UK Mini Q40 CREE R2 Mod

[bevansmw]

Been playing with the mini Q40 for a little while now and finished modifying it.

I did a few things to get the CREE XR-E R2 LED to fit inside..

I enlarged the hole in the front of the casing where the lamp module sits in order to get the pill to fit, I also had to grind down the pill that the driver and LED are mounted on in order to get them to fit. To be honest there isn't much of a heat sink left so I'm not sure how long it'll last but we'll see. I figured the depth rating of the case may have been messed with since I removed a bunch of plastic so I took it down to 100 ft with no problems with the original lamp assembly in place.

I used a 24mm 8 degree collimator in the light as it just fits in. If it works out and my led lives long enough I can easily buy a 10 degree or 45 degree collimator that will fit exactly the same inside of the light.

So far it works fine for short periods of time, only problem so far is that I have to tap it on the bottom to get it to turn off after unscrewing the bezel. When in use bezel screws all of the way down without any trouble.

Anyhow we'll see how it works out

Beamshot was taken in the bathroom with door closed and all the lights off. Only light was provided by the Mini Q40.

 

[antero]

Nice job.

I have two burned old UK40 but I'm going to do "upgrade" differently. I just discovered that those lights have 1/2 NPT thread which means - you can use sprinkler extension pipe of any desirable length to make a body that accepts UK40 light head. I will need just duplicate a groove for o-ring on lathe. Using 2 lithium batteries and LED drop-in module from DX it could make really compact yet powerful backup light.

 

[bevansmw]

I was thinking something like that would work much better than what I did.

I still haven't dove it as I feel with the way it is it'll turn on on its own during the dive and a little worried I'll have to unscrew it too much, flooding it, to get it to turn off afterwards.

One thing I did notice with the light is the spring inside at the bottom of the light has some type of switching mechanism on it that closes the circuit for the batteries. It closes when you screw the bezel down and some pressure is applied to it - turning the light on.

Won't really matter if you're just going to use the head though.