them but you are not assured a place in line when they become available.
 

RCS1300

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Just yesterday Henry sent me an email and stated he picked up 5 emitters we had been looking for over 3 years (don't ask). I read the email and got on the phone and asked why only 5. I told him to order another 20, and in a few minutes, had him convinced to do just that. (Would end up a very specialized light in the end... but 5? When he is going to take one for himself, knows that I want one, and have wanted one for a few years... Well, this is why Henry and I teamed up. Instead of 3 being available in the future, there will be 23.


I will be the first to take the bait. What is that LED emitter?
 

emarkd

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Well since we're all about the speculation in this thread (LOL!), I'll toss out a guess:

Bet its UV. If its not, it should be. UV is a very useful thing to have, and something HDS should consider in the future...if this isn't UV. But its probably UV. :)

I mean, you guys are in Arizona! Don't you want to go scorpion hunting with your UV HDS?!
 

RCS1300

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I'll toss out a guess:

Bet its UV.

I agree with your guess. UV done right is dangerous stuff for the Human, or any, Retina's. I want one but gotta be really, really careful not to look into the LED. HDS will probably need to put special bold coloring on the body of a HDS UV light for safety purposes.

https://www.ecnmag.com/blog/2014/04/understanding-ultraviolet-led-applications-and-precautions

(365 nm seems to be the shortest Nichia UV wavelength available today).
 
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