KC1 keychain light is available now

I mean version with quadtrix board like Virence makes with the emitters centered in a reflector.

It has already been said, but just to confirm… The idea is to make a general-purpose daily-carry light with a beam which is balanced and beautiful. It is not meant to maximize throw or lumens. It is meant to be small and practical. The beam would ideally be around 10 or 12 cd / lm, with the beam blended well enough that it would not have any sharp edges or a rainbow effect. This could require a frosted lens, frosted optic, or de-focused reflector.

The D4S beam is pretty close to what I have in mind. However, the D4S is 32 to 39 mm in diameter, and I’m hoping for a much smaller light which is more like 21 mm — basically as small as possible with an unprotected 18650 cell. Also, I would blend its beam a little more because the edges of the D4S hotspot are a bit sharp.

I suggested E17A / E21A because they usually make the most beautiful beam. However, there are other nice options too. I particularly like Nichia 219B, XP-L HI, and XHP35 HI. These are all good at keeping a consistent color throughout the entire beam… unlike rainbow beam LEDs like XP-G3 and XHP50.2.

That’s all just ideas for later though. For now, I’m really looking forward to the KR4 with XP-L HI and E21A. :slight_smile:

Geez. How cruel of you to make me want a thought up flashlight. Who do we have to petition to make it happen?

Ok, think I've been hit over the head enough. Sounds all good, but not for me. For a compact single LED, I'd rather have decent throw with decent tint. The triple and quads have enough throw and flood mix for me in a compact size.

I do agree the XPL HI's have one of the best even tints over the beam pattern - Hank's V2 5D is my favorite, and even the V4 3C isn't bad for a "C" tint for a bit more output. Wish he had a V3 4D to fill the gap - it seems to be MIA...

+1 on 4A or 4D too!

The advantage to having a higher cd/lm than the Carclo 3x and 4x can offer is that you can reach out to longer distances for MUCH longer before stepdowns, and don’t have to set the output to high to see to any given distance for that matter.

Hank. That’s what we’re doing, here, now, in this thread.

Otherwise, maybe Zebralight, but their UI doesn’t compare well to Anduril, or Lumintop, but the FW1A gives up some quality to hit its price point.

I’m not sure what counts as “decent” for you, but I expect XP-L HI would be an option if Hank made such a light. If based on the KR4 host, that would give it a bit more throw than the FW1A. IF based on the slimmer host TK described, it would have a bit less.

The E21A cluster option would have more output and less throw. It would have to be slightly defocused to have the most aesthetically-pleasing beam. That would be minmaxing for pretty the way a K1 with a White Flat 1 minmaxes for throw.

Thought I could hold out for the E21A but alas, I cannot. Just ordered one with XP-L HI 5D.

The 5D won't disappoint - I got them in several modded lights, duals, triples, singles, etc., and still don't have them in as many lights as I want, specially multi-LED's. Still got some with the ugly XP-L2's... Need to buy more from Hank, again... :FACEPALM:

In for a Cyan KR4 with 3000k SST 20. Maybe just the first. :slight_smile:

My black kr4 in xpl hi 5000k just shipped.

Continued interesting innovation from emisar/noctigon. Nice job!

I really like the new driver’s combination of regulation and direct drive. Similar idea to TA drivers with 8x7135 +FET, but I imagine this driver could have higher regulated currents while being more compact compared to using 7135s, plus the advantage of true constant current dimming.

Lately I’ve been modding some of my single emitter (SST40 and 2mm WF) lights with convoy’s linear driver as this gives me both regulated and full power (~7.5A) options. But for my higher power builds I’m sticking with FET drivers because I want ~20A capability. I’d be interested if this driver was sold separately, but I doubt that is going to happen.

A technical curiosity: in direct drive mode is the current going through the sense resistor? If so I wonder how that resistor heating might limit the ultimate current capability of the driver. Like when running triple or quad 2mm WFs the current could exceed 20A.

It is just a linear driver… It will eat your battery fast to get hot, like all linears do. Led4Power selling this type of drivers for years already.

True, his linear drivers have direct drive option recently, too. I forgot about them.

My cyan KR4 in XPL HI 4000K just shipped! :sunglasses:

I hope it doesn’t take 2 months to arrive.

No sense resistor is needed for direct drive. For that, the path is simple: Battery, FET, LEDs, and back to the battery. The FET opens and closes quickly to adjust current as a percent of whatever the maximum is at the time.

That’s good. So does that mean there are two FETs? One for the linear regulation with a sense resistor in the path, and one for the direct drive modes?