Converting SL4 Xenon > LED?

[Mitchell Teeters]

thanks

 

[livewire]

Utilizing the Deal Extreme SKU 32953 with both an SL4 and SL6, after messing around a couple of days with a dremel tool, went to the hardware store today to find something to keep everything centered etc. Ran across some 7/8" x 1 3/8" machine spacers or shims or something to that effect in the bolts & nuts special drawers at Ace, for $0.45 each. 3 placed on the backside of the reflector centers it, pushes the face to the lens and connects the contacts. Works great, no machining or soldering, just lay them on and use !!
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bbcg59's "The easiest way" post, turned out to be the easiest for me as well. I used the SKU he mentions, pluce shims from Ace Hardware. The shims/washers I found were Ace Hardware Item # 2811-K (sku 008236023176) and they are labeled 1" x 1 1/2". I'm using 4 of those and they work perfectly!

Thanks bbcg59!

 

[bbcg59]

bbcg59's "The easiest way" post, turned out to be the easiest for me as well. I used the SKU he mentions, pluce shims from Ace Hardware. The shims/washers I found were Ace Hardware Item # 2811-K (sku 008236023176) and they are labeled 1" x 1 1/2". I'm using 4 of those and they work perfectly!

Thanks bbcg59!

Most Welcome !! Only issue I had with diving with my set up (last summer) was a leaky o ring, over the course of 2 weeks of diving almost every day (and one night) in the caribbean caused the shims to rust in the main light I was using (the SL8, using rechargable C cells so I would not have to ship them to St. Lucia, very expensive) and the light to not work so well the last few days. Since using the setup at home with the good set of shims, the light burned out in air after using straight for about an hour, guess it overheated

 

[livewire]

Took my newly modded light out today and noticed an odd behavior. At first, all was well, I would see something interesting switch on my SL4 and hit the subject with 320 lumens of glorious light, examine, then switch off. We then came across some cracks and crevices that warranted much further investigation and the light stayed on a bit. This is when the weirdness began: the light started flashing. At first I suspected I triggered some sort of SOS mode, but it was inconsistent flashing, so I'm thinking now that it was maybe some sort of overheating circuitry clicking in? Anyone seen this behavior? Would flick off for a second then work fine for 3 or 4 seconds before flicking off for a second again. It's a Cree R5 in there and water temp today was around 60 F.

 

[spoolin01]

Could your shims not be making good contact with the copper tab that leads up from the switch? I have similar intermittent problems with some of the SL4s with various shimming approaches, though the split rings seem to make consistent contact. Could also be something with the brass pill, is it solidly screwed in?

 

[livewire]

Not sure it's a contact issue, as I would expect a different behavior. With faulty contacts I would expect flickering, or flicking with movement or position. In my case, it was more constant: 3 seconds on, 1 second off, 2 seconds on 1 second off, 1 second on, 1 second off. Inconsistent timing, but too consistent for faulty contacts perhaps. I took it apart at home and all was tight and the brass pill was solidly screwed in, and the contacts looked okay. Hard to tell completely with washers... They look and feel really tight, but the washers aren't glued or soldered to anything. I'm going to try reproducing the issue in a bowl of water and see where I get. Maybe I'll solder the washers to eliminate that variable, or maybe the split rings are the answer. I'll post any progress, but my next true dive with it won't be for a couple of weeks. Thanks for the thoughts spoolin01!

 

[Shftrdog]

I think for the UK call you have to do is get the new head on it. The part that you screw on is all you need.

 

[Mitchell Teeters]

This is a direct drop in for a surefire G2 or 6P so you could drop it in and check for the same failure mode. I had some flickering with my shim set up, but they have seated well and I get good contact. I have yet to have heating issues out of the water, or in for that matter. I suspect the shims do double duty as heat sinks as well as conductors.

Not sure it's a contact issue, as I would expect a different behavior. With faulty contacts I would expect flickering, or flicking with movement or position. In my case, it was more constant: 3 seconds on, 1 second off, 2 seconds on 1 second off, 1 second on, 1 second off. Inconsistent timing, but too consistent for faulty contacts perhaps. I took it apart at home and all was tight and the brass pill was solidly screwed in, and the contacts looked okay. Hard to tell completely with washers... They look and feel really tight, but the washers aren't glued or soldered to anything. I'm going to try reproducing the issue in a bowl of water and see where I get. Maybe I'll solder the washers to eliminate that variable, or maybe the split rings are the answer. I'll post any progress, but my next true dive with it won't be for a couple of weeks. Thanks for the thoughts spoolin01!

 

[nwbrewer]

Some of the driver boards for these drop-ins have a strobe mode. Try rapidly turning the light on/off to switch modes. May not be a failure at all, just that you have one of the multiple mode drivers in there.

 

[spoolin01]

Not sure it's a contact issue, as I would expect a different behavior. With faulty contacts I would expect flickering, or flicking with movement or position. In my case, it was more constant: 3 seconds on, 1 second off, 2 seconds on 1 second off, 1 second on, 1 second off. Inconsistent timing, but too consistent for faulty contacts perhaps. I took it apart at home and all was tight and the brass pill was solidly screwed in, and the contacts looked okay. Hard to tell completely with washers... They look and feel really tight, but the washers aren't glued or soldered to anything. I'm going to try reproducing the issue in a bowl of water and see where I get. Maybe I'll solder the washers to eliminate that variable, or maybe the split rings are the answer. I'll post any progress, but my next true dive with it won't be for a couple of weeks. Thanks for the thoughts spoolin01!

Still just guessing, but your symptoms might still be consistent with intermittent contact. Heating moves something, then cooling re-establishes contact. Don't know if there's a failure mode on the driver board itself that could manifest that way, but mechanical contact somewhere probably could.

I was using 3 SL-4s with Q5 or R2 drop-in modules this last weekend, above and below water. Each has a slightly different 'spacer' solution. One with a pair of welded rings would sometimes flicker at rapid frequency. Twisting the head slightly one way or another would stabilize it again. They all occasionally lose contact and have to be smacked or have the head twisted. With 30 minutes or so continuous use above water, barely perceptible heating of the casing by the head was all that could be detected. Those modules don't seem to run very hot.