It's my understanding that an XM-L T6 at 800mA should produce around 350 lumens (referring to this testing: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/2346). The 6x Q5 says 1200 lumens at 800mA. Is the 6X Q5 pulling 800mA PER LED? Is this where I am misunderstanding the specs? That's not the way I read it though.
So are the specs false? Would the 6x Q5 drop-in be pulling a LOT more current than the "800mA @ 1200 Lumens" as stated? I'm trying to look at the current draw of the drop-in as a whole here. Same thing for the 5x R2 - drop-in, pulling a lot more than "1A @ 1200Lumens"?
Now I know I said throw vs. spill didn't matter, but any ideas? Would the 6x Q5 or 5x R2 or single XM-L module produce more flood (spill)? Do people generally go with multiple LED's to get flood? I know reflector plays into this a lot, but just go with these particular modules.
Garry, the most efficient drop-in you can probably make would be a true voltage regulated driver at 1.4A feeding an T6 XM-L. Use a driver like the Nanjg 101 AK with 4*AMC7135 chips. You will have plenty of output (500-600 lumen) and the best battery life.
So, is it possible that I could replace the driver with a 1.4amp or less (ie. 1.0amp) and drive this XM-L drop-in from 2 D sized Alkalines? This would be ideal for me. Common size battery, yet large D size for runtime. +/- 400 Lumens sounds like plenty of light.
How about this driver? http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S009113 . Says 0.9v - 4.2v 1000mA boost and buck current regulated 17mm diameter. Would this be compatible with the Dealextreme XM-L drop-in and 2 alkalines? Would the voltage cutoff of 2.75v cut off the alkalines too early?
How about the above mentioned driver running 3 alkalines? It says max 4.2v input and the alkalines would be 4.5 though. Seems with alkaline C's or D's I should stay at about 1amp max. Not sure what kind of runtime this would provide. Any ideas?