# Photon Freedom Mod??



## Tacfolder (Apr 12, 2006)

Has anyone modded a _Photon Freedom_ with "a higher powered led, a reflector, a CR123 battery tube and battery"?

Yes it _would_ look like a "whole other flashlight"!! 

Talk about a nice concept!

Multi-level, multi-function-- what more could you want?

Anyway, I'd like it.


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## ViReN (Apr 12, 2006)

Proton was coming.... going... coming... going... uh... i forgot what eas it's last status... i think it was coming... (with 5 mm led's) yes Max Brightness...


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## Tacfolder (Apr 12, 2006)

Ok, what I really want to know is, "Can an existing light be modified with the microprocessor circuit from the _Freedom_"?

Is this a forbidden mod?


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## ViReN (Apr 13, 2006)

sure it can be, just use a FET to drive the LED and uP of FreedomMax to drive the FET. get more information from chanik


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## The-David (Apr 15, 2006)

I have switched out the LED its just attached to the bord in a set of little push to fit sockets. However I dont have any $ or better leds then the X2 thats in my fredom now, so It was more uf just to see if I could do it. 

Aneyway the LED pulls right out the front of the light, if you open it and slip a small screwdriver in there and push on the back of the LED.


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## vortechs (Apr 17, 2006)

KE7AYF said:


> I have switched out the LED its just attached to the bord in a set of little push to fit sockets. However I dont have any $ or better leds then the X2 thats in my fredom now, so It was more uf just to see if I could do it.
> 
> Aneyway the LED pulls right out the front of the light, if you open it and slip a small screwdriver in there and push on the back of the LED.



Hi David (KE7AYF). I've been thinking of putting a SMJLED in a LRI Photon Freedom microlight. I've changed the LED in a Photon II before, but that is very easy since it has screws to open the body. I would greatly appreciate it if you would post step by step notes for changing the LED in the Photon Freedom microlight. Thanks for any advice you can give me.


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## paulr (Apr 17, 2006)

I thought about doing something like that, but there's other uP circuits being made by modders now, such as the flupic.


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## vortechs (Apr 22, 2006)

Any advice on how to open the LRI Photon Freedom microlight and change the LED? There aren't any tiny screws on the body like the Photon II has, so it isn't as obvious how to disassemble it. 

Has anyone tried an uncut SMJLED in the Freedom microlight?


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## PhotonLight (Apr 22, 2006)

Hmmm.... did you try popping the battery cover off?  In case you missed it, look for the small tab on the logo side of the light near the keyring hole. Just use a small nail file or screwdriver or other suitable tool to pop it open. The circuit board itself comes out easily once the batteries are removed, as it just plugs into the LED. Getting the LED itself out is a bit trickier, but not too tough. You just have to push it out by pressing against the back of the LED as KE7AYF described.


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## vortechs (Apr 22, 2006)

PhotonLight said:


> Hmmm.... did you try popping the battery cover off?  In case you missed it, look for the small tab on the logo side of the light near the keyring hole. Just use a small nail file or screwdriver or other suitable tool to pop it open. The circuit board itself comes out easily once the batteries are removed, as it just plugs into the LED. Getting the LED itself out is a bit trickier, but not too tough. You just have to push it out by pressing against the back of the LED as KE7AYF described.


 
Thanks Bryan, glad to see you here on CPF. 

Thank you very much for the (unofficial?) advice on how to change the LED in the Freedom microlight, I feel much more confident opening it up now. I was eventually going to search for info on how to change the LED in the Photon Freedom over on the LRI Photon Discussion Board (http://www.photonlight.com/forum/) but I thought I'd ask here in case anyone had good hints, advice or tricks (like whether I should take ESD precautions when handling the circuit board). I spotted the tab on the battery cover near the keyring hole, but didn't want to start prying on things until I knew what I was getting into. 

The stock LED in the new "100% brighter" Photon microlights is pretty good already. The one in the Freedom on my keychain looks like a Nichia CS, U-bin intensity, C0-tint (a nice smooth yellow beam with no artifacts but a somewhat bluish center). In overall brightness, it seems to be about as bright as the 35K mcd LEDs but not as bright as the newest 50K mcd LEDs (from JELED). However the Nichia tolerates overdriving very well, so it makes a much better choice for a mass market product where you don't want LED's dying from being overdriven by the two 2016 coin cells (fortunately the internal resistance of the coin cells means the LED doesn't have to take the full 6V from the two 3V cells). The new SMJLED has been getting good feedback here on CPF and will tolerate being overdriven about as well as the Nichia's, so I've been wondering how one would look in a Freedom microlight. I'm hoping an 'uncut' (full dome) SMJLED will be brighter with a smooth beam and white tint. I have several other Freedom microlights, so I thought I'd take one of the ones that doesn't have the new 100% brighter Nichia and try putting a different LED in it. 

I really like the user interface on the Freedom. The dimming feature is becoming almost necessary as the 5mm LED's get brighter and brighter.


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## paulr (Apr 22, 2006)

There's been some proposals for using a Freedom as a controller for a bigger light through a power mosfet, though I don't know of anyone actually doing it. I remember suggesting building one into a Mag mod like a Space Needle II, replacing the Mag switch button with the Freedom, giving you a fully dimmable, monstrously bright LED light. The Freedom would just be mounted inside the tube along with a mosfet circuit replacing the Mag switch.


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## vortechs (May 28, 2006)

I installed an uncut SMJLED in one of my Photon Freedom microlights today (NV green LED with a covert nose). 

It wasn't hard to pop the battery cover open with a small screwdriver. The two 2016 batteries came out easily. The circuit board took some careful coaxing. It was wedged in at the back side and at first I thought it might be glued down or something, but once the back end of the circuit board got past the tight spot it came up out of the light and could be pulled backwards off the LED's leads. The LED could then be pushed forwards out of the light. The covert nose piece came out with the LED. I put a bit of tissue on the stock LED's dome for padding and pushed it off of the covert nose. 

With the Freedom microlight thus completely disassembled. I then noted the polarity of the original LED leads, cut & bent the leads of the uncut SMJLED the same way (testing it in the circuit board's sockets), pushed the SMJLED into the covert nose, pushed the covert nose back into the body, bent the leads upwards enough to plug them into the circuit board as I pushed the board back into the body at an angle (front end low, back end up) and then pushed the back end of the circuit board back down. Then I reinstalled the batteries, tested it, and popped the battery cover back on. 

Interestingly, it isn't nearly as bright as a generic microlight clone modded with an SMJLED. I wonder if it is somhow being limited by the circuit in the Freedom or if the covert nose makes it seem less bright (although even the center of the beam seems less bright). They are both new lights so they should be fresh CR2016 batteries, but I'll have to try replacing or swapping the batteries to see if it makes any difference. 

Does that make me the first person to install an uncut SMJLED in a Photon Freedom?


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## ViReN (May 28, 2006)

is it brighter than Freedom Max with Orignal CS LED?


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## Sub_Umbra (May 28, 2006)

I've also thought about this subject. I love the Freedom PWM and UI. I want a Lux III ~495nm 2xCR2 side by side with a tight hotspot just like the HDS EDCs, PWM and the Freedom UI. It would be like the NV Green Freedom on crack and steroids.

It would be the *perfect* light for me. I would use the heck out of it all the time -- mostly at the dim levels. And the PWM would keep the color true at any output. If only I could afford to have it built. :sigh:


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## vortechs (May 28, 2006)

ViReN said:


> is it brighter than Freedom Max with Orignal CS LED?



The Photon Freedom Max (100% brighter) seems brighter. I think part of the problem is that even the uncut version of the SMJLED has a very wide beam so the covert nose is really hurting the performance of the SMJLED in the Freedom. The SMJLED I installed into a generic microlight seems so much brighter (and is really impressive in its ability to light up an entire room). I'm going to have to disassemble my SMJLED Freedom and move the SMJLED to another Freedom that does not have the covert nose. I'll think I'll try a JELED 50K mcd white 5mm LED in the Freedom with the covert nose. 

See my post in KevinL's sales thread for the results of my SMJLED picolight mod (http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=1431809&#post1431809 ).


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## AuroraLite (May 28, 2006)

Probably. 

I have installed the uncut MJ and Nichia U bin into my Photon III and do noticed the higher output when compared to the original Photon III(without the 2x brightness). But still, the 2x brightness Freedom still has a more intense hotspot than the modded Photons. Truly a good job to the Photon team! :thumbsup:

One thing I have noticed about this mod is that the exact placement of the board is crucial to the proper functioning of the light. Even if you are off by 1-2mm, the whole thing will not work as smoothly as before the mod.

Back to the topic of using the Photon board, I too would love to see it implemented into other flashlight. The only issue is that it is destinated to drive a 5mm, and if it were to be installed into a larger body of the light, I will naturally wish more light will come out from the front using a good reflector and higher powered led(such as lux)...or I will hope to use it in the form factor of a AAA light with 5mm, but then some modification will have to be made on the board to work with normal 1.5v alkaline/nimh.

Unless, someone make a new photon body with a reflector in front....that will be an interesting thing to see!  




vortechs said:


> I installed an uncut SMJLED in one of my Photon Freedom microlights today (NV green LED with a covert nose).
> 
> It wasn't hard to pop the battery cover open with a small screwdriver. The two 2016 batteries came out easily. The circuit board took some careful coaxing. It was wedged in at the back side and at first I thought it might be glued down or something, but once the back end of the circuit board got past the tight spot it came up out of the light and could be pulled backwards off the LED's leads. The LED could then be pushed forwards out of the light. The covert nose piece came out with the LED. I put a bit of tissue on the stock LED's dome for padding and pushed it off of the covert nose.
> 
> ...


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## vortechs (Jun 10, 2006)

vortechs said:


> The Photon Freedom Max (100% brighter) seems brighter. I think part of the problem is that even the uncut version of the SMJLED has a very wide beam so the covert nose is really hurting the performance of the SMJLED in the Freedom. The SMJLED I installed into a generic microlight seems so much brighter (and is really impressive in its ability to light up an entire room). I'm going to have to disassemble my SMJLED Freedom and move the SMJLED to another Freedom that does not have the covert nose. I'll think I'll try a JELED 50K mcd white 5mm LED in the Freedom with the covert nose.
> 
> See my post in KevinL's sales thread for the results of my SMJLED picolight mod (http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=1431809&#post1431809 ).



I just moved the uncut SMJLED from the Photon Freedom microlight with the covert nose to another Photon Freedom with a normal nose (although there is still a little clear ring that goes on the LED where it is inserted into the body). The SMJLED performs MUCH better without that covert nose absorbing much of the light, since even the uncut version of the 4-die SMJLED produces a very floody beam. Compared to the stock white Photon Freedom Max (2x brighter) Nichia, the SMJLED is somewhat bluish and has a much wider hotspot with no clear transition line from the hotspot to the spill. The tighter hotspot of the stock Nichia is definitely brighter that the wide floody hotspot of the SMJLED, but the SMJLED may be brighter overall. If you are looking to light up an entire room, the uncut SMJLED Freedom is great, but I think LRI made a good choice with the Nichia in the Photon Freedom Max. 

Interestingly, the uncut SMJLED that I put in a generic microlight clone is considerably brighter than the one in the Freedom. I wonder if the circuit of the Freedom is consuming some power or limiting the voltage or current in some way to prevent the SMJLED from achieving the awesome brightness I get from the one in the generic microlight. I should have compared these two particular SMJLED's before I put them into their current hosts. [edit: I have discovered that the brightness of a 5mm LED powered by two 2016 coin cells is very dependent on how fresh the coin cells are. Good quality brand new coin cells will deliver quite a bit of current to the LED for the first 5 minutes or so, but the brightness quickly falls from this initial peak. This makes it difficult to make a fair comparison of the brightness of coin cell powered lights. See this thread for information about the runtime of a Photon Freedom.]


[By the way, should the little clear ring around the LED in the Freedom with the normal nose somehow be flush with the body. The ring has a ridge which sticks out from the end of the body a tiny bit. I wonder if I somehow have it put together a bit wrong. I don't see this ring on my white Freedom Max microlights or it is flush with the body, but this particular Freedom started with a turquoise LED, so perhaps it is different. I guess I'll find out if somebody tells me here or the next time I change the LED in one of my other Freedom Max microlights.]


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## PhotonLight (Jun 12, 2006)

vortechs said:


> Interestingly, the uncut SMJLED that I put in a generic microlight clone is considerably brighter than the one in the Freedom. I wonder if the circuit of the Freedom is consuming some power or limiting the voltage or current in some way to prevent the SMJLED from achieving the awesome brightness I get from the one in the generic microlight. I should have compared these two particular SMJLED's before I put them into their current hosts..


 
The circuit does use a small amount of power, but generally (with the Nichia white LEDs) the difference in brightness is very slight and only noticeable if you look closely at two lights (i.e. white Freedom Micro & white Photon II) side-by-side projected on a white wall or similar surface.



vortechs said:


> By the way, should the little clear ring around the LED in the Freedom with the normal nose somehow be flush with the body. The ring has a ridge which sticks out from the end of the body a tiny bit. I wonder if I somehow have it put together a bit wrong. I don't see this ring on my white Freedom Max microlights or it is flush with the body, but this particular Freedom started with a turquoise LED, so perhaps it is different. I guess I'll find out if somebody tells me here or the next time I change the LED in one of my other Freedom Max microlights.


 
Sounds like you may have the ring in backwards or perhaps not inserted all the way. Make sure you insert the ring *first* before installing the LED. That tiny ridge should snap into a slight groove inside the body of the light. When the ring is in place, install the LED making sure it does not press the ring out in the process. It's a little tricky without the right tools as it's a pretty tight fit, but can be done. The tight fit is necessary to retain the water resistance.


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## vortechs (Jun 12, 2006)

PhotonLight said:


> The circuit does use a small amount of power, but generally (with the Nichia white LEDs) the difference in brightness is very slight and only noticeable if you look closely at two lights (i.e. white Freedom Micro & white Photon II) side-by-side projected on a white wall or similar surface.


 
Thanks Bryan. The difference on mine is quite noticable, so it probably isn't the drain of the Freedom circuit. It must be either the batteries or the LED's. I will try swapping batteries. I should have looked at the SMJLED's beams side by side before I cut the leads for installing one of them in a Freedom and one in a microlight. Perhaps I will eventually install them both into Freedom lights so I can compare them side by side. 




PhotonLight said:


> Sounds like you may have the ring in backwards or perhaps not inserted all the way. Make sure you insert the ring *first* before installing the LED. That tiny ridge should snap into a slight groove inside the body of the light. When the ring is in place, install the LED making sure it does not press the ring out in the process. It's a little tricky without the right tools as it's a pretty tight fit, but can be done. The tight fit is necessary to retain the water resistance.



It is probably in backwards . I suspected that might be what had happened. Thanks for the directions. With the covert nose Freedom I didn't have any problem inserting the LED into the nose tube before sliding the tube it into the light (although perhaps I got that one backwards as well). I should have been more careful about noting which direction was forward when I disassembled the lights. 


Now that I've tried a number of different types of 5mm LED's in various microlights, I'm really starting to appreciate why LRI chose the Nichia for their top quality Photon microlights.


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## vortechs (Jun 18, 2006)

PhotonLight said:


> Sounds like you may have the ring in backwards or perhaps not inserted all the way. Make sure you insert the ring *first* before installing the LED. That tiny ridge should snap into a slight groove inside the body of the light. When the ring is in place, install the LED making sure it does not press the ring out in the process. It's a little tricky without the right tools as it's a pretty tight fit, but can be done. The tight fit is necessary to retain the water resistance.



I just tried, but I couldn't figure out how to get the LED into the body of the Freedom if I installed the little clear ring first. There didn't seem to be any way the ridge at the base of the LED itself was going to fit if the clear retaining ring was already installed. So I put the LED in first, then slid the clear retaining ring over it until most of the clear retaining ring was in the body, except for the little ridge on the ring. This left me pretty much where I was before. Then I simply pushed the retaining ring the rest of the way into the body with my fingernails. It popped into place fairly easily. 

So it seems that all I needed to do was push the clear ring the rest of the way into the body. 


[While I was getting ready to pop the battery cover back on, I noticed that it has the words "Freedom is our Destiny" on the inside of the cover, which are visible when the light catches them right. Neat!]


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## vortechs (Jun 18, 2006)

vortechs said:


> Thanks Bryan. The difference on mine is quite noticable, so it probably isn't the drain of the Freedom circuit. It must be either the batteries or the LED's. I will try swapping batteries. I should have looked at the SMJLED's beams side by side before I cut the leads for installing one of them in a Freedom and one in a microlight. Perhaps I will eventually install them both into Freedom lights so I can compare them side by side.



I tried replacing the two CR2016 batteries in my SMJLED-modded Photon Freedom microlight. That did the trick, it is now much brighter. It is not quite as bright as the SMJLED I installed in a generic microlight, but that could be due to minor variations in the SMJLEDs or possibly the drain of the Freedom circuit. 

I finally have the ultrabright, dimmable keychain light that I was trying to make when I installed the SMJLED into a Photon Freedom microlight. 

The SMJLED is rather bluish compared to the Nichia in a stock Freedom Max (which is almost certainly a C0 tint) and the SMJLED has a rather floody beam, even though it is the 'uncut' verion that has a full acrylic dome like a normal 5mm LED. The stock Nichia has a brighter hotspot and seems to out-throw the SMJLED, but the SMJLED seems to be putting out more light overall since it really lights up an entire room. 

I think the general public would probably prefer the Nichia's beam over the SMJLED because the yellowish tint and fairly well-defined hotspot is more of what people expect from a flashlight than the flood of bluish-white light from the SMJLED.


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## x2x3x2 (Aug 23, 2006)

can the white freedom run on 1x CR2032 ?


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## ViReN (Aug 23, 2006)

i m using my Photon Freedom using 1CR2032 ... without any change in LED .. its dim but it would work for hours and hours together... in fact several days...


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## vortechs (Aug 23, 2006)

x2x3x2 said:


> can the white freedom run on 1x CR2032 ?



Yes, but the white LED is dim when run on only one CR2032. It does run a very long time this way, both because the light is dimmer (drawing less current) and because one CR2032 cell has a lot more mAh of energy than two CR2016 cells in series. If you're looking for a very long duration emergency light this is a good configuration. 

I believe the red and yellow Photon Freedoms normally run on 1x CR2032 because they are more voltage sensitive than the other color LEDs and cannot handle the voltage of 2x CR2016 even with the voltage sag.


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## PhotonLight (Aug 26, 2006)

vortechs said:


> I believe the red and yellow Photon Freedoms normally run on 1x CR2032 because they are more voltage sensitive than the other color LEDs and cannot handle the voltage of 2x CR2016 even with the voltage sag.


 
That is correct. Any of the Photons which normally run on 2x CR2016 (white, green, turquoise, blue, purple, violet, & UV) can be switched out for a single CR2032 for a longer run-time at the cost of reduced brightness. The other colors which normally use a single CR2032 (red, orange, yellow, & IR) use the single battery for a reason. Generally, replacing the single battery with dual 2016 cells will at best have little to no effect on brightness and at worst will toast the LED.


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## vortechs (Aug 26, 2006)

Thanks PhotonLight, 

Do you have any advice about using a LIR2032 3.6V Li-Ion coin cell in a white Photon Freedom microlight (or any other color that normally uses two 2016 primary coin cells)? The capacity of the LIR2032 3.6V Li-Ion coin cell is fairly low (40mAh or so) but the Li-Ion cell voltage shouldn't sag as much as the two 2016 primary coin cells do. 

See these threads: 
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=93125
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=122326


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## mcmc (Jan 1, 2007)

Any updates on how the LIR2032 is working w/ the Freedom?
I've got a few Freedoms, might get the LIR set.
Don't have any uncut SMJLED's but have the cut ones, may put one in a Freedom.


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## vortechs (Jan 1, 2007)

mcmc said:


> Any updates on how the LIR2032 is working w/ the Freedom?
> I've got a few Freedoms, might get the LIR set.
> Don't have any uncut SMJLED's but have the cut ones, may put one in a Freedom.



The LIR2032 Li-Ion coin cell is still working fine in my Photon Freedom. I've been very happy with it. When combined with the 4-die LED it makes the brightest coin cell keychain light that I've been able to make. I use it sparingly so I haven't even need to recharge the LIR2032 yet. The only problem I see with the configuration is that I need to be careful to leave it in morse code mode in my pocket, so it won't accidently get turned on and run down the battery (since that would damage the Li-Ion cell).


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## mcmc (Jan 1, 2007)

Cool - I just bought one off that ebay seller. Looking forward to regulated (semi) output for my Freedoms!

Btw, I wonder if this will totally toast a red LED...


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