I have made a couple of P60 with 8x7135 Nanjg 105c driver and Empty Aluminum Drop-In Module w/Brass Pill (both bought from FT). I tried XM-L2 U3 (from Ebay seller led-dna) and XP-L V6 (from IOS). Both gave me similar light output. There’s little loss of lumens (<10%? comparing to bare LED). Overheating was not too bad. Although I didn’t do a very long time test.
Added two 7135’s. Brightest P60 I have. Gets pretty hot at 10 minutes. Mine is wrapped in copper. I like the tint. It looks a little warmer than a 1c.
Can you find out if the “KD V2 driver” has any protection against over-discharge or will it drain an unprotected cell to where it’s damaged?
(in other words is it safe to replace the too-short spring and use an unprotected cell, or not)
Question because I may be reading wrong.
At 10 minutes your chart indicates 16500 flux but then you say at 14 minutes it's 163. Did the battery die at 14 minutes or should that read 16300?
Sorry I didn’t respond to your question sooner. Yes it should read 16,300. My error.
Hank, sorry for my late response. I’ve just read your post and will ask.
Advice from Kaidomain is that the KD V2 driver has low voltage warnings but does not have over discharge protection. Safest opton is to use a protected cell or otherwise ensure that you replace/recharge the battery when you notice the low voltage warning flashs.
Response I recevied is as per below.
The low voltage warning will be activated below < 2.9V. The light will flash once for every 60 secs. In that time, the current will be drawn around 79mA. Until 2.6V, the current will be drawn around 6mA.
They have a neutral option now. Does anyone have one or know how neutral it might be? I just ordered one a couple of days ago, but it hasn’t shipped and may not make it out before the holidays.
I got my neutral drop-in yesterday. I’m very impressed with the throw, about equivalent to an XM-L in a C8. There is still plenty of spill. Mine wasn’t all that neutral. At least 5000K, maybe more. I got a smooth reflector and it doesn’t seem ringy to me, a little bit of a yellow splash near the hotspot, but not bad. The low is very low, but not unusable. I could light up a small patch of ground. Might be the best P60 drop-in I have. KD included a keychain UV light that is kind of fun.
Regarding the question about using unprotected cells. I ran a battery down until the low voltage protection kicked in. I took the battery out and measured 2.86V (not under load and it was rising). So while the low voltage protection is there, that seems a little low to me, but probably acceptable. With six 7135 current regulators the driver will prevent the battery from supplying more than 2280mA of current, so you should be safe from drawing too high a current from a battery anyway.
Hi brted, pleased to read that you have been very satisfied with your dropin. I too found it to be a very good P60 dropin, right up there with the best. The light output for the current/power consumption it’s hard to beat. The one I have is CW (6500k). I’ve got lots of P60 dropins and for the price this one is the best. To get better you need to pay much more.
Brted, does the 3-mode XPL-HI NW drop-in you got have mode memory?
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I wish they made a single mode XPL-HI NW P60, I see they do have a single mode CW: http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S024262
I wonder what type of driver this has, no info on the driver like the other versions show but this one is listing the voltage at 3V-18V, Could it be DD?
I dont believe the single mode driver will be DD. More than one battery in series would kill the led if it was.
Yes. It sets after the light is on for about 1 second.
Ok thanks I should have thought of the voltage being too high.
I like how this (1 mode) drop-in can run on two batteries, I’ve got a solarforce L2X 2 cell tube I want to use it with. I’m wondering if its brightness increases with the higher voltages.
Great, thanks for replying. I didn’t see anything about memory in the listing on KD.
How many folks still use a P60 design flashlight?
I do.
They are good multi-purpose lights with very simple, reliable modules that are more than enough for up to 3A-3.5A. Solarforce might be past their days now but I am sure they are still selling a good amount of lights/hosts.
I like the P60 design too. My customers get very picky about weapon lights for hunting coyote etc. I hate stocking a ton of different small 25mm weapon mount lights just to have green led, red, xm-l2 and xpl hi. I like having one shell with different modules to suite their needs. I’m surprised that Solarforce is still in business. They haven’t really created any new styles in a while. I do love the look of the L2, L2t and l2m. I just don’t like how they are very fussy about a custom print logo and their MOQ. I can’t stand their bold white logo and printing all over the tail cap. Just my opinion though.
One of the reasons why I use CPF is because P60 models have always been widely discussed over there - they have a good amount of custom P60 lights on CPF and many fans. It is also very cheap to build a number of useful modules (pill is about $2 on Fasttech, good emitter and some driver I already own and that’s it).
My go-to P60 has a dedomed XPL V6 CW module with a 3.5A driver and a smooth reflector. The throw in comparison to the size of the light is very good. I own the L2T, L2 mini, L2 and L2T SS - unfortunately I was too late for the A001 head (still on my wish list but nowhere to be found). Also never bought the M3 or K head.
It is obvious that Solarforce lights are on the heavy side and therefore very realiable/robust. Unfortunately no longer competitive with current EDC lights.
+1
It’s still my favorite format. If I recall correctly, someone here once said something to the effect of “you’ll have to pry all my P60 lights off my dead hands”. Also, I really love how you can Lego Surefire C format flaslights like Solarforce and many other off brand and customs. I really do hope the P60 format continues for a long time and remains an option for us flashaholics!
Wow, I would not expect the P60 format to still be popular on CPF. I would expect them to be frowned upon due to “poor thermal conduction pathway”. Do you get a ringy beam with the dedomed XPL and a smooth reflector? What do you do about heat issues running a P60 at 3.5 amps? Aluminum or copper wrap?