Apparently there is a fairly simple procedure (and cheap) to fit new LEDs and lenses to your now (relatively) dim Solidlights.
I'll be giving it a go in the New Year.
Watch this space
Parts:
2 x Cree XR-E Q5 stars, $7 each (here, R2 are a couple of grades brighter)
2 x Carclo 20mm 6deg optics, euro 2.20 each
Hot melt glue
thermal transfer compound of some sort.
small soldering iron, crosshead screwdriver, hot melt glue gun.
Undo both side plates
Remove the mount
This should allow the innards to slide out to the side. Leave the plastic lens in place if at all possible as you'll disturb the waterproofing if you take it out.
Prise off the lenses & holders, without damaging the hexagonal lens holders which you'll need to re-use. Mine was held on with what looked like hot melt glue and came off fairly easily.
Undo the screws holding the old LED star boards to the heat sink
Unsolder the old stars and solder on the new, taking care to get them the same way round (+/- are marked).
Screw the new stars back onto the heatsink, with a little thermal compound underneath.
Pop out the old lenses from the hexagonal holders and pick off any old glue.
You'll need to cut away a small amount of the base of the holders to allow them to sit neatly on the new stars as the Cree LEDs are larger than the old Luxeons. I used a dremel.
When they fit neatly, fit the new lenses into the holders, apply a bit of glue to the base of the holders and stick them down.
Apply a little thermal compound to the side of the heatsink, and slide the circuit board and the heatsink/lenses back into the housing. They have to go in together as the screws for the LEDs foul a capacitor if you try separately. The wires fit round the long edge of the heatsink.
Refit the mount - the screw clamps the heatsink to the housing.
Put the sides back on.
The resulting light is a lot brighter than it was before - easily twice as bright. The beam has a more pronounced central bright spot, but there's still a pretty good spread. I'll give it a proper try later - this was just far enough out of town to get out of the street lights.
