Hello everyone. I have two XM-L T6 drop-ins in 3 and 5 mode. They are very bright and I am happy with them. What I want to know is which direction should I go for a drop-in that is more about a long runtime rather than super bright output. What do I need to look for? This light would be more for close up use, indoor use, something that will run a while if the power goes out, a dimly lit bathtub soak for my wife to replace a candle, etc. Thank you for the help folks. :)
I like XP-G drop-in, they usually pull about 1.5A or less on high.
Don't forget, for longer runtimes, especialliy indoors, you can just set your light to Low or Medium.
I would love to build a custom drop-in but I do not have the eyesight and skills for that. I am looking for a plug & play drop-in. I have been trying soldering with my cousin and I just can not see well enough to do small stuff like this. :) This light will be for when a storm knocks out power all night long, for use in a tent when camping for dim light, you know the deal....candle for sitting outside on the porch.
have you tryed magnified glass's , I also have bad eyesight close up and cant see what Im doin ...I got a cheap pair of x2 magnified glass's from hardware store for $3 they turn'd cant into can
Baz
I was born legally blind in both eyes and have at last checkup 20/300 left and 20/400 right. I used 8x and 10x reading glasses that are prism glasses and I have an electronic device called a Looky for spot checking when needed. I am sitting 6-12 inches from a 22 inch LCD monitor typing this. :) I have tried with what I have and I just can not see those small solder points. Thanks for asking my friend. :)
I can make one for you how long do you want it to run on low?
Check this out.
I am thinking 25 hours or so on low. Thay way if I had to it would work for three 8 hour nights in a row. I know this sounds strange but I have had this happen with storms last summer and this past winter when a bad snow storm hit this area and we used a fireplace to stay warm. LOL :) How bright would the low or super low on it be? I am thinking somewhere in the area of 10-20 lumins or so. The XM-L I have is far brighter than that on low. Something to get around the house in once your eyes adjust to darkness, close up work like reading a menu at the Cracker Barrel, reading in bed, etc. How much are you asking for this custom work?
I don't know what to ask for a price. I have never sold any of my stuff. Let me figure out how much it costs me to make one and I will let you know. You want a XML P-60 drop in that will run for 25 hours on an Xtar 2600, that should be no problem. Let me do the math on the run time and I will come up with something for you.
Whatever you feel is best. I am still learning about LEDs and bins and such. It does not have to be XM-L. I would prefer lo/med/hi or sl/l/m/hi. I do not care about memory or anything like that. Whatever you think will give good runtimes on those XTAR 2600Mah cells in a P60 host. The drop-in does not need to be bright as I have an XM-L T6 for that. :) Thank you for the offer and looking into this.
It cost me $17 bucks in parts to make my own P60 XML drop in, not counting the hour it takes to put it together and then the cost to ship it, Doh. You could buy a nice Q5 like Be-seentriker said for about $10 bucks that will run for 24 hours plus, so that would be your best bet.
I just saw this in another post this would be perfect for long run time ad it's only 11 bucks.
Thank you for your honesty and for your time. Now I looked at Manafont and did not see anything....maybe I missed something. I tried DX as well....again maybe using the wrong search terms. Where do you find these drop-ins? :)
I just looked at that link, do they have anything a bit dimmer than that on low? I am not trying to be picky but 40LM is a little bright for reading.....isn't it? Maybe I am wrong, I trust your opinions here.
I just looked at my wife's Fenix E01....10 lumen light and that is about what I am thinking. That light is too small, can you get something that dim in a P60 drop-in? Do I need to look into another light altogether? :)
According to old4570s review at the bottom of the page it pulls .01 amp on low that will give you 26 hours easy with a fresh charge. I don't know of anything lower in a P-60 that isn't custom made.
I think you have answered my question very well. :) Thanks for the help.
Hi s1mp13m4n,
I just saw your post, I bought a Solarforce drop-in that claims 320 lumens on high for 3.5 hrs, 128 lumens on medium for 10 hrs. and 32 lumens on low for 35 hrs. There are 2 models, this one is throwy - smooth reflector $13.99 _ $2 shipping
and this one is more floody - orange peel reflector $14.99 + $2 shipping
your mileage may vary, but good luck!
later
I want to give a mini review on the programmable drop in, it showed up from DX yesterday and I put it in a 501A with a 16340 flame battery, here is the link.
This thing is pretty cool but it isn't very bright, it pulled almost 1 amp max on high with one battery and about 500ma max on 2 batteries that's about 200 lumens with the stock XRE R2. I was able to get it down to about 10 ma with practice so low you could look at the emitter without blinding yourself.
I got board with the abysmal output and took it apart and replaced the XPE R2 emitter with an XPG R5 bumping max output up from about 200 lumens to a little over 350. This is a fun little drop in now there really isn't to much of an advantage over a regular 3 mode, but it is different and the price was right. You can get it to stay on really low with some practice and no useless strobe modes to deal with is a nice feature.
So I would recommend this one if you are looking for a long run time drop in with battery options, but it really needs an emitter swap to be effective. If you turn it on and leave it it ramps up and flashes at 5% than flashes again at 50% than again at 100% you need to turn it off while it is ramping when it gets to were you want the brightness the memory than kicks in and it comes back on at the brightness level you set by shutting it off. This is a little tricky at first and it is hard to get minimum brightness level set, but it works fine with a little practice.
For $11 dollars and change I can recommend this drop in I will give it 4 out of five stars but if you are committed to swap out the emitter with an XPG or an XML it gets 5 out of 5 stars it just doesn't impress with the stock XRE R2.
Sorry i should have snapped some pics it's a stacked plate driver with a small coil in the middle. It pulls i amp with one 16340 and .5amps with 2 16340s with the R5. I used the R5 out of my R5A3 xml conversion light it's bright as hell for an xpg. The driver alone is worth 11bucks just buy it.
0,03A on low: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/cree-xml-t6-5-mode-6700k-450-lumen-smooth-aluminum-drop-in-module-with-textured-reflector-55026
= 75 hours on a 2500mAh battery (if the capacity is really 2500mAh)
High = 1,26A
Mid = 0,37A
I have 3 of those the first one they sent me had an AK-47 driver with those exact specs and the last 2 they sent me had Ultrafire direct drive drivers no longer limited to 1.26 amps on high.
Edit: If you read the comments on this product on DX i actually posted on DX on 5/15 about the strobe delete mod to the AK47 driver and then i posted again on June 1st about them changing the driver to the ultrafire version.
What is the low like on your XM-L drop-ins? Not very low?
I have a Thrunite XP-G drop-in with a low (as I recall) of 3 lumens or so. On high it is 300 lumens approx. and on medium 70 lumens I would guess.
Now I am just going by what I see and using other lights, I do not have a way to measure output. My low seems to be about 80 lumens, med maybe 200-250, hi 500+. My low is as bright as my Fenix LD01 on hi, and my med it as bright as my 5Sevens Quark 123x2 on high.